Page 5 of Sumanika

“Yes, she needs to be tied to that pyre. You are sinning,”

"Leave her, or we will kill you. This is our ritual,"

"Leave her alone,"

I heard the distinct voices of people yelling at Kunwarsa, and he inhaled deeply.“She is our responsibility. Suryagarh will take care of her. She belongs there; she works there, so you don’t need to worry about her. Consider her dead already, and let her…live,”

“No! We can’t do this and make our gods unhappy. His soul will never rest in peace; she needs to die along with him,” the people argued.

The frustration was visible on his face.“You all are sick. She is not an animal but a human being, a woman. If she doesn’t want to die with him, don’t force her. She wants to live,” he yelled.

I clenched my fist tightly against his chest. His heartbeats poured into my ears, and a cold sweat bead crawled down his jaw and fell onto my neck. He placed his hand on my head.

“I won’t let you kill her in front of me,” his voice was firm.

The father asked. "Who the hell is she to you? She is just a maid in Suryagarh. Why the hell are you even trying to protect her?"

He breathed shakily,“She means nothing to me, but she is still a human, and if she wants to live, she… will.”

Another man said,“She cannot live like that. There is no life for a widow in our tribe; she needs to lie on that pyre.”

“She won’t, and I’ll make sure of it.”

“What the hell can you even do? Look at us and look at you. You can’t protect her alone,” the man argued.

"I am the Prince of Suryagarh, and you know what our army can do,” He raised his voice.

“How easy it is for you to threaten us because we follow our customs,” one argued.“You can gladly kill us, and we will be happy to get killed while protecting the happiness of our gods. She needs to be served by the God of Death along with her husband, or neither of them will ever find peace,”

“No one will touch her. Either I’ll kill you all, or you’ll let me take her from here with no hassle,” he declared.

Suddenly, a soldier whispers in his ear,“It doesn’t work that way, Prince. If you want to protect her from them, she either needs to die or get married to someone else. I know this tribe; even if you take her away, they will keep searching for her, and one day, they’ll kill her because they believe her deceased husband will never find peace without her death.”

I trembled, breaking apart, and he looked at me with worry on his face. For a moment, I felt lost, staring into his caring eyes.

“Who will marry her this instant?” he asked, looking away at the soldier.

“You can ask them if any of them wants to marry her.” Soldier replied.

My body was trembling.

“She will marry someone,” Kunwarsa announced.

I shut my eyes tight. I didn’t want to. I wanted to go home.

"Who?" they asked in unity.

"Anyone who wants to marry her," He murmured.

One of them chuckled.“Who will want to marry such a bad omen knowing he is going to die, eventually?”

Kunwarsa patted my head as I cried uncontrollably in his arms and argued,“We all will die, eventually. How is she a bad omen? It’s not her fault that her husband died; she wasn’t even with him all this time.”

"Why don’t you marry her, then?"

A strong shiver ran down my spine, and I immediately opened my eyes.

“No!” I interrupted.“He cannot marry me.” He gently placed his palm on my mouth, pressing my face into his warm chest. My lashes were forced closed. I could feel our hearts beating loudly.

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