“What?” My brows furrowed in disbelief.“What do you mean?” I pressed on, feeling my fingers grow cold.
“Yes, he isn’t in the palace. He left over a week ago for some work,” another attendant added, and I stood stunned by the information.
And no one told me. He didn’t even try to say anything to me. How could he leave without even notifying me?
I immediately hurried toward Nandani’s chamber and found her playing with the princess.
“Nandani,” I called, stepping close to her.
She lifted her gaze from the princess and looked at me.
“Yes, what happened?” she asked, straightening up, settling the princess in her lap.
“You didn’t tell me,” I stated in disbelief. There was no way she didn’t know about him leaving.
Her face turned confused, and she replied,“What?”
I sat beside her and muttered,“Kunwar Agastya is not in the palace,” and she nodded, smiling at the princess.
“Yes, I know,” she said, and I suddenly felt angry at her.
“What do you mean, you know?” I asked, and she looked at me with a confused yet calm smile.
“I know he is not in the palace. He left ten days ago for Pratapgarh for some work,” she explained, and my eyes widened with shock.
“And you didn’t even tell me?” I raised my voice at her, and she gritted her teeth.
“What do you mean, I didn’t tell you? Is it my job to keep you informed about his whereabouts? How can you talk to me? How do I know whether you know? And why do you even care when you didn’t even try to meet him once when he was leaving, not even coming out of your room to see him leave?”
She looked at me, and I didn’t know why, but her words sliced through my heart. She had never spoken to me like this.
“Why are you being rude to me, Nandani?” I asked, my voice breaking with the overwhelming feelings, and she lifted her gaze to me.
“I am being rude to you?” she exclaimed.“Are you even listening to yourself? Can you even realise what you’re doing? I’m surprised that the man you spent the entire night in his chamber went out over ten days ago, and you don’t even know where he is. It’s unbelievable, Suman,” she said, and my heart raced as I tried to respond.
“He cheated on me, Nandani. I found him hugging Princess Rashmika in his chamber,” I said.
She stared at me silently for a moment before lowering her gaze.
“Then your concern for him doesn’t seem valid. Just get some rest,” she said coldly with a smile.
I didn’t understand why, but she was hurting me.
“Nandani, what’s wrong? Why are you being so cold?” I asked, placing my hand on her knee, and she looked up at me.
“What happened to me, Suman, seriously?” She regarded me with fury.“First, I find you spending a night with my brother-in-law, and it turns out my best friend has some romantic connection with him, with a history. That’s okay; I accept it and try to support it. But then, when I literally asked you every day what happened? How are you doing? You don’t tell me anything about what’s happening in your life? You make me feel invisible. And suddenly, you come to me, raise your voice, claiming I didn’t inform you. Did you even care? Were we even talking about him for the last ten days? And now suddenly you’re back playing the friend card?” she asked, picking up the princess in her arms.
“You know what,” she said, standing up.“I can’t do this right now,” and walked back to her chamber.
?????
28. Agastya
Iwas done.
I gave up trying to make her understand. She avoided me, possibly to punish me, and wanted nothing more to do with me.
I inhaled sharply and turned away from her door.
