The Iudex's day off

Chapter 29 - Eyes full of fury

 That's obviously not what I meant!

 Suddenly, he lifted his head and frowned. Then without another word, he put away all of his papers.

 It was at that exact moment that I heard a small noise from downstairs.

 "That was incredibly dangerous, Your Grace! How could a plan like this seem like a good idea to you?"

 There were a thousand more complaints such as those thrown around by the time Duke Wriothesely and two of his close subordinates walked up the stairs.

 "Hahh... You two... Please... Enough." The Duke groaned.

 Without giving them another chance to speak, he turned to Neuvillette.

 "Had fun?"

 "Fun?"

 "I see he's awake."

 "Ah... Right, he indeed is."

 We. Just. Spoke!

 Why did you say that like you just realized?

 "Not fun, then?"

 "What fun is there to have in the company of someone I barely managed not to kill?" Neuvillette asked bluntly.

 The f*ck?

 "You're a bit too open about your thoughts, Chief Justice. Are you not afraid that rumors would come of it." Duke Wriothesely asked teasingly in return.

 "Even if it were to leak, which I doubt it would, my words would put me in no trouble at all. After all, what would they convict me of? Having murderous thoughts?"

 "Attempted murder?"

 "Attempted murder, my dear Duke, is not something you will ever see me get charged with. If I ever attempted to kill someone, it is unlikely I would fail. Now, there was not even an attempt, and as such no charges would stick."

 Duke Wriothesely instantly burst out laughing when he heard that.

 "Pfft! Hahahaha! You- Pfft! Neuvillete, you're really... Pfft! Hahahaha!"

 Looking somewhat confused, Neuvillette turned to the Duke's two subordinates, who were barely holding back their laughter.

 "Did I say something wrong?"

 And that's all it took for those two to start laughing as well.

 This...

 This is what Fontaine's Iudex is like in private?

 What the hell?!

 This is the person whose presence had been a thorn in our side since we started our plans?!

 This is-

 Our eyes met.

 !

 !!

 Mo-

 Mon-

 Monster!

~

 3rd Person POV

 The poor Duke was nearly frightened to death when Mallory suddenly backed up against the wall with a scream.

 His eyes were open wide and filled completely with fear.

 He followed the frightened man's line of sight only to arrive at-

 "Neuvillette?"

 "Yes?"

 The dragon looked up, his eyes filled with confusion and a hint of annoyance.

 "Did you perhaps-"

 "This is not my doing. I also have no idea what has happened to him."

 This...

 This was the first time Neuvillette lied to Wriothesely with not just the intention to simply mislead and misdirect, like before, but clear and conscious intent to deceive.

 This time he had every intention to fool the Duke.

 As unlike Wriothesely, who could only see a pair of dark blue eyes, Mallory...

 Mallory could see something much, much darker.

 When he locked eyes with a dragon, he found himself deep within the dark seas, drowning.

 He felt like he was drowning, suffocating within the depts.

 And below him, or was it perhaps above or around, appeared the dark figure of a creature.

 A beast big enough to crush all of Fontaine with a single flick of its tail.

 It seemed to be everywhere, circling him like prey.

 As in the and, that's what he was.

 Nothing but prey in the eyes of such an existence.

 Perhaps he wasn't even worth being called as such.

 Wriothesely, however...

 Wriothesely saw nothing more than a pair of gentle eyes filled with confusion.

 A flawless mask of innocence.

 One that even Furina, who had known the dragon for hundreds of years wouldn't discover.

 A mask that hides seemingly endless wrath towards the man who dared to plot to injure one whom the dragon considered dear.

 But Wriothesely would never know.

 And he would not believe the words of the man who screamed to be saved from the monster that lurks in the depths of an ancient sea.

A man who confessed all he knew, begging to be thrown into a cell so deeply hidden that he may be forgotten.

 He would not know of the nightmares that haunted the man who had plotted to kill him.

 Dreams of endlessly drowning under the watchful gaze of an ancient beast.

 So deep within the endless sea, that the only light he could see would be that pair of shining blue eyes that seemed to look down at his very existence.