Queen Without Crown

Chapter 163 The Return Meeting

Eldrige applied the ointment to Princess Juwita's ankle. Sometimes his lips blow the wound so as not to feel sore. And all that time Princess Juwita kept turning her face to the side.

"Is it still painful?"

"Little."

Eldrige exhaled heavily. He was not unaware of the change in attitude of the girl, he simply did not understand what the cause was.

"Juwita, do you want to explain to me why you've been acting so strange lately?"

"I don't understand what you're saying."

"Please Juwita, just talk about it if there's something that's stuck in your heart. Are you mad at me? Is there anything I do that makes you disappointed? Please be honest!"

Be honest? Just be right!

Princess Juwita is getting sick of it. Isn't the one who should be telling the truth is Eldrige?

"I think you should go first, Eldrige. I'm.tired."

"Well, I can't force you to explain." Eldrige stood up, he was a little annoyed by the attitude of Princess Juwita who always avoided him.

"Originally you know I'll still love you even if you get tired of me. I'll keep following you even if you're sick of me."

Tears flowed down Princess Juwita's cheeks when she heard Eldrige's words. Some of his heart wanted to believe the man's words, but others rejected him.

"Can I ask you the same question, Eldrige?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is there something you're covering for me?"

Eldrige was silent at the question. It was not yet time for him to tell Princess Juwita the truth, he had to confirm something first.

"Nothing." Said Eldrige which made Princess Juwita really disappointed.

"Then there's nothing more we can talk about, Eldrige." The girl's words completely closed their conversation.

******

The mourning period was over and the wedding of Princess Pertiwi was finally held. Invitational guests from various . One of them was a couple from the Elfian Kingdom, King Satria and Queen Gita.

"Finally I can see you again Juwita." Queen Gita hugged her eldest child. The woman surprised her son by suddenly entering the girl's room.

Princess Juwita returned her mother's embrace tightly. How much she misses the woman who gave birth to her. They have not felt their farewell for more than a year.

"You're an adult, my son. Now you've grown into a very beautiful woman."

"Mom, I want to go home." Princess Juwita's voice sounded tired.

"Of course, honey, we'll be home after this wedding is over." Queen Gita's wiggly finger wiped the tears that soaked her daughter's face.

"I'm sorry mom. I'm sorry I couldn't get you through all that trouble." Queen Gita shed tears.

"I'm fine, Mom."

"Your uncle told mom everything. I feel so sad and angry at myself for not being able to protect you."

"It wasn't mom's fault. This is my life."

"Just a year later you're so grown up. Mom misses your whining sometimes and your effective attitude."

"By the way, how far along have you been with Eldrige?" Queen Gita's question made the girl flinch. "Mother heard it from your father."

"Come, mom. I think I need to rethink everything. I don't want to rush. I'm still young anyway, I still have a lot to learn."

"If it's your decision, I can only support you. I also want you to enjoy your youth before devoting yourself as a wife."

"I heard I got a sister. Where's dia? I want to meet him."

"Cielo is with Esme. I was looking for you because I miss you so much." Queen Gita said as she stroked her son's silvery hair.

"Cielo's? I like that name. Oh yeah, did you meet Grandma Divya?"

"Yet. The first person I want to meet is you, Juwita."

Not long after the door opened. A sepuh woman who looked graceful entered.

"Are you Gita?" Ask Grandma Divya.

"true."

"I'm your aunt, baby. Your mother's brother."

"Auntie..Divya?" Queen Gita had heard about her aunt from King Gaurav.

"really. Come here, I want to hug you."

Queen Gita approached her aunt and hugged her tightly. If her mother were still alive, it would definitely resemble that woman.

"You look more like me than my sister, Widya." Divya's grandmother looked at her nephew's face.

"I didn't know that my mother had a sister. I'm a little secretive about her past."

Widya is a bit closed. He likes to keep his own problems." Divya's grandmother wiped her tears.

"Mom rarely talks about her origins." Said Queen Gita.

Grandma Divya was silent for a moment, then spoke sadly.

"Widya doesn't like anything attached to her. He's managed to keep you from his nightmares."

"Nightmare?" Queen Gita's forehead wrinkled.

