Obsession’S Crown: Two Faces, One Heart
Chapter 3
Inside military-grade car, en route to Devrath Private Mansion
Fog curling over the Ooty roads.
Rithanya stares out the window, silent. Fog licks at the glass. The engine hums low — like it knows something.
Driver
Before we departed, this was left for you at reception.
He hands her a sealed envelope. Heavy parchment. No name. No stamp. Just an old wax crest — older than it should be.
She accepts it without a word. Turns it in her hand.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(quiet, tracing it) This isn't his seal.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Too old. Too deliberate.
She breaks it open. Unfolds the paper. The ink smells wrong — like something sacred and forgotten.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(reading aloud, low voice) Breakfast. Private estate. The past remembers you.
She pauses. Fingers freeze over the edge of the envelope. Her expression darkens.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(barely whispering) This perfume...
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
It hasn’t existed since I was thirteen.
The paper’s edge is stained — not blood. Older. Deeper. Like ink from Tamil ceremonial scrolls. The kind used to bind secrets, not share them.
Driver
(gently) Ma’am… we’ll be arriving at the Devrath estate in two minutes.
Her phone buzzes. She doesn't look at the screen. She already knows who it is.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(dryly) You’re early, Aarti.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
(over call, concerned) You didn’t respond to the site clearance update.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
Are you okay?
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(glancing at the envelope) Define ‘okay.’
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
Did he summon you?
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
Or… did he?
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(quiet) No name. No seal. Just an old crest.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
And a scent that hasn’t existed in years.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
(tense) Then it wasn’t Raghav.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(flat) No.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
But it came from his skin.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
(voice dropping) Rithanya... be careful.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
You’re not walking into a house.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
You’re stepping into a memory that remembers you too well.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(coldly) I’m not scared of him.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
That’s his first mistake.
Aarti Varunanth /Hex/FL Bff
And yours… is assuming only one of them is watching.
Rithanya ends the call. Places the phone on her bag — silent now, but still warm from the conversation.
The fog thickens. The car slows.
The iron gates rise ahead — veiled in white mist. Soldiers on either side straighten. Silent. Watching.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(calmly) Thank you for the ride.
Driver nods — not sure if she’s being polite or warning him.
She steps out. Heels hit the gravel. The air shifts — cold, watching.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(to herself) He won’t remember inviting me.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
But one of him will.
She walks toward the mansion. No sound but her heels. Each step is deliberate — and watched. The doors swing open on their own. No guards inside. Just stillness.
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
(from deep within, flat voice) You’re early.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(entering, arms folded) And you’re not in uniform.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
That’s enough to report you for emotional disturbance.
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
(not smiling) Sit.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(coolly) Did you send this?
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
(doesn’t glance at the card) No.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
That’s problem number one.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Your handwriting. Your seal. But not your memory.
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
I don’t forget things.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Then you forgot how to lie.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
She pulls out the envelope and drops it on the table between them. His eyes flicker. He picks it up. Pauses at the scent. Just once.
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
(low) Where did this come from?
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(cold) The same place he comes from.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Your locked-down memories. Your blacked-out nights.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
The version of you who doesn’t ask permission.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Yugendran.
Raghav’s fingers tense around the paper. His lips part. His breath stalls. But no denial comes.
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
(quiet) That name means nothing to me.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Then why do you look like it’s written on your bones?
The air stiffens. She steps closer. No hesitation. No fear.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
You didn’t call me here.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
But someone in your skin did.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
He remembers me.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
From the cage. From the perfume. From the room your family buried with silence.
And just like that — the moment splinters. A shadow steps forward wearing the same face, but none of the restraint.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
(smirking) She always did speak better than the rest of them.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
Even as a child.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
Always the fire. Never the fuel.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(frozen, whispering): Yugendran.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
My name.... Not his.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
He pretends it’s a myth.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
But you... You built me.
She doesn’t flinch. But her eyes — they remember now. The boy. The flickering lights. The cage.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
You’re the one who sent this.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
(stepping in) I sent it when you left me in that room.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
You were the last light I saw.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
So I followed it.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
Even when I had nobody left.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
You followed me?
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
No... I watched you.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
Learned you.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
Owned you in silence.
Her breath catches. But she doesn’t step back. He smiles like that’s his victory.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
You’re not scared of me.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
That’s your first mistake.
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
And your mistake… is thinking I ever run.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
(softly) I don’t chase runners.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
I consume the ones who stand still.
He leans in. His breath barely brushes hers. His fingers don’t touch. But it feels like fire in the air between them.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
(whispers) You wore jasmine and red when you were eight.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
You smiled at me once.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
Then you left.
Yugendran Aadityan/Requiem/ML 2nd PL
And I made that smile mine.
Suddenly—blink. Gone. Air shifts. Back to Raghav. Silent. Staring. Confused. Clutching a card he swears he never saw.
Raghav Devrath /Black Monarch /ML
Why are you here?
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
(flat) Because someone in this house has been waiting…
Rithanya Venkatesh /Veritas/FL
Longer than you’ve been alive.
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