They all agreed, but Minver understood that she was not happy or eager to see anything or be with them, so he decided to follow her.

  Martia left the market behind, and the lights started fading gradually.

  She heard the sounds of some men from a narrow alley. She decided to ignore it and keep going, but then she heard a girl crying. Understanding the situation, she moved towards the alley.

  On reaching there, she saw a girl, completely beaten up and naked, her hands held above by two men, and one man was trying to rape her. Another man had his hand on her mouth to stop her from shouting.

  Seeing this, Martia felt anger and sadness at the same time and

  thought, One side there is that Prince, who wants to live in a world where no human inflicts any kind of misery on another. And he wants me to make that world for him. How is it possible when most humans are driven by some or other kind of greed or desire? How do I make this world more humane without being inhumane myself?

  On seeing her, the men came forward, leaving the girl, and said, “Looks like we will have more pleasure than we expected.”

  Martia smiled maliciously and replied, “That is true. Looks like we

  understand each other. With my arrival, you will definitely have more pleasure than you can think of.”

  She thought it would be too easy and too little to just injure them and it would also end quickly, so she decided to make their wish memorable for them.

  She moved forward, and with a few kicks and hits, threw the two men on the ground as they came to grab her.

  The other two men froze in confusion. She then went to them and

  thrashed them. She broke the legs of all four men so they could not run.

  She sat down and held their heads by their hair and pierced their eyes with her knife, one by one, within a few minutes. She then stood in front of them quietly and heard them yelling in extreme pain. Whoever was trying to get up or run away, she again beat them up and threw them to the ground.

  She coldly asked, “Why are you running away? We decided to have

  some pleasure, right? What’s wrong? Don’t like my way? You rape and torture a person for pleasure while I, on the other hand, prefer to cut people in pieces slowly and torture them for pleasure. It is just a matter of preferences. Why are you crying now? Or maybe you are crying because you are not having enough pleasure. If that’s the case, let me cut your hand while you wail. It will be fun, trust me.”

  She took out one of the large sharp knives she kept with herself and went to one of them, who was shrieking with pain. She raised her knife, and with little effort, cut his hand brutally.

  That portion of the alley turned red, and the whole alley was filled with screams of extreme pain.

  Satisfied, she stood up to cut the other man’s hand but stopped when she suddenly saw the girl, who she later found out was named Divelira, hiding in a corner, throwing up.

  Martia realized that in her rage, which had driven her to the edge of madness, she had totally forgotten that the girl was still there.

  Shocked at her own behavior, she wiped her hands on her clothes and went to the scared girl.

  Without saying anything, Martia took out the red dress she had bought for herself and gave it to her to wear, which Divelira pulled on immediately.

  Martia then said to her, “Close your eyes.”

  Divelira did so immediately, and Martia held her hand and guided her out of the alley, away from all of the yelling and screaming.

  Divelira opened her eyes and looked at Martia in fear, and Martia

  understood this.

  Without thinking, Martia said to her, “I am not an evil person. I don’t know why I did that.”

  Divelira still looked frightened. In a faint voice, Martia said, “I am not a good person either.” Martia looked down at her hands in confusion.

  Divelira lifted her hand to hold Martia’s hand. Martia tried to withdraw by saying, “It is colored in blood.”

  Divelira sighed and said, “I don’t care whether you are a brute or a good person. I care that you saved me today, gave me a chance to live again. I am not a weak person either. I will not let this incident stop me from continuing my life. I will live, and that too, the best way I can. And you are my savior, a person I will worship from now on.” She clutched Martia’s hand and said, “Whatever you are, if you see any person worth saving, then save them. It doesn’t matter to me what you become while saving them.” Then she asked, “What is your name?”

  “Martia.”

  Divelira looked at the dress Martia had given her. “Martia, are you going to get married today? Since this is a wedding dress.”

  Martia found that funny. She smiled and said, “It is just my favorite color, so I bought it. The rest doesn’t matter.” She looked at her black gown and bloody hands and said, “You can see how much I like red. Even without the dress, I still have some of that color on my hands and face.”

