Morning must have dawned before they broke apart, yet locked in the embrace, feeling each other thoroughly.

Pruthvi wanted to get away from her, but he resisted. His conscience screamed at him- if he let her go now, he didn't think he might ever have her back in his arms. His heart ached, as he slowly looked up, her face only a few inches away, her eyes glinting with questions. He guessed what she was going to ask -What was that for?-Or rather-Was he missing her already? But what she said, blew his mind away.

"Wrong timing," she whispered.

Pruthvi arched his brows, finding himself thrown in dubiousness. Taking his hands off her, he took a step back. Her eyes were steady, unblinking but they were speaking the truth-it was a mistake to grope her in the middle of the tense situation, taking it as a measure to obtain instant gratification.

A sudden twig cracking sound jerked him a bit. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed a person, suffusing a grand aura whilst walking elegantly, was approaching them in a hurry. He was carrying a large fired up lantern, and he moved it little closer revealing his face. Realizing who the person was, Pruthvi at once felt his heart skipping a beat.

It was King Aghasthya.

Pruthvi's job didn't seem to find Tyrell anymore. Since past few weeks, making King Agasthya angry was becoming the main objective of his every effort. He took another step away from Leena, watching the king walk straight towards him. His eyes had a certain stillness, coldness, but Pruthvi thought they were the sharp knives digging deep into his ribs.

Not so far away, many lanterns attached to the stick were dug into the ground. Flickering tremendously, the lights filled in the forest allowed Pruthvi to see a few Sharad's knights. They were busily attempting to chain Deva and others to one another, holding them in their thorough captive.

King Aghasthya stood in front of him, veins in his temples ready to explode. But before he began screaming like a banshee, Pruthvi slowly glanced at Leena intending for an answer.

"I...I went to Daulah Haat," she said, "to drop that woman in a store... where she could get some help. I waited to make sure she was out of danger. Grandfather and his knights were already on their way to the temple. But during the time I spent waiting, a few passersby recognized me as Lithika and informed him about my presence."

He kept looking at her. That wasn't the answer he was expecting to listen.

She understood his intention and replied, "Dhanunjay ratted us out."

"I forced it out of him," King Aghasthya corrected, his voice as grating as it could be, "Pruthvi, I am not here to ask..."

"I killed Zarina Khan."

It was a heedless reaction. Pruthvi wasn't planning for it, the words had flown out of his mouth as if he had no control over himself anymore. Perhaps it was the raging guilt, burning his organ one after the other, or his heavy heart unable to have a grip over his deed had imposed him to say it out loud. He heard a horrified gasp from the one he had imagined to spend the rest of the life with. His eyes watered as Zarina's words once again rang in his ears.

"Poor current citizens of Paramarashtra-they don't even know that an upcoming holy marriage is going to bring a curse upon them. Now tell me, is the third generation Samagraha any different? Do you possess a pure soul?

A slow breeze drifted towards them and tousled his hair. The leaves of the Vrindahina susurrated, the atmosphere surrounding him turned tensed and fearful, sending chilled shivers through his body. Did he just confess committing a crime?

"What did you say?" King Agasthya asked, finally breaking the silence, "Zarina Khan?"

"Pruthvi?" Leena walked over and held his hand. "Wha...what happened?"

A brief flash of agitation crossed her face when she asked the question. But he wasn't ready to deal with her yet. As soon as he brought up his great grandmother's name, and recalled all of her venomous words, he didn't know why, but every nerve in his body urged him to accept the fact that she was never meant to be associated with him.

"Do you care to tell us what in the world happened?" King Aghasthya asked, gritting his teeth.

"Will you believe if I tell you that that was an accident?" Pruthvi said, a painful lump lodging in his throat, "That I didn't mean to kill her? Will you?"

Leena slowly pulled her hand up to cover her mouth, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.

"For me to come to any verdict, you need to explain what happened down there?" Aghasthya said, "Tell me everything so that I can help you out in Panchayat."

"Panchayat, my foot," he shouted, enraged, "I don't care about them anymore. They can throw me in jail, hang me till I choke for million times, I-JUST-DON'T-CARE."

Aghasthya glared at him but kept his composure intact. "Why?"

