If someone had told me that the woman scrubbing my floors would one day hold my heart so entirely—so fiercely—I might have laughed at the absurdity of it.

But here she is.

Asleep beside me, her breath warm against my skin, her fingers curled gently over my chest, as if still afraid the world might take me away from her. I run my hand through her hair, dark and soft, her face calm now—no longer carrying the weight of fear, lies, or silence.

I’ve seen many wars. Some with swords, some with politics, and some... with the heart.

But she—she was the war I never meant to fight.

And the peace I didn’t know I was longing for.

She came into my life like a whisper. A ghost from a past none dared to mention, hiding behind the guise of a palace maid. I remember the first time I saw her—truly saw her.

Not just the timid girl with lowered eyes and silent steps, but the storm behind them. The fire she tried so hard to hide. The pain buried in her voice when she said, "I’m not who you think I am."

But I knew.

I always knew.

The world had turned its back on her, yet she still carried grace in her silence.

Still looked at others with kindness.

Still moved with dignity—even when they stripped her of her title, her name, her place in this world.

And so I did the only thing I could.

I stayed.

I fought—for her, for us.

There were days when she hated me for it. Nights when she wept beside me, whispering that she wasn’t worth saving. But love, I’ve learned, isn’t just the grand declarations or stolen glances in candlelight.

It’s sitting beside someone when they’re too broken to speak. It’s holding them when their past threatens to drown them. It’s choosing them every day—even when they push you away.

And I chose her. Again and again.

Now, the world knows her truth. The crown once snatched from her has been returned—not to rest upon her head, but to rest beneath her feet. Because she never needed it. She was royalty with or without it.

They call me Prince Rudra.

But the greatest title I will ever wear…

Is hers.

Her husband.

Her safe place.

Her home.

And in this quiet moment, with the moonlight painting silver across our bed and her heartbeat steady against mine, I know…

This is our forever.

After everything—We finally found our way home.

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