  Martia looked Divelira in her eyes, which were now filled with wonder, intimidation, and respect. As she let go of Divelira’s hands, she said, “Don’t get this color on you. Leave it just for me. And find your way from here. I have to go.”

  Saying this, Martia turned and left. She continued to walk along a path where there was no light.…

  Minver, having observed everything, understood that he had to leave Martia alone for a few hours. So, he went back to his friends.

  After washing her face and hands, Martia went into a locality where most of the aristocrats, the wealthy, and the ministers lived. Further inside was the king’s castle.

  Martia remembered the way that she had taken when she was a child, but now there were so many new houses. It was still not very difficult to reach the castle, even with such heavy security. But she knew she might have to confront and fight many guards, and it would become a big deal later, after her escape.

  Giving up on going to the king’s castle, she decided to leave. But

  suddenly, the last house caught her attention. She couldn’t see it clearly as it was surrounded by many trees, but she observed that this house was the least guarded. She thought going inside the house would be very easy but averted her eyes and decided to leave.

  Then she thought, Why not check what an aristocratic house looks

  like? Spend the last day in the city in some luxury.

  Deep down, she knew that she did not want any luxury; she just

  wanted to be somewhere that could give her an illusion that she could see the Prince again. But being a leader now, she didn’t want to break the rules and go to the Prince in the castle.

  So, she decided to go see the last house in the corner.

  She covered her face with a black cloth. Under the cover of darkness and so many trees, she very easily passed the guards and went into the garden of the house.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  She climbed a tree, which easily led her to the balcony of the house. While standing on the edge of the balcony, she froze for a moment when she saw the Prince sitting on the floor and looking up at the stars.

  Of all the things in the entire world, she had never expected to actually find him here.

  Unable to move forward, she just kept looking at him, aware of her own heartbeat, which was very loud and fast.

  He looked like a beautiful painting, and her rapid heartbeat seemed like a perfect melody for this painting.

  Suddenly, the Prince turned and looked in her direction. She knew he couldn’t see her as she was in complete darkness, and he was in the light.

  But still, the Prince stood up and asked, “Are you here?”

  Completely amazed at this question, she removed the cloth from her face and took a few steps forward and appeared in the starlight beside him.

  She then stopped and said mesmerizingly, “Well, if you call me so

  loudly, then I have no choice but to be here, isn’t it? You know your voice can be heard on the stars, too? They were complaining to me, so I just came to find out why you are calling me so much. They also need some peace, you know.”

  Hearing this, the Prince smiled brightly, which made Martia feel like the sun had risen at midnight.

  He closed the distance between them and stood close to her.

  Martia said, “I love stars; they are my favorite thing to look at when I want some calmness in my mind while trees have been my best friends since my childhood. And your room, which is decorated luxuriously, is begging for the attention of the viewer. But still, in the presence of everything, why is it that only you seem to be beautiful to me?”

  The Prince smiled and replied, “It’s only your reflection on me that is making me look beautiful.” He lifted his hand to touch her face, as if to make him realize that she really was in front of him.

  But Martia took a step back while continuing to look into his eyes. She said in wonder and confusion, “How can I seem beautiful to you? Have you forgotten that I tried to kill you?”

  The Prince confidently replied, “You never tried to kill me. If you had, I wouldn’t be alive.”

  Hearing this, Martia replied sadly, “But I did harm you, didn’t I?” She looked at the wound on his neck and said regretfully, “I am not a good person, Prince. I can now never be a good person. Do you think I deserve to be loved by you or anyone else?”

  The Prince, bothered on hearing this, closed his eyes to calm himself and said fondly, “Yes, you do! You deserve all the love there is in this world and all that exists in this universe.”

  Martia was stunned. She thought, This is his nature— to live in some other world and see goodness in everyone.

  Disappointed, she said, “I have killed more than ten people until now.

  Do you still think I deserve to be loved?”

  While trying to process this information, the Prince said sadly, “I feel like even if you burn the whole world, my heart will still only be with you.

