The Village Girl

Chapter Three - [Seetha]

I felt unbelievably relieved when I had been allowed to switch into a soft, simple sari and remove all the jewelry. Feeling light on my feet again, I suddenly felt a little uplifted in spirit. Maybe that also had to do with the kindness of Aaryan's father.

However, I now had so many questions, but it seemed it was too late for me to ask them. After changing, I was left alone in the bedroom to sleep.

Of all the things that had happened to me over the last few days... this experience was the most odd. In my entire life, I had never once been alone when I slept. My family home was small, and growing up around me were all my brothers and sisters, sleeping in the same room as me. When all of my siblings were married, I always had all my nieces and nephews, and sometimes even my sisters-in-laws would join me.

Now... here, in an unfamiliar place with no one I really knew at all, I was alone.

I wasn't scared, really.

Just... emotional.

And lonely.

I tried to sleep and for hours I just tossed and turned, my mind filled with so many loud thoughts in the middle of the silent night. Finally, I gave up, getting up and putting on my slippers.

I had decided to go find Aaryan.

Surely he was still awake. It wasn't that late and he was a Prince. Surely he was busy and therefore would be awake. When I found him, I would ask him if I could keep him company, at least until he was tired. Maybe by that point, I would be too tired to let my thoughts get in the way of my sleep.

I was hesitant as I stepped out of the room, not knowing where to go, and immediately startled by the sight of two burly guards standing on both sides of my door. I also couldn't deny that the sight of these men filled me with a little bit of fear.

However. they bowed immediately. "My Lady," one said.

"Is there something you need?" The other asked.

I hesitated. "I–I was hoping... you could show me to Ar– the Prince's room."

"The crown prince?" On guard asked, surprised.

I nodded. "I wish to speak to him."

The two guards looked at each other before looking back at me. The first guard then nodded. "This way," he said. "I will take you."

I smiled, bowing my head. "Thank you!"

The walk to the Prince's room was not very long, but it was long enough for me to notice how much light there was in this region. Back in my village, when it was night time, the land was darkened to a near black, only lit when the moon was clear. Here, however, there were lights everywhere, lightening up the nights to look oddly bright, yet calm, nonetheless.

When we got to Aryan's room, we were greeted by two more guards. The guard who had escorted me walked right up to them, whispering something to them which made them look at me in surprise. I smiled at them and waited for them to let me in.

They were hesitant, as if wondering if they should let me in, or even maybe whether they should knock on his door or not. "It's fine," I said. "I can just let myself in."

The men didn't seemed to like that idea, but I was getting anxious and stepped past them towards his door. When I opened it, I walked in and shut it before they could say anything to me.

Though I had genuinely hoped that he would be awake, to my surprise, the room was relatively dark and at the very end of the room was a large bed and on the bed was person.