Wriothesley's POV
I have made a major miscalculation!
No.
That is actually an understatement.
I f*cked up big time!
Ah!
Damn it!
Today was Saturday.
Usually, I would have dropped Sigewinne off at Navia's place, but some urgent new information that could, as she put it, be a matter of life and death, had come up in one of the cases she was working on and she had to cancel.
As such, I was forced to bring Sigewinne to work with me.
Luckily for me, today I only had to file some paperwork related to yesterday's matter and I could go home.
Or so I thought.
What the hell is this?!
I had three giant piles of paperwork dropped on my desk.
At least Sigewinne wouldn't be bored working on that test Neuvillette had given her.
The test I found out was one of last year's LSATs.
...
Neuvillette! What the hell are you giving my daughter?!
She's six years old for god's sake!
Still, this has yet to become my biggest predicament of the day.
What has me freaking out is-
"Wriothesley. That annoying- Mr. Neuvillette is looking for you. Apparently, you have something of his" One of my colleagues quickly told me before running off.
That.
Damn it!
The car keys!
Who the hell would have thought he would come to pick them up himself?!
I thought he would send Alhaitham or something.
Does he not know that half the people in this building have explicit murder plans written on a piece of paper hidden in their locker?!
Some are not even hidden!
A group bought a giant whiteboard to make elaborate plans and hung it in the conference room!
Fortunately, Clorinde had taken Sigewinne away for lunch.
If she was here the chaos would have been bigger.
Naturally, as soon as I exited my office all eyes were still on me.
I caught the first person walking by by the collar, ignoring the stares.
"Where is he."
I didn't have to specify who I was talking about.
"He's in the conference room."
...
"Who led him to the conference room?"
"Amalie did." He answered.
"And you guys didn't stop her?!"
F*ck!
Amalie had been out on an assignment for a few weeks! She didn't know about the whiteboard!
"Did you guys at least remove the damn whiteboard from the room?" I forced out.
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that ensued.
The words 'oh sh*t' were written on everyone's face.
I quickly rushed to the conference room, hoping that the board was at least covered up.
But of course, why would it be?
Why would the heavens spare me the awkwardness?
I found Neuvillette sitting by the large table in the middle of the room staring right at the board.
As if that hadn't been enough, he wasn't even alone. Two children around 16 years old were right next to the damn thing pointing things out on it.
"Look, Monsieur! This one seems fun!" The boy pointed to a line on the board.
"I do not think getting slowly burned by flames is all that fun, Lyney." The girl next to him deadpanned.
"It is still better than what you found Lynette! What was it? Drowning in paperwork? I would rather be burned to death."
Neuvillette chuckled at their words and I wished I could just drop death right then and there.
Oh god!
What the hell have those bastards been writing up there?!
My horrified shock was apparently audible somewhat as all three of them turned to me at the same time.
"Ah, Mr. Wriothesley. I'm sorry to be a bother. I hope I did not disturb you too much."
As he greeted me the smile he showed the children completely disappeared.
I couldn't help but find it a pity.
...
Damn!
What the hell Wriothesley?!
What is he? Your boyfriend?
Why would you care whether or not he smiles at you?!
I quickly threw these thoughts to the side and donned a more polite expression.
"You've merely given me a chance to get away from my paperwork, Mr. Neuvillette. I assume you are here for your car keys?"
As I asked this I was already reaching into my pocket for the keys.
"Yes, I am indeed. I would not have bothered you for it during your work hours had the booster seats not been left in the car."
"Not that we need them." The boy commented on the side.
"You will use them till I deem you tall enough to sit without." Neuvillette snapped at him sternly.
I have a feeling this isn't the first time they are having this conversation.
"Ah! Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce you. Mr. Wriothesley, these are Lyney and Lynette. Kids this is-"
"Someone who works with crazy people." Lynnette mumbled softly, taking another glance at the whiteboard.
Fair enough. That one was totally deserved after they saw that.
"Lynette." Neuvillette warned.
"My apologies."
"It is alright. And Mr. Neuvillette... That board..."
How should I even say this?
Hey, sorry about the giant whiteboard full of ways my colleagues wish to kill you?
Yeah...
That isn't the best idea.
But that doesn't mean I can just do nothing.
"Oh, please, Mr. Wriothesley. After looking into it a bit, I deem that about... 1/5 of those are actually justified. As for the other 4/5... I'm more than willing to act as if I saw nothing as long as you do the same for the fact that Lyney just swiped your wallet."
