It was almost five thousand years ago. There was a land called Kusuma, and here a queen was born. She was destined to be a queen because she was born in the 10th month of the year. The people of Kusuma loved and embraced beauty almost like today's black pill communities do. To them, a flower was the ultimate symbol of beauty.
All of their months were named after flowers. There were ten months in total: Poddo, Sapla, Champa, Beli, Jaba, Gada, Golap, Orchid, Hasna… and finally, the most important, Dahlia. They didn't call it Dahlia back then. It was Deva Puspa, the month of festivals, and the prime symbol of beauty. Anyone born in this month within the royal family was considered a queen.
And because women were generally more attractive than men—well, not really, but men were more simp for beauty—it was the queen who ruled the kingdom in this civilization. There was no patriarchy in Kusuma, not five thousand years ago. Just think about it: black pill and feminist before it was trendy.
The queen was named Hena. It meant "the prettiest flower." By age one, Hena had begun her royal studies. By age two, she knew everything about the civilization and its history. A queen needed to know her people, after all.
By age three, one of her cousins was born—a girl (Devishri, meaning blessed by god), also in the 10th month. But Hena's mother was the queen, so it didn't matter. Hena was bright from a young age. By four, she had developed an interest in sword fighting. Swords were a new thing in Kusuma. It was the early Bronze Age, and every civilization was beginning to develop some form of military for wars. Kusuma was no exception.
Not everyone was happy about Hena. Because she was going to be queen, and there was nothing anyone could do about it, jealousy brewed among the other girls' parents. They had one daughter and one son. The son was a year older than Hena, but they didn't care much about him. They always wanted a daughter. Sons were useless for royal purposes, especially their lazy one, who slept all day and hated bathing. And yes, in a black pill community, not bathing was basically a death sentence.
Their daughter, on the other hand, was gentle, polite, smart… and beautiful. If Hena didn't exist, no one woman would even come close to her beauty.
Of course, jealousy followed. One night, when both children were asleep…
"Did you think anything? Our girl needs to be queen. She's such a sweet little girl," the mother of Devishri said.
"Yes, she is perfect—a God-given child. Deva sent her to us as a blessing. She is here so our kingdom can prosper," the man replied.
"I know that. But what about the Queen's daughter? If we don't do something, she will become queen. We have to deal with her."
"What do you mean, 'deal with her'? She is your blood niece! How can you think badly about her?"
"Deva, why did I marry such a loser? Now I know why the boy is like this. He has your blood. He is like you. Thanks, Deva… my daughter, she is like me." The woman took a long breath.
"Listen. If you aren't smart enough to come up with a plan to screw up that… girl, please don't give me some lecture about what I should do or shouldn't," she said, eyes flashing with anger.
The father remained quiet. He didn't argue.
"Listen," the woman continued, "I have a plan. I saw that girl loves playing with a sword. Tomorrow, pick one of your men who isn't skilled in sword fighting. Tell him to spar with her, and while sparring… somehow scratch her face. And not just a little. Make sure the scar stays visible for all twelve or fifteen years of her life."
"Why someone who isn't skilled?" Father asked.
"It would look obvious if a skilled fighter do that." Woman replied.
"Okay. I will do that," the man answered.
"Hahahahaha!" the woman started laughing like a villain—then froze when she saw a shadow.
"Who is there? Reveal yourself, you snake!" she demanded.
"Hey, look who it is?" she asked her husband.
"It's me, mother!" the shadow revealed itself.
"What are you doing here at this late hour?" the woman asked.
"I was in the royal temple, eating the food," he took a breath and added "I heard you, so I thought dad was tickling you to death. I came to rescue you, mother." He said all that bullshit with a poker face.
"What? You are the thief who eats from the royal temple late at night." The woman looked furious she added, "You're six. Literally a grown man! You think your dad would tickle me to death? Don't you know how to give a couple privacy? Vanish now. I will deal with you tomorrow."
The boy got the hint and ran toward his room.
