𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 - Wriothesley x Neuvillette

The dissipating stage (Chapter 11)

When they got back to Palais Memoria, Neuvillette handed the man over to the Liath, a trusted Melusine and a member of the Marechaussee Phantom. He led the Duke to his office, where they both sat down. They looked at each other, none of them wanted to speak first.

"Who was that man, your grace?"

"Oh, so now we're talking business, monsieur?"

"Wriothesley."

"I don't know who he was."

"You clearly did. Who was that man?"

"Just a guy I used to know."

"Just tell me his identity and how you know him."

"Can't do, monsieur. There are very few people I wouldn't tell you about, but I'm not gonna snitch on him. You'll have to get his name from his mouth."

"If you aren't going to be of any help, leave."

"Giving me the cold shoulder now?"

"I don't have time to chat with you, your grace. I need answers."

Wriothesley stood up. Their eyes locked for a second, and he hesitated.

"You want me to trust you with information about him, but I couldn't even trust you with bringing me justice."

"You're seriously bringing that up now?"

"Yes. I expected to find your notes in my case files, but it appears you really did nothing-"

"I removed my notes before giving you the files." Wriothesley's eyes widened, and he looked at Neuvillette surprised. He thought the Iudex hadn't done anything.

"Can I see?" He asked.

Neuvilette stood up and went over to look through some files. He found the ones he was looking for and took his notes out. He handed them to Wriothesley, who stared at the absurdly big stack of papers in disbelief. Did he really do that much work back then?Wriothesley took the papers and flipped through them.

"May I take them with me?"

"No, I've signed them, and they're confidential. I can't let you take them out of this room. In case they get lost."

"Can I come back and read them another time then?"

"Sure." Neuvillette said, he certainly didn't mind seeing Wriothesley again.

Wriothesley handed the papers back to Neuvillette, who put them away again.

"Where did they take him? The police detention center?"

"Yes, why?" Neuvillette asked, but Wriothesley only smiled and shook his head.

"No reason, good day, monsieur."

But there was a reason. Wriothesley left Neuvillette's office and went outside of Palais Memoria. He immediately began walking to the Police detention center, with every intention of breaking the law. His heart was beating faster than it should, and he tried to calm himself down, but with no luck. He was not really prepared to face him again, but he had to. He went inside the Police detention center and requested to see the man who had held a gun to his head just a few hours earlier. No one questioned him. With his title and position, he was able to walk right into the cell and even make the guards leave them alone.

"How are you, Matheo?"

"Not so well, Wriothesley, how about you?"

"I've certainly improved."

"Yes, indeed you have. You're the duke of the fortress of Meropide now. Seems my plan to send you down there and ruin your lift didn't quite work."

"No. It didn't."

"Tell me, Wriothesley, why are you here? Perhaps to get revenge? If you kill me here, you'll just end up getting locked up again."

Wriothesley chuckled, "No, I'm not here to kill you... yet. But I would like my name cleared, and I would like to see you finally sentenced for what you did."

"It was five years ago, no one cares."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I was you. Now, you will confess everything you did. You will clear my name."

"Or what?"

"I will rip your throat out."

"My, my, always so violent."

Wriothesley grabbed Matheo by the throat, lifted him, and brought him close. He glared right into the man's eyes and, in a low voice, filled with pure hatred, he spoke, "If you want to ever see the sun again, you will cooperate."

"And what do I get out of it?"

"If you help me collect evidence and you go to court with me and confess everything, I will break you out of here, and even if you're caught and sent to Meropide, I'll simply let you go.""Hah, you're willing to risk your job and reputation just for that?"

"I don't want justice. I crave it, and I will get it." 

Wriothesley and Mateo spoke a while longer before both stood up. They shook hands, and Wriothesley left the cell, knowing it wouldn't be long before they would see each other again.  He did think about how this would affect Neuvillette and if he should have discussed it with him first, but at that moment, he simply didn't care. Neuvillette hadn't helped him back then, and he certainly wouldn't help him now either. It was time to take matters into his own hands.

When word got out about a criminal disappearing from the Police detention center, all eyes were immediately on Neuvillette. Some were asking him questions, and some were blaming him for it. Because no one could escape without him noticing, so he must have been behind it. Suddenly Neuvillette was even more overworked than normal, and people would just not leave him alone.

He often didn't leave Palais Memoria, but now he literally couldn't. Some reporters had made a big deal out of it, and he couldn't walk the streets of Fontaine without people either trying to interrogate him or yelling slurs at him, saying he wasn't worthy of being the Iudex when he didn't follow the law himself. Neuvillette was beyond confused, and he had no clue what was going on or how the man had escaped right under his nose, but he had to figure it out. He didn't want people to follow through with their threats. It would just be an awful lot of trouble. He didn't even notice how much the situation affected him before the sky clouded and rain began pouring down. It rained constantly, and Neuvillette knew that whoever had done this would pay for it. Even he couldn't deny that this was not just frustrating but it hurt. Even he couldn't handle the hatred of so many.

In the last chapter i thanked y'all for over 1k. 1,6k to be exact. Now I'm looking at 2,8k. Thank you so much, this is ridiculous. To be clear, i haven't written fanfiction or anything else before, and i did not expect anyone to want to read this. Thank you, have a lovely day/night.