An Inexplicable Horror

As Lyssandre continues to steel his stern gaze on Anastasia, cold shivers start running down her spine, striking her a little numb.

She looks really small and powerless in front of this prominent figure. Undoubtedly, she never met anyone as intimidating as him before. He emanates this stunningly imposing aura and overwhelming amount of sheer power that need no words to be recognized.

Right at the moment she's processing all of these thoughts, the past and the present overlapped out of nowhere.

Since all of these events are happening inside the present Anastasia's head as this linear sequence of flashbacks, she suddenly sees herself taking her younger version's position at that very second. It's as if she has gone back to the past and started reliving that same scenario. 

Now, instead of her fourteen-year-old self, an older Anastasia is the one in front of Lyssandre. With that, she gets to experience their not-so coincidental meeting once more - an encounter that changed her life forever.

"H-Huh...?"

Then, the scene changed.

All of the sudden, she found herself falling back this time - hundreds or thousands of feet down below her. It's the same brief flashback that she had last night where she saw Lucien crying out her name.

As for this one, though, the two of them weren't the only ones in the flashback. It turned out that Lyssandre was also in the scene all along, standing behind his son with a contemptuous and disdainful look on his face -

And he also just happened to be the reason why she was falling in the first place.

Anastasia felt her everything stilled the moment she realized that Lyssandre had a gun aimed straight at her head. Her blood ran cold while her body broke into a cold sweat.

He wasn't just about to shoot, though. His finger had already pulled the trigger a second ago -

And now, the bullet had gone exactly through her head, making her fall backward and eventually meet her demise.

At this point, everything is becoming too unbearable for the present Anastasia to handle. That gruesome memory is just so horrific and bloodcurdling that she can't help but be afraid of life itself - of living once more. 

With that, she forced her way out of this harrowing train of recollections and tried to escape from the suffocating grip of her tragically dark past.

---

"Sia...!"

Back at the present time, Anastasia suddenly heard Zen calling out her name in panic. She could also feel that everyone in the dining hall at that moment was thrown into a shell-shocked state out of nowhere.

"Oh, right..."

As soon as Anastasia regains her senses, she realizes that she just vomitted all of the sudden. It's already expected, though. Anyone would probably react this way if they were in her position right now.

Right after recalling that inexplicable horror of meeting her eventual death, so much dread and aghast perturbation pooled the pit of her stomach that she couldn't help but throw up what she ate for breakfast.

"Goodness, Sia... Are you alright?" Zen asked with a worry-stricken expression, rushing to her side and grabbing her shoulders.

"Young Miss, do you feel sick? Is your belly aching?" Rupert inquired from her opposite side, concern laced in his voice.

But then, Anastasia still couldn't afford to answer - even more so when she met Zen's gaze out of nowhere. 

As soon as they locked eye contact, she began reliving the tyrannizing horror again, considering how much he resembled his father who just turned out to be her killer as well. Now that he has grown into such an attractive young man, he even looks more like Lyssandre.

"Let's get you back to your room for now..." he then started once more before gently putting his hand on top of hers. 

"I'll bring you there-"

"Don't touch me."

Right then, without her really intending to, Anastasia found herself glaring daggers at Zen, catching him completely off guard.