As Prince Prafulla walked slowly down the corridor, heading back toward his chamber, Snigdha watched him with the vicious, predatory eyes of a demon. The sting of Prabha's heavy slap across her cheek and the harsh insults hurled by Queen Mother Arohi and her father Aditya had driven Snigdha to the brink of utter madness. She had caught Prafulla's smug, satisfied smile!
Snigdha could no longer contain herself. Darting out from the shadows like a rabid beast, she lunged forward and grabbed Prafulla by both ankles with a violent, vicious yank!
Taken completely by surprise by the unexpected assault, Prafulla lost his balance. Flipping backward through the air, he crashed hard onto the rigid marble floor—"Thud!"
Striking the sharp edge of the marble, the back of Prafulla's head split open! Crying out in agony, "Ah!"—Prafulla rolled across the floor in a cruel wave of pain. The spotless white marble floor began to flood with Prafulla's fresh, crimson blood in an instant!
Hearing Prafulla's heart-wrenching screams, Queen Mother Arohi, King Aditya, and a troop of guards rushed in like maniacs from the opposite end of the royal palace! But Snigdha? Seeing Prafulla lying in a pool of blood, Snigdha placed both hands on her hips and burst into a fiendish, demonic fit of laughter—"Ha ha ha! How did you like that, you sheep? Weren't you smiling rather smugly just a moment ago?"
Hearing the sound of Prafulla's screams, sweet princess Prabhasa had rushed out like a lunatic. But midway there, she remembered Tantrik Boudi's strict warning—'You must keep yourself hidden from Snigdha; you must not reveal your true self under the sway of emotions!' Prabhasa came to a sudden halt, pressing herself against the corridor wall. Tears streamed down her eyes. Standing from afar, she watched her only beloved brother drowning in his own blood and writhing in agony. Clenching her fists so tightly that her nails dug deep into her skin, Prabhasa observed every single drop of Snigdha's fiendish atrocities with her own eyes, swearing a silent, fiery oath—'Just wait, Snigdha Didi... I am going to settle the score for every single act of wickedness with interest! I will inflict such a fiendish punishment upon you that history will remember it!'
Meanwhile, seeing Prafulla writhing on the floor, King Aditya trembled with intense terror and rage.
Pointing a trembling finger at Snigdha, Aditya shouted, "Snigdha! What... what kind of devastation have you wrought this time, you devilish girl? Why did you yank Prafulla down like an animal? Can't you see his head is split open and bleeding from that fall?"
Halting her fiendish laughter, Snigdha distorted her face, made a mock expression, and snapped, "Why, old man? You just saw it with your own eyes and said out loud that I pulled Prafulla by his feet! Then why are you asking like an ox how he fell? Oh, good lord! I never would have known how many faces and how many conflicting words a two-faced snake like you possesses if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! You are an absolute, fossilized fraud of an old man!"
The moment such hideous, uncouth, and patricidal words left her lips, Queen Mother Arohi rushed forward with the speed of the wind and dealt a heavy, resounding slap across Snigdha's cheek!
Roaring with fury, Arohi said, "How dare you possess such audacity, you uncouth black snake? Do you speak back to your own biological father with such foul insolence? And what on earth did you do to your own flesh-and-blood brother Prafulla, you monster? Why did you hurl him to the ground? What harm did he ever do to you, you rotten, wicked girl?"
Stroking her cheek, Snigdha stared back with savage, dilated eyes.
She shrieked, "You raised your hand against me again, Arohi? How dare you lift your hand against me yet again? It disgusts me and makes my stomach turn even to call you Mother now! I never feel like calling you my mother ever again! You are asking why I laid hands on Prafulla? Then listen! That spineless sheep Prafulla didn't utter a single word in my defense even after witnessing such a massive humiliation! Whenever it comes to Prabha, he charges in like a raging bull, stripping off his dhoti and picking fights if necessary just to protect her! But when I was utterly humiliated, he stood off to the side, smiling smugly behind my back! Did he think I didn't see his smug little smile? I saw it very clearly! That's why I served him right by grabbing his legs, dragging him down, and splitting his head open on the floor! And that witch Prabha? I feel like grabbing her by her hair and tearing her head right off her neck, too!"
Standing hidden behind the doorway in the distance, Prabhasa listened to Snigdha's venomous words. Prabha's blood boiled to a fiery pitch. Clenching her fists even tighter, she roared inwardly, 'Yes, you wicked Snigdha Didi! I am not going to spare you for another single second! I have quietly swallowed all your tyranny for far too long. Now I am going to teach you a lesson so fitting that all your royal arrogance will be crushed and buried deep beneath the earth forever! I have made all the preparations to punish you, just you wait!'