The Vice Principal narrowed his clouded old eyes. Those eyes were usually always bleary with drink, as though he viewed the world through a layer of leftover beer foam, but at that moment, the foam suddenly dispersed, revealing a sharp glint beneath.
"Looks like—" he said slowly, "this was your true purpose in coming here."
Pompeii did not deny it. Leaning back in his chair, he lightly tapped the tabletop twice with his fingers, unhurriedly, as if playing a tune only he could hear.
"Frost proposed long ago that the Dragon Bone Cross be entrusted to us for safekeeping, but Angers refused. Looking at it now, perhaps storing it in the Gattuso Family's underground vault would have been the better choice—at the very least, we wouldn't let it vanish without explanation."
The Vice Principal slapped his thigh. The sound exploded through the solemn conference room, startling everyone else.
Just as Charlotte thought he would fly into a rage at the Gattuso Family's apparent attempt to exploit the situation, the Vice Principal did indeed fly into a rage—
"It's all that bastard Angers's fault! Pompeii, you really do understand me! I actually strongly supported Frost too, but Angers held absolute power over the college back then. As Vice Principal, I couldn't get a word in!
"Keeping something so dangerous beneath the college, I've been worried sick all along, terrified that some Dragon King would come one day and tear the whole college apart over it."
He paused, as if savoring his own foresight, then sighed and said with utter sincerity and heartfelt anguish, "Well, look at things now. Angers brought this upon himself. Him lying in a recovery pod now is entirely his own fault! He was too confident. Did he never stop to think—if a Dragon King painstakingly planned an