Sunlight quickly composed herself. Even after Lisa left, her whispered words still echoed in Sunlight's ears. She did not head to the great hall. She couldn't face her husband with this suspicion. Perhaps the oldest, most trusted person in the castle would know the truth.
She turned away from the corridor and walked toward the West Wing of the fortress, where many old, retired servants resided.
In a small, but tidy room, she found one—the octogenarian Maid Anna. Anna once served King Hridoy's mother and was a witness to the castle's oldest history.
Sunlight tapped gently on the door.
"May I come in, Anna?" Sunlight asked, her voice deeply courteous.
Anna, who was sitting on her stool sewing, looked up. She quickly tried to stand, but Sunlight swiftly stopped her.
"No, no. Sit down, Anna. You don't have to stand. I am Queen Sunlight, but today, I am just a guest."
Sunlight sat on a low stool beside her. Anna looked at her for a moment.
Anna slowly spoke, "The light of the new moon is in King Hridoy's chamber tonight. It is your wedding night. Why are you here, Your Majesty? The King must be waiting for you."
Sunlight sighed deeply.
"That's the problem, Anna. I know him, but I don't know him. The King taught me the Nexus Law, he taught me love. But the outside..." Sunlight trailed off.
Anna set her sewing aside. Her face held the experience of history.
"People's talk? About Queen Alisa?" Anna asked calmly.
Sunlight was shocked. "You know?"
"Your Majesty, this fort looks huge. But if a fly buzzes here, everyone knows. I have served these stone walls for forty years. However powerful King Hridoy is on the outside, I have seen his life on the inside."
Sunlight leaned in. "Tell me, Anna. What is the truth? Lisa told me everyone says the King himself..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
Anna held Sunlight's hand. Her skin was wrinkled like leather, but her touch was strangely warm.
"Rumor is poison, Your Majesty. And this poison spreads most around the powerful. King Hridoy is no ordinary man. He is a teacher, a warrior, and above all, a ruler."
Anna closed her eyes for a moment. "Queen Alisa... she was very restless. She loved the King, but she hated this power, this throne. The Nexus Law is very clear—if you abandon the throne or the people's protection while sitting in a seat of power, you bring about your own death."
"But did the King kill her?" Sunlight insisted.
Anna shook her head. "No. The King never hurt someone he loved. But he did not save her. These two things are different, Your Majesty."
Sunlight frowned. "Did not save her? What does that mean?"
Anna met the Queen's eyes. "Queen Alisa was acting frantic that night. She told the King to throw away all the weapons by his side, to abandon the throne and live a common life. The King refused. When Alisa disobeyed the royal decree and tried to enter the armory, the King gave only one command: 'Nexus Aeterna' (Nexus Eternal)."
Anna sighed. "It means—the Law is supreme. For the King, protecting the Law and his throne was more important than his own love. He could have tried to stop her, but he did not allow the Law to be broken. The Law did its work. The King was broken by it, but he did not deviate from his duty."
Sunlight's chest lightened. Hridoy had told her exactly this—he did not try to stop Alisa because Alisa intended to break the Nexus Law.
"Then why did the rumor spread?" Sunlight asked.
"Because people understand simple things. When a powerful man does not protect his wife, everyone assumes he killed her. They don't want to believe that a ruler can sacrifice his personal love solely for the sake of the Law," Anna said.
Anna glanced at Sunlight. "Your Majesty, your life is different from today. The King may love you, but remember—his throne is his first wife, and the Nexus Law is his first child. If you want to stand by him, you must be loyal to the Law as well."
Sunlight stood up. The suspicion had left her mind, but a new understanding was born. She straightened her silk gown. Now she knew she was going to be with not just a lover, but a ruler of a stern rule.
"Thank you, Anna. You have helped me understand a lot today."
"Good wishes, Your Majesty," Anna bowed her head.
The New Queen's Verdict on the Rumor
Sunlight began to walk towards the corridor. Her stride now held not just confidence, but a deep conviction. She knew she had to go to King Hridoy, who was perhaps still waiting in front of the wall of portraits.
Sunlight quickly composed herself. The words of the old maid, Anna, filled her with new strength. Her suspicion was gone, but she had not forgotten that the source of that suspicion was Lisa. Lisa had not just spread a false rumor, she had tried to poison the King and Queen's first private moment.
Sunlight was walking calmly down the corridor when she saw Lisa and the other maids peeking from a distance—curious to know where the Queen had gone and why she kept the King waiting in the hall.
Sunlight called out to Lisa. There was an enchanting, almost chilling smile on her face.
"Lisa, will you come with me again?"
Lisa trembled in fear, stepped forward, and bowed her head. Her eyes still held the anxiety of the rumor surrounding Alisa's death.
Sunlight came very close to Lisa. Her golden eyes were fixed on Lisa's.
"As soon as I heard what you told me, my mind became calm, Lisa," Sunlight said.
Lisa raised her head, bewildered. She thought the Queen must have suspected the King and would now take her side.
Sunlight widened the smile on her lips, but that smile was venomous and authoritative.
