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9th day of the 11th lunar cycle;
9:00 a.m.
In the prosecution stand sat the Duke of Meropide, Wriothesley.
On the other side of the great Opera Eclipse, in the defendant’s seat, stood the honourable Chief Justice of Fontaine, Neuvillette. His charge? Theft.
“We call the first witness into the witness stand, secretary Sedene, please take your position~” the cheerful voice of Furina announced, a playful grin on her face.
The little Melusine just sighed while striding over to the box in the middle with little enthusiasm, she rather would stand behind her desk in the Palais Mermonia - playing receptionist while every one of the gestionnaires stuck their useless noses into one of the books – than be part in this play right now.
“So dear Sedene~ Are you related or related by marriage to the accused?” The Archon’s voice rang again, making Sedene’s – as well as Neuvillette’s - eyebrow twitch. She knew exactly what the answer was, everyone in the city knew it.
“You could say so…” she mumbled in her monotone voice, getting less motivated to be here with every passing second. “Not related by blood nor marriage, but the defendant is sort of… my father figure?” The Marechaussee Phantom wasn’t entirely sure if this was the correct term, from all of her sisters Sigewinne was the one who knew the most about humans and their relations. Her purple eyes squinted to one of the seats at her side, seeing the mentioned sister grinning and giving her thumbs-ups. Seemed like she had used the right word.
Focalors meanwhile blinked a few times, feeling anxiety arise in her as she looked over to her Iudex for help. What was she supposed to say after such a revelation? Not related by blood or marriage but still being in a father-daughter relationship but without any adoption papers meant… meant what? She wanted to cradle one of her legal codes, searching for the answer or ask Neuvillette, both things impossible to do for her right now, if the dragon’s scathing look meant something.
“U-uh well…” Furina chuckled nervously in an attempt to cover her ignorance. “So… just tell! Do you want to testify or not?”
“On my behalf sure” was all the Melusine said expressionless while waiting for the question.
The Hydro Archon twirled around, making some gestures towards the crowd watching the spectacle “Very well, then please answer me this one question: For context my dear listeners, Duke Wriothesley accuses Chief Justice Neuvillette of theft in three points. Our first point is time. Therefore, as the receptionist of Palais Mermonia-“ she stopped abruptly as a chill ran down her spine, feeling the cold gaze of an ancient being and an annoyed Melusine drill into her back. The little goddess cleared her throat. “Please tell us dearest employee of Monsieur Neuvillette, how often does our dear Iudex demand time of the Administrator of the Fortress of Meropide?”
Sedene’s antenna twitched a bit as she closed her eyes, her inner sight searching for Neuvillette’s elemental signature, getting calmed by it like the times the judge petted her head. Sedene opened her mouth again. “Two to three times a month… it’s always for official business. The first meeting concerns prisoners and their behaviour over the month, and the second one – happening in the middle of the month - talks about the funding of Meropide, how much was already used up and what was left. At the end of the month, there is their last meeting, dealing with reviewing the latest amendments Duke Wriothesley had initiated, how they had performed and what other ideas crossed his Grace’s mind. Monsieur Neuvillette likes helping him with those.”
A little finger tapped against a soft chin as the Archon on the throne crossed her legs, mumbling a silent “That doesn’t sound like stealing someone’s time…” The audience hummed in agreement, the Oratrice Mecanique d’Analyse Cardinale making rattling sounds as someone raised his voice suddenly.
“It sounds like that because it’s a rude lie!” Wriothesley crossed his arms, glaring at the other side. “He definitely steals my time and demands every second of my attention day in and out! If I come home only one second too late, he is all grumpy till I smother him with kisses!”
The court fell silent at this, the defendant turned red while the Archon blinked in confusion. The warden grinned ear to ear, proud of himself, but as he looked at the scale, nothing had changed. He huffed and grumbled some indecipherable words.
“What the hell…” A deep voice rumbled, making the blackhead feel like he was right in front of a giant dragon that could devour him in one bite. Well, Neuvillette definitely could devour him, but…
“Wriothesley!”
The Administrator snapped back into reality, shrinking a whole lot as he noticed the dangerously irritated edge Neuvillette’s voice had. “Who is it exactly, who visits me off schedule during work? Unannounced and without bothering to knock at my door?”
“Well… eh…” Wriothesley fell silent. What was he supposed to say? After all, it was the truth. But the revenge of the Hydro Sovereign didn’t end there, as he continued to cross-examine him. “Who is it, who plays all pouty whenever I take a pile of work home with me because the person in question had pestered me in my own office so I couldn’t review them accordingly?”
The younger was flabbergasted.
“Who is it, that sneaks into my office, locking it before gifting me a bouquet, making tea before dragging me to one of the couches and trying to seduce me three times a week?”
