The letter was old.

The edges were frayed, the ink slightly faded, but the words still held power.

And as Rhea read them, her blood ran cold.

She had found it in the least expected place—hidden inside a wooden panel of her father's old study.

She hadn't been searching for anything. Not this time.

But somehow, the past had found her anyway.

She unfolded the parchment carefully, her fingers trembling slightly as she scanned the first few lines.

It wasn't a letter addressed to her.

It wasn't even addressed to her mother.

It was addressed to Bhishma.

Her father had written to Bhishma before his execution.

And in it, he had spoken of a child.

A child who should have been king.

A child who had been erased from history.

Her breath caught.

Could it be?

Could this be the erased heir Vidura warned her about?

And if so... why had her father known about it?

She read further, eyes darting over the ink-stained words.

"You know the truth as well as I do. If you let this secret die, Bhishma, then you bury the last remnants of justice with it."

Rhea's pulse pounded in her ears.

Her father hadn't been a warrior. He had never been a man of reckless ambition.

Then why had he risked everything for this truth?

Unless...

Unless this was the reason he had been executed.

The letter slipped from her fingers.

This wasn't just a forgotten secret.

This was the reason her father had died.

And now, it might be the reason she would too.

She wasn't alone anymore.

The moment she stepped outside the study, she could feel it.

Eyes. Watching. Waiting.

The palace had always been filled with whispers, but now, they were about her.

She moved carefully, forcing her expression into something neutral as she walked through the dimly lit corridors.

She had to think.

She had to be smart.

Because now, she knew something that could get her killed.

And worst of all?

She wasn't the only one who knew she knew.

Author's Note:

RHEA, YOU'RE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE. 😏

👀 She found a letter her father wrote to Bhishma. 👀 It mentions the erased heir—and justice being buried. 👀 This secret might have been the reason for her father's execution. 👀 And now, someone knows she's found it.