"Do you think a Queen like me, who has just conquered an empire, would be frightened by a mere old rumor?" Sunlight's voice was low, but every word was hard as steel. "What did you tell me? King Hridoy killed his wife?"
Sunlight then whispered, but with a note of triumph:
"You are wrong, Lisa. King Hridoy is indeed deadly. He rules his wife, protects her, but he places no one above the Law."
Sunlight then laughed—a deep, suppressed, and terrifying laugh. This was the laugh of the conquering Queen and Hridoy's new wife.
"And what did you think, Lisa? Did you think I wouldn't go to the King after knowing this truth? On the contrary," Sunlight placed a hand on Lisa's shoulder. "I am now certain that I am going to be the wife of a true ruler—who rules by Law, not by love. This is what I wanted."
Sunlight laughed and added:
"If the King can sacrifice his own weak wife for the Law, then I am safe. I am not weak. I am his equal. This information did not weaken me, it strengthened me. Do you understand? No more weak Queens will come to this fort."
Lisa bowed low, trembling with fear. She understood that the Queen she intended to scare was now even more power-hungry. Lisa's whispered rumor did not frighten Sunlight; instead, it encouraged her to view her new life partner with even greater respect and power.
Sunlight let go of her hand and smoothed the folds of her gown.
"Now go. And remember, you are my personal trusted maid. You did not spread a rumor; you helped your Queen know the truth. But this truth must not be known by anyone else."
Sunlight walked towards the hall, smiling. There was no doubt in her mind now, only the conviction that she was a suitable companion for a true ruler.
Anna's Foreboding: The Coldness of Power
As Sunlight gave Lisa a terrifying smile and advanced toward the great hall, her gait possessed a new, chilling confidence—a confidence born not of fear, but of mastering a dangerous truth.
The elderly maid, Anna, witnessed this entire scene from the corner of the corridor. She hadn't left her room, but Lisa's frightened face and Sunlight's victorious smile did not escape her notice.
Anna slowly came to the jamb of her old door. Her eyes, wrinkled with years of experience, were fixed on Sunlight's receding back.
The lines on her face deepened. The woman who had come to her moments ago with only a suspicion was now returning with a terrifying power. Anna had wanted to reassure Sunlight that Hridoy was not a murderer, merely dutiful. But Sunlight had learned the harsh side of that "duty" and turned it into her own weapon.
Anna whispered softly, as if the stone walls should not hear:
"She has learned..."
Her voice trembled. Sunlight hadn't just believed the King's ruthlessness; she had embraced it within herself. Lisa's rumor hadn't weakened Sunlight; instead, it proved to her that this throne requires harshness more than love to survive.
There was no curiosity in Anna's eyes now, only deep fear.
She was not afraid that King Hridoy would kill his new wife. She was afraid that Sunlight had become a suitable 'Queen'—a ruler who knows how to sacrifice emotion when necessary. Alisa was weak, so she died by the Law. But this new Queen, Sunlight, would strengthen the hand of the Law.
Old Anna quickly closed her eyes and knelt on the cold floor, gripping the door frame. She had seen the rise and fall of many Queens in her life. But Sunlight's smile, this strategy of embracing power so quickly, confirmed to Anna:
"This time, not one, but two rulers are about to sit on the throne. And the second has embraced the coldness of the Law faster than the first."
Anna silently whispered a prayer, but it was not for the King nor the Queen—it was for the people of the empire. She stared down the corridor with a mysterious fear, where the last fold of Sunlight's light blue gown had disappeared. A new, chilling game of power had begun in the dark fortress.
Flashback: The Forbidden Truth (Inside the Nexus)
Elderly Anna was still trembling. Sunlight's chilling, power-hungry smile struck her deeply. She might have told Sunlight that the King upheld the Law, but Anna knew—the truth of that terrible night she witnessed with her own eyes was far harder.
Anna quickly closed her eyes. The night of nearly twenty years ago, which she had kept buried under stone for so long, played out on the screen of her frail mind.
Flashback Begins: Alisa's Last Night (Twenty Years Ago)
The entire fort was fast asleep. It was not a full moon night; the darkness was profound. Anna was then on duty right outside Queen Alisa's bedchamber corridor.
Screams were coming from inside. Queen Alisa was crying hysterically and shouting at King Hridoy.
"I cannot share you with this throne, this power, and that hellish Nexus Law, Hridoy! Do you love or do you merely rule?" Alisa's voice was breaking.
"Calm down, Alisa. You know that order is essential for this empire. If you don't want to be Queen, you can leave. But you cannot break the Law," Hridoy's voice was suppressed but hard as steel.
Anna stood still outside the door. Suddenly, a terrifying decision was heard in Alisa's voice.
"Then I will break this rule and show you!"
Then came the clang of metal. Queen Alisa had taken a small, but sharp Nexus military dagger from the King's armory, typically used for the Law's final verdict.
"Hridoy! You have made the Law your wife! I will free myself and prove this Law is merely a ruthless deception!"
Alisa screamed and was about to strike the dagger into her own chest, just as the Nexus Law prescribes for extreme disobedience.
But in that instant, like a flash of lightning, King Hridoy lunged at Alisa.
