On waking up in the morning, the Prince found himself alone in bed. He got up and searched the house and garden and couldn’t find Martia. He figured that she might have gone to work. After eating and getting ready, he left the house.

  He discovered that the village was as prosperous as the city where the king’s palace was situated. The villages that he had visited before meeting Martia were usually poor. There, he helped the injured and ill in the hospital for free and ate whatever he got in return from the people who hired him. He always practiced humanity over practicality. Which was why people always saw him as naive. He was fully aware of this perception that people had about him.

  But still, he decided to live as a human and to die as a human, no

  matter how bad the circumstances or how cruel the people he met in his life were.

  His principle was clear, to be kind-hearted to everyone. Some of the goodness in him, he was born with, some he learned from his mother, some was taught by his teacher in the palace, who was there with the Prince only for a brief time, and the rest of the humanity he practiced was because of his father and brother, who chose only inhuman ways. It was a core part of his nature.

  Somehow, he also knew that it was because of his compassion that

  Martia, being one of the most ferocious people alive, chose to be with him. Maybe because she wanted to believe in the same war-free and beautiful world the Prince believed in. But raised nowhere like a human, she’d never had the luxury to live like a human or to choose humanity.

  He also knew that despite the mysterious feeling of closeness, which he started feeling the moment he met her, he also saw her attempt to believe in the goodness of people, even when she was on the verge of extreme hatred and vengeance. It was this quality that made the Prince not give up on her despite being harmed by her once.

  Suddenly, he saw a hospital. It was very grand. He went inside and met with the head of the hospital, asked the head to test him, and check if he was qualified to work there as a doctor or not. He was ready to work there even for free.

  Without giving him a chance to prove himself, the head of the hospital replied rudely, “We already have brilliant doctors.”

  He insulted the Prince by saying, “Do you think that you can come

  here without any recommendations or influence, and we are supposed to make an effort to test you and then hire you? So, tell me, where have you come from? Because, until and unless you are from the castle, you don’t qualify to work in this hospital, no matter how good a doctor you are.” He then called the security guards and forcefully made the Prince leave.

  Without complaining, the Prince started walking to the market, where he saw a small restaurant. He asked if they needed any help. He was hired as a cleaner. He started working immediately and cleaned the restaurant, the kitchen, and the tables. After the restaurant closed, he headed home, stopping to buy groceries for dinner.

  He had hoped to see Martia when he got home, as it was night, but

  the house was empty. He started making dinner and heard Martia come in. On seeing her, he brightened up, and Martia rushed to him and held him in her arms.

  The embrace was so quick that the Prince did not see the fresh

  bloodstains on her hands, face, and clothes. After holding him for a moment, she hurried to the washroom, telling him to wait for her.

  The Prince smiled and went to set the table. He suddenly saw bloodstains on his white clothes. He tried to ignore them and forced himself to smile again by thinking about how good he felt when Martia had embraced him.

  He waited for Martia, trying not to think about anything else.

  Martia came back quickly after washing up and excitedly sat beside the Prince to eat and said, “I am going to keep someone to cook for us from tomorrow.”

  She then started eating what he had cooked.

  The Prince, happy to see Martia sitting and eating with him, replied, “You don’t have to keep anyone to cook for us. I always wanted to learn to cook, so I will prepare meals for us.”

  Martia smiled at him fondly and continued eating the dishes made by him.

  The Prince began to eat, and the moment he tasted all the dishes he’d prepared, he found it difficult to swallow!

  He saw Martia eating the dishes attentively. Seeing him looking at her, she gratefully said, “This is the first time someone has prepared a meal just for me, not out of necessity but out of love. Do you know how precious this meal is for me, sweetheart?”

  Feeling a little overwhelmed, she said, “It feels good to see someone taking care only out of love I never thought I could be lucky enough to experience this gesture and this emotion. I cannot tell you how lonely my life was before I met you. Love was a luxury, and I never thought about it, but I always wanted friends. When I was a kid, I wanted to play with other childrenWhen I came home, I wanted Promanthae to look at me with the same affection that I saw in the eyes of every parent towards their kids. When I went to school, I wanted my teacher to at least treat me a little humanely, but he always treated me as an assassin, even before I became one. This made the school

  and house I lived in appear to me like jail.”

  “The leadership I was granted after the final fight was a trap..a trap to live in this forever and make the rest of the world also a jail, like my village.

  But I had accepted all this. I knew my impulsive nature. I knew that I might run away from the village if it all became unbearable to me. So I just thought I’d comply with the rules and regulations and orders of the society I was raised in as much as I could. Because I knew that once I broke those rules, they could never get me to comply.”

  She looked at him with eyes full of warmth said lovingly, “Then I met you. Along with this mystifying closeness towards you, you appeared to be an epitome of hope, a hope I always wanted to see in me, in Promanthae, in Arigue, in the people I considered my friends, in the village I was raised in, in Absyleous, which I was taught to bring down . . . A hope, a humanity, a pureness in affection, which I found nowhere but in you. This is the thing I wanted to save in the moment I stopped myself from killing you. And along with the rare affection I feel when I am around you, I also want to save the selflessness that I see only in you around myself.” After a pause, she continued, “You wanted to share my heart and my mind with you, right? These are my feelings, and this is my reason to try and live in this impossible relationship.” While sharing this, Martia finished eating all the dishes prepared by the Prince.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  The Prince looked at her with complete adoration, affection, and a

  little sadness.

