Immediately after, Fitz entered the room, cleared her throat, and smiled, “You all performed excellently; the lawyers are very satisfied. However, there’s a rather unfortunate piece of news: the lawyer originally scheduled to take on an intern, Lawyer Moore, was caught in a shuttle accident and is now stuck between two neighboring planets. He won’t be back for at least half a month. Therefore, the intern position reserved for him will be taken over by another outstanding lawyer.”

William Carter suddenly had a bad feeling.

His sixth sense was always selectively accurate—about fifty-fifty—and only seemed to work when it came to ominous things. It was what people called a self-fulfilling prophecy, or, more colloquially, a jinx.

Fitz continued, “Let me go over the specific assignments. Miss Felida, Lawyer Dean is very happy to work with you during this period. Henry, congratulations, Lawyer Avis will be your mentor…”

She finished reading out the other names, then finally turned to William Carter with a bright smile. “Although I already mentioned this, I still feel very sorry and once again regret on behalf of Lawyer Moore. But congratulations to you as well—Lawyer Bennett will be your mentor here. Good luck.”

William Carter: “……”

It sounded like “good luck,” but the tone was much more like “you’re on your own.”

Professor Yan looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of liquid nitrogen over his head; the smile on his face was frozen to the point of cracking.

Several seconds later, he finally thawed out and replied, “Thank you.”

I’ll do my best not to drive your outstanding lawyer away… but I can’t make any promises.

After all, I’ve driven away quite a few in the past.

And also…

William Carter smiled inwardly: You really should be telling James Bennett, “Take care, young man, and good luck to you.”

So, half an hour later, William Carter was sitting at the intern’s desk that Fitz had arranged for him, facing James Bennett, who sat behind the senior lawyer’s desk.

William Carter silently took a sip of coffee: “……”

James Bennett also took a sip of coffee: “……”

The atmosphere was truly dismal. For a moment, it was hard to tell who was mourning whom, or whose cup more closely resembled pure civet coffee.

Chapter 3 Intern (Part 3)

The structure of the Southern Cross Law Firm is currently the most common under the prevailing regulations: while basic affairs are handled cooperatively, each lawyer is relatively independent. So, when they work, they don’t interfere with each other—each has a large office entirely their own, and closing the door is enough to keep everyone else out. Barring special circumstances, they’re generally not disturbed.

William Carter had long since grown used to this “see nothing, hear nothing, don’t bother me” work environment.

But Miss Fitz didn’t know that. So, before moving his things into the office, she pulled him aside and whispered, “It’s really hard to share a room with a senior lawyer like this. All new interns get a bit nervous—I totally understand. Last year, there was a young man who, on his very first day, didn’t even dare go to the restroom. I remember seeing him at lunch, and his face was green from holding it in. I asked him why, and he said the office was so closed and quiet, he was terrified of making even the slightest noise under his mentor’s nose and drawing attention.”

“Impressive willpower,” William Carter complimented.

“Don’t laugh.” Miss Fitz continued to remind him, “In the coming days, you’ll probably spend more time out with Lawyer Bennett than in the office, but I still hope you’ll feel a sense of belonging here. Even though your desk isn’t as big as Lawyer Bennett’s, it’s still your office—at least a third of the space is yours. Use it as you like, don’t hold back, and be confident.”

Whether she realized it or not, William Carter felt that her tone sounded just like someone presenting a funeral wreath.

But clearly, Miss Fitz was overthinking it. Not only was William Carter perfectly confident, he nearly ended up taking over.

He would often, out of habit, feel as if this was his own office, that he was sitting in the senior lawyer’s chair, and that the person diagonally across from him, Classmate Bennett, with his frosty face and coffee cup, was the intern he’d found to make his own life difficult.

He even caught himself several times about to assign tasks to the other. Luckily, he always snapped out of it just in time, closing his mouth with a calm expression.

He blamed this reaction on the coffee being too hot—the white steam rising from the cup made it easy to get distracted. And… the style of this office was just too familiar.

At first glance, it looked exactly like his own dean’s office, and not much different from his senior lawyer’s office in South Lu.

William Carter glanced around the room and, strangely, felt a sense of comfort.

Even though their mentor-mentee relationship wasn’t great, at least there was some kind of inner inheritance. See? The sense of aesthetics had been passed down.

He smiled wryly, just about to compliment the decor, but before he could get a word out, James Bennett had already set down his coffee cup and, lowering himself to speak, said his first words: “I had no intention of taking on an intern.”

His voice was very pleasant, and his tone especially calm. If you ignored the content, it would be easy to want to hear him say a few more words.

But William Carter wasn’t meeting him for the first time, and was already immune to this illusion on a physiological level.