What Anna saw from outside the door made her heart tremble. Alisa wanted to take her own life, but Hridoy would not let it happen.
The door was slightly ajar. Anna saw:
King Hridoy grabbed Alisa's hand to pull the dagger away. But the dagger was already lodged in Alisa's abdomen. Hridoy's hand was on the dagger, and Alisa's hand was on the dagger too. The impact and struggle of their bodies caused the dagger to enter even deeper.
A pained shriek escaped Alisa's mouth. Her eyes were fixed on the King—filled with astonishment, anger, and deep sorrow.
Anna saw that Hridoy held Alisa. His hand was on the metal hilt of the dagger. As Alisa's body slumped, Hridoy pulled the dagger out.
The dagger was now in his hand. It was wet with Alisa's blood, and Hridoy's hand was also smeared with that blood.
Hridoy stared fixedly at Alisa's lifeless body. There were no tears in his eyes, only a chilling emptiness and a hard decision.
The next morning, the King announced: "Queen Alisa attempted an act of extreme disobedience to the Nexus Law, and in doing so, she brought about her own death."
Everyone in the fort believed she either struck herself or that the Law killed her by the King's command. Only Anna knew—Hridoy did not want to save her, nor did he let her entirely die on her own terms. He stopped her, but that very act of stopping ensured Alisa's death. The dagger was in Hridoy's control, not Alisa's, when it came out of her body.
Elderly Anna's Tears
Returning to the present, elderly Anna quickly wiped her eyes. That image, the bloody dagger in King Hridoy's hand and his fixed, empty gaze—Anna had kept it secret for all these years.
She had not lied to Sunlight, but she had hidden a cruel part of the truth. She said Hridoy 'did not save her,' but she did not say that the dagger was actually under the King's control. She concealed this truth so that the new Queen would not leave the fortress.
But now, seeing that victorious smile on Sunlight's face, Anna understood—her half-truth had not weakened Sunlight but had made her even more hardened.
Anna sat on the floor and sobbed uncontrollably. Her crying was not out of fear of Hridoy, but because she knew that love meant death in this kingdom.
"Hridoy, you killed your love! And now this new Queen, she has embraced that death as strength! To save this empire, I piled one lie upon another..." Anna whispered, crying.
Anna was now afraid, wondering what the consequence would be if this truth ever reached Sunlight. And if it didn't, this bloody dagger would forever remain an invisible wall between Sunlight and Hridoy.
The New Pact
Sunlight stood at the door of the great hall. Her light blue silk gown shimmered in the corridor's light, but her golden eyes now held the steely glint born from the mix of truth and lies she had just received from Anna and Lisa.
Hridoy was waiting there. He stood in front of the wall of portraits. The wall was covered with portraits of past Nexus Queens—symbols of their stern faces, power, and sacrifice. Hridoy stood with his back to them, his body language conveying long waiting and the silence of a sole ruler.
Sunlight stood near the door and spoke in a soft but clear voice, which no longer held curiosity but a tone of equality and right:
"May I enter, my Husband?"
Hridoy was startled. He had expected his Queen to address him as 'Your Majesty' or 'My Ruler'. But the term 'my Husband' was deeply personal and unexpected.
He turned around. In the first moment, he noticed the Queen's new attire and liberated posture. But even before that, he noticed the new, hard self-confidence that Sunlight did not possess moments ago.
A faint smile appeared on Hridoy's lips, mysterious and wary. He realized that something had happened during this short time.
Hridoy slowly walked towards her.
"Of course, Queen," Hridoy replied calmly. "I was waiting for you. But why were you so late? Were you having second thoughts about Queen Alisa's fate?"
Sunlight took a step forward. Her gaze was steady, free of any fear or hesitation. She knew Hridoy was speaking not of Lisa's rumor, but of the truth of the Nexus Law.
Sunlight smiled faintly. Her smile was like the flash of a sharp sword.
"I wasn't thinking, Husband. I was merely confirming," Sunlight said. "I was confirming that the rumor I heard could not weaken me. I confirmed—the Nexus Law is your first love, and your throne is your first wife. And you are loyal to that Law."
She came closer. "I came to learn not just love from you, but Law and order. Your first wife was weak. She could not surrender herself to the Law. But I can. You can now accept both a Queen and a Wife."
Sunlight faced Hridoy in one leap, the touch of her blue gown brushing against Hridoy's clothes. She silently delivered the message: 'I am not weak anymore. I am your equal ruler.'
Hridoy stared at Sunlight intently. The depth of his eyes measured whether this woman truly understood the coldness of the Law, or if it was merely a deception? But there was no hint of fear in Sunlight's eyes.
Hridoy gently held Sunlight's chin and kissed her forehead warmly.
"Then, come," Hridoy said, his voice holding triumph and a new pledge. "Let us welcome the new moon."
He took Sunlight's hand. In that moment, it did not feel like a lover holding his wife. It felt like two rulers joining hands in a new, dangerous pact. They walked past the wall of portraits, where the past Queens stared fixedly at them. Their eyes held a silent warning for the new Queen.