  Martia stood up, washed her hands, and then brought the food she had bought for them to eat. She served the Prince and said, “I don’t know what you like, so I bought the costliest food.”

  Unable to express his affection in words, he started eating.

  Martia then enquired, “How was your day?”

  He told her about his day, concluding, “It was good.”

  Martia smiled and asked, “How good a doctor are you?”

  He smiled back and replied, “Extremely good. Do you want me to

  prove that? Even though I left home at a young age, I was blessed to meet good people, who only taught me to heal and help people. My teachers, along with teaching me, made me practice under their supervision at a very young age.” Smiling in relief, he continued, “I am thankful that they stopped me before I made a mistake when I was young.” More seriously, he continued, “I cannot thank the universe enough for giving me a chance to make myself capable enough that I can think of helping others.”

  Martia said affectionately, “Maybe it loves you as much as I do. You deserve to be loved.”When they went to bed, sleeping side by side, they wanted to put their arms around each other, but they knew that they should give themselves some more time. So, looking at each other fondly, they fell asleep.

  Martia again woke up before the Prince. She got ready and wore her armored gown, with more weapons hidden than previously and more medicines. After looking at the Prince once more, she closed the door and went outside. There were eight people waiting for her. She called the person who she had hired to guard the Prince and asked, “Which hospital did the Prince go to yesterday?”

  He took Martia and the rest to the hospital.

  She went to the office of the head of the hospital, who was also a doctor. Looking at their clothes and attitudes, none of the security personnel dared to stop them.

  The head stood up in fear on seeing the intimidating aura of Martia and her people.

  Martia brashly said, “Sit down; let’s have a conversation. I heard

  that doctors are very good with knives.” She then continued furiously, “You know, we are also very good with knives. What a coincidence. Because both our professions involve knives, shouldn’t we respect each other?”

  One of her people brought a box from one of the doctor’s offices.

  Opening the box, Martia took out a knife and said to her people, “Oh, this knife looks much more delicate than the ones we use. Isn’t it?” She then threw the knife, which landed right next to the doctor, on the cabinet beside him.

  Terrified, the doctor jumped up again and said, “Did I offend you

  in any way? Please tell me, and I will rectify it immediately. Please don’t kill me.”

  Martia offhandedly said, “Do you think to kill you I have to come

  here and waste so much time? Doctor, I just came here to give you advice as a member of the community that contributes so much to get you so many patients, and hence, profit to this institution of yours. Shouldn’t you hire more doctors so that you are never short of helping hands? Did you understand what I said, or should I say it more clearly?”

  Almost in tears, he replied, “Please forgive me. You will have no

  complaints from now on.”

  “Now, that’s like a welcome everyone deserves,” said Martia. “Be like this with everyone, will you? And at least give them a chance to prove if they are worthy of being hired or not.” She got up and left, leaving the man wondering if he himself needed a doctor now.

  When the Prince woke up, he found a note saying, “Try to find a job in the hospital again. They might need a doctor today!”

  He was confused, wondering what Martia actually meant by that note.

  He got ready and went to the hospital, deciding to ask for any job available in the hospital. He went to the office of the head, who immediately got up on seeing

  the Prince.

  The Prince respectfully said, “I know you have enough doctors. Could I just be an assistant?”

  The head caught the Prince’s hand and said, “Please forgive me for my behavior yesterday. I mean, how can we ever have enough doctors? There are so many patients today. I take back my words. Please work for us and save us.”

  The Prince, thoroughly confused at the hospitality, said humbly, “I

  would love to work here. Rest assured, none of the patients will leave without getting the required treatment.”

  He happily went to the hall where all the patients were waiting for the doctors to arrive and started looking at them one by one.

  Martia went to Baharitus’s office. He asked her, amazed, “Are you

  already terrorizing my village?”

  Martia replied casually, “This is not terrorizing, this is teaching people a little bit of humanity, obviously with the help of a little intimidation. But what can I do? That’s the only thing that works instantly.”

  Baharitus got down to business. “I found four of the spies from your village, who were gathering information about you.

  Don’t worry, I am sure that I have caught them before your whereabouts could reach Promapple. As for the fate of these people, you are allowed to decide.”

  Martia left the office and went into the field where the four of them

  were on their knees, and within a moment, she took out her sword and slashed their necks.

  Baharitus, who had followed her, said in shock, “You really just made me remember how brutal all you Promapplers can be. Are you sure you know about humanity to teach anyone?”

  Martia said without hesitation, “No! I crossed that line very early.

  I am not human anymore.” Then she said to herself in a low voice, “I am protecting the humanity of someone I love.” To distract herself from thinking about the Prince, she loudly said, “Don’t you have to go to deal with some aristocrats about the illegal passage of some drugs? Let’s not make those worthless people wait.”

  Baharitus said with a smile, “I knew it would be fun working with

  you.”