The princess of Aurealia is ready to sacrifice anything for her kingdom and her people. With peasants revolting and her kingdom in the brink of civil war, Ayra decides she must marry a peasant to save her people from killing one another. When she se...
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Hearing the odd clatter of noises from the house, Dheeran and I unconsciously turned towards the source. Mithilli was outside, her head crouched between her knees. Every member of the household surrounded her small frame, trying to calm her. She looked like she was deeply upset about something.
"What happened?" Dheeran asked, dashing to his sister's aid. "Did the groom's family say something?"
Mithilli paused her bawling and lifted her bloody red eyes up to glance at her brother. She pushed herself out of the circle of serious-faced family members and encircled her arms around her brothers neck, sobbing into his chest. "I'm going to die all alone!" She wailed.
Witnessing the melodrama, I was almost cracking up. Who cried for that? Dying single should be the least of the young woman's worries, when she had a father with crippled legs, two brothers who looked like bones and a bigger brother working himself to death to sustain and protect her family.
"Tell me what happened, will you?" Her brother asked, sitting her down on the elevated veranda floor.
Mithilli sniffed her nose, and looked up at her brother. "He didn't like me," she said somberly.
"That's his loss," I snorted behind Dheeran. Everyone's attention turned to me for a moment. Dheeran kept his eyes on his sister. The corner of her lips turned up a little at my comment. Dheeran remained in Mithilli's hold, rubbing her hair down to comfort her. Usually, men of his age are not allowed to be affectionate with their sisters who have come-of-age, but I guess Dheeran presumed that this was a moment where she needed his reassurance. From this gesture, I suspected that Mithilli always had a special connection with Dheeran more so than their respective connections with their younger twin brothers or their little sister.
"It'll be alright. I'll look for another groom who'll know the value of my little sister," Dheeran said. His shoulders slightly sagged, but none of his other family members noticed his distress. A huge weight would've been lifted if he'd married off his sister, considering that their family of seven seemingly had one sole breadwinner.
"Good luck with that," Dheeran's ma said. "No one will marry a rejected girl."
Dheeran turned his head and glared at his mother. He mouthed her to be quiet, and turned back to Mithilli, whose wailing had increased because of her mother's harsh statement.
"I'll go talk to the suitor who came today." Dheeran said. "Maybe I can change his mind."
"No," Mithilli said. "You don't need to do that brother. I'd rather live my life as a spinster than marry a man like him." She wiped her tears on her elbow, and tried to calm down her uneven breathing.
"Don't be unreasonable, Mithilli! Dheeran wants to resolve the issue, and you're putting oil in an already uncontrollable flame," her mother said.
