Morning had arrived. Golden sunlight pierced through the curtains and spilled across the sofa. Sunlight was buried in deep sleep, but suddenly a sharp wave of discomfort tore her awake. She clutched her mouth and rushed toward the bathroom, where she began vomiting violently.
Hridoy jolted awake and sat up. He was confused—much of what had happened the previous night was hazy in his memory. Seeing Sunlight in such a condition, he hurried toward her, panic written all over his face.
"Sunlight! What happened to you? Are you feeling very unwell?" he asked anxiously.
At that very moment, Ena entered the room, holding a glass of water. When she saw Hridoy moving closer to Sunlight, her expression hardened instantly. She stepped forward, stopping him, and said firmly,
"Your Majesty, please leave this room now. You must not stay near Her Majesty at this moment. Please go outside."
Hridoy froze in shock. A mere maid—ordering him? But when he caught the particular signal in Ena's eyes, he chose not to argue. Hesitating for a moment, he turned and left the room.
As soon as Hridoy was gone, Ena locked the door. Trembling, she rushed to Sunlight's side and sat down. Her face reflected a strange mixture of awe, joy, and fear. Staring at Sunlight, she began to stammer,
"Your Majesty… do you… do you realize? You… you are g‑g‑going to be…"
Sunlight, still weak, was pressing her forehead with one hand. Irritated by Ena's broken words, she snapped,
"What are you s‑s‑stuttering for, Ena? Speak clearly! My head is spinning and you're making it worse!"
Ena tightly held Sunlight's hand and whispered,
"Your Majesty… you are going to be a mother. A new life is coming into this palace. But… but after that night—how is this possible? Arbine and you… is this child some kind of divine sign?"
Sunlight went completely still. Her hand instinctively moved to her stomach. She tried to recall that night—Arbine's final embrace, her tender words. Had Arbine truly left her last fragment behind before departing?
The ground seemed to slip away beneath Sunlight's feet. She walked to the mirror and stared at her pale reflection. Her eyes widened, filled with shock and an unfamiliar terror.
Turning toward Ena, she nearly screamed,
"What nonsense are you saying? How is this even possible? Hridoy and I—nothing has happened between us in these two years! He was afraid to even come near me. Then how did this child come to exist?"
Ena lowered her head in silence. The room suddenly felt unbearably heavy. Sunlight clutched her stomach, trembling, and collapsed onto the sofa. Memories flooded back—the night when Arbine's soul had awakened inside Hridoy's body. While Hridoy lay in deep sleep, Arbine had embraced Sunlight, held her in her arms, and sat with her on the sofa.
Sunlight murmured to herself,
"Then that night… when Arbine held me and spoke those beautiful words… did she leave some divine force inside me? But Hridoy knows nothing. He was completely unconscious…"
She remembered Arbine's last words:
"I am leaving my final fragment with you."
Gripped by terror, Sunlight clutched Ena's hand.
"Ena, if Hridoy finds out, he'll be stunned! He knows he was never with me—yet I am carrying a child. Will he suspect me? Or will he understand that this is his body's gift… given by Arbine?"
Ena whispered fearfully,
"Your Majesty, many miracles have occurred in the history of Nexus Castle. But this child would not have been an ordinary human. Hridoy's blood and Arbine's soul—both live within it. Do not tell His Majesty yet. We must first understand what this life truly signifies."
Sunlight gazed out the window at the sky. It felt as though Arbine had never truly left—she had remained as an inevitable mystery within Sunlight's own body.
Tears streamed endlessly down Sunlight's face. She collapsed onto the sofa, covering her face with both hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Her gray dress lay pooled on the floor, her entire body shaking violently. An unknown dread tore at her chest.
Through her tears, she cried to Ena,
"What should I do, Ena? What am I supposed to do now? Whom can I tell this truth to? His Majesty knows there was no physical relationship between us. What if he thinks I betrayed him? What if he believes this child belongs to someone else?"
She looked down at her stomach, where the pulse of a miraculous life had begun.
"Arbine… why did you do this to me? You wanted to free me—then why leave me with such a cruel trial? How will I explain to Hridoy that this child is of his body, but not of his consciousness?"
Ena knelt beside her and held her hands tightly.
"Your Majesty, please calm yourself. Crying will only worsen your condition. These palace walls have ears. His Majesty loves you. Even if he never saw Arbine, he may have felt her presence. We must be patient."
Sunlight shook her head.
"No, Ena—you don't understand. Hridoy is the guardian of Nexus law. He is merciless. If he believes his queen is stained, he will never forgive me. And if I say Arbine's soul caused this, they'll think I'm mad. I'm trapped from every direction. What should have been my purest joy has become my greatest fear."
From outside, Hridoy's voice echoed as he knocked again on the door. Sunlight hurriedly wiped her tears, but her terrified face betrayed everything.
For three months, Sunlight had buried this unbearable secret deep inside her heart. Her body had grown heavier with time, but the weight on her mind was far greater. She had told Hridoy nothing—only that the Queen was unwell.
