Scumbag Fate System-Chapter 42: Discipline (1)

When Reinhard saw Victoria already smiling at him, he knew this wasn’t an interrogation.

It was a test.

She sat behind her desk with one leg crossed over the other. Her silver eyes fixed on him with an expression that mixed amusement with genuine curiosity while her fingers traced the rim of a wine glass filled with deep red liquid.

He smiled at her, and hers only grew.

"So," Victoria said while leaning back in her chair, and the movement made her white blouse shift in interesting ways. "What exactly happened at the Entertainment Department today?"

Reinhard settled into the chair. "I was heading to meet friends when I found Yor on the ground with three people standing in front of her. She was shouting something about them being her friends, and then as I tried to reach her, she exploded with void energy that swept through the entire mall."

Victoria nodded slowly while her fingers continued their path around the glass rim. "Her void power left dozens of people unconscious, including herself. Except for you." She paused meaningfully.

"I find that... extremely interesting." Her eyes didn’t blink.

"I hope..." Reinhard leaned forward slightly. "That isn’t the only thing you find interesting about me."

Victoria chuckled. "Oh, that’s just my current interest. After all, you are the first student to ever be stated as having no Sigil according to the academy’s awakening test."

She leaned forward as well, and now they were closer, with the desk the only barrier between them. "Yet somehow you do have one now. Care to explain that mystery?"

"Maybe the jewel malfunctioned," Reinhard said with a slight smile.

"That’s completely impossible," Victoria replied while her eyes never left his. "But even if it did somehow malfunction, that just makes you even more fascinating. After all, you keep finding yourself involved in very interesting incidents."

"Such as?"

"Such as an old abandoned building mysteriously filled with elaborate traps that injured fifteen students who were chasing you." She said while counting on her fingers. "Being able to hold Yor when physical contact with her should be impossible for anyone. And being completely unaffected by her void explosion that drained dozens of others."

Reinhard shrugged casually. "What can I say? My luck has been pretty terrible for a while. But has gotten vastly better."

"Oh?" Victoria tilted her head, and her hair caught the light. "Why do you say that?"

He met her gaze directly. "It did let me meet you after all."

Victoria hummed while her lips curved into a pleased smile. "I suppose I can agree with that assessment."

They continued discussing the incident, shifting between professional questions and observations.

Victoria set down her wine glass. She leaned back and began studying him. "Your club should get Yor’s side of what happened before her trial. If you don’t establish her perspective and mental state, there’s a very high chance she’ll be sent home through permanent expulsion."

"Not if the beautiful Head of the Disciplinary Department stands for her," Reinhard said with a faint smile.

Victoria chuckled and crossed her arms under her chest in a way that drew attention. "I suppose I was expecting this eventually. But tell me, why should I help your friend? What’s in it for me?"

"The satisfaction of doing the right thing?" Reinhard suggested with mock innocence.

"Try again. I do the right thing every day, and it’s pretty exhausting."

"The gratitude of a beautiful young woman who would owe you a significant favor?"

Victoria raised one elegant eyebrow. "I don’t need favors from students. Next."

Reinhard stood and walked around the desk while Victoria watched him with interest, but didn’t move to stop him. He leaned against the desk beside her chair and looked down at her. "The chance to spend more time with me as we work together to help her?"

"Bold of you to assume I want to spend more time with you," Victoria said while her voice was teasing and her eyes showed she was enjoying this game immensely.

"You invited me to your office twice now," Reinhard pointed out while his voice dropped lower. "And you could have had guards question me instead of doing it personally."

"Maybe I just enjoy watching you squirm under interrogation."

"Do I look like I’m squirming?"

Victoria’s gaze traveled slowly from his face down to his feet and then back up. "No. You look remarkably comfortable, actually."

"That’s because I enjoy our conversations. I can’t find talks like this just anywhere." Reinhard reached out to pick up a pen from her desk and spun it. "You’re intelligent and beautiful, and you don’t pretend to be something you’re not. That’s rare."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Victoria said while watching the pen spin between his fingers.

"Good thing I’m being honest then."

She laughed and uncrossed her arms while standing from her chair. "You’re very good at this. I’m almost impressed."

"Almost?"

"You haven’t convinced me yet," she said while her silver eyes met his directly and held. "In fact, I could argue that Yor being expelled might actually be better for everyone involved, including herself."

Reinhard stopped spinning the pen. "How do you figure that?"

"She goes home where there are fewer people for her power to affect," Victoria said while counting on her fingers again. "She won’t be hated by dozens of students who lost pieces of themselves because of her. She won’t live with the guilt of hurting people she was trying to be friends with. And most importantly, she won’t risk another explosion that could be even worse."

"That’s assuming she survives the guilt of being expelled," Reinhard countered. "You’re asking her to accept that being around people makes her dangerous. That’s not living, that’s just existing."

"Existing..." Victoria paused. "It’s better than causing another incident." Her voice was calm while her eyes showed she was testing him.

"Not if it makes her miserable enough to do something drastic."

Victoria tilted her head. "You think she would?"

"I think anyone pushed far enough and isolated enough will eventually break." Reinhard said seriously. "And when she breaks, it won’t be pretty for anyone."

"So you’re saying keeping her here is damage control?"

"I’m saying keeping her here with support and people working to help her is the only real solution."

Victoria hummed thoughtfully while walking past him to pour more wine into her glass. "You make compelling arguments. But you still haven’t given me a reason that benefits me personally."

Reinhard watched her pour the wine and once again took in the way she moved. She had an aura of someone who never needed to prove anything and had it all. He ran through his options quickly before knowing he had nothing that could sway this woman.

Money, connection, or gratitude was something she didn’t need to care for.

Reinhard asked. "What if I said I’d owe you a favor?"

"Hahaha, that’s an interesting set of words. But let’s face facts. You’re a first-year student with no money, no connections, and a mysterious Sigil," Victoria said while turning to face him."What could you offer me... that I don’t already have?"

"Information," Reinhard said simply as he set the pen down on the desk.

"About?"

"About things that interest you."

"That’s vague enough to be meaningless."

And then he saw the subtle shift in her.

The smile that he had been paying attention to all evening was still there, but it had stopped being amused. What replaced it was quieter and more focused and considerably more difficult to navigate.

The room felt smaller.

The air grew heavier, and he knew now he only had one more chance before it all came crashing down.

Reinhard leaned back against the desk and crossed his arms.

"Aren’t you curious..."

He tilted his head slightly.

"How did I get my Sigil?"

Victoria froze completely while her wine glass stopped halfway to her lips. Her gaze shifted to lock onto him with intense focus. Her eyes shined as an eager smirk spread across her beautiful face.

For the first time since they started this conversation, Victoria leaned forward.

Not as a professor or someone running a test.

As someone who had just been given something she actually wanted and was deciding what to do about it.