I finished this chapter faster than I usually do, because I wanted to finish at least one more chapter before classes start and I would have to focus more on my studies. But I couldn't write that fast. Nor does my brain work that well either. So I ended up finishing this 3 weeks after my classes began.

So, yes with this message I'm saying that the next update will be slower since I have to focus on my studies and I'm currently running on weeb fuel to stay awake. I fall asleep often because of how exhausted I am and my time to do research for this story is limited.

I will see when I have time to write. I like working on this story too much to stay away for long.

On another note as the story progresses I will add more tags. We are still practically at the introductory arc of the story. Arturia still has lots to learn and more things to struggle with and people to meet. But you will have to wait and see.

PS: I just love psychology, history and culture.

Thank you again MidoriKurenaiYume for beta- reading and for everyone else. Thank you for your lovely comments and enjoy.

The change in the room's ambience was immediately noticeable. Unlike the past few days where there was always some chatting or background murmurs, this day was surprisingly quiet. The people gathered at dinner were just Enkidu, Arturia and the King.

It was Arturia's indifference that created the strange silence. While she kept ignoring the gazes of both Gilgamesh and Enkidu, she took a bite from the grapes. The young knight had concluded that that specific fruit was the easiest to digest in the blazing heat, and the juice that came out of them could help quench her thirst if only a little bit.

"Are you feeling better?" Enkidu spoke up. "It seems like you're starting to regain some appetite."

Arturia carefully swallowed before speaking, "I do not feel any particular difference," she answered, "And I still cannot stomach anything other than fruit." Her tone was harsher than usual.

A short silence followed, and it lingered.

"... my apologies, I did not mean to be impolite." Arturia immediately apologised when she realised her behaviour could have been perceived as too rude. She wished for the previous silence to return, for at least she could focus on gathering her thoughts and on her actions.
Recently Arturia felt that she was in no mood to converse with anyone, and it took all her energy to not unleash her irritation on the first person she saw. She wanted to return to her chambers and hopefully, for once, get some decent rest.

"Oh, have you finally decided to be more compliant? You seem to lack your usual defiance today."

Arturia did not know why, but hearing Gilgamesh's words made her feel like her blood was boiling. She pierced him with a deathly glare.
"Do not get ahead of yourself! I will never comply with the likes of someone like you, and I told you before not to touch me!"

She slapped Gilgamesh's hand away and got up.

"I do not remember allowing you to get up," Gilgamesh stated coldly.

"I do not take orders from you!" Arturia retorted back in anger. Despite the obvious exhaustion present in her eyes, she held her glare. "I am not an object and I will not allow anyone to treat me as such!"

"I am King of all that exists! Everything in this world is my possession, and that includes you!" Gilgamesh stood up and glared down at the woman who was more than a head shorter than him.
Despite his intimidating height, Arturia did not back down. On the contrary, she only felt her anger grow.

"Those are only words of a tyrant! No matter what comes out of your mouth, you cannot own the world, and I belong to no one except my country!"

Arturia turned around, away from Gilgamesh, and stormed out of the room. The King was about to go after her, but Enkidu carefully placed his hand on Gilgamesh's shoulder.
"You should let her be. And didn't I tell you not to bully her?" Enkidu chastised their friend with a frown.

"That woman dares talk back to me!"

"Yes, but didn't you say that you liked that defiance of hers?"

Gilgamesh did not answer, choosing to study Enkidu's face instead. His anger gradually subsided and turned into a mischievous glint. "You're enjoying this," he pointed out, his slow smirk mirroring Enkidu's.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Enkidu smiled casually while knowing full well that they had been caught.

Gilgamesh's hands moved and Enkidu immediately reacted, grabbing the King by his wrists with all his might. Their smile turned into a grin.

"Do not think that I will let this slide easily," Gilgamesh commented. He placed all his strength in his arms and tried to drag his friend to the ground.