"Ah, don't think too much. It's all just the past." Divya's grandmother immediately switched the conversation. "I've prepared a room for you, my dear niece. Rest, the wedding ceremony tomorrow will be very tiring."

After Divya's grandmother died, a servant came to take her to the room. Princess Juwita followed her mother, but her eyes fell on a woman who was walking down there.

"Did you come with Miss Sekar?"

"Ah, no. He's long gone after Eldrige to find you. It's weird that you don't know." Queen Gita looked at her daughter somewhat confused.

"I don't know." Princess Juwita answered honestly.

"Maybe he was reluctant to enter the palace of Dewanata. But he's nice to pick us up at the harbor."

"Did Eldrige come too?"

"Yes, they came together."

The fact that his mother said made Princess Juwita even more shaken. Did Eldrige lie to him from the beginning?

The sadness of Princess Juwita was immediately pushed aside when she saw the tiny baby who was asleep. The baby's face looks peaceful. Slowly he touched it.

"It's so soft." He said as he stroked his brother's cheek.

"You used to be as beautiful as him. You're the first baby that made me fall in love." Queen Gita stroked the shoulders of her eldest daughter.

"How old is he?"

"This month he's in six months."

"I didn't expect to have a sister at 17, would we be able to get along later?"

"You are brothers. Even though your age is far away, you can definitely be familiar."

"Jewith!" A voice surprised both. A man with hair and ear shape similar to Princess Juwita came over.

"Dad?" Princess Juwita immediately jumped into her father's arms.

"I'm fine Dad."

"Is your body getting taller?" King Satria watched his daughter from top to bottom.

"I don't think my height has increased anymore."

"Emm, you're wrong. Last time you were the same as your mother. But now you look taller than him." King Satria placed his palm over his daughter's head.

"really?"

They laugh at each other about the little things they have longed for.

****

Jadukari Daalal Nath observes the festivity in the palace of Dewanata from a hidden corner. Although there was a surge of anger that clumped in his chest cavity but he tried to hold it.

This year he was even a hundred years old thanks to the magic power he got from the black sciences he learned. But his goal to become the embodiment of the god has not been achieved, even in fact all his strength has now been destroyed.

All because all this time he was always missteps. He always supports the wrong people. A dozen years ago he supported King Bharata but failed because King Bharata was not the one appointed by the god Murr.

The man backed away and left the place. With a limp step through the streets of the capital that began to darken. He paused for a moment in a tent, from inside came the sound of music and applause. In front of the gap of the tent that was scattered, the light was spilled like a warm golden honey color.

"In time, there will be no more party fanfare than absolute adoration." His eyes looked hatefully at the two dancing women who were contorting their bodies with their heads covered in red dupatta.

When the man was about to step away, suddenly something caught his attention. A poorly dressed man was sitting leaning against the wall. The man's body trembled and delirious in his sleep. A chain wrapped around his ankle and locked onto an iron pole.

"Prince Awang?" Jadukari Daalal Nath stood with his wand.

The eyes of the man leaning against the wall trembled then opened slowly. A pair of eyes that usually radiated sharply now appeared dim and subdued.

"What are you doing here?"

"You.the Shaman," the voice of Prince Awang was very weak.

Jadukari Daalal Nath's gaze looked at the man before him. At first glance there was no shortage of anything to him, until the young man revealed the cloth that covered his body.

"Aah!" Jadukari Daalal Nath's eyes widened to see that Prince Awang's left arm was absent.

"Your reaction is too much. Have you never seen a disabled person?"

"Then..this?" The palm of the shaman's hand went up and down pointing at the chains that shackled his feet.

"I was found by someone after being injured for days by falling from your cave. I thought he was sincere in helping me, but he sold me to a slave trader. When I tried to escape, they cut off my arm."

"The handicapped slave is worth nothing." Jadukari Daalal Nath.

The shaman's words really hurt feelings, but that was the reality.

"But don't worry, I'll take you for a more noble cause." Mumbled Jadukari Daalal Nath while grabbing a piece of rock.

The old man's hand slammed a stone into the chain that shackled Prince Awang's leg several times. After several times the chain came off.

"Now I know that this is the reward of my many years of service." Jadukari Daalal Nath smiled happily.