As he spoke his gaze slowly shifted over to the boy who pulled my wallet out of his pocket with an awkward laugh.
Neuvillette was smiling but it might have been less frightening if he glared at him.
"I was going to give it back." Lyney tried to defend himself.
"You should not have taken it in the first place."
I could barely hold back a laugh as the kid handed my wallet back with an utterly defeated look.
"What would the director think if she knew that you were picking pockets again?"
"It was just a joke-"
"She will probably be incredibly disappointed. I believe you promised last time that the incident would not repeat itself." Neuvillette continued.
"That- I- I'm sorry! I won't happen again!"
He looked like he was about to cry and it didn't look like Neuvillette was gonna let up his stern attitude.
"Neither of you will be getting any ice cream after your lesson. I say neither because Lynette, you clearly saw what he was up to and didn't say anything. Sibling loyalty or not, I will not have you stealing in front of my face."
This time I really couldn't help but interrupt.
"Surely it was merely a prank, Mr. Neuvillette. They are both young-"
"They might be young but that does not excuse their behavior." He cut me off.
That's true but still...
"Where might my car be located?" He asked suddenly.
"First floor of the parking garage. Section B."
He nodded hearing my words and handed the keys to Lyney.
"Your hat is in the back. Go get it and perform a few tricks for the people outside while I finish my talk with Mr. Wriothesley." He told the boy a bit more gently, but his tone was still firm.
Lyney, however, lit up at that and ran off, dragging his sister along.
Neuvillette could only sigh.
"Excuse me, Mr. Neuvillette. It might be rude of me to say this, but that might have been a bit too harsh."
"If it was just your wallet then yes, it would have been a bit too harsh indeed." He sighed again, rubbing his temples.
Hmm?
"From wallets to small trinkets... At least ten objects from your colleagues' desks and pockets have ended up with those two."
"Excuse me?"
"These objects would have indeed been returned before we left just as Lyney mentioned, but I would rather they don't pull their tricks with law enforcement officers."
Well... Our team isn't exactly law enforcement...
But that's not the point.
"My apologies. It appears I overstepped."
This is why I usually don't get involved with things I don't know for sure.
Honestly, I have no idea what got into me just now!
Parental instincts?
I've always been weak against children.
"No matter. You did not know all the details as such it did seem like I was indeed scolding the children a bit too harshly. However, I fear that this isn't the worst scolding they will receive today."
"The director you just mentioned?" I guessed.
"Correct. The director of the House of the Heart is a strict person. More so than even I."
I could have sworn I saw him shudder slightly but I decided it might be better not to comment on it.
But...
The House of the Heart?
"Isn't that an..."
"An orphanage. I see you are familiar."
Of course, I'm familiar. Sigewinne was nearly sent there after her parents died.
It's not a bad place or anything. I'm just glad she didn't have to go to an orphanage for even just a day.
The sound of laughter cheers and clapping broke my line of thought.
"It appears those two are just finishing up their act." Neuvilletet chuckled as he stood up.
Their act?
"Shall we go and see? We might just catch the end of it."
I followed him out the door curiously.
We found the siblings standing at the center of the main shared office.
Lyney held a large magician's hat in his hand as he pulled a whole jacket from it to the shock of both me and my colleagues.
...
That is most definitely not a trinket as Neuvillette said.
"It appears they have snatched up a few more things while we were talking." He sighed again, fondness creeping into his voice.
So this is what those two were up to.
Magic.
That's unexpected.
The next thing Lyney pulled from his hat was a large piece of cloth. He then pulled his sister to an empty wall and handed a corner of the fabric to her, creating a curtain with it by the wall.
"Now, our dear audience, for our last act we shall make a little friend appear behind this curtain!"
"Oh dear not this again... Who did they rope into it this time? I told them to return what they took not to... For five minutes... Can't they sit still for five minutes?" Neuvillette grumbled.
I turned away from him and back to the performance.
Lyney had asked the whole room to count down for him and they were all doing exactly that with immense excitement.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Et Voilà!"
As soon as Lyney's words along with the curtain dropped, I couldn't help but curse.
"What the f*ck?!"
"So it was her that they roped into the trick. She is the smallest here. Figures." Neuvillette rubbed his tempels once more.
Sigewinne.
Sigewinne appeared as the curtain dropped.
The room instantly erupted in cheers as the three children bowed.
???
What just happened?