The Kingdom of Kalika was a very prosperous land. The adopted princess, Kaya, was the most beloved member of the royal family. Everyone around her adored her deeply.

"Grandma, you forgot to take your medicine on time again, didn't you?" Kaya said.

Grandma replied, "Oh, my child, what would I do without you? You’re the granddaughter who loves me the most," and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Do I not love you too, Grandma? Or do you only love your younger granddaughter?" Kajal said with a scowl.

Grandma laughed and said, "Oh, goodness! You both are equally precious to me, my naughty granddaughters," and playfully pinched their noses.

"Ouch! That hurts, Grandma!" they both said, laughing.

Kaya looked at Kajal and said, "Did you get a new hairpin? It looks really beautiful." She smirked mischievously.

Kajal replied, "Don't even look at me with those eyes!" forcing an awkward smile. Then she started running. "You’re not getting it!"

Kaya chased after her. "You’re my best sister, right? You won’t deny me anything, will you? Don’t you love me?" she said, trying to emotionally guilt her.

As they laughed and played, Kaya's most trusted soldier suddenly approached, his eyes cold and expressionless.

Kaya, still smiling, greeted him. "How are you, Captain?"

He didn’t reply. Instead, he drew his sword. Just as he was about to strike Kaya, Kajal pulled her back in time.

"Run, Kaya! Go to Father and Grandma!" Kajal shouted.

Kaya ran as fast as she could. Meanwhile, Kajal overheard a soldier whispering to another, "The king ordered Kaya’s execution? I thought she was the kingdom’s most beloved princess."

As soon as she heard that, Kajal ran after Kaya.

In Grandma’s room, the King and Grandfather were speaking in hushed, serious tones. Kaya burst in, shouting, "Father! Grandma! Help!"

They both turned to her, glaring intensely.

Kaya ran to her father. "Father, the Captain tried to kill me!"

The King said nothing. Instead, he reached for her neck and began to strangle her.

Struggling, she finally bit his hand and broke free. She ran to the door and tried to open it—but it wouldn’t budge.

"Why won’t it open? Am I going to die here? Do the people I love the most want to kill me?"

These questions kept racing through her mind.

The door suddenly swung open.

Who opened it?

It was Kajal.

She rushed in, grabbed Kaya’s hand, and pulled her toward the main doors. But the guards blocked their path.

Kaya shouted,

“Open the door if you value your lives!”

The guards hesitated.

Kajal yelled,

“I said, open the door!”

Startled, the guards quickly obeyed. Just then, their father's voice thundered from behind:

“Kajal, stop! We need her!”

Kajal snapped back,

“You can’t do anything to her without her consent!”

She ran, tightly holding Kaya’s hand. Kaya, overwhelmed and confused, simply followed.

At the palace gates, Kajal pulled a horse forward and turned to Kaya.

“Get on.”

Kaya, hesitant and unsure, asked,

“What’s going on? Why do I have to run? If there’s been a misunderstanding, I’ll talk to Father. He’ll understand me.”

Kajal looked at her sharply.

“Only humans listen and understand—not demons. They won’t let you live.”

She helped Kaya onto the horse.

“Go as far from this kingdom as you can—and never come back. Never.”

While running away from the palace, Kaya thought of her real father—who had never shown her much affection, yet somehow, she believed he still loved her. He used to live with her biological grandfather.

As she made her way through the valley, she suddenly remembered that her father lived nearby. He wasn’t part of the royal family, but he was still someone who had once been part of her life. Her family. Her real family.

Eventually, Kaya arrived at their old, broken-down house. It wasn’t much, but it was familiar.

(Softly, she called out)

“Father? Grandfather? Are you home?”

She walked inside, looking around the worn-out rooms. Just then, her grandfather returned from the forest.

“Who’s there?” he called out, stepping through the doorway with a bundle of sticks on his back.

“It’s me, Kaya. Your granddaughter, Grandfather,” Kaya replied.

The old man’s face lit up.

“Oh, Kaya, my child! Look at you—grown into such a beautiful young lady. What brings you here? Did you miss your grandfather?”

He smiled warmly, gently rubbing her head.

Then came her father, grumbling as he approached, thinking it was just a neighborhood child.

“Who is it at this hour? If you're here for sugar, go ask next door. We’ve run out,” he muttered, carrying a huge bundle of wood from the forest.

“Father, it’s me—Kaya,” she said quietly.

He froze.

“Kaya? My daughter?” he said in disbelief. His eyes widened, but then his tone shifted to sadness.

“Don’t play tricks, kid. My daughter lives in the palace, living her best life. She wouldn’t come back here…”

"Life in the palace is awful, Father. They're trying to kill me!" Kaya blurted out, her voice trembling.

Her father's eyes widened in shock. Without a word, he pulled her into a tight hug.

"If you’re not safe there, my child, then you’re not safe here either," he whispered urgently. "They’ll come looking for you. You have to run. Now."

He grabbed her hand, rushed her outside, helped her onto a horse, and with barely a goodbye, gave the horse a sharp nudge to set it galloping into the distance.

Kaya, who had never ridden a horse in her life, clung to the reins like her life depended on it—which, to be fair, it kind of did. Eyes squeezed shut, she dared not look up.

But when she finally opened her eyes—WHAM! A tree appeared out of nowhere (or maybe it had always been there), and in a flailing panic, she tried to stop the horse... but had no clue how.

With a spectacular flop, she tumbled to the ground.

"Bad horse!" she grumbled, brushing dirt off her dress like it had personally betrayed her.

From behind the tree stepped a voice—and then a person.

"The horse isn’t bad. You just don’t know how to ride it."

She looked up to see a young man, all confidence and curls, his brown skin glowing in the sunlight and his hair dancing in the wind like it was auditioning for a shampoo commercial.

He extended his hand. Kaya reached for it—finally, a gentleman!—only for him to pluck a fruit from the ground and take a juicy bite.

"Were you... not helping me just now?" Kaya asked, half-annoyed, half-confused.

"Why would I help you?" he said mid-chew. "I don’t even know you. Are you some kind of spoiled princess who can’t even get up by herself?"

Kaya narrowed her eyes. "Scumbag," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that," he said, already walking away.

"Hey! Who are you, anyway? Do you live around here?"

Without turning back, he replied, "I don’t answer questions from strangers."