Mallory's POV
It hurt.
My head, my hand...
Ugh!
"If you're awake then open your eyes." A cold and emotionless voice sounded.
I could recognize that voice.
Almost anyone in Fontain would recognize that voice.
I slowly opened my eyes and sure enough...
Neuvillette was sitting on the small couch to the side of the room, working on some paperwork.
I strained my hands a bit, feeling them tied behind my back.
They were cuffed.
Good.
Cuffs I can undo.
But when I tried to-
"Argh!"
"Behave yourself."
A formless energy surrounded me, keeping me from even attempting to move a muscle.
He still didn't look up though, continuing his work as if nothing else was happening in the room.
This damn stuck up-
"Well if it isn't the Chief Justice. What brings someone so high and mighty as yourself to such a dirty place?"
This time, he finally reacted.
He put down the papers in his hands and looked at me.
God-
Wha-
What-
What's that?!
His whole body was radiating danger and my own was screaming for me to run, to get out of here as fast as I could.
But his eyes-
Like an unstoppable tsunami.
If I stay here in a room with him-
I'll die!
I'll surely die!
The Duke!
Where is Duke Wriothesely?!
I looked around the room, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"The Duke has gone to fetch some people to handle your matters."
Surprisingly, an explanation came from Neuvillette.
Damn, useless guy!
Never around when you need him!
"I have to advise you to stop cursing the Duke and Meropide in my presence, even if just in thought. You see, I found myself liking both and I don't fancy others cursing what I like."
And he went right back to work.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
And...
What the f*ck?!
"You like Duke Wriothesely?"
Was that the reason he erased all his criminal records?
"If I didn't find his company the least bit pleasant, I would not have come here."
Argh!
How can anyone stay sane having a conversation with this guy?!
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.