  And I feel like I will always miss you, long for you, and constantly think about you if you are away from me.”

  Martia then asked, astonished, “Why?”

  The Prince replied softly and confidently, “Maybe because I have fallen in love with you.”

  Frustrated, Martia said, “You and my teacher talk very casually about being in love after just one meeting. How can you fall in love with someone after meeting them once, Prince? And I can even try to understand why my teacher believes that. But with you, nothing can change the fact that I did harm you and also that I am an assassin whereas you are a royal. Don’t you think you deserve better?” She looked at him perplexed. “You and my teacher speak the same language. Either you both are insane, or it is I who does not understand this mysterious emotion.” Without giving him a chance to reply, she angrily said, “You love me, right? So, what now? What do you want me to do? Stay here?”

  He smiled wistfully and said, “I want to know your name first.”

  She quickly replied, “Martia . . . My name is Martia. Do you know

  what it means?”

  The Prince slowly said, “Yes. It means ‘destruction’. I know.” He then looked down, lost.

  Hearing this and seeing him like this saddened Martia although he was right.

  The Prince then looked into her eyes and said fondly and wistfully,

  “But, Martia, no matter who you are or from where you come, you are capable of hearing my heart calling you. Even though this feeling is extremely mystifying, and even I don’t know the extent of it, one thing I am sure of is that the affection I feel for you, you feel it too. I could see that affection in your eyes the very first moment you saw me, and it was still there when you left me the last time. And right now, you should see your eyes, Martia. They are full of that emotion, the emotion that you call mysterious. And it is for me. How can I let you go then? How can I not be with you? What I want, you asked. I want you to take me with you wherever you go—just take me with you. There is no way I am letting you leave me like you did the last time.”

  Martia was overwhelmed and unable to think of what to say anymore. All the anger and irritation disappeared, her expression turned softer and full of affection for the Prince.

  She looked at his luxurious room and the table laden with a lavish

  spread, and then she looked out of the balcony and saw the peaceful and beautiful garden.

  Unhappily, she asked, “Can you survive without luxury? Look at this table. Just for one person, this table is overflowing with dishes that could feed many people. This bed you sleep in, it cannot be found outside of this particular residential area. The safety and peace here? The moment you decide to go with me, you will lose all these privileges.”

  The Prince smiled. “I never lived in luxury, Martia. I left the palace

  and its privileges at a very young age. I learned and practiced medicine with teachers I found along the way and ate whatever I got. I came home after so many years just to visit my brother. I missed him. He was more like my father than the previous king. Martia, I won’t be a burden to you, I promise.”

  Martia felt guilty for making the Prince feel like this. She said, “I forgot what I concluded the last time I met you and made you again prove yourself. Forgive me. You know the word ‘revenge’ was the first thing I remember learning. Being in love and loving someone always, these emotions . . . only you can make me feel and teach me to live with them.” She peered into his room, where the lavish meal sat cold on the table, and said, “We both know how difficult it is to get a meal. From where I come, the first punishment I got was not to get a meal for almost three days, and I was a kid. I thought I was going to die hungry that time. So, being hungry still scares me, and seeing food getting wasted is intolerable to me. You know, I missed you so much that I couldn’t feel any hunger for days but be it the respect or fear I feel for food, I never waste it and always eat.”

  Feeling a little guilty, the Prince said, “I told them to not get me a meal, but they didn’t listen. No matter how much I try, I just can’t seem to feel hungry or sleep either from the moment I met you.” He smiled.

  Martia, understanding the situation, smiled too.

  She went inside the room and sat on the settee near the table laden with dishes and looked at the Prince, signaling him with her hand to sit next to her.

  He came and sat near her. She then took a small portion of the food and fed it to him, saying, “Eat and wake me up after an hour.”

  She laid her head on the Prince’s shoulders, and closed her eyes.

  The Prince asked in a worried tone, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

  Martia laughed. “This luxurious food is poison for me. And this room is a jail. But for you, I can tolerate it for an hour more. Don’t forget to wake me up.”