The Crown Prince and His Love

Chapter 62|Manakolaikaran|

The thief who steals hearts

Ilankai

Arulmozhi was caught off guard by an ambush, hell, why did they have to ruin a moment as beautiful as this? He cursed under his breath as another set of arrows were launched in their direction.

Arulmozhi took Poonguzhali's hand and rushed into the forest quickly, pushing away the branches and twigs making way for Poonguzhali behind him, Arulmozhi initially feared that Poonguzhali might struggle to keep up, but she was right on his tail, her speed was impeccable. This girl never ceased to amaze him.

Around them, He could only hear footsteps rushing around him here and there and occasional whispers, they were well hidden, unfortunately.

Poonguzhali looked around, ducking her head as an arrow whizzed past, just inches away from her ear. Arulmozhi's heart dropped, he did not wish to have an innocent girl's blood on his hands. Arulmozhi slid down a mound and gave a hand to Poonguzhali.

He looked up, hoping the canopy above would give them a shield from the incoming arrows. He led her to a cavity in the mound.

"Are you hurt?" He asked, concerned, looking for any sort of injury. He let out a sigh of relief to find no major injuries other than some scratches from the bushes and twigs. The bastards didn't even dare to fight him face-to-face.

Poonguzhali shook her head, still in a daze, everything happened so quickly. "Are they gone--" Before she could finish her sentence the duo felt the whole ground beneath them tremble, almost pushing Arulmozhi off his feet.

"Retreat!" He heard a man scream. At first, he thought they were Mahindhan's men, but their accents seemed different...Arulmozhi concluded that his attackers were not from Ilankai.

Only a mad elephant can cause a tremble this big, Arulmozhi thought, peering through the bushes. Chaos unfolded, the attackers tried desperately to contain the elephant but failed miserably, even a trained elephant whisperer would struggle to contain a mad elephant as such, what would these guys do against it?

Arulmozhi contemplated helping them, but alas the men escaped with their heads intact. He sighed and looked down but something else caught his eye, the elephant was not alone...

"Poonguzhali?" Arulmozhi called out, she was busy assessing her wounds. "Poonguzhali!" He called out again, She looked back at him and joined Arulmozhi at the top of the mound, he pointed at the old woman on top of the elephant.

"That's my aunt," Poonguzhali said, how did she get here? The women began to drive the elephant into the forest.

"Amma!" Arulmozhi called out, trying to follow her, but the women seemed oblivious to his calls.

"It's useless, she's deaf," Poonguzhali said, a look of disappointment washed over his face.

**********

Thanjai

Vanathi's life only returned to her after Arulmozhi's letter, she returned to her cheerful self after pestering Kundavai and crying her eyes out for a whole month or two. Now that she is all normal, she noticed a small change in her sister. She has been... distracted. Something's not right.

Vanathi and Kundavai were sitting in their usual spot, under a huge tree overseeing the lake. Autumn was just around the corner, the flowers were seen slowly drifting in the air, carrying their mesmerizing smell with them. This was Kundavai's favorite time of the year, but she couldn't enjoy it fully, even with her favorite person around, her mind and heart were occupied with something else, which Vanathi was determined to find out.