Dealing with the consequences of missing her "Armor Exam"

"A-an armor exam?" stuttered Bernadetta, shrinking under the cold gaze of her professor. "I- um... Nobody told me that we were having an exam..."

"You would have known if you had actually decided to come to class, Bernadetta" replied the big-breasted teacher, her face betraying no emotion. "At the moment, every student in class has passed it except for you."

Her student looked about ready to burst into tears, clearly fearful of what this may mean for her. Would she be suspended? Expelled? Sent back to her father? The poor girl's heart was hammering out of her chest, and she was sure that it was so loud she could practically hear it echoing within her room. After a long, seemingly never-ending period of silence, the professor spoke again.

"Thankfully, I managed to speak to the Archbishop about it and negotiated some leniency. We will allow you to take it next week, and if you manage to pass we'll ignore the fact that you missed it the first time. If not, well, you'll just have to keep trying it until you manage it."

Waves of relief struck Bernadetta, her face immediately brightening. Sure, it would mean that she'd have to go outside, but it was much better than the alternative. Besides, Professor Byleth believed in her and had actually fought with Lady Rhea to let her stay. If she messed this up, it would be betraying the trust of the one person in her life who believed in her. Before she could think about what she was doing, she threw herself into her teachers arms, stuttering out thank-you's so fast that she almost ran out of air.

Byleth simply rubbed her back, calming her student as best she could. A small grin developed on her face, quickly masked by the emotionless veneer she normally wore. She was interested to see what her reaction to her next words would be.

"However..." she began, causing the shorter girl to look up with watery eyes, "Due to your technical failure of the armor exam, there is one thing I need to tell you..."