Chapter 45: Psychopath

Inside the student council president’s office, I sat in front of Elise Valor while she busied herself with signing documents.

Several minutes had already passed, and the only sound in the room was the occasional scratching of her pen against paper.

Honestly, this silence was getting on my nerves.

The first lecture would begin in fifteen minutes, and I had no intention of arriving late to my first class.

I had already made enough of an impression during the entrance ceremony. There was no need to give the professors another reason to remember my name.

As I waited, my thoughts inevitably drifted toward Sofia.

I remembered the way she had glared at me before raising her middle finger.

Kuku...

A small chuckle escaped my lips.

"Is there something funny, Junior Lorenzo?"

Elise Valor put down her pen and stared at me with her violet eyes narrowed.

I glanced at her before shaking my head.

"Nothing, Senior Elise. I was just remembering something amusing."

"Something amusing?"

"Yes."

She continued staring at me suspiciously.

Apparently, my little chuckle had interrupted her concentration.

Well, that was hardly my problem.

She had been deliberately ignoring me for nearly ten minutes, apparently hoping that the silence would make me impatient enough to reflect on my actions.

Unfortunately for her, I had plenty of things to occupy my mind.

Most of them involved Sofia.

Elise finally put her pen down.

"Junior Lorenzo, do you understand why I’ve brought you here?"

"Because I pointed a gun at Joseph Goldberg?"

"Precisely."

"Then I believe we’ve already established the reason."

Her eyebrow twitched.

"That doesn’t mean the matter is settled!"

"Oh?"

I leaned back in my chair.

"Then what else do you want from me?"

Elise stared at me for several seconds before taking a deep breath.

’Calm down, Elise. You can do this.’

I could practically see her trying to suppress her irritation.

It was rather amusing.

After all, she was the student council president of Golden Dawn Academy. If she couldn’t handle one troublesome first-year student, how was she supposed to maintain order throughout the academy?

Then again, perhaps I was being a little too harsh.

I was undoubtedly a troublesome person.

"Forget it. Now, let’s get to the actual reason I brought you here."

Finally, something worth listening to.

"Your information has been classified. Aside from the professors, the principal, and myself, no one knows your true identity. Of course, if you want to tell the entire academy who you are, that’s entirely up to you. Frankly, I don’t care."

I remained silent as I listened.

I already knew that my identity had been classified.

However, that changed very little.

I was the son of an Overlord, and this academy was filled with students from prominent families. Anyone willing to investigate my background would eventually discover who I was.

Also everyone knows Riina family.

Besides, I had no particular interest in hiding my identity forever.

Let them find out.

It wasn’t as though I had anything to be ashamed of.

Well, perhaps there were a few things.

But those were none of their business.

Elise leaned back in her chair and fixed me with a stern glare.

"The principal has requested that I keep an eye on you, so don’t cause me any more trouble like you did a few minutes ago."

I couldn’t help chuckling.

That only seemed to irritate her further.

"What’s so funny?"

"Nothing, Senior Elise. I was just thinking about how unfortunate your situation is."

"Unfortunate?"

"Having to babysit someone like me must be exhausting."

Her eye twitched.

At least she understood how troublesome I could be.

"Just follow the academy’s rules, and we won’t have any problems."

"I’ll try my best to follow the rules."

Elise nodded in satisfaction.

Then I added, "Starting tomorrow."

Her smile froze.

"...What?"

"You heard me."

"Lorenzo Riina!"

I laughed at her reaction.

Honestly, teasing her was surprisingly entertaining.

For a moment, I wondered whether the principal had deliberately assigned me to her as some sort of punishment.

If so, I almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"You’re unbelievable," she muttered, massaging her temples.

I shrugged.

"What can I say? I’m a difficult person."

"That’s an understatement."

We fell silent for a moment.

Elise eventually returned her attention to the documents on her desk. However, after glancing at me again, she seemed to remember something.

"There is one more thing you should know."

"Hmm?"

"The SCBD might send an investigator to the academy under the guise of a therapist."

My expression changed.

"...What?"

For the first time since our conversation began, I was genuinely surprised.

I straightened in my chair and turned toward her.

"Could you repeat that?"

Elise raised an eyebrow.

"Are you telling me you didn’t hear what I just said?"

"I heard you perfectly well. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining things."

She sighed.

"Unfortunately, you weren’t."

I stared at her for a moment before leaning back in my chair.

The SCBD?

A therapist?

Well, wasn’t that interesting?

I had expected the World Government to keep an eye on me after the incident at Appetite of Heaven. Considering my family background and what I had done to those terrorists, their concerns weren’t particularly surprising.

However, sending someone to evaluate my mental state was another matter entirely.

"Let me guess. This was the World Government’s idea?"

"Correct."

"And the principal agreed to it?"

"He didn’t have much of a choice."

I clicked my tongue.

What a nuisance.

Elise folded her hands on the desk and continued explaining.

"You should understand why they’re doing this. The World Government has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the students here. And while I personally don’t think everything you did during the terrorist attack was wrong, that doesn’t mean I can pretend your behavior was normal."

She paused, watching my reaction.

"You protected innocent people, and I won’t condemn you for that. But you also tortured someone who was already defeated, and today, you pointed a gun at another student without showing the slightest hesitation."

Her expression grew serious.

"Do you understand how that looks to other people?"

I remained silent.

"Golden Dawn Academy trains Awakeners to fight monsters from the he Spirit Realm. Our students are expected to face dangerous situations, and some of them will eventually have to make decisions that ordinary people would find difficult to comprehend."

She leaned forward slightly.

"But that doesn’t mean we’re going to ignore every line simply because the world has become a dangerous place."

Her violet eyes met mine.

"You were prepared to kill Joseph over an insult. You didn’t even hesitate. And when I confronted you about it, you acted as though the whole thing were nothing more than a minor inconvenience."

She exhaled softly.

"That’s what concerns them, Lorenzo. Not simply that you’re capable of killing someone, but that you seem to have so little hesitation about doing it."

I didn’t particularly like the way she was looking at me.

It wasn’t fear or disgust.

It was something closer to concern.

Strangely enough, that made the conversation more uncomfortable than I had expected.

Nevertheless, I kept my expression unchanged.

"Yes, I understand. I’m a psychopath. There’s no need to dress it up in so many words."

Elise frowned.

"I didn’t say that."

"Isn’t that what you’re implying?"

"No. I’m saying that your behavior is concerning, and the World Government wants someone to evaluate you. Those are two different things."

I gave her a noncommittal shrug.

"Whatever you say."