"Who spread this? Have Monast investigate thoroughly!"
"Yes."
Asina nodded calmly on the surface.
She knew that the source of this matter was most likely the time Monast, the Student Union president, had casually told them about Dean Loren's past in the Student Union Room. Then one of Lanchi, Hughberlian, or Frei had let the information slip.
And it had probably fallen into the hands of someone particularly troublesome.
Oh, then she knew what had happened.
But Asina said nothing.
The morning sunlight streamed in through the side window. Perhaps because the rain had just cleared, it seemed especially dazzling.
The beam happened to fall across Loren's profile, making his gaze appear even deeper and harder.
"..."
His eyelids twitched slightly. The expression on his face shifted from calm to solemn, and his lips pressed tightly into a thin line.
Asina sensed the change as well. She placed both hands on the folder and remained silent.
The only sound in the office was the ticking of the wall clock. Even the steam rising from the coffee on the desk seemed to slow. In the atmosphere, time appeared to crawl, and every moment felt extraordinarily long.
"No wonder our school's reputation has kept getting worse in recent years."
Loren took quite some time to calm himself.
He had felt lately that the school's atmosphere had grown worse again.
Though the school's atmosphere had always had problems to begin with—even the dean of the Alchemy Institute had been sent to prison.
"By the way, did Lanchi agree to Adams's duel? How did it go?"
Loren had always known that blessings never came in pairs, while misfortunes never came singly. At a time like this, he was especially worried that Lanchi would bring him some other "surprise."
"..."
Asina fell silent for another