“I-I don’t—“ Wriothesley tried to contradict, fruitlessly as he turned red, the Oratrice dropping slightly to not guilty as the crowd below them was gossiping silently.
Neuvillette sighed, pushing a silvery strand behind pointed ears before shaking his head. “Point stated. Lady Furina, you should have interfered, shouting in court is prohibited. That we talk without being requested to is also only tolerable because we are our own representatives.”
The scolded Archon hurriedly laughed her embarrassment away, grinning brightly as she clapped her hands together. “Of course! Of course! I know that. Your little dispute was just too engaging to interrupt~” She cleared her throat, eyes twinkling as she said “Now now, let’s continue. Miss Sedene, you may leave the witness box. Matron Sigewinne, please take her place as we move on to the second point of the charge. Theft of a heart. What a horrendous crime, Monsieur Neuvillette, do you have anything to say in your defence?”
Looking down from his stand, oceanic eyes observed two little Melusines change places, one shuffling back to the chairs, one skipping happily towards the witness box before enthusiastically entering it.
The dragon sighed, raising his head, and looking into the different-coloured eyes of his Archon. “I pledge not guilty. Stealing one's heart is clearly an exaggeration, otherwise, would he still be able to charge me with theft? I assume not.”
“Oh, come on!” Wriothesley groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Of course it’s a metaphor, but this doesn’t change the fact you stole it!”
“Oh?” Neuvillette whispered, looking over to his lover. “Would you be so kind and elaborate on your charge then? Metaphors in court aren’t allowed as an accusation.”
The duke wanted to say something, but Furina remembering the scolding she had just gotten, clapped with her hands again, drawing the attention to her. “I call the court to order~” she chirped happily, proud of herself. “Monsieur Neuvillette made a good point. Duke Wriothesley’s heart is obviously still beating strong and healthy in his chest. Therefore, how is it possible he stole it? This question is Miss Sigewinne’s to answer.” With those words, she looked at the head nurse. “Are you-“
Sigewinne waved her off with a smile, nodding eagerly. “Yes, both are my father’s and yes, I still want to testify.”
Focalors blinked irritated by being interrupted, how rude! But she decided to not make a scene, she was a responsible judge after all.
Noticing the lack of responsiveness from his stand-in, the Hydro Sovereign simply shook his head, setting his gaze onto Sigewinne and telling her in a warm but firm voice “Interrupting the judge isn’t allowed Sige, don’t do it again.”
The little nurse looked up at her father, grinning sheepishly before declaring “I’m sorry! So shall I go on?”
Focalors felt heat return to her cheeks, even if she wasn’t the target of the scolding, he had called her out on the mistake of accepting such an interference. Absorbed in her self-criticism she just nodded, the only sign Sigewinne needed to begin speaking.
“A few years ago, his Grace had begun to show first signs of a stolen heart. We had arranged a meeting for lunch break, but once I had entered his office, I found a sulking Administrator, head hanging deep over his desk and mumbling coming out of his mouth. A pathetic sight to behold.”
The ebony haired man blinked, feeling regret for every decision he had made concerning this trial till this point. It seemed like it wasn’t his sweetheart who would get exposed, but he himself.
Sigewinne continued “The cause for his sulking was, as I soon found out, a letter from Monsieur Neuvillette in which he stated they had to postpone their tea-date to next week, because of an important trial that had arose.”
The dragon frowned, looking over to his partner. “You’ve said you were okay with it and now I learn you were sulking?”
Wriothesley raised his hands, avoiding the older’s gaze as he fumbled a bit with his words. “Well… yeah. But what should I’ve said? No, I’m more important than Fontaine, you are coming right now? We both know this isn’t true-“
“Mon chéri… That’s not true.” Neuvillette interrupted
The warden looked away doubtingly, not letting the slightest syllable leave his mouth. The dragon was astonished, guilt panging in his heart as he wanted to say something, but Wriothesley was faster. “Doesn’t matter, Fontaine is more important than me, I agree.” No one disagreed, just Neuvillette’s eyes were troubled.
Sigewinne didn’t react to anything Neuvillette or Wriothesley had said and just continued with her testimony. “But whenever Chief Justice Neuvillette calls, his Grace jumps up, leaving everything and everyone behind and rushes off to the elevator to catch the soonest aquabus to the Court of Fontaine. Additionally, he behaves like a smitten puppy waggling its tail in happiness whenever there is the slightest possibility to meet the Iudex. And in his naps the only thing he rambles about is our esteemed Judge. Oh! And one time, he drooled onto a document, trapped in a dream he didn’t want to elaborate. But he admitted Monsieur Neuvillette was part of it!”
