The Village Girl

Chapter Twenty Six - [Aaryan]

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When we returned to my room, Seetha chose to wait near the door. I was still angry, so when I turned to face her, I found myself getting annoyed. "What?" I snapped.

She narrowed her eyes in what looked like disbelief. "Are you serious?"

I could hear the nervousness, or maybe fear, in her voice and it angered me more. "What are you upset about?"

"What are you even asking?" She snapped back. "You just crippled your own brother by cutting off his hand!"

"Are you forgetting what he did to you–"

"That does not warrant you crippling him!"

"Why? Because he is my brother?"

"Exactly!"

"That is not how it works here!"

"I don't care! He is your broth–"

"That is not how it works here!" I shouted, silencing her. "I am the crown prince! I was not raised to love my brother."

"That makes absolutely no sense–"

"Kings with strong family ties will inevitably become corrupt. He will favour his family and let them get away with things they should not be permitted to get away with. Theft. Fraud. Rape. Muder. It happens everywhere, but not in Chandraba."

Though she gawked, she seemed to not see the truth in my words.

But it was true.

The strength of a nation was reflected by the strength of the King... the strength of an unbiased king.

"Any regular man would have been punished as severely as I punished Arun, if not worse, for laying his hands on the wife of the Crown Prince."

She let out a breath and suddenly I was filled with disbelief. Despite the fact that her cheek was swollen and her throat was bruised, she had tears in her eyes because she was upset that I punished the one who assaulted her.

She did not get it.

"Seetha... if you were Maharani and your brother killed a man for no reason–"

"My brother would never–"

"If," I continued. "What would you do?"

She hesitated, frowning deeply.

"Exactly," I said, proving my point. "You were not raised the way I was, because you do not have the responsibilities that I do," I said. "I cannot hesitate like you just did. Hesitation could ruin me. It could make me lose everything. It could lead to angered enemies and protests or decisions that could end our kingdom. It could lead to wars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people," I let out a breath, trying to calm myself down. "All because I hesitated."

There was only a slight flash of understanding in her face. She still didn't get it.

"So, Seetha I cannot hesitate... not for a simple peasant, a noble or even my own brother. That is why we are raised that way."