As usual, it was almost night when Martia reached home. She told the Prince about the meeting and shared everything on her mind and so did the Prince— about his day—and after dinner, they both went to sleep.

  Suddenly, she sensed the presence of someone else in the room and

  felt like they were approaching the Prince. She took out the knives she kept close to her, and without wasting any time, she threw them in that direction and pulled the Prince off the bed. When she lit the room, she saw two dead fighters near where the Prince was sleeping.

  Furious with the royal guards, she went outside and saw all the five royal guards dead. She returned inside and started analyzing the situation.

  After a few moments, Saltronve came running in to see the Prince.

  Martia looked at him and said with rage and suspicion, “The Prince was safer in my deadly village than he is in your castle. Are you always this incompetent or did you yourself plan to kill him?”

  Saltronve replied, “It is impossible that the Prince got attacked, and that too in the castle. This cannot happen, no matter what. No one can enter the palace or go near the royals without my permission. I know all the royal guards; I even know all the guards of all the ministers. This can’t happen unless . . .” Saltronve bent to remove the dead guards’ masks. He froze for a moment and said, “They are . . .” After a pause and a closer look, he continued, “They are the guards under the ministry of law and order, which is handled by Beluttrim.”

  Martia was enraged and understood what she had to do now. She told Saltronve, “Clean the room and deploy new guards, who don’t die as easily as these ones, and leave us alone.”

  Saltronve deployed guards chosen by him.

  The Prince sat beside Martia, and in order to calm her, he said, “Don’t worry, it will not happen again.”

  Martia smiled, hiding her anger, and replied, “I am not worried. I

  know this will not happen again. And I also know that the coming days are going to be beautiful. You are right, let’s rest so that we can handle that.”

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  The Prince was a little worried at Martia’s reply and fathomed that things would not be simple anymore.

  The next morning, Martia went to Augtromas and said, “Why are we giving up on Beluttrim? Set up a meeting with him.”

  Augtromas asked, “With the attack on the Prince, do you still want to talk to him?”

  “You know everything, Augtromas. Asking questions does not suit you. I will see you tomorrow,” she said.

  The next day, Martia and Augtromas waited for Beluttrim to come to the office. When he did, Augtromas said, “Let me introduce you to the minister of law and order.”

  Martia stood up calmly, went close to Beluttrim, took out her knife, held it on his neck, and said “If you call your guards, before they enter, I will slash your neck. Let’s have a chat first.” Saying this she pushed him down on his knees.

  She said, “So tell me, Beluttrim, if someone provokes you to kill the

  Prince, shouldn’t you assess first who is with him? Being minister of law and order, are you so easily brainwashed?”

  She suddenly saw the door open; the Prince walked in, shutting the door behind him.

  He said in a panic, “Martia, please let him go. If he dies, then they will arrest you. Please, Martia, don’t kill him.”

  Hiding her anger with a smile, Martia replied, “If I had been even a second late, he would have succeeded in killing you. Let him live, you ask, of all the things in the world! This is something I will not listen to. Either you leave the office or watch him die in front of you. I am giving you a few seconds to decide.”

  “Do you want to be separated from me?” asked the Prince. In a loud voice, he continued, “They will not let us be together if you kill him. Martia, what would have happened doesn’t matter. Because it didn’t happen. What matters is what will happen if you kill him. Martia, don’t kill—”

  Before the Prince could complete his sentence, Martia stabbed

  Beluttrim multiple times in his neck and killed him. Holding the knife, she went to Augtromas, who stood expressionless in a corner.

  Seeing Martia coming towards him with the knife did not intimidate him.

  Martia said, “You really took care of your part, didn’t you?”

  Augtromas replied, “I gave you a chance, and it was up to you how well you used it.”

  Martia took Augtromas’s hand, gave him the knife, and said, “This

  is my gift to you. Treasure it. You hated Beluttrim, right? This is your freedom from him.”

  Augtromas shouted and called for the guards, who rushed in

  immediately and arrested Martia. He said, “The final decision in this case will be taken by the monarch, so detain her until I call a meeting with the monarch and all the ministers. Make sure she is not hurt till the final judgement, otherwise our royal Prince will punish you.”

  The Prince then came forward and embraced Martia, who was

  handcuffed. He whispered to her, “Do something, and let’s run away right now.”

  Martia gently got out of his embrace and said, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Of all the people in the world, these imbeciles are not capable of separating us. Just leave with Augtromas.”

  The guards took Martia with them. Augtromas, too, left the office, and the Prince was left alone there.