*****

Prince Awang walked limped all night following Jadukari Daalal Nath. When everything was gone from his life, his mind suddenly became clear. He remembered the sins he had committed in the past.

"Where are you taking me?" Ask Prince Awang.

Jadukari Daalal Nath did not answer and continued walking. They only stopped when they arrived at the hillside. Prince Awang gazed down, into a valley that stretched wide to the top of Taevas mountain. The light of dawn made the buildings of Dewanata palace and houses as if popping from the fog.

"There is an old temple in the village. The village was the forerunner of the abandoned kingdom of Dewanata."

Sure enough, before long we see the very old and porous gate building eaten by age that stands as if welcoming their arrival.

"Desa Dewanata?" Prince Awang read the opaque writing on the top that curved on the gate building.

They passed through several buildings that still seem to stand despite looking damaged and unkempt, the rest were only the remains of the ruins of buildings that were oozed overgrown with moss and wild plants.

"What do we really want?" Prince Awang is patient again.

"We'll be here soon, you'll know for yourself."

Jadukari Daalal Nath turns into an area covered with trees that resemble a forest. There is no road in sight because the bush is so thick.

"We've arrived."

Prince Awang looked dazedly at his surroundings that were only filled with trees. His heart began to worry as it could not feel what the shaman was thinking.

"It's a nagasari tree." Appoint Jadukari Daalal Nath towards a large tree that is hundreds of years old. "A sacred tree that harbors immense energy."

There was nothing strange about the tree. It looks like other old trees, big and rooted. But when you look closely, there is something hanging on the tree.

"Is that a corpse?"

Jadukari Daalal Nath immediately chuckled long. Trudgingly he walked through the bush approaching the tree.

"This is the body of the Mandala" replied the old shaman. His eyes looked at the human skeletal bones hanging on the tree. The hardened dust stuck to the bones so that the color almost resembled the bark of a tree.

"Mandala?"

"He was a man loved by Uma, the great-grandmother of the Dewanata."

"Great-grandmother of the Dewanata nation? That means the body's been hanging there for hundreds of years?"

It is impossible to imagine a whole skeleton hanging on a tree for hundreds of years.

"The forest protects him. Only his flesh was destroyed but his bones were still complete." The shaman grinned as if he was harboring a terrible secret.

Wuush..

The wind blew on the nape of Prince Awang and made the now deformed man shudder.

"Wait for tonight. Everything will be restored as it was."

*****

The wedding ceremony of Princess Pertiwi and Bagas took place hidmat. The two brides looked very harmonious as if their match had indeed been arranged by heaven. All present felt happiness and gave blessings to both.

"With this I bestow the title of prince to my son-in-law." King Badre cried out before everyone.

The awarding ceremony of the title was immediately carried out without wasting time. A golden crown was pinned on the head of Prince Bagas.

Feasts and banquets were held until they spilled into the palace grounds. People flocked to the front of the palace just to witness the festivity. The silver coins were scattered by several soldiers and soon became a scramble.

The party continued until nightfall. Everyone felt happy as if the tragedy two months ago was just a nightmare that vanished when they woke up.

Not so with Princess Juwita. That night his feelings were very agitated. He felt like something was going to happen tonight. Several times the girl rubbed her nape due to goosebumps.

"What's wrong?" Eldrige who had been looking at him from afar was now in front of the girl.

"There's nothing." Princess Juwita replied quickly.

"Are you not feeling well?" Eldrige paid no heed to the girl's cold demeanor.

"I told you I'm okay. Stop taking care of my life, Eldrige!" The girl's eyes were filled with hatred.

Eldrige. His emotions rose but he tried to dampen it. He tried to understand the unstable condition of Princess Juwita.

"I won't respond to your anger."

"Then you go to the person who makes you comfortable." The girl stepped away leaving Eldrige with her tail her eyes glancing towards a woman who was sitting gracefully watching them.

Princess Juwita went outside, leaving a riot inside. The cold night air made the girl again rubbed her nape.

Elsewhere, with a distance stretching tens of kilometers from the palace. A blazing bonfire burned the shrubbery in front of the sacred nagasari tree. A ritual is underway.