But that morning, a devastating disaster struck.
After examining her, the palace's secret physician reported grimly that the child in Sunlight's womb was no longer alive.
The world collapsed beneath her feet.
Sunlight's Mental State
Sunlight had become like a living corpse. The sudden death of the child had driven her nearly insane. She paced aimlessly through the room, pulling at her hair, muttering incoherently.
Through tear-choked sobs, she whispered to herself,
"Arbine! Why did you curse me like this? You gave me hope—gave me a life as your final memory—only to take it away. What sin did I commit?"
Ena desperately tried to calm her.
"Your Majesty, please! His Majesty Hridoy is standing outside. If he sees you like this, he will learn everything. He still doesn't know you were with child—if he finds out now, it will be utter destruction!"
Outside the door, Hridoy stood frozen. He had noticed how Sunlight had avoided him for months. Hearing her broken sobs from inside the room, his heart twisted with unease.
He slammed his fist against the door and shouted,
"Sunlight! Open the door! For three months you've kept me away! What's happening to you? Why are you crying alone like this? Ena—open the door!"
Inside, Sunlight sat on the floor, her tears soaking into her gray dress. She laughed and cried like a madwoman.
She whispered to Ena,
"Tell Hridoy I'm dead. I can't face him. He must never know that the gift Arbine gave through his body… is now gone. He must never know how cursed I am."
She clutched her stomach and screamed—a scream that reached Hridoy's ears.
He didn't understand her words, but an unknown terror coiled tightly around his heart. Three months after that tragic loss, the luxurious life of Nexus Castle had turned into poison for Sunlight. Today, she had abandoned the palace's four walls and come far away—deep into the mist‑covered forest where once her life and Hridoy's fate had been irrevocably changed.
In the pale light filtering through the forest canopy, Sunlight looked like an otherworldly goddess. She was wearing a pristine white royal gown. The long hem of the dress dragged across dry leaves and grass. Her long black hair was no longer bound by any royal crown; instead, it flowed freely and chaotically down her back.
Around her neck hung the blue Nexus Amulet. Today, the sapphire stone burned with an unnatural brilliance, as if warning of an approaching catastrophe. Clutched tightly in her hands was the old, mysterious book—the one that had been hidden and protected for so long.
Sunlight stopped beneath a massive ancient tree. Her anxious face and the dark circles beneath her eyes revealed the truth: she had not known peaceful sleep for a single moment in these three months. The loss of her child and Arbine's departure had shattered her completely—she now lived more in dreams than in reality.
She began flipping through the book's pages frantically, muttering like a madwoman,
"Arbine… why have you called me into this deep forest? Why is the Nexus Amulet glowing so blue today? Will I find my lost child here? Or do you intend to turn me into a restless soul like yourself?"
Suddenly, the forest's silence was broken by the distant sound of horse hooves. Perhaps Hridoy had realized that Sunlight was no longer in the palace. He had entered this dangerous forest in search of his nearly unhinged wife.
Dragging her white dress across the ground, Sunlight tried to hide behind a dense bush. At that moment, a fragile piece of old parchment slipped from the book—covered in Arbine's handwriting, containing a secret spell.
Sunlight picked up the paper. A strange determination filled her eyes.
Was she about to perform forbidden magic—black magic—to bring back her dead child?
Her eerie laughter tore through the forest's stillness, echoing like a curse. Lifting her long white gown, she moved with unnatural speed and climbed onto the thick branch of the ancient tree. For any ordinary human, climbing like this in such attire would have been impossible—but no ordinary power was at work within Sunlight anymore.
Perched high on the branch, she looked down and burst into hysterical laughter. There was no joy in it—only unbearable agony and madness.
🌑 The Moment of Madness
Pressing the book tightly against her chest, Sunlight laughed and cried at the same time,
"Do you see, Arbine? Didn't you want me to remain a queen? Look at me now—I am the queen of this forest! This Nexus Amulet is the source of my power. They took my child from me, but I will lose them all in the darkness of this forest!"
The blue Nexus Amulet on her neck now pulsed violently. In its glow, her white dress shifted colors—sometimes blue, sometimes blood‑red. Her wild hair whipped violently in the wind, making her look like a forest deity.
At that very moment, Hridoy arrived beneath the tree and brought his horse to a halt. Looking up and seeing his wife in that condition, his heart nearly stopped.
He cried out desperately,
"Sunlight! Come down! That branch is too high—you'll fall! I beg you, stop this madness!"
Sunlight's laughter stopped abruptly. She froze and stared down at Hridoy with an unblinking gaze. Her pupils glowed strangely in the amulet's blue light.
In a sharp, piercing voice, she said,
"Who are you? Are you that Hridoy who betrayed Arbine? Or are you the father who failed to save his own child? You do not understand, Your Majesty—this book says that where death ends, new life begins. I will bring my child back!"
She burst into laughter again and began chanting the secret spell loudly from the book.
The animals and birds of the forest screamed in terror and scattered in all directions. The clouds above darkened rapidly, swallowing the sun as shadows consumed the sky.