By now, you might be confused about their ages. No four-year-old fights with a sword, and no six-year-old is a grown man. But in Kusuma, years didn't work like the Gregorian calendar. A day had ten parts—think of them as hours just they are lengthier. And a month had 100 days. A year had ten months. So when they say "a years," it's almost 2.74 of our years—roughly two years and nine months. For simplicity, round up so their one year is our 3 years. Hena was about twelve in our terms when she started liking sword, and the boy about eighteen at that night.
In the following day, when Hena was in the royal training arena, one of Raviputra's (Devishri's father) men approached her.
"Your Highness, I heard you are quite skilled with the sword. I myself am somewhat skillful with a sword. If you give me the opportunity to fight with you, I would be honored, milady," the man asked.
"Don't you have any shame? You want to fight a little girl? And not any ordinary little girl—the future Queen herself? If you want to be honored, I am a knight of the Queen. Fight me. It's pretty honorable," the knight said, anger visible on his face.
Hena was about to say something, but it was clear she was bothered by the challenge.
"I just wanted to fight her. The most divine and beautiful being in this kingdom. Not some hairy knight," the man replied.
"You are one of Raviputra's servants, aren't you? You are being quite disrespectful here—to the princess and to the knight too," somebody replied from behind.
The man started shaking. He started sweating after hearing the voice.
"You… Your Highness, I didn't mean it in a disrespectful way," the servant replied.
"You got yourself a match. Consider yourself lucky," Hena said with a stubborn look.
"You won't fight this man, Hena."
The man said that while grabbing her hand.
Everyone was scared. Because it was none other than Ishv (meaning the god's reincarnation). He was also born in the 10th month, and he was 2 years older than Hena—meaning he was 7 at this point. He was the peak of male energy. After Hena he was considered the most beautiful person. Even Devishri was sometimes insecure when she looked at him. But what made him more of a force was that he was confident, strong, and a good leader. It was obvious he would marry Hena eventually.
Hena broke the silence.
"Now you are the one being disrespectful. I am the Queen. You can't force me. I do what I want to do." She shook her hand free of him.
"As a husband, I can tell you what to do. It's my duty to protect you," Ishv said. He was angry, but acted calmly.
"You are not my husband yet."
"And you are not a queen yet."
"I am still higher ranking."
"Ok, do as you wish. If something bad happens, you are not getting out of the castle ever again. And if you don't agree to the condition, I will kill this servant right now. I am higher ranking than him, and he did disrespect you," Ishv said angrily.
"Ok. Deal."
Hena had no choice but to accept the condition.
So the match began. Rules were simple: don't hit vital spots—just unarm them or show that you could hit their vital spot if you wanted. And importantly, don't target the face.
As the battle started, it was obvious Hena was way above his league. But he was surviving because of his manly force. Hena got his vital 3 times. She needed 2 more for the win. But he was just slamming his sword like a Neanderthal. No matter how skilled Hena was, she was like a 15-year-old girl, and that man was double her age. So one time her sword slipped out of her hand. The servant did get a point like this, but he didn't reposition to fight again—he was going for Hena fast. He slashed at Hena.
But Ishv was quick enough to catch the blade with his bare hand. And he broke it with pressure. His anger was visible.
Raviputra was watching this from a distance. He had warned the servant several times—to make it feel like an accident. As he saw the servant going for Hena, he knew this situation would come. He started running to kill the servant too.
As Ishv broke the sword, Raviputra appeared behind the servant at that moment.
"How dare you, scum!"
As the servant looked behind, Raviputra slashed into his head. Because swords were new, and they didn't know how to make them sharp or better, it wasn't a clean paper cut. His sword went halfway through the servant's head.
"Your timing is suspicious, Uncle," Ishv told Raviputra with a curious look.
"What are you implying, Ishv? I just got here. And I came here to kill this bastard who dared disrespect the future Queen. And when I got here, my blood boiled at the situation," Raviputra answered.
"What are you all bastards doing? How can you let the Queen be in danger? Even you, Ishv?" He questioned all of them, and at last,
"Are you okay, Hena?" Ravi approached Hena and asked.
