Seeing no reaction from her, Arthur let out a chuckle but his stoned expression didn't change. He released her hands, slowly get up while saying:

"I know you, Lucy… you would not try to trick me over something simple."

His eyes never left hers, his attention wholly focused on her. Her expression was neither cold nor angry, she just looked back without saying anything.

"From your walk to your voice, I can recognize anything with a glance. Did you really think whatever you used will fool me? Why? Didn't we promise to go through everything together?"

He took a step closer to her, his head inches away from hers.

"Thinking about it, there are not many things that will push you to do something extreme. It's either related to you, Saly… or me? Tell me, Lucy."

She remained unfazed as she retreated and spoke with angry tone:

"I don't know what you're talking about. You must be mistaking me for someone else."

She turned around and was about to leave only for Arthur to say

"Fine… let's see how long you can keep that act."

Her steps momentarily halted, her head slightly turned, glancing at him. He wasn't about to forcefully stop her and, instead, took out the sword given to him by Timos.

The thing Lucy hates seeing the most is Arthur getting hurt hence her overprotecting behavior and over-the-top jealousy.

"You know what this is, right? Our dear 'friend' gifted me this. You were there so you know what it is capable of."

Without hesitation, he held it with both of his hands and pointed the tip toward his chest. The woman's expression, she tried to act quickly but Arthur acted without any hesitation, stabbing his chest with the normal-looking sword.

Even though he has an incredible defense, the blade easily cut through everything and even damaged his insides, instantly disturbing the flow of Energy inside his body. A lot of blood gushed out of his chest as he fell onto his knees, all bloodied and choking on the scarlet and bitter liquid.

Lucy, who didn't think he'll do such a suicidal thing, panicked as her face turned as pale as a sheet of paper. She dashed toward him and held his body, which couldn't handle the injury and fell on the ground.

Thanks to the pain immunity, there was no agony, however, the self-inflicted injury was truly fatal.

"W-what are you doing?!"

She pressed her hands on the bloody wound while looking at him, demanding an explanation. For a moment, he was unable to reply but he felt, inwardly, he felt relieved when he saw her reaction. He was sure that she was Lucy and this suicidal move brought everything to light.

His shaky hand slowly rose in the air and grasped hers, his face containing a serene smile. Not long after that, he fell unconscious but right when that happened, orange flames rose from his the injury and enveloped him, healing the injury within seconds and getting rid of the sword, which was still stuck there.

The Vermillion Bird's rare healing skill was activated by Arthur right before his consciousness was lost. Although he was back to his normal state not even five minutes later, Arthur didn't wake up, which made Lucy restless. She forgot about the plan and ignored everything around her, her eyes never leaving her husband.

When she noticed that he seemed to be sleeping while tightly clutching her hand, she calmed down and moved to a safer and more isolated location… of course, while bringing him with her.

..

When Arthur woke up, he felt something soft under his head, which he soon discovered that it's Lucy's lap. He turned his head and saw a silver-haired woman look back at him, her face slightly flushed and her eyes wet and a bit swollen, probably due to crying for a long time.

"See, I was right."

As she saw him smile cheekily, she retracted her feet, causing his head to fall on the ground. She stood up, patted her the dust off her clothes and seemed about to leave.

Arthur also got up and spoke again:

"Are perhaps mad? Really? In this situation, I should be the one wh-"

Before he got to finish his sentence, he was harshly slapped by an angry-looking Lucy.

"Why did you do that!"

He saw her half-furious half-sad expression, something that is very rare to see. This time, he chose to maintain silence, neither apologizing nor demanding an explanation for her actions.

Lucy looked at him, her eyes soon welling up with tears and her berating voice choking up. As he saw her in this state, Arthur was reminded of the past, his expression turning into that of guilt. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulders, hugging her tightly in a way that she can't escape his grasp.

"Come now, why are you crying? I'm not dead right? I'm in a perfect shape…"

****

While their two partners were looking for them, Arthur and Lucy remained in that secluded location. The two sat next to each other and talked, like they always did.

Seeing no purpose in hiding the truth after being discovered, Lucy recounted what happened to her after she left Riarravar. How she got recruited to Black Rose and the real reason behind her disguise, which turned out to be not-so-successful, after all.

"So Sol'Khin is hiding inside my brother and they want to force him out using the orb then kill him?"

"Yes, one he's out, he'll control Leiu's body so they needed a lot of experienced fighters."

"And how many people are there, besides you."

"The Black Seat, the Grey Seat, G'am Tir, 'X', and the Void Behemoth. They are the ones I know but there could be more. I seem to have met one of the hidden ones but I can't seem to remember…"

Lucy held her head and tried her best but she couldn't remember the person whom she encountered on the 2nd floor.

"What about the Joker? Did he agree to help?"

"From what Forne said, he only agreed to let them try. He said that he won't act against his brother no matter what."

Lucy looked at Arthur's serious expression, wondering what he's thinking. After a brief silence, she asked:

"… what will you do?"

Arthur chuckled, lifted his head and stared at the clear blue sky while speaking:

"You know, we three once brawled to determine who should be the older brother. It's kind of a stupid way as we didn't use our real powers but it was fair and we swore to respect the results, no matter what they were. I came last and Wolfram was second… Leiu beat us black and blue and ever since that day, we showed him the respect he deserved. Since Wolfram decided not to do anything then, as the youngest brother, should do the same."