When it finally came out, Arthur waited for shock and betrayal to rush over him at the thought that his trusted manservant, his beloved friend, was a sorcerer, his most hated enemy, only -

Nothing.

None of the feelings that Arthur should have felt upon finding out that his friend had been lying to him all these years manifested within him, despite all logic demanding that they should have.

That was when Arthur knew that deep within his heart, he had already known. The strange luck that he always had whenever Merlin was around, the conveniently falling branches, the tripping upraised roots, the weapons of enemies that always got stuck whenever Arthur was in a bind, the way that Merlin's eyes sometimes flare gold in certain lighting even when it was night, Merlin's ability to spark a fire with even the dampest of wood, the odd glimpse and feeling of something more that Arthur sometimes got when Merlin smiled in a mysterious way and spoke cryptic words with odd wisdom, the time Merlin grinned strangely confidently in face of Arthur's goading before opening with a flourish to reveal a dice combination that should by all means have been impossib -

"MERLIN!"

A/N: This had been on my mind for a while, the idea that somewhere deep within Arthur's heart, he had always known that Merlin was a sorcerer. All the hints were there, even if he wasn't willing to acknowledge it. Hence, when everything actually came out into the open, Arthur somehow wasn't surprised to find himself not surprised.

Then, I was watching the fun scene where Merlin was playing dice against Arthur and my thought process was literally, "Whelp, Arthur's going to be so pissed when he finds out how exactly did Merlin manage to win." Because honestly, that's the only thing that matters. Who cares that Merlin had magic. How dare he cheats with it against Arthur, lol!