“Oh yeah, that sounds like someone head-over-heels in love with another.” Furina mumbled, the visitors of the court agreeing with her, some laughing a bit. The Oratrice Mecanique d’Analyse Cardinale rattling once again, the scales tilting from not guilty into its neutral starting position before dropping oh so slightly to guilty.
Neuvillette’s gaze stared stoically at the scale, his eyes narrowing a bit. “Care to tell me how falling in love is even passable as a charge?”
The audience began to mumble again, but before anything could change, Focalors added “Oh no no my dear Iudex, we are not discussing a charge of falling in love, but one of theft, right now within the sub-point of a stolen heart.”
The whiteheads look was deadpan as he mumbled “What does that even change?” But sadly, Furina just as the crowd beneath them thought of it as entirely different if the scale was an indicator – and it was.
Meanwhile, Wriothesley was smiling happily - his sombre feelings from moments ago washed away due to seeing how he might have a chance of winning this trial, even if it meant losing the last bits of his dignity.
Furina cleared her throat, waiting till the uproar in the hall ebbed down. “Well, let’s continue to our last point. Duke Wriothesley charges Iudex Neuvillette with a third example of theft. This time it concerns important property, his blanket.”
“Wriothesley!” Neuvillette called exasperated, being ignored.
“The prosecution wanted to testify on its own regard here?”
The Warden nodded and straightened up a bit, smiling sweetly at Neuvillette as he began to talk. “Since the first time we shared a bed, Monsieur Neuvillette kept demanding the blanket all to himself with the excuse of it having something to do with his instinct of nesting. Initially I thought of it as cute, but even if I don’t freeze, laying in bed without anything covering me felt uncomfortable. Therefore, we decided that the huge blanket belonged to him and a smaller one we bought to me. But it took a mere week for his Honour to confiscate this blanket too, leaving me with nothing once more.”
The audience gasped in utter shock. Furina, too, widened her eyes dramatically, looking at her Chief Justice. “How dare you commit such a horrendous crime?!”
Neuvillette felt his cheeks burn as he growled dangerously, mixed with a hint of despair “It’s instinctual. Nowhere in the legal codices is it stated that instincts can be punished!”
Focalors hummed in thought before her heterochromia eyes sparkled wickedly. “No, but its stated personal property isn’t allowed to be taken away after 10 p.m. up to 7 a.m., no matter how the constitution of the person is. Your Grace, would you provide us the answer to one simple question? In what time frame is your blanket usually requisitioned by Monsieur Neuvillette?”
Wriothesley pondered a bit, unaware of the daring gaze Neuvillette was sending him. “Well, usually we head to bed around 2 to 3 a.m. and are standing up around 6 a.m..”
“Hah!” the Archon’s voice rang through the whole Opera Eclipse, making some of her people gasp in awe of how loud she was able to be. “There we have it my dear listeners! I, Focalors, the Archon ruling over Hydro and Justice will be announcing my verdict! After all we have heard, my humble opinion is, that our esteemed Chief Justice is indeed guilty!~” The crowd gasped, being interrupted by a crisp clapping. “But we still have to turn to the great Oratrice Mecanique d’Analyse Cardinale.”
With those words the white haired girl turned her back to the crowd, waiting till the rattling of the machine stopped and drew the slip. “Let me announce the final verdict, Monsieur Neuvillette, Chief Justice of Fontaine is…”
Guilty!
Cold air brushed against his skin, and pale eyes snapped open due to the uncomfortable sensation. His view was blurry, and his hands began to roam over the bed immediately till they met icy, scaled skin. A sigh escaped him, his body relaxing as he realised the Iudex was still at his side.
This dream had been… amusing? He rubbed over his eyes, shuddering yet again as another cold breeze brushed over him.
He looked around, noticing two things. For one, Neuvillette had his blanket again, nothing of surprise. Second, their window was open, no wonder it was cold. Grumbling silently the warden heaved his tired body off the bed and strode over to the incarnation of the Cryo element. It was wrong when he said he felt cold, he just felt uncomfortable with the fresh breeze hitting his exposed skin unregularly.
Closing the glass encompassed by the deep brown frame out of Mallow Wood, pale blue eyes lingered on the starry night sky, getting lost in thought suddenly.
Fontaine.
The duke knew it had only been a dream, but the stinging feeling of the mere thought of being second to a nation to Neuvillette made him feel depressed. Everything he wanted in life was a warm home and a loving family. He had both of those wishes fulfilled and even more, still, knowing to never be one’s number one priority sucked. And even if Neuvillette never said such things – by Celestia, he said the contrary, the dragon would let Fontaine drown for the Warden – his brain did not let go of this thought.
A shooting star appeared in the corner of his eyes, giving him the opportunity to wish for something his childish heart longed for, but the rustle of bedsheets and the grumbling of an ancient being demanded his attention before he could waste another thought to the falling star and actually phrase his wish.
