The Iudex's day off

Chapter 28 - Answers (or not)

 "It was destroyed." He said flatly.

 "Excuse me?"

 "All of the evidence of your crime was destroyed just an hour before your hearing."

 "What?"

 How?

 In hundreds of years, there has been never such a mishap. To happen for mine in particular-

 Wait.

 "How exactly did it get destroyed?"

 And sure enough, he once again avoided my eyes.

 "Neuvillette."

 "It was a broken pipe."

 "What kind of pipe?"

 "The one for the heating."

 Well, he was being awfully elusive.

 Still...

 "So one transporting water then?"

 He flinched.

 "Did you-"

 "It wasn't intentional."

 "So you did do it."

 "As I said, it was an accident."

 "An accident?"

 Just how did you manage to accidentally destroy all the evidence related to my case?

 "I wasn't in the best mood to begin with and then Furina came to me with some nonsensical thing. It angered me and my emotional instability influenced the water pressure within the pipes, causing one of them to burst." He explained.

 Or at least tried to.

 That explanation was so full of holes that even a child would laugh at the absurdity if someone dared to say it in court.

 For someone who has been Iudex for hundreds of years, this reasoning was incredibly flawed.

 "A solid metal pipe just burst because of a change in water pressure?"

 "Yes."

 "It just so happened to be next to the evidence for my case as well."

 "Yes."

 "And the water was so hot it destroyed everything?"

 "Yes."

 "It melted a steel gauntlet?"

 "Yes."

 "Are you aware of how absurd you sound?"

 I'm impressed that you managed to say that with a straight face.

 He didn't even flinch.

  He sighed, falling back on the couch as he covered his face.

 "Yes." He mumbled through his fingers.

 "Neuvillette-"

 "I'm sorry."

 "What?"

 What the hell are you sorry for this time?

 "It wasn't my place to meddle in your affairs. I let my emotions get the better of me and crossed a line I shouldn't have."

 Oh, good god! This stupid dragon!

 "You don't-"

 "You said if I didn't tell you then I would be breaking the trust you placed in me, but I already did so back then. I broke the trust you, no, the trust all the people in Fontaine had placed in me. Trust that I will always be impartial."

 Ah.

 There it is.

 That's the root of the problem.

 "You're not frustrated because you felt like I didn't belong in prison, you're frustrated because you acted on that feeling."

 He let out a soft sound that seemed like confirmation.

 "I acted out on my emotions and Furina took the blame for it." He mumbled.

 "Pardon? Lady Furina?"

 How does she fit in here?

 "The official explanation is that she got angry during our conversation and blew the pipe."

 So that's why I heard nothing about the incident. She probably ordered for it to be kept secret.

 There is still one thing though.

 "That doesn't really explain everything, Neuvillette."

 "What else could there possibly be?" a frustrated growl slipped past his lips.

 "What happened to my criminal record?" I repeated my initial question.

 Even though we had gone through a lot of secrets, the question we started with still hadn't been answered.

 Neuvillette, who seemed to be thinking that since he already started throwing around his secrets he might as well finish it, finally answered the question.

 "I had it erased."

 A short, on-point, and straightforward answer.

 "Excuse me?"

 I was somewhat expecting it from what Mallory had said, but I definitely didn't expect him to just throw it out in the open like that.

 "To be exact, I asked Furina to get rid of it. All of it. Every single record, news article, or simple note, no matter how small."

 "Why though?"

 "Someone angered me, alright. I was angry, I acted out, that's it." He snapped.

 So what? You just randomly erase other people's criminal records when you're pissed?

 Just what on Teyvad managed to piss him off in the first place?

 There were at least tens of questions I wanted answered still, but I knew better than to ask them now.

 He already looks like he's at his limit.

 No, looking at how he snapped at me just now, he may be past it.

 And sure enough...

 "Enough of this. We still have to handle the matter at hand. If you wish to ask useless questions about the past, you shall have to wait and ask them later."

 He was right back to work mode.

 And we both know no questions are getting answered later either.

 At least not by Neuvillette.

 Furina, however...

 I might actually have a chance on that side.

~

~

Hahaha!

 I finally figured out how to actually start the romance part!

 If everything goes to plan it should start around Chapter 30, but don't count on it.

 This took me so long to figure out!

 I've been thinking about this since like Chapter 5! I can't believe it'll take 30+ chapters to get there.