"I don't know."

He's staring fixedly at a small crumb on the tabletop, not quite seeing it.

"I know how they punished me when I broke their rules at lectures. But I do not know what they might do to him. He is the Second Jade of Lan; they could as easily offer leniency as they could make an example of him."

(He does not want to admit how much the former is a foolish hope.)