In Full Retrospection

Keith shuddered again but tried his best to remain cool in his stead. His tiger ears drooped lower than it could be.

"Your silence is an affirmation I gladly consider." Arnold rubbed the underside of his chin before turning his back at him.

After the covert conversation they had, Keith gave a curt bow and left; but Nathalie, who stood in the distance, caught his usual stark green eyes and went dull with veins on the verge of popping on his forehead.

Nathalie knew all too well what it was as some elopement wasn't part of his dreams and goals in life, not around this time yet, let alone having an affair with Mystique Blackwell, who already had a bad reputation.

Arnold took something intangible yet precious away from Keith. Even then, this male lead didn't hold it against the villainess.

She could no longer discern what kind of a roller coaster his emotions reached far and wide.

'I should've made some elaborate flashbacks or backstory then when I had the chance!' Nathalie clicked her tongue.

However, like her, Mystique most likely got away with their beguiling beauty, rated high among the nobles and revered by the people. It was one of her weapons, and no one could deny it as most succumbed to her for it.

'No, it's not too late! I didn't think that such basic instructions could be interpreted like this. I have a plan!' Nathalie pumped her fist as she took a cautious glance from Keith, who shuffled towards the exit with his back, tall and wide, trying not to lose an ounce of pride.

Before she peeled off his gaze at him, she pondered again, 'I did this to you, I shall offer you something you get the best of both worlds.'

On the other hand, Arnold stole a glare at Keith and clicked his tongue when he left. He shuffled to the private chamber she currently stayed.

Upon opening the door, he pinched his nose with wrinkling corners of his eyes. He clicked his tongue when their stenches lingered in the room.

"This… Have I not told him to dispose of what needs to be thrown and clean what needs to be done?" Arnold hissed, looking around despite how neat and tidy it looked. The vanity and closet were on their usual placements, chairs and lounges were in one piece, and there found no specks of dust on the floor as soon as he bent lower for an inspection.

'Right, even after all what happened. Keith still cleaned up the mess…' She covered her face again from the thought of it. 'Glad most things were sturdy; I'd be damned if it wasn't… However, none could easily escape from Arnold's acute senses.'

On that note, he waved his hand and froze the air. Several diamond clouds of dust and snow glimmered around as though time stopped in his whims. After which, all of it converged into one sphere as soon as he opened his palms.

"Now it's refreshing…"

Thick ice engulfed it and dropped it on the floor for her maid to pick up later.

His shuffles turned into trudges as he made an inch closer to the four-poster bed; behind those veiling curtains found her only daughter. Thereon, he flicked it to the side and took a glimpse of her peaceful rest.

Once seated, his hand caressed her forehead that sweat in profusion. With a tap, the place within the bed cooled down.

"My Mysti, I never thought this would happen to you one day—Perhaps, I did, but I got myself too complacent. I have been a bad father."

'That's not true—!' Though her words left unspoken from her mouth agape. 'Right, I'm in a retrospection...'

Nathalie shuddered when he shut his eyes for a while, then gulped hard when it snapped wide open with a glare. A glare that even the author like her would shudder.

"Who…" Arnold's puffy and bloodshot eyes scanned the almost lifeless daughter in his arms. "...Did this to you? Did he..."

Arnold hugged her daughter, who laid down to sleep on this cozy white mattress topped with a warm cream quilt. He gripped a handful of the quilt while in a sobbing bucket at her plight.

Nathalie clenched her fist when she thought this was when Arnold became active on Mystique's hidden schemes. Unbeknownst to her, he went for whatever her daughter desired, and lest she failed from it, he would be the last net that would save from her bottomless pitfall.

'That damn Athan Ordell Vladimir…'

But at the same time, her heart was wrenched with a pang of pain that she couldn't help but clutch her chest. Her eyes widened, but the overcrowding tears blurred her vision and dribbled across her cheeks.

'Mystique might be strong and untouchable, but this feelings…'

For a while, Nathalie almost choked and shut down from the idea, she darted right away from Mystique's solemn look in her rest.

Nathalie had been with Mystique for some time now, and she could feel the raw emotions no different from hers.

Those wretched and disastrous memories with him caused her heart to wallow in forlorn. She shook her head as she tried to discard the remnant emotions that weren't meant for her as she was but another person.

Right at this moment, Nathalie learned from what was far enough from the memories of that scene; she couldn't help but heave a sigh from it.

'He played with their games, then outplayed them from their strengths and schemes. Made a reverse uno card on both of them.'

' The curse went on for more than a year...' She kneaded her temple as she thought of Keith. 'Is it too late now?'

There was one thing she worried about the most: he already had a romantic interest planned throughout the series and already dropped a pint of water to the lake.

As agile as they could be, readers pinpointed several clues of who it could be, but it was different from her.

'Should I? But I…' Nathalie closed her eyes, wallowing in despair. 'I need Keith though.'

Inevitably, they will cross their paths not long enough.

Which had Nathalie bit her lip from all of the events that happened. It was, yet again, another dire consequence she had to undertake from now on.

'Was it really all for power or love? For Athan? This feeling left unanswered, would it affect me?'