"No man is born cold.
Some just never thaw after the fire."
— Unknown
📺 Live Feed — The Internet Watches a King Break
The leaked video played everywhere — news channels, fan pages, anonymous forums. It wasn't scandalous. It was raw. Human. Dangerous.
🎥 Footage:
A young Aarav, no more than 24. Hands bloodied, shirt soaked, frantic. Hospital corridor. A stretcher being rushed in. Doctors calling codes.
A nurse tried to stop him from entering, but he shoved past, rage and desperation burning in equal measure.
Under the white hospital sheet lay… a girl.
A snippet of dialogue was heard — his voice, broken, unfamiliar.
Aarav (in the past, voice cracking): "She called me. I told her I was busy. I… I could've—"
He pushed a doctor, shouting like a man who didn't understand death couldn't be negotiated with.
Doctor's Voice: "She was gone before the ambulance arrived. I'm sorry."
Aarav fell to his knees.
And the Frost King was born that day.
📍 Present — VR Gala Backstage
Sara stood frozen, watching the footage being replayed on someone's phone screen nearby.
Her breath felt heavy.
This was a version of him she had never seen.
Not calculated.
Not composed.
But shattered.
Aarav stepped into the hallway, phone in hand. He had just received the leak alert too.
People around him stared — not with gossip hunger, but with shocked curiosity… and something like reverence.
For the first time… they saw the man behind the empire.
Sara Walked Up To Him
She expected him to mask it immediately, to shut it down with legal teams or cold warnings.
He did neither.
He looked at the screen once.
Then put the phone away with a slow breath.
Aarav (calm, but with a ghost in his tone): "So… she found that too."
Sara stepped closer.
Sara (soft, careful): "Who was she?"
Aarav's eyes — usually unreadable — softened. Pain flickered like a scar reopening.
Aarav: "My sister."
Sara stilled.
Sara (whisper): "You… never speak of family."
Aarav (voice low): "Because that day… I lost the only person who believed I was more than my ambition."
FLASHBACK — Aarav + His Sister, Meera Rathore
🎥 Memory Sequence:
A teenage girl, Meera Rathore, bright eyes, soft laughter, braiding Aarav's hair just to annoy him. She wore cheap bangles, but walked like a princess in a world only they understood.
Meera (teasing): "One day, you'll be a king, Aarav."
Aarav: "Kings are lonely."
Meera: "Not if they choose the right queen."
The same night he ignored her call… she got into an accident.
He was in a boardroom meeting.
He chose power.
And she died alone.
Present
Aarav (voice heavy beneath the calm):
"Love didn't break me, Sara.
Failing love… did."
Sara didn't speak.
She stepped closer, like gravity pulled her to him.
And for the first time since the start of this war…
Aarav looked tired.
Not weak.
Human.
🎭 Eris Watches — Eyes Glinting
Alisha (confused): "Why reveal his past? Isn't that helping him look human? Why give him sympathy?"
Eris smiled — a chilling, elegant smile.
Eris:
"Because now… Sara sees his deepest wound.
The question is…
Will she heal it… or will she break him exactly the same way?"