Whatever Lotor is trying to insinuate by pointing out his absence, it's effective at making Keith bristle. With the way things had unravelled, how could he not wonder how events could have been different had he chosen to stay with the paladins? Is it possible that he could have picked up on the strange behavior of Shiro's clone? At the very least, during his short time as leader before the clone had taken over, it seemed he was the only one adamant about pursuing Lotor.

But those are all hypotheticals that are neither here nor there. What's happened has happened and there isn't any going back to undo the damage that Lotor and his deranged family have caused. What does matter right now is how Lotor is going to conduct himself in Johto.

"Yeah. I was away. Trying to source the origin of an unusual strain of quintessence."

He'll leave it there for now, waiting for a reaction.