The Iudex's day off

Chapter 26 - A Thousand Secrets

 Wriothesely's POV

 "But it does make one wonder, you know. Just what is your connection to the Chief Justice?"

 Hmm?

 My connection to Neuvillette? Why would that suddenly matter?

 "The only reason I'm here right now is because the one we wanted to put in the seat of Administrator could not be placed there because of your sudden emergence. You a prisoner who had barely just served his sentence rose directly to this seat."

 Oh?

 So they have someone they want in my place.

 Just who is it, I wonder.

 If I manage to figure that out, it shouldn't be that long to find the true culprits from there.

 And so, my eyes never left him as he wandered around the room, watching his every step intently.

 "We did quite a thorough investigation. Just how did you become Administrator so easily? Why was there no backlash? Since there was no backlash we thought to create some ourselves. To dig up your criminal records and create a mess, but low behold, not a single snippet of paper to be found about you, Duke Wriothesely. Not a single sentence about what crime you actually committed- Hell, we couldn't even prove you were ever on trial!"

 What?

 This-

 How...

 "We dug and dug through every single piece of paper we could find, but not even a newspaper article existed. As if your case had been completely erased from this world. At this point, it wasn't just about creating conflict and rumors. We wanted to find out just who could have done such a thorough job at erasing everything and you know where we ended up? Right at our dear archon's doorstep."

 Lady Furina's?

 "Our dear archon likes drama you know. It wasn't all that hard to find out what exactly had happened to your criminal records. We just had to ask once for her to give quite an interesting answer. 'Ah, that. That was Neuvillette.' she had said. The Iudex himself, Chief Justice Neuvillette personally made sure not a single record of your crime remained. Well, perhaps there is one. We will never know, I suppose since to this day, we have not been able to get into his personal records."

 Wha-

 Neuvillette?

 Neuvilletet did what?

 It took all my self-control not to whip my head around right that instant to interrogate the man in question. But while I could stop myself from doing so, I couldn't help it when my body tensed up.

 Likely feeling the change, his hold on my shoulder loosened and just when I thought he would remove his hand I felt his fingers slip down my arm, never once breaking contact as his hand went to hold mine.

 "Will you give me a chance to explain? Please?"

 His voice sounded a bit pained, almost pleading even.

 I did not expect him to offer an explanation.

 I was already prepared to work for an answer only to likely never get one as such were the matters concerning the Iudex.

 This time, instead of nodding, I gently squeezed his hand that was holding mine.

 I couldn't see him, but I could feel him relax, albeit just a bit.

 I barely held back a laugh as I heard him muttering: 

 "Furina talks too much."

 Pfft!

 Poor Lady Furina.

 Doomed to suffer from Neuvillette's deadly stare.

 May she rest in peace.

 Now back to the situation.

 "I'm getting a bit bored by your useless stories, Mallory. You got anything better?" I smirked at him.

 "Now worries, my dear Duke. There will be no need to listen to my stories once you're dead. Then, we can finally put Corbin in your place and move on with our plans."

 Corbin, is it? The head of the guards?

 So it was him.

 What an interesting development.

 And...

 "Enough?" I asked.

 Malloy looked confused by my question, but the intended recipient obviously got it.

 "Quite enough. Thank you, Wriothesely."

 "Nah. No need for thanks. I got some interesting information for just staying put for a while."

 I chuckled as I watched horror spread across Mallory's face when he saw me simply stand up from my chair and stretch.

 If that wasn't enough, he also had to watch as Neuvillette emerged out of thin air.

 "Is something wrong, Mallory? You seem spooked." I teased.

 And that simple teasing sentence might have been the breaking point.

 "You- You- You- You didn't drink the tea?! Why?! Just why?! For months we've watched you drink the tea you got right after opening the package! Why not now?!"

 He was hysterical as if something had broken up there.

 Perhaps it had. A long time ago, really.

 He wouldn't be down here otherwise.

 "So it was you who kept sending me tea every month?"

 I'm not gonna lie, that kind of hurts.

 And here I thought that there was someone appreciating my work.

 "What? Ah! Tea... The tea! Hahahaha!"

 Okay.

 He has officially gone crazy.

 I was just about to go knock him out when he suddenly shot out towards me with a knife in his hand that he pulled out from who knows where.

 "At least I'll kill you!"

 But he never got to try.

 Before I could act I saw him stop as his outstretched hand was held tightly in an iron grip. Next came the clattering of the knife hitting the ground accompanied by the sound of breaking bones.

 A few words slipped out of Neuvillette's lips, or at least I think they were words.

 Words in a language I had no way of understanding.

 For a split second, I saw his eyes flash in a dangerous light, and just when the thought of 'He might just kill him' passed through my mind-

 Thud!

 With a single powerful hit, Neuvillette had knocked Mallory out cold, letting him drop to the floor.

 He then turned to me, not a single hint of his previous look visible.

 "While it might be a bit uncomfortable with this thing here, it would be best if we talked before bringing the situation to the rest of Meropide's attention."