The Iudex's day off

Chapter 5 - The storm an archon brings

 Ah...

 And that's my fault again.

 I allowed him to play around with the girls and then even offered him breakfast without asking for his opinion first. I must have delayed him terribly.

 "I-"

 "Please don't apologize again. I didn't say that to make you feel guilty. I enjoyed both the time spent with the girls and the absolutely delicious breakfast, so please stop with the apologies." He interrupted me.

 Fine. Fine.

 "And am I really that untrustworthy?" He suddenly asked in a joking tone.

 "Excuse me?"

 "I did not, and will not leave him alone with them even if the sky collapses." He repeated my words back to me.

 Ah...

 I said that mostly to calm Furina, but...

 "Did I perhaps..."

 Hurt him?

 "You're probably overthinking things again. I'm not hurt or offended. But seriously? Even if the sky collapses?"

 This guy...

 "You're one to be extremely straightforward and direct, aren't you, Your Grace?"

 "I sure am."

 "Then allow me, just this once and no more to be just as blunt. You are highly unlikely to earn enough of my trust in your lifetime for me to leave you alone with the girls when they are sick and vulnerable. This goes for you, for Lady Furina, and just about the rest of the people in Teyvat." I told him frankly.

 Leaving Sigewinne in his care on the fortress is one thing and the current situation is another.

Writhesely's POV

 Wow...

 He did say that rather bluntly.

 I was totally not expecting that but on second thought, it wasn't unlike him.

 "If you wish you can say a few more words to the little ones, but I have to advise you to go back to the fortress, or at least away from here as soon as possible. The time for which I can distract Lady Furina is limited." 

 I barely held back a chuckle, but I at least managed to nod.

 "Then I will say goodbye and slip out as quietly as possible. I wish you an uneventful talk, Monsieur."

 He let out a sound that almost sounded like a painful grunt, but if he was indeed so annoyed by the archon's presence, it couldn't be seen on him.

 "I wish you a most pleasant day as well, Duke Wriothesely." He nodded before grabbing a few plates of sweets and some still warm tea no doubt prepared for this exact moment and going back towards the living room.

 Just before leaving thought, he turned back around.

 "Before I forget, I left you something on the kitchen counter, Your Grace. You may do with it as you wish. And..."

 He hesitated for a moment but then with his usual blank face said:

 "Rest assured, if the sky were to collapse you would not need to worry about whether or not I would leave the little ones in your care, Your Grace."

 "Huh?"

 "We would all be too dead to worry." And with that, he left.

 ...

 What the hell?

 Was that supposed to be reassuring?

 "Pfft! Hahahaha!"

 This time I really couldn't hold back a laugh.

 To say something like that with a straight face and so much seriousness.

 Perhaps only our dear Chief Justice can do it.

 Leaving Neuvillette to deal with Lady Furina whose complaints were growing louder by the second, I left to say goodbye to the girls.

 Against my better judgment, I eventually promised not just Sigewinne, but rather all of them that I would once again visit and that I would make sure to bring some sweets.

 When they told me to keep it a secret, I really started to hope that I would not have to face the Iudex's anger for feeding the children too many sweets but that is a problem for another day.

 I also managed to find out why they had been so excited about the white chocolate and strawberry candy.

 Apparently, Neuvillette promised them that when he acquired white chocolate, he would bake them a certain cake they absolutely adore.

 As for the strawberry candy...

 "It somehow tasted better when we get it from him."

 "Right! We tried buying it ourselves but it's just not the same."

 Well, that's most likely because it's not every day you can get candy from the Chief Justice, but I wisely kept this to myself.

 On my way out I remembered what Neuvillette had said about leaving me something in the kitchen.

 When I went over I found a lunchbox considerably larger than those he gave to the melusines with two notes on top.

 The first note only held my name, but the second...

 "Pfft!"

 Force of habit?

 The second note read:

 Be good and eat your lunch. Be sure to be back for dinner and don't do anything reckless.

 He definitely wrote this out of habit after likely writing twenty-three similar notes for the girls but I couldn't help but chuckle.

 "I wonder what would happen if I showed up around dinner time with this note in hand."

 I was incredibly tempted to try, but even just thinking about doing something so dumb should come only after I've finished my work for the day.

 Sigh...

 "And back to the paperwork I go."