The Iudex's day off

Chapter 9 - Warden with a mission

 And that's true, but...

 Archons! This is embarrassing to the extreme!

 And just like that, all the arguments I spent the day thinking about, all the insults I had in store for him just slipped right out of my mind.

 In the end, we both ended up sitting across from Lady Furina.

 "So... Neuvillette, the ever-serious Neuvillette, told you to behave?" She asked.

 She sounded rather amused and I honestly couldn't blame her.

 "I merely warned him against punching the seal I placed on the Primordial Sea. Besides, I do the same for the girls from time to time." Neuvillette said calmly.

 "The melusines are pretty much your children, Neuvillette. Duke Wriothesely is, in human terms, a full-grown adult."

 A long silence ensued after this comment and just as I thought that he finally understood...

 "Do I have to remind you that I was forced to do the same for you as well, Lady Furina?"

 The archon's face turned completely red in an instant.

 "Neu-vil-litte! What nonsense are you spouting?!"

 "Last time when you-"

 "Shut your mouth this instant!" She shouted.

 And just like that the room fell silent once again.

 Is this how the two interact outside the Opera?

 No matter how I look at it, Neuvillette is treating our archon like a misbehaving child.

 Wait.

 Was he treating me like a kid as well this morning?

 Lady Furina suddenly jumped up.

 "I'm leaving."

 And with that, she ran off towards the door only to be stopped by a wall of water.

 "Leave the box."

 "No."

 "Leave it."

 "No!"

 "Furina."

 Her name came out more like a low growl and I could see the archon stiffen.

 With the snap of her fingers, a box appeared on the counter.

 "Happy now?"

 "I will be once you place the original contents back inside."

 And she did eventually, but not before grumbling about how rude and unmannered Neuvillette was to speak to an archon as such.

 When she did eventually leave, Neuvillette just sighed as he picked up the box.

 "So, what's in it?" I asked.

 "Primordial Seawater."

 "Of course it Primordial- What?!"

 He said it so matter of factly that at first I just nodded along but...

 "Why the hell do you even have that?! No, wait! How do you have that?!"

 No. Actually, never mind.

 If it's him it would be all that weird if he had a bottle of Primordial Seawater.

 Hell. 

 I wouldn't be surprised if he could drink it.

 Instead of answering he brought the box toward the other side of the room, coming still in front of a painting.

 Now that I take a better look at it, that painting was handing off the wall a bit crooked.

 Really?

 Neuvillette, THE Neuvillette, hangs his paintings up tilted?

 He took the painting down to reveal a safe.

 Hmm...

 That safe is pretty scratched up.

 Did someone try to steal from the Chief Justice of all people?

 As I was thinking this, I saw him frown, and right after an intimidating wave of power swept through the house.

 "Girls! Come here this instant!" He shouted.

 Neuvillette sounded angry.

 To be exact, he sounded incredibly pissed.

 I found myself frozen in place, unable to move a muscle.

 This was the first time I had seen him this angry.

 No...

 This was the first time I had truly seen him angry at all.

 I've seen him mildly annoyed or a bit bothered, but...

 Angry?

 No, never.

 The girls were downstairs in an instant, none of them daring to make a sound as Neuvillette glared at them.

 "When I allowed you inside my house for the duration of your recovery, what was the one rule that I made?"

 Silence.

 "What was it?!"

 Another wave of power swept through the room.

 This time, a small voice sounded from within the group.

 "Don't touch the safe."

 Oh...

 It seems like this won't end well.

 "Right. Don't touch the safe. That is the ONE SINGLE rule I have in place and someone went and broke it. It could have been neither Furina nor Wriothesely as I keep an eye on both of them every second of their stay, so if I don't hear exactly touched it, I will personally bring every single one of you, including the ones that have already gone back to work, right back to Merusea Village for the next decade the very least!" 

 He completely exploded and at the melusines of all people.

 The sweet little creatures he cared about the most.

 At this point...

 "Neuvillette."

 I felt the need to intervene.

 "Neuvillette, that's enough."