Chapter 222 - In Hot Seat

'What did you say?'

Nathalie couldn't believe the words that sent adrift to her ears, and she wasn't even deaf or aurally challenged or impaired, to begin with.

"Your face says it all, even if you trick your mind not to unveil your train of thoughts." 

A round of nightly breeze blew past them, fluttering the locks and fringes of their hair as well as their clothing in the air.

"Well, I'd hate to be the one to break it to you then but that knight saw your portrait on that smartphone, and the guy that looked like him as well."

'What?! This can't be!'

Right now, she embodied the state of shock and how much she had to take with Ashtra's advances, dropping them every single opportunity he took.

While her mind pondered that he was nowhere scandalous enough to do it in public, it still brought a swell of panic and had her on the edge of her seat, literally.

Out of all the background photos shown on her smartphone, it had to be that picture. Although, it left her hanging at what particular place and time had he noticed it without her knowing a thing.

"Whether you believe me or not, it's up to you." Ashtra shrugged ever-so-casually, then went on it again. "But he saw it, you two were together in different colors, and the setting was out of this world…" 

Meanwhile, she wracked her brain, thinking from scene to scene, and she couldn't help but ponder it loud and clear. 

'That time with an accident on the cauldron?!'

"Correct."

Nathalie went beyond aghast, to the point she forgot to take a moment to breathe from his sudden confirmation. 

For as long as she could remember, that time she had an accident in the Elverstone Stronghold, and the same aura of golden glimmer came right before her eyes. 

Ever since she had transmigrated, the concoction was one of her favorite hobbies and she kept herself busy as though she wanted to take a break from all of the crap and drama she got into.

Everything came on full force, and as usual, she preferred getting all worked up and preoccupied with other important things to do for their plan to succeed.

With Mystique's natural talent and the muscle memory she had that melded within her, she had yet to fail with every recipe she decided to make.

Everything had a formula that she had to follow, for she knew the recipe. She wasn't Mystique anymore, who had to work hard with trial and error to find what was a productive and efficient method without compromising the quality.

Except for that moment.

A weird phenomenon came around.

Although it turned out to be a hot mess that time, she was far from the danger of it as what hurt her had to be tripping herself out of panic.

With the perfect timing, Jonathan and Keith came, both panting hard with their faces etched with deep concern.

From there, she wondered what could've been the mysterious effect that came, telling Jonathan about it personally if he was familiar with it. Only then he responded in disagreement.

Both of them never knew what it was, and cast the benefit of the doubt that it was more of an accident so far.

Since then, she decided to let it slide. But as the saying goes: once was a happenstance; twice was a coincidence; thrice was enemy action.

Yet it didn't fail to disappoint her, as it kept going and ended up believing someone behind her reach was pulling the strings. 

The more she went and delved deeper, the more deeply rooted the situation turned out to be, entangled with too much of a complexity that consumed so much of her time and energy from what she had to give.

Nuisance posed even more problems than the main problem she had to confront.

Looking at Ashtra's face gleamed and triumphant from the revelation even further, her face bore deep contrast, out of fear and horror.

He let out a deep chuckle. "That was you and that simpleton knight, right?" 

But then, Nathalie didn't respond. 

"What's going on between the two of you?"

His patience and acting all nonchalant scared her.

"I take your silence as yes then. Speaking of out of this world, I'm sure you know what I'm curious about..."

Ashtra then stood up, creaking the chair as he shuffled close to her; every step he took almost had her heart skip a beat. 

Her hands now crumpled a handful on her robe, trembling, and her thoughts rattled more than she ever knew.

The words left his lips as soon as he leaned closer to her ears with a whisper.

"You seem to think more highly of him than Athan… I sense more than favoritism— do you like Keith?"

Right now, all Nathalie wanted was to run away and curbed, never to appear ever again from the confrontation that she didn't like anyone to know.

It took her a large amount of courage to speak about it to Jonathan, let alone somebody else she met recently.

However, soon as she opened her mouth a sudden clamor resounded from within, and his soft-angled eyebrows twitched, uttering again, "Perhaps saved by the bell…"

Thud after thud resonated, garnering both of their attention to the direction inside of the room.

A few moments later, Jonathan stepped out with twins behind him. Having a closer look, his cobalt fringes became disheveled and slick to his skin from sweat as he panted.

With that, Nathalie sprung upright, pushing the table with a subtle screech then trudged close to him. 

[What happened, are you alright? You seem to be in a hurry...]

"I'm sorry; it took longer than I'd expected," he muttered under his deep breath.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of the twins, who looked so worried over Jonathan, and then Keith, who carried a tray on his hand with a flushed countenance.

Although, they weren't her concerns for now. Knowing Jonathan, something came up.

[You've also talked to her in private, yes?]

Jonathan averted his gaze and went quiet for a minute.

"Indeed. But that's not the issue." He then started to pull out her dimensional pocket. "Give His Grace, Arnold, a call. Now!"