"Don't think I'll go down that easily, Gil," Enkidu answered.

The two friends fell on the ground, forgetting everything that had just happened, their bickering turned into a wrestling match. They did not care for the mess they ended up making.

As if they were children, their laughter echoed in the large room.

She was sick of it. Arturia was so sick of it. The heat, the restless nights, the stress and frustration that kept building for days, the irrationality of King Gilgamesh. She didn't care for all the luxuries that the King possessed; she was practically a bird trapped in a fancy cage. The only possible relief she could find was the cold steel of her sword and the hope of returning to her country.

No matter how far away that wish of hers was, she could not give up on it.

"My lady!"

Arturia slowed her pace and looked at Iltani. Despite her ire, her emotions were masked in a stony expression of indifference.

The servant flinched for a second upon seeing Arturia's face but composed herself quickly. "My lady, you are going in the wrong direction. Your chambers are on the opposite side."

Arturia glanced in the direction she had come from. While she would normally feel embarrassed at making such a mistake, this time she only felt her anger subside slightly.

"I see," was her short answer. "Well, it does not hurt to take a walk and I do not remember being forbidden from doing so."

Iltani only nodded as Arturia passed her and continued her pace leisurely. She didn't care if she ended up wandering around for quite a while. Anything would be better than being cooped up in a room for days and hopefully, this wandering would help her clear her mind and cool her anger. It wasn't fair to unleash her frustration on those around her.

Except for the King, since he was the source of her problems.

The sun had already gone down when Arturia opened the door to her chamber. She had given Iltani a nod when the servant wished her a good night.
After closing the door she let out a sigh. The day had been exhausting for her and she still felt like she would not be getting a night of decent sleep.

The woman almost dragged herself to her bed, but she froze midway. She had not noticed it immediately, but there was someone on her bed or more likely lying on it. Instinctively, Arturia stepped back towards the door, her brain trying to remember where she placed her sword while keeping her attention on the intruder. How were they able to get inside? She believed no one in their right mind would even bother to do something so suicidal. And why would they enter her chambers? There was nothing that could be gained from her and with how big the palace was, only the servants knew where she was staying. As her mind kept roaming through possible explanations and solutions, her gaze caught the moonlight shining on what seemed to be a golden object.

"You have taken a surprisingly long time to return." The familiar, proud voice of Gilgamesh rang through the room. The object which Arturia spotted appeared to be a golden goblet that he was holding leisurely.

Unconsciously Arturia exhaled the air she hadn't even realised she was holding. She felt her anger boiling anew.

"It is rude to sneak into a woman's room without permission," she stated coldly.

"I am King, do not need permission," was his bold reply.

Arturia carefully walked across the room but did not bother to come near her bed. She stood next to her desk before she turned around and faced the King. "Why are you here?"

"Do not speak to me like that, woman." Gilgamesh placed the goblet down and stood up. His blood-red eyes were plain-visible in the darkness. Arturia had never paid much attention to them before, but now they were incredibly obvious. They looked like a predator observing its prey before devouring it.

"The day is already over, the sun has gone down. I doubt you came to see me just for a talk, and do not think I will entertain you in any form!"

She had moved right next to her sword. If Gilgamesh was planning anything suspicious she would strike before he had the chance.

The King snorted and did not answer her question. Instead, he got up from the bed and turned towards the door. "Follow me," he commanded.

Arturia could not help but blink. She was glad he didn't try anything inappropriate, but at the same time, she could not understand his intentions.

"Do not make me wait! Or would you prefer to be dragged instead?" The sarcasm in his tone was apparent.

She took one glance at the King before grabbing her sword and following him outside. If he tried anything she would be prepared.

To Arturia's surprise, their walk through the palace was silent. Gilgamesh guided her without a word and while she had trouble to see clearly in the dark, even if the fires in the hallway made it a bit easier.

They ended up in a large room. Arturia almost bumped into Gilgamesh when he suddenly came to a stop.

