Chapter 548: Linden Hosts a Banquet, Invites Tina and Jared

Jared reached out, scraped some cream with his finger, and popped it into his mouth. A second later, his face contorted in agony, an expression of pain like none had ever graced his features before. Tina, alarmed, asked, "Could it be poisoned?" Jared waved his hand dismissively, leaning on Tina's leg, "It's just very bitter." Tina was speechless. "Is it really that bitter?" she questioned, tasting it herself, nearly allowing her fondness for strawberry cake to plummet. It was supposed to be cream, yet how could it be so bitter! Suddenly, Tina remarked, "It's like something my mother would make." As the words left her mouth, both she and Jared paused abruptly. They slowly lifted their eyes, their gazes meeting. The cake, indeed, bore an uncanny resemblance to Natalie’s handiwork. They sat in silence, each hardly believing their own thoughts, though all signs of late seemed to point in one direction. After a while, Tina shook her head, "I've never tasted a strawberry cake this awful."