The Village Girl

Chapter Nine - [Aaryan]

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As promised, here's the second update for today! Enjoy! Please don't forget to vote and comment to let me know what you're thinking.

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Luckycharms <3

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Somehow all of this felt like some form of cruel Karma. Brother's attacking brother's... of course, it was all too familiar to me.

The only difference was that in this case, none of it was deserved.

I knew that both my sons were good young men. As biased as I may have been, I even went as far as truly believing that they were some of the best of the young men in the nation. They were raised well, they were loved, they were educated and they were taught good from bad.

Often times, I never doubted the fact that both of them were much better than I ever was. It was painfully obvious to me and to everyone around me... my sons were already better than I was. I always knew they would be good leaders... and I always knew that if anything were to happen to me, our nation would be fine.

And suddenly, all within a few hours, all of that changed.

My eldest, the heir to the throne, was fighting for his life after being stabbed by my youngest, who had run off because of his anger with me.

And then, to top it all off, the scene of my bloodied son returning to the palace after being stabbed by his brother was seen by enough people to cause worry among my family. Aayu had specifically stated that it would be wise to keep the conflict out of the eyes and ears of others... but now the news was spreading like a wildfire, as news often did when it came to family issues among the royal family.

The entire nation was going to be talking about it.

The entire nation was going to be talking about how the crown prince may be dying and the second in line had gone rogue.

And though Mayalaki was my child, and in many ways, smarter and more talented than both my sons combined, she was a young woman. No one would accept her as sole heir, no matter how much the public adored her.

Within a few hours, everything I had built over nearly two decades had begun to come crashing down.

And, to add to all of this... if this was Karma, hitting me with her cruel payback for my actions, then the entire kingdom knew exactly what may be expected to happen next.

I pressed my face into my hands and rubbed it, my elbows on the table in the council room. Seetha, Aayu, Anbu, Lakshmanan, Saumiya, Lady Suhanya, General Sivakasi, and a couple other of my most trusted court members were here too.

And Maya.

Maya was adamant about joining.

As the doctors worked on saving my son's life, we needed to do damage control. Nevertheless, it was hard to focus, knowing my sons were suffering.

My eyes flickered towards Seetha, who wore a cold, stoic expression, but I knew her well enough to know that she did not want to be here one bit.

It seemed she was fighting her own battle in her mind, of course, I couldn't blame her.

I never doubted that mother's felt the worst pain when their children were in trouble.

"I know that no one wants to discuss this, but it needs to be said," Aayu started. "But once Aaruvinth is captured, he will need to be punished."