"How is it possible that they never found out what's going on with the woman of this country? How come since twenty-five years, no one, including yourself understood that Shashi and his mean intentions are behind innocent Yodhin Ojha's sudden disappearance? Have they been waiting for us to find out? Or even after knowing the truth, they blindly disregarded it?"

King Aghasthya folded his hand and stared even more intently. "Tell me from the beginning. Calmly and clearly."

Although the king's temper was rising by every second, Pruthvi had to bow down to his gracious attitude. Taking a long breath, he went through everything in detail, right from their little adventure of eavesdropping on the conversation between Shourya and Tanishka Thribhuvan in Sharad palace's backyard. How and why they were compelled to talk to Dhanunjay and collect information about the Temple of Chandrika. Their aggressive interrogation with Deva; Shaytan Rup guarding Shashi's prized possession which turned out to be his own body. It took a while to explain Shashi's master plan to take over Yodhin's body but Leena and King Aghasthya were patient with him, listening to his disorderly manner of explanation. Lastly, he carefully attempted to narrate regarding how the woman's blood was considered as the elixir by these immoral people, the reason why the women have always been disappearing.

"That man was a Garg?" Leena asked, apprehensively.

Pruthvi nodded. "King Bhupathi Garg's relative."

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed immediately, and turned to look at her grandfather, "What about Lithika? Isn't she in danger?"

Pruthvi's eyes enlarged when she brought up her name. But it wasn't her protection he was thinking of. It reminded him of Tyrell. The disaster at the Fest, when he had risked showing himself and had tried to draw Pruthvi and Leena out of the amphitheater. Apart from Shourya, he was the one who had warned them about the Princess Lithika's safety, hadn't he?

"I might have failed to stop her sister marrying a monster but if anything happens to her now, you should hold yourself responsible for it."

Pruthvi stiffened, feeling the pain of guilt cutting through him as an icy knife. Wasn't killing Zarina Khan enough, that now he had to burden himself with the responsibility of not taking Shourya's warning seriously? How he longed to go back to that very day when he had met Shourya? He pulled his glasses down and gently wiped away his eyes, for he knew it very well that the damage was already done. There was no way back. His felt his knees growing weak, resisting his impulse to collapse down and break down crying his heart out.

"Anything else?" King Aghasthya asked, ignoring Leena. But Pruthvi noticed there was a shift in his voice. It was frail and apologetic.

There was more to it, Pruthvi knew that, but to say it in front of the Maiden of Paramarashtra was out of his willpower. He shook his head, at loss for words. Raising his eyes up, he noticed King' chin quivering, his shoulders slumped down, probably he was getting intimidated by possible threat surrounding his granddaughter.

"Why did you have to kill Zarina Khan?" He asked.

Pruthvi quickly made up his mind. For now, he wasn't going to lie, although in a way it wasn't. "Zarina killed my sister's parents. She is the reason Nazira had to live a long lonely life. And now she put her life at stake by selling her to Shashi. I couldn't handle it and slapped her. I didn't realize it was going to be too forceful and her neck snapped."

"Is her body still inside the Temple?"

"Yes."

"Alright," he said, dropping his hands down."I'll ask my knights to get her out. Like it or not, Panchayat still needs to have a look at her to make sure that she is dead. After that, we are all going back to the palace. We need to sit down and figure out how to prove ourselves not guilty."

"I cannot come back with you," said Pruthvi, looking aside at Leena who was stayed silent but wanting to know her opinion if she was still his partner, "I have an unfinished job that needs a closure. And it's up to Leena if she wants to go with you. I'll not stop her."

"Don't be silly," she yelled with a loud moan, glaring at him, "We are together in this, always together."

Pruthvi bent his head down, unable to see those eyes shining with unshed precious tears.

"King Aghasthya," she continued, "I am responsible for Zarina's death as much as Pruthvi is. We will return to Sharad and you are free to produce us in Panchayat, but only after we successfully bring Tyrell back. Until then, as per your promise, please let us do it in our way."

Pruthvi and King Aghasthya both stared at her, each of them supposedly having a look of pride on their faces.

"Is this final decision?" the king asked.

"Yes," she said firmly, "Just trust us."