Upon reaching her lavishly decorated room, Snigdha flopped onto the bed. Staring at the ceiling, she began calculating in her mind, "Let it be! Let them say whatever they want, I don't care at all! Right now, I just need to figure out who Rupanjan was talking about in the full assembly! He must have been talking about me! Because Rupanjan used to love me. I am still willing to marry him, even though I don't love him in my heart anymore. I only want to marry him for his power and wealth! But marrying Jishnu has an advantage too. If I marry Jishnu, I will get everything all to myself, since he has no family! And if I marry that wicked Rupanjan, who knows when I will finally become queen! Oh, although I do have a plan... right after marrying Rupanjan, I will kill that old King! As soon as the King dies, Rupanjan will go from minister straight to King, and I will become the supreme, influential Queen! After all, that old King of Rupnagar has no queen of his own! Such a ridiculous king... But the problem is, if I become the Queen of Rupnagar, that Rupanjan is so merciful and noble that he will give everything away to the subjects! I won't get anything! He won't listen to me at all; instead, he might lock me up in prison! On the other hand, Jishnu is quite foolish and naive. By buttering up Jishnu, I can seize all his lands and property in my own name! Once the work is done, I will simply clear him out of my path!"
Engrossed in planning these vile and filthy schemes, Snigdha eventually drifted off to sleep.
However, Snigdha had no idea that all her sinister schemes were being heard clearly by that evil Tantrik sitting in a dark cell far away!
Chained inside the underground dark dungeon of Junagadh, the Tantrik sensed all the evil thoughts in Snigdha's mind and let out a hideous, ominous laugh. Banging his head against the wall of the dark cell, he muttered to himself, "Yes, Snigdha! Such arrogance? Let's see how far you can go! In the end, only a curse is written in your destiny! You will end up roaming as a supreme, cursed dog in this very palace of Junagadh! A tail-wagging dog! I want to see how far you can reach and what your ultimate fate turns out to be!"
Saying these words, the Tantrik also fell asleep with a monstrous grin amidst the darkness.
Meanwhile, a calm and serene atmosphere prevailed over the kingdom of Rupnagar. In the Rupnagar Royal Palace, the King, Prime Minister Rupanjan, and the invited guests slept in peaceful repose.
In the guest quarters of the palace, Prafulla and Prabhasha were still awake. Prabha's face looked slightly gloomier with worry.
Looking at Prafulla, Prabha said in a sweet voice, "Look Brother, Snigdha Didi is really behaving like a crazy person, isn't she? Standing in the royal court today, she completely ruined our parents' honor! Goodness knows what Mother and Father are doing to Snigdha Didi after getting her alone at the palace! Are they beating her up severely?"
Prafulla smiled gently and stroked Prabha's head, saying, "No Prabha, don't worry so much. Knowing the kind of girl Snigdha is, if they beat her, she will cause a thousand more scenes! So Mother and Father are very wise; they won't beat her up unnecessarily. But yes, Mother did raise her hand against Snigdha in court today, because even Mother has a limit to her patience, right? Once the dam of patience breaks, anyone is bound to lose control over themselves."
Prabhasha let out a deep sigh and said, "Hmm Brother, you are absolutely right."
Finally, both brother and sister went to sleep peacefully. In the stillness of the night, a deep slumber descended upon both kingdoms—Rupnagar and Junagadh—harboring many unknown tomorrows behind its veil!