The towering corridor of the Junagadh Royal Palace was heavy with intense excitement and a stifling, tense atmosphere. Stunned by a sudden and thunderous slap across her cheek dealt by sweet princess Prabha right in the middle of the crowded palace, the blood in Snigdha's head had surged to a thousand degrees Celsius in an instant! Consumed by rage, humiliation, and jealousy, Snigdha's eyes bulged as if they might pop right out of her skull. Spinning like a whirlpool driven by a gale, Snigdha fumed with fury, preparing to spew poison like a black serpent. Without wasting another second, she raised her right hand high in the air with all her might and swung it around to land a ferocious slap on Prabhasa!
Yet, before her hand could reach Prabha's cheek, an entirely unexpected event occurred! Prabhasa did not flinch so much as an inch. Empowered by the miraculous blessings of the tantrik and the strength of her sharpened consciousness, she grabbed Snigdha's upraised wrist in a tight, vice-like grip right in mid-air with astonishing agility! Prabha's grip was as unyielding as an iron chain; try as she might, Snigdha could not pull her hand free from Prabha's grasp.
Without showing a shred of emotion or annoyance, Prabhasa grasped Snigdha's hand with supreme contempt and hurled it forcefully downward toward the stone floor!
Then, keeping her calm yet piercing eyes locked onto Snigdha's venomous glare, Prabhasa spoke in an exceptionally cold, ice-frozen voice, "Snigdha Didi... think at least ten times before you ever dare raise a hand against me again!"
The moment she uttered those words, Prabhasa did not linger for another second. Adjusting the pallu of her royal attire, she walked away down the corridor with slow, resolute, and firm steps.
Meanwhile, Snigdha stood frozen in place on the floor, clutching her cheek, utterly speechless! Her feet seemed riveted to the stone like blocks of stone. Snigdha's hyper-cunning and wicked brain simply could not reconcile the events of this single moment! A tumultuous storm of disbelief raged within her mind—'What just happened? How did Prabha pull this off? Have Rupanjan's memory and all memories of the past truly been wiped from her mind, or does she still remember everything? And if her memory really is gone, she should be acting like a lunatic right now, standing before me in utter confusion or trying to recognize who I am! But I saw not a single sign of non-recognition in her demeanor or facial expression! I cannot understand for the life of me what she is trying to do! And even if I assume she does recognize me, where on earth did this girl find such immense strength and nerve? The Prabha who used to cower like a kitten in a corner before me, trembling in fear and shedding tears the moment I slapped her—with what courage did that very Prabha step forward like a tigress, snatch my upraised hand out of the air in a single jerk, and land a thunderous slap across my cheek? Where on earth did such audacity and courage come from?'—Stroking the red imprint of Prabha's hand upon her cheek, Snigdha seethed and burned with blistering humiliation.
Right at that moment, witnessing Prabha's fierce new avatar, Queen Mother Arohi felt a profound sense of satisfaction and joy blooming within her heart. Yet, twisting her face, she stepped closer toward Snigdha.
With a tone of scorch-tongued scorn and intense disgust, Arohi burst out, "Well, well, Prabha! At first I couldn't figure out what on earth Prabha was doing all of a sudden! But now I see that whatever she is doing, she is doing it wonderfully for once! Heaven is my witness, I have been wishing with all my heart for days on end that someone would properly teach this devilish girl a lesson and put her in her place! How is it, Snigdha? Did it sting your cheek good, didn't it? How did you like the slap Prabha gave you? Will you go ahead and slap her again now? Will you march up to her and hit her now? All this time, you were the only one who ever hit her! Whenever you got the chance, you'd rush up like a maniac, grab her by her hair, drag her around, and land a flurry of hard slaps across her face! Well, didn't Prabha give you a fitting reply today? Serves you right that she slapped you! She struck a heavy shoe-blow right across your unholy arrogance! I feel like walking up to you right now and landing two slaps of my own to redden both your cheeks! You uncouth, hideous wretch, for all those minutes you were yowling like a dog and hurling filthy, obscene abuses at her, and had she not remained calm and started hurling the exact same vile abuses back at you, what on earth would you have done, pray tell? You would have started wailing shamelessly, screaming at the top of your lungs and turning the entire royal palace upside down! You uncouth, devilish girl! I cannot tolerate you in this palace for another single second! I am praying to God day and night that the auspicious day of your wedding arrives swiftly so I can marry you off to that Jishnu and banish you from this royal palace forever!"
Hurling those venomous words straight into Snigdha's face, Queen Mother Arohi strode away briskly.
King Aditya stood there deeply pained and mortified, witnessing this uncouth brawling and abuse between his wife and two daughters. Seeing Snigdha standing there with her hand on her cheek, seething with rage, he said in a somewhat sympathetic tone, "I don't know what suddenly came over Prabha, my child, or why she behaved like that with you... but don't lose heart, Snigdha my child..."
The moment those words of comfort left Aditya's lips, the blood in Snigdha's head shot straight to a thousand degrees Celsius! Gathering every ounce of fiendish malice and abuse inside her, she lunged at Aditya like a tigress!
Gnashing her teeth, Snigdha roared, "Shut up, you old man! Close your rotten mouth right now! You don't need to come marching in here offering me your cheap comfort! Hearing these pointless words of yours makes me want to grab you by these white hairs of yours and rip them all out by the roots in one jerk! Then I'd dunk you into the filthy water of that village duck-pond, cook your torn hair into a meal, and serve it to you on a platter to eat! How dare you possess such audacity and nerve, old man, to stand right before my face, puff out your chest, and say 'don't lose heart'? Why? Did you take the slap from her so I should stop losing heart because of your words? You are a complete, unhinged lunatic! Coming over here telling me not to lose heart! Why on earth should I not lose heart, and why should I care to remember your trashy words? Have you ever done a single thing for me, pray tell? You've just stood there acting like a devoted worshipper of your doting, overly cherished, chaste daughter Prabha! But listen to me, old man—I am never going to spare that witch Prabha! How on earth did she get the nerve to slap me across the face in front of the entire court? And when I turned around to hit her back, with what courage did she grab my hand and fling it aside? I cannot bear the sight of her for another single second! She cast her hook and snatched away my beloved Rupanjan from distant Rupnagar, and today she had the nerve to come here and slap me! I am going to deal with her with bloodshot eyes, I will not spare her!"—screaming this, Snigdha completely lost control out of sheer humiliation and rage, collapsing heavily onto the floor of the corridor and kicking her legs around like a madwoman!