“Mon cherí…?”
A sleepy voice called out, elegant fox eyes opened hesitantly, enchanting Wriothesley with their oceanic colour, letting him feel like falling into the other’s soul and drowning in it.
“I’m here mon amour, just closed the window.” This rough man answered in the gentlest voice imaginable, slowly returning to their shared bed and sitting down on it carefully to not startle his darling.
“Why are you awake?” the Iudex mumbled, nuzzling his nose more into the stolen blanket, taking in deep breaths and watching the ebony haired man attentively. The thought that it was because he had confiscated the younger’s quilt didn’t cross his hazy mind.
Wriothesley chuckled a bit, laying back down and propping one arm up so he could rest his head on it while locking his gaze onto the most beautiful being in his world. “I just had a weird dream your Honour, don’t worry about it.”
Silence reigned between them, Neuvillette visibly trying to process the dukes words in his sleepy constitution while he just contentedly watched silvery brows being drawn together and a light tugging moving the other’s lips. “Tell me about the dream… please…” the Chief Justice whispered in the death of the night, pushing his sleepy expression into a more awake one. Wriothesley wanted to argue, it was such a trivial matter, and his lover hadn’t slept since days, he really didn’t want to prevent him from continuing it because of that shit show of a dream.
He hesitated but lost the fight once he heard the soft drippling of rain against the window. Wriothesley sighed and surrendered to his fate.
After a while of talking and watching his partner snuggle with the cover he held in a death grasp while listening attentively, he stopped speaking, yawning a bit.
Neuvillette looked at him with troubled eyes, the rain still going on. He wanted to prevent exactly that.
“You… think you aren’t important to me?”
Guilt.
Regular people wouldn’t be able to see - to hear it – but Wriothesley’s trained eyes and ears were easily able to perceive it. His stomach churned before reaching out, his hand faltering mid-air. He didn’t deserve the other’s affection.
“No, of course not. Darling, it was just a dream, let’s not dwell on it and return to sleep.”
“Wriothesley…”
“Neuvillette, please not now.”
The judges eyes closed, an exhausted sigh escaping him. After all, he was still endlessly tired, and it was hard to keep himself awake. But he wouldn’t forget this topic, he couldn’t. Looking away defeated, he tried to comfort himself with Wriothesley blanket, smelling after rust, salt, Mallow Wood and the toner he had gifted him a while back.
It seemed to work, the rain outside slowly ebbing away. But the silence between the two lovers was still too strained for both of them to sleep comfortably.
The Hydro Sovereign was at a loss, what was he supposed to do? He tried to understand the Warden’s feelings, but it was hard. How was he supposed to lighten up the mood?
Eyes of an old soul observed the younger man beside him just staring at the ceiling, lips pressed into a thin line.
Neuvillette’s eyes lightened up as he remembered something.
“So, I’m a thief in your eyes? Wanna send me down to the Fortress of Meropide your Grace?”
His lover had this particular habit of soothing tense situations with humour and even if Neuvillette wasn’t the best at it, he still wanted to try-
Wriothesley blinked perplexed before chuckling nervously. Maybe he shouldn’t have told his dream with mentioning the names? “Uhh, well…”
A grin spread over his face as he looked at the dragon, a mischievous look in his eyes. “But of course~ Having a snack down there is always recommended by Sigewinne for times you suddenly feel fatigue.”
The blackhead laughed heartly as Neuvillette’s ears turned a bright red, giving the Administrator of the prison a playful slap against the shoulder. “Incorrigible and past redemption!” he said without any fire in it, making Wriothesley laugh even more. He loved the sound and how it made his body tingle with a comfortable warmth. “But now really…”
Wriothesley drew in a shaky breath, trying to stifle down his laughter to listen to the words of his other half.
“The indecency.” Neuvillette mumbled, sleep more evident in his voice again, burying his face further into Wriothesley’s blanket. “I would never let my court degenerate into such a circus. I would send Furina back to law school immediately and that personally. Furthermore, the defendant as well as the prosecutor – we – would have needed to be called to order… Such trivial arguments are to be kept for a private discussion. Did they even help the case?” The dragon rolled his eyes, turning away – with the blanket – as he slowly drifted back into his much-needed sleep.
Wriothesley just laughed helplessly, glad that his lover wasn’t able to see his deep red face.
“But what’s with my blanket now?”
No answer.
A whine “Neuvi!”
Still no reaction, just relaxed breathing.
The warden sighed, scooting over to the other’s body and crawling under Neuvillette’s blanket as best as he could before wrapping arms and legs around the lanky body in the manner of bigger scoop-smaller scoop. He got a content huff as reward, shaking his head slightly before giving the Chief Justice a kiss onto his neck, Wriothesley closed his eyes.
Yeah, who was indecent here, huh?