Epilogue
He clapped twice, and within moments a group of attendants entered, carrying trays laden with jewellery, clothes, and other gifts.
I gasped as a woman approached with a huge scroll on a plate. The announcer’s voice rang out, and I immediately stood, adjusting my dupatta, as Ranaji, Prince Ranvijay with Nandani, and Princess Aishwarya walked in.
Princess Rudraja squealed at the sight of so many new things, and I moved to touch everyone’s feet. They blessed me warmly, and then I knelt before Kunwar-sa. He kissed my head as I touched his feet and whispered, “This is for you,” handing me the scroll.
I opened it, and my breath caught. The stamps of Mehrangarh and Ranaji, alongside Kunwar-sa’s name, filled the top of the document. My brows furrowed in confusion until I read the entire letter. Ranaji had appointed Kunwar-sa and me as the first King and Queen of Mehrangarh.
“I cannot accept this,” I said immediately, handing it to Ranaji.
“I told you, Bhai-sa, she wouldn’t agree,” Kunwar-sa said. Suddenly, Prince Ranvijay stepped forward, Princess Aishwarya by his side.
“This is your right and a gift from all of us, Suman. Your husband won the war, and we want you to manage a kingdom. You’ve excelled and proved by always being caring, loving, and responsible. We want you to accept it,” he said, and Princess Aishwarya nodded in agreement.
“But, Bhai-sa… you are elder. If anyone should have a claim, it should be you and Princess Aishwarya. We cannot take this from you,” I said. Kunwar-sa stood behind me, silently nodding.
“I told you she wouldn’t agree. If she won’t, I cannot force it,” Kunwar-sa added, and Prince Ranvijay smiled gently.
“We already have many responsibilities managing the outskirts and welfare of the kingdom. But you two… you can handle this,” he said, and I lowered my gaze, reluctant to take what was rightfully theirs.
“Suman,” Ranaji said softly, “it belongs to you and your husband. Ranvijay and Aishwarya have enough to manage. Don’t worry, they already have so many states to oversee. This is yours. Take it and take it happily.”
I nodded, unable to refuse. Princess Aishwarya and Nandani stepped forward to hug me, and I hugged them back. Together, we joined hands and walked out for dinner.
This was my story. Born in silence, at midnight, surrounded by poverty and hunger, I had grown stronger with pain. When I hit rock bottom, crushed by life, I rose like a phoenix, leaving fear and pain behind. I finally found my family, full of love, respect, and completeness.
Six months later, twins arrived in our extended family through Princess Aishwarya—a boy and a girl, inheriting their mother’s complexion and their father’s innocence.
Upon their birth, Ranaji bestowed them with twenty-one villages.
Princess Rudraja, jealous of the attention they drew, tried to assert herself.
Kunwar-sa had matured in every way, from his physique to his emotions to his outlook on life. As he often said, his days were always consumed by work, yet he never failed to make time for me in the evenings, even when he returned utterly exhausted.
After a year, following a heated argument where he had gone away for two days without informing me, I finally became pregnant.
Our fight had been intense, escalating to a night of passion where he expressed his anger and desire simultaneously.
I was left physically exhausted, yet two weeks later, I felt life growing inside me.
After a year of Princess Aishwarya’s children—Rana Abhimanyu Dev Singh and Princess Ishwaran—I conceived.
It followed a major fight between us. He had left the kingdom for two days without informing me. According to him, I was occupied with Nandani and Princess Aishwarya, and he didn’t wish to disturb me, so he had merely left a message with Reva. But that shattered me.
I didn’t speak to him for a week. When all his attempts to appease me failed, his patience gave way to anger at my silence. We stopped talking for an entire month until one night when all that bottled frustration finally erupted.
Things got so heated between us in the night’s dead, he ended up fucking me raw, beginning with the guest chamber, then the courtyard. My moans filled the chamber, and he drained all of my month’s worth of energy in just one night.
I didn’t know in how many positions he fucked me. It wasn’t lovemaking; he actually went rough that night. But it was arousing.
For days afterwards, my body bore the reminder of that night. I could barely walk, and I kept my distance from him for weeks.
And then, a week later, I learned I was pregnant.
One evening, he was working late, absorbed in calculating the monthly welfare allocations for the poor, when I went to the library to find him.
“You’re here?” he asked, glancing up.
I hummed softly in response, standing there in my nightgown.
“Have you eaten?” he asked, pulling me gently toward him and settling me onto his lap.
I bit my lip, suddenly unsure whether to smile or scold him.
“You should ask both of us,” I said softly.
He furrowed his brows, searching my eyes.
Smiling timidly, I guided his hand to my belly. His eyes widened in shock as his gaze dropped to my stomach.
“What?” he asked.
I chuckled.
“Wh… what?” he asked again, louder this time.
I laughed even more.
“No…” he whispered.
I nodded.
The smile slipped from his face as concern took over. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in bed?” he asked.
I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his forehead.
“You are my bed and my comfort, Agastya,” I said, inhaling deeply.
Then, softly, he asked, “Are you sure about this?” His hand was still resting on my belly, and I nodded.
“Yes.”
He breathed out slowly and kissed my cheek. “I really hope it’s a girl.”
I lowered my gaze, understanding exactly why he said that.
“Me too,” I murmured.
He pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Oh, God,” he said, half-laughing, half-overwhelmed. “After being a father figure to two, I’m finally becoming a father with my own seed, with my wife.”
I laughed out loud, unable to hold it in.
Since that day, his love for me only deepened. He indulged every silly craving of mine, from sour treats to late-night cravings. If I asked him to cook something in the middle of the night, he would do it without a word of complaint, as if it were his greatest joy.
He helped me bathe, combed my hair, dressed me, and took care of me in ways I never knew love could look like.
As my belly began to swell, my condition worsened. Certain smells and fragrances made me nauseous, and he grew even more attentive. He massaged my feet before sleep, caressed my stomach gently, and spoke to the baby for long stretches while I drifted in and out of light naps.
Seeing him so absorbed in caring for me, Princess Rudraja grew a little envious. Noticing that, he gave her the time and affection she needed, too.
Then, finally, the day arrived.
The labour pains struck at midnight. It was raining, not the gentle monsoon rain, but a cold winter downpour.
During childbirth, I felt as though my bones were breaking, my body tearing apart, but he never left my side for even a moment.
He helped me push, encouraged me, and steadied me when I faltered.
He felt neither embarrassment nor hesitation even in front of his sisters-in-law; his only concern was me.
And then, a child entered our lives.
Our fear came true.
It was a boy.
Despite the silence that fell over him, he gathered the baby against his chest and cried, not in despair, but in happiness.
On the sixth day after the birth, Ranaji named the child after the mightiest king and god, Ranjeet Anirudha Dev Singh.
With his arrival, our family felt complete, yet a tightness lingered in our hearts because of the prophecy.
A prophecy that needed to be proven false.
A future that frightened us, not because we wished him harm, but because we feared history repeating itself.
We didn’t want war among the children.
But one can control everything except time.
Time was the mightiest, bravest, and strongest force in the realm.
And time changed.
It changed… and it changed everything.