"You should wear this. It gets very cold at night."

The woman blinked and the next moment she was covered with a cloth. She grabbed it and stared blankly at it. Where had that come from? She did not remember seeing him carrying it. Or maybe she didn't see well due to the darkness? Arturia blinked again and then finally looked at Gilgamesh. Unlike her, he did not seem to have brought anything.

"Aren't you going to get cold?"

"I am not so easily affected by something as trivial as that."

He continued to guide her and before she realised it she found herself outside the palace walls for the first time.

Arturia blinked once, then twice. Her gaze hovered over the sleeping city and spotted the torches that illuminated the streets. There was no sign of the busy life she had witnessed a few days before.

After a while spent in silent contemplation, she eyed Gilgamesh, feeling dumbfounded.
"What is the meaning of this?" she inquired. She doubted he was letting her go and in this darkness, there wouldn't be much to do for them either.

"I am allowing you to see my city. Since you still do not cope well with the heat of the day, I decided to bring you out at night."

Was that it? She was dragged outside for a tour, in the middle of the night?! In any normal circumstances, she would have seen this as a great opportunity, but she felt extremely exhausted at the moment. She had to gather all her willpower to just follow him around and it was even harder to not punch him in the face!

Arturia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hadn't realised that she had balled her fists until she exhaled. No, she could not act like this. She had to get herself together. Yes, the King was still intolerable and yes, she was still mad at him for ridiculing her and practically keeping her in this place like a prisoner, but she could not cause a scene. Despite everything, she was well aware that she was at his mercy.

When she finally opened her eyes again she noticed that Gilgamesh was staring at her. "What is it?" she inquired.

Contrary to what Arturia was used to, he did not show any mirth, nor sarcasm. Gilgamesh looked almost as if he was pondering.

"Do not leave my side," was his only answer as he headed into the city.

There was a huge difference between watching the scenery from afar and seeing it up close. Arturia could not help but stare in awe. Her attention shifted to the river next to them. It was the same river she had seen from her room that separated the palace from the city.

"This river is called the Euphrates. It's one of Uruk's main resources for trade and water. Many merchants use this river to travel and guide them to their destination."

Gilgamesh's voice started her. She had almost forgotten about his presence. The woman shot a glare at his direction, but the king was not paying her any heed. His gaze was aimed at the river.

Without looking at her, Gilgamesh continued to walk with Arturia in tow.
They crossed the bridge which let them into the city; however, Arturia's pace slowed a little when she poked her head over the edge, curiosity getting the best of her.

As expected, she did not see anything but a mass of darkness; however, the sound of the streaming river was as clear as the sky. It sounded comforting and the knight closed her eyes to enjoy the calm it brought to her.

"You surely enjoy making me wait. But I cannot fault you for your curiosity."

Upon hearing Gilgamesh breaking their silence again, Arturia looked up. This time he was staring at her expectantly. He did not seem impatient though.

The woman did not answer him and continued to walk. Most of their stroll was spent in silence with Arturia admiring every part of the city she could see. Although, she was sure that she would appreciate it more if she could see it properly in broad daylight. Not that she was certain she wanted to risk getting boiled in the heat though.

They had been walking for a while when Gilgamesh finally came to a halt. It was then that Arturia absentmindedly bumped into his back, and she noticed she was feeling a slight chill. It was hard to imagine that the scorching city would turn so cold the moment the sun disappeared.

Gilgamesh seemed surprisingly unaffected by the change in temperature.

"Over there is the Ziggurat known as Temple of Eanna. It's supposed to be the residence of the patron goddess Ishtar and the supreme god Anu, and therefore the most important building in the Eanna District. Anu does have a district and temple of his own. The majority of his worshippers are at the Temple of Eanna."

Despite the explanation. Arturia was certain that he was bored while talking. She carefully glanced at the structure Gilgamesh gestured towards, and she had to admit it looked impressive. "Ziggurat?" Arturia repeated the foreign words.

