Just then, a restaurant server approached with a smile and said, "We'll begin serving in twenty minutes. Please confirm your seats in ten minutes, and we'll serve the dishes according to the number of people."
Schiller nodded at them, then looked at Arthur and said with a smile, "Looks like we can't bleed that rich guy any further. Still, it's less than an hour, so we'll charge by the hour."
Arthur smiled back at him.
"But since it's an hour's consultation fee anyway, we can wrap up this conversation quickly. That way, you'll still have some time left to do something else."
Arthur raised no objection. He simply sat there without saying anything, as though he were saying, You arrange everything.
"Of course, don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to brush you off. Routine questioning of a patient is simply part of the job. You have to give all those people who can't graduate from college the illusion that their tuition was well spent. I don't need that."
Arthur tilted his head.
"Your illness has been cured, Arthur." Schiller pressed his forearms flat against the table, leaned forward, and looked into Arthur's eyes. "From the moment you became the Joker, your illness was already cured."
"Your illness was never cruelty, violence, or madness. Those are symptoms only innate psychopaths have. You're an ordinary person."
"People often say that after one terrible day, anyone could become the Joker. But the truth is, after one terrible day, many terrible days, or several terrible years, ordinary people only want to kill themselves."
"It takes immense courage, willpower, even talent, to firmly believe that none of it is your fault. Either you were born thinking that way, or it's almost impossible to cultivate that mentality later in life."
"Even if you appear to hold