Hena was still terrified because of the incident. Everything was blurry. She was this close to losing her everything. The thing that made her better than everyone was about to be gone in a few moments. If Ishv hadn't intervened she was finished today. She always thought Ishv was nothing compared to her. Nobody was anything. But today she felt guilty. Today she felt numb. It was like what everyone said: every queen does need a king. And she had to rely on someone she thought was beneath her. She did need a man. Thinking about it made her head spin.
"Hena? Hena?"
Hena snapped out of her thoughts after they started calling her name.
"I know you think I am a jerk, but this is why I do everything. You need protection. Swordplay is not for girls. And hate me all you want—you aren't coming out of that gate. Knights, take her to the castle. And if she ever leaves it, I will take all of your blood and draw a line so she doesn't cross that line ever again," Ishv said with a death stare.
The knights took Hena to the castle. And they knew it was something serious. They couldn't let the Queen outside.
"You didn't need to kill him, you know? I know why he did it. That servant of yours was very close to Devishri from her childhood. I think he thought doing this would make her happy. That's why he did this. You should go for a walk or take a bath. You look angry, Uncle. Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. We are all family. And family doesn't want harm to each other or blame each other. Well, I gave you lots of encouragement. So be by my side when I become king, Uncle. I need my family to run this kingdom," Ishv said and left.
Ishv clearly didn't get the hint of the plan. Because betrayal for royal power wasn't common back then. It was unheard of in that civilization. He was wrong about many things. But he was right about some things too. Like how that servant was close to Devishri. That's why he was chosen by Ravi—because he was easy to manipulate. And Ravi was angry, really angry, because his plan didn't work out. And he had to kill one of his loyal servants. Everyone was scared of Ravi in the kingdom. Even royals. People used to say he was the literal sun and his anger could burn the world. But who knew this sigma alpha wolf was just a baby boy in front of his wife.
"What kind of fool does that? Why did you kill the fool right before the job?" Ravi's wife was angry at him at night for the incident.
"If I didn't do that, we would be the suspects. He messed up the work," Ravi replied calmly while drinking.
"Then why did you send such a novice for an important work?" his wife asked. She was still mad.
"Well, every knight and servant is taking training and is quite good with a sword. You needed someone novice, so I sent someone who doesn't do sword training and is loyal to us. There were lots of things to be checked. It was hard finding someone like that," Ravi said, still drinking.
"Ok. Now what? I need to think of a new idea." She understood what Ravi meant. She became calmer.
"I have a plan."
While they were planning something new, on the other side of the royal castle, Hena couldn't sleep. It wasn't because of everyone's lecture. But because she couldn't go outside the palace. She had to be on watch all day. She had been a free bird for as long as she remembered. Now all the freedom was gone. She couldn't take it anymore.
She sneaked out of her room.
She never loved the castle much. Well, the castle wasn't pretty. It was a castle from 5000 years ago, so it wasn't anything fancy. But the castle had areas: aside from rooms for all royals, it had a temple, a dining hall, a king's chamber, a garden, and a big pond. She used to roam around the capital with her knights, so she never got interested in roaming inside the castle grounds. So today she thought,
"I can definitely roam around here. Where can I go?"
As she thought:
Dining hall has nothing special because she eats there every day.
The king's chamber is small and for crime and punishment—so a queen shouldn't go near it.
She didn't feel like going to the garden.
So she thought,
"Yeah, someone does steal food from the temple every night. I want to know who it is. I should check there."
As she went to the temple, she found its door closed. So she thought the thief wasn't here yet. She thought it would be funny to hide inside and scare the thief from within.
But when she went inside, there was no food. So she thought,
"I see! I am late. Whatever. I should go sit beside the pond. No one should be there at this hour."
As she approached the pond, she noticed something weird. This pond was not for bathing—just for sitting and spending time. But no one should be here at this time. On the other side, some of the torches were off. This never happened. No matter what, the fire should be on all the time in all torches inside the castle.
It wasn't clear, but Hena could see someone there.
She approached that person. Even after what happened today, her curiosity got the best of her. She needed to know who it was. Was this the infamous food thief—or someone else?
"Who is there?" Hena shouted from a bit far.