"Yes, that is what we call the temples were the gods reside."

While she was not that interested in their religion, she had to admit the place of worship was beautiful. Those type of structures did not exist in Britain. The multiple storeys stacked on each other reminded her of a tower, a very broad and elaborate tower.

Arturia did not have much time to admire the structure since Gilgamesh was already heading to their next destination.

After a while they arrived at —what Arturia guessed was— the commercial district of the city. It was a large plaza with many stands, which were empty at this time. She looked around, waiting for another explanation, but to her surprise, Gilgamesh kept quiet and continued towards their next destination.

They continued their walk like that, with Gilgamesh leading Arturia onwards. Aside from a few comments on certain constructions and buildings, Gilgamesh was most of the time surprisingly silent. Arturia welcomed it gladly, as her attention was too focused on her surroundings. Walking through such a city made her feel like she was in a different world, a world that was indeed a million miles away from Britain.
She had already lost count of how long they had been walking when the King suddenly came to a halt.

Arturia's attention was still on the city and she bumped into him again.

"Ugh!" Arturia let out a groan as she rubbed her sore nose. She noticed that this time Gilgamesh was looking at her. Her behaviour was obviously amusing to him.

"Is it that hard for you to see or are you desperately craving for my attention?" The mirth in is tone was easily detected and Arturia was sure that he was smirking.

She glared at him in response. "Do not flatter yourself. I would prefer boiling myself in the heat than getting any attention from you!"

Her reply did not affect him. He merely turned around, his gaze on the tall wall in front of them.

"This is the great wall of Uruk! It is the pride of the city! I had its construction completed not long ago. No mongrel has the capacity to tear this down!" he proclaimed pridefully.

Arturia looked from behind to look at the wall Gilgamesh seemed so proud of. She had to admit that it did look incredible. How long had it taken to build it? How many men had had to work day in and out to create this?

Many thoughts went through her mind, but still, despite all the incredible things she saw there was a part of her that just wanted to return to the palace and sleep. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to register everything by the time she woke up... if she decided to wake up at all the next day.

Yes, that would be nice. A very long and nice nap where she would not get interrupted by the heat or the sun.

The last thing Arturia could register was when she decided to close her eyes for a second to clear her mind.

When Arturia slowly regained consciousness, her mind still felt foggy and heavy with sleep. She did not care how warm it would become, she just wanted to rest a bit more after all that time. It was the least she could give her body. She let out an annoyed groan and rolled over. A heavy breath left her mouth before she tried to sleep again. But somehow, her consciousness did not want to listen. Something felt different, she wasn't sure what but she sensed that there was something amiss.

Was she still not used to the bed? Was the heat to blame? It did feel surprisingly warmer compared to the other days. She remembered asking the servants to tone down the scents. Or was her mind playing tricks on her?

It was right then that all her thoughts froze and she opened her eyes.
What was greeting her was not something she expected.

"Good morning Arturia!"

With a shriek, Arturia bolted up, her eyes were wide open in complete shock.
"E-Enkidu?!" She stammered. "What are you doing here? Why are you in a state of undress?!"

For some reason, Enkidu lay next to her with nothing but sheets covering them. They did not seem fazed at all to her utter astonishment.

"I always sleep naked," they replied nonchalantly.

Arturia was speechless for a whole second, but a sudden groan from the other side snapped her out of her reverie.

"You have a lot of nerve to make so much noise at this time."

Arturia could not remember what happened afterwards. One moment she was still in the bed and the next one she was standing as far as she could away from Gilgamesh and Enkidu, almost bumping into the lion behind her. She let out a shriek before she finally found her voice.

"What is the meaning of this?!"
It was almost impossible for the woman to control her voice. She finally realised that she was not in her chambers and deduced, from Enkidu and Gilgamesh's presence, that she was probably the King's quarters. But why was she there? And why was Enkidu there? She quickly glanced at herself and to her surprise—and relief— she was still fully clothed, albeit in an attire fit for sleeping.

