The two of them arrive at the capital of the Aryat kingdom — Makarkand. It is said that Makarkand is the oldest city. It took more than a hundred years to build this city. This city has been telling its history for the past five hundred years. It has witnessed many battles. Many kingdoms have taken control of it. This city has seen countless people die. Many have attacked it, yet it never let its courage break.
Even though it is a lifeless thing, it must have endured a lot of pain.
Raghuveer and Pratiksha reached Makarkand by morning. The moon faded away. The sun began to spread its light over the city — announcing their arrival.
They entered the city. They saw movement on the stone roads. Merchants, soldiers, townspeople, and sages — all were busy with their own work. In this city, people of the Shudra caste and upper castes live together. No one oppresses anyone. The rules are the same for all.
No upper caste person mistreats someone from a lower caste. Pratiksha saw this and couldn't believe it. Because in her kingdom, the upper caste always oppresses the lower caste.
In Aryat, people live with humanity. There are no knights in Aryat — only soldiers. Even someone from the upper caste remains a soldier. It is this unity that helped them defeat the Mukt kingdom in the last war.
In the Mukt kingdom, Aryat is considered an enemy. They call Aryat people demons. But Aryat is a much better kingdom than Mukt. That's how it is — whoever stands against you, no matter how good they are, they are still your enemy.
There was wonder in Pratiksha's eyes, but she remained quiet. She looked around. Everyone was doing their work. She saw a man whose cow had been stolen — he was telling a soldier. The soldier was listening to his problem calmly. Elsewhere, another soldier was helping an old woman.
Other people were chatting. Merchants were arriving to sell their goods. A Shudra man was helping an upper caste merchant unload his goods. This is the capital of Aryat — Makarkand… a place where people are seen as people.
Until now, the Bloody Sudi group has never attacked this kingdom. Why? No one knows. But two members of that group have been killed. Since then, they've been spreading violence everywhere — searching for the person responsible.
Pratiksha looked at Raghuveer. Raghuveer's eyes were fixed on the flag fluttering over the royal palace. He stared at it without blinking.
"A pride…" Raghuveer said.
Pratiksha didn't understand what he meant. Her wound was healing now. People were looking at her. Because she was beautiful. Yes… that's true. But some people were looking at her because her dress had bloodstains. She realized why people were staring.
"Look… that girl is so beautiful. I've already fallen in love with her," said one young man.
"But her dress has bloodstains," said another.
"Don't you see the wound on her hand?" said the first.
"Oh yeah, man…" said the second.
"Look, there's a guy with her. Maybe he's her lover…" said a third.
"No man… I don't think he's her lover. Probably her protector," said the first.
"Yeah… that could be," said the second.
As soon as Pratiksha stepped into the city, she enchanted many boys. But her eyes were only on Raghuveer. Why would she care about anyone else's gaze, when her gaze was fixed on Raghuveer?
But what will happen when she learns the truth about Raghuveer? She has only seen his good side. She doesn't know how bad Raghuveer really is. When Raghuveer wants to do something big, he stays quiet for a while. Just like a tiger steps back two paces before attacking…
But they say love doesn't see good or bad…
Raghuveer started walking ahead. Pratiksha followed behind. Around them were wooden houses.
People were looking at Pratiksha. She started feeling shy.
This dress… she told herself.
Her earrings were swaying more now — because she was walking quickly. While walking, she even left Raghuveer behind. But Raghuveer didn't care. He kept walking slowly. Pratiksha walked and then stopped at one spot. Raghuveer came near her, but didn't stop — he was about to keep going. But Pratiksha held his hand and stopped him.
"Wait…" she said. Her eyes were on the shops.