As the next day rolled around, Ashton realised something he had not been in the rush of making out of Nick's room. He conceded the fact that he could have lost everything he had worked for till then for some stupid revenge had he been caught.
'Nah, it wasn't an act of some stupid revenge. That fcker deserved it, and more.' Ashton corrected his train of thought, 'He just caught me off-guard. That's all.'
His plan was to make a quick sneak attack on Nick and then do the same with Nicole who was residing a floor above. Nice and easy, however, that bastard Nick proved to be more tenacious than Ashton had assumed.
After all, who the heck would be able to try and stop their assailant while their bone was popping out of its socket and through the skin? Ashton probably could have done something like that, but simply because he had [Pain Tolerance] to help him do that, along with the help of his other genes.
Nick, on the other hand, did not possess either of those things and yet he did something Ashton could not have done under normal circumstances. Ashton had even peeked into Nick's stats but was not able to find anything that could have possibly helped him.
Which meant only one thing, Nick and perhaps even Nicole, were hiding something. It was probably a family secret which if leaked, could have made a lot of trouble for them. It could even be related to how they were able to score so many points in a matter of seconds during the examination.
"It's better if I lay low for a while now." Ashton shook his head as he woke up, "It's awfully quiet though. I thought the hostel would be hustling and bustling after what I did. But I guess not."
However, a moment later Duncan came rushing into his chamber without his permission. It was the first time he had done something like that, so Ashton knew, something serious must have happened.
"Master, there are some people looking for you." He said in one breath, before pointing towards the entrance.
'They are here sooner than I expected them to be.' Ashton smiled.
Just because he wasn't able to hurt Nick as much as he wanted to, didn't mean his revenge was over just yet. He relaxed his expression, threw a t-shirt over and walked out of his room to greet his visitors. Who, to no one's surprise were a bunch of professors who were close to the Gruntas, or at least to their parents.
"How may I help you, professors?" Ashton asked with a confused look on his face.
"Don't act as if you are oblivious to the situation." Amaira scoffed and pointed towards him with her head, "Arrest this kid."
A couple of guards walked inside with black metallic cuffs in their hands to arrest him. However, before they could tie Ashton up, he signalled them to stop.
"Just because I am extending my hospitality to you as you are my Professors, doesn't mean I can't show you my other side." The smile on Ashton's face was quickly replaced by that of annoyance, "You think you can just walk into my 'home', and arrest me just like that?"
He continued, "I might not look like one to read, but I have read about the rules and laws of the city as well as the academy. If you want to arrest me for whatever reason, first show me a warrant to do so."
The two guards looked at each other. Obviously, they did not have a warrant to arrest him. How could they have one when they were nothing more than the gatekeepers of the Academy's main building?
"Oh, but you do know as professors of the academy, we can call in any of our students to present themselves in front of us whenever we pleased?" Professor Tanaka, the blue-haired man from the previous council trial was present there as well.
"I don't suppose you assume your student to attend your call in handcuffs. Do you?" Ashton replied, "Well, whatever, I'll entertain you just this once. Please lead the way."
The professors were surprised Ashton agreed to follow them after putting so much drama. However, they were glad he agreed to the condition without putting much hassle. But there was something else going on in Ashton's head.
As soon as the professors turned around, Ashton whispered into Duncan's ears, "Call the mistress and tell her to get here as soon as she can. Preferably within the next hour."
After saying so, he quietly left with the professors. Just like the last time, he was once again led into the Disciplinary council's trial room. However, this time there were no students there. All of the seats there were occupied by the professors.
There were some faces he recognised, like the Director, Professor Kakaroff and Rose. While he had seen others for the first time. In front of them was Nicole, who was sitting in the middle of two adults. The resemblance she had with them confirmed that they were her parents.
As soon as they saw Ashton, the father got up in rage as if he wanted to cave his skull into the ground. But he was quickly reminded by the director to sit down. Which he begrudgingly obeyed.
"Let's get started with the trial-"
"Sorry to interrupt you Madam Director," Ashton politely said, "But I still don't know what I am doing here."
"The audacity-" The Grunta's blonde father once again got up in rage.
"Mr Grunta, do I need to remind you this is a courtroom where you are not allowed to speak unless you're asked to?" Grunta mumbled an apology and sat back down as the director turned to face Ashton.
"Ashton Bismark, it is suspected that you were behind the attack on Nick Grunta, which happened last night." She answered in an authoritative role, "We are gathered here to judge whether you are guilty of committing the stated crime or not."
"How many times would you people keep blaming me for things I have not committed?" Ashton shook his head, putting on a classic acting performance, "When I first heard about the academy, I was ecstatic to attend. But now, I just realised this place was nothing but a mansion filled with hypocrites and discriminators. Seriously, you need to stop making me the scapegoat of everything that's wrong with this place."
"We are not here to listen to your monologue." Amaira scoffed as soon as Ashton was done speaking his mind, "Just answer the question we have, and nothing more."
With that, a series of questions were presented in front of Ashton. Like where he was last night at a particular time? What was he doing before Nick was attacked? And another bunch of absurd questions.
However, not once did any one of them mention the camera recordings of the room Nick was residing in. Probably because showing them the video would have immediately cleared Ashton of any suspicions.
But the thing that surprised Ashton the most was how the Director was going along with all that crap without raising any of the questions anyone with a sane mind would. It was as if she did not care about what happened to him at all.
'So that's what she meant by not supporting me. What a bitch...'
Thankfully, Ashton had a perfect alibi in form of Rose who backed up every statement he made. If it hadn't been for her support, Ashton would have still gotten screwed over big time. Especially since he could not have mentioned anything about the recordings himself as he was not supposed to know anything about Nick's treatment during his 'house arrest'.
As for the professors, they were running out of ways they could have framed Ashton for something they knew he probably didn't have. But the surprises weren't over yet. A little over an hour had passed since the questioning started when the doors to the courtroom were thrown open, and in walked the Mistress along with her bodyguards.
Everyone in the room immediately recognised her. After all, she was someone whom even their king did not dare to take lightly.
"Excuse me but this is a private matter of the academy-"
Professor Tanaka immediately jumped in to diffuse the situation as he knew the Mistress's appearance was not something they could have ignored.
"If the so-called private matter involves my ward, then it is a matter I have to get involved in, don't I?" She cut the professor off and stood right next to Ashton, "Now then, shall we restart this 'trial'?"
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