"You fell unconscious last night, so I decided to be merciful and brought you to my private chambers." Gilgamesh let out a yawn. He did not seem bothered by her reaction.

"Why couldn't you leave me in my own chambers?!" Arturia hollered.

"Because I did not feel like doing so."

"Arturia, you should rest a bit more. You still look a bit pale," Enkidu suggested. They looked at her worriedly.

"No, thank you. I have rested more than enough." Arturia replied immediately. She was planning to quickly leave and search for her room, but she almost tripped on the lion behind her. The lazy beast was still on the same spot and refused to move.

"Ah, be careful—!" Enkidu warned.

"Please, just stay there and keep yourself covered!" The woman quickly voiced her thoughts, she did not dare to look at any of the two and quickly averted her gaze in embarrassment.

Arturia's behaviour did not escape Gilgamesh and a mirthful grin appeared on his face. "Oh, and why should Enkidu do that? I get to decide what happens here."

He slowly got up and walked closer to the flustered woman, his grin widening when Arturia looked away. "There is no need for you to be embarrassed. While it is understandable for a woman like you to be completely speechless by my presence, as my bride you have the privilege to admire me as often as you wish."

Gilgamesh easily towered over the young knight. His eyes peered through his bangs as he observed her. However, before he could say or do anything else a pillow hit him in the face.

The action was so sudden that the King blanked out for a few seconds until another one hit him.

"I am not in the mood to have any meaningless arguments or games with you!"
Arturia had thrown the first thing she saw at Gilgamesh's face, which was the pillow. Her face was seething red from both anger and embarrassment.

While Arturia continued her outburst by throwing any insignificant thing she could find, Enkidu watched the unexpected turn of events from their seat. They had no plans to intervene, but in the end, they started to feel pity, mostly towards Marduk. While he was not happy with the disturbance, the lion still did nothing about it aside from getting up and moving away from the noise.

Enkidu got up and restrained Arturia by grabbing her by the waist. "You're making too much commotion, please calm down."

"Enkidu, please release me this instant!" Her tone slowly changed from cold and collected to uncontrollable anger.

"I can't do that, you might break something and hurt yourself."

"If there's something I will break, it will be that conceited man's nose after I'm done with him!"

The bickering continued and while no one noticed it, Gilgamesh had recovered from his previous shock and after watching Arturia and Enkidu's unorthodox struggle, silently began to chuckle. It started as merely audible, but it quickly grew louder until he could not take it anymore and ended up clutching his stomach in mad laughter. Despite the loud wake-up call he got, the morning turned out to be surprisingly amusing.

The combined sound of the King's laughter, Arturia's arguments and Enkidu's warning did not go unnoticed. Not soon after, the door opened a few servants along with two guards entered the chambers. They froze and could not help but stare when they witnessed the odd sight.

The whole room went silent until a servant recovered from the shock. "M-My apologies for bothering you, my King. I tried to knock but no one answered and then I heard the noise. I was afraid something had happened."

Gilgamesh stood up having calmed down a bit he gave the servant a nod, "I will forgive you this one time for your transgressions since I am in such a good mood. Tell the other servants that breakfast shall be served in my quarters. Now prepare the bath," he commanded.

Gilgamesh glanced at the two guards. "You two are dismissed, go back to your post."

The servants and guards nodded and quickly left.
Gilgamesh combed his hands through his hair before he turned his attention go Enkidu and Arturia who silently watched the words of exchange, Arturia getting even more confused and speechless.

A grin appeared on his face when he came up with an idea, and he approached the two unsuspecting figures. Gilgamesh and Enkidu locked gazes, a short exchange of silent words took place.

"I will take my bath now, you are welcome to join me," he announced.

Then before leaving he turned his attention on the still speechless Arturia and, out of the blue, leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.