***
{Outside The Projection}
Sing me to sleep~...
That appeared to be something quite... common.
An act so commonplace that the hall felt like they were intruding.
The very same emotion they felt not too long ago about the Sultan's marriage.
Dunya was way too sweet and pure for a world like theirs.
Again, that sweetness didn't come from naivety.
Rather, it had originated from her lack of it.
Like Sinbad, she was a constant in Malik's life.
Yes... Dunya was acceptance, wordless mercy, and touch.
Layla, however, was accusations, misunderstandings, and bitterness.
Malik sat in between them, hollow but still needing both.
There was nothing the hall could say to that.
It felt like their wind had been knocked clean out.
This truly was the end, an 'end' that Malik had expected.
It was the 'end' everyone had expected to come, terrible in its predictability.
