A thousand years ago, in a land…
"Please, don't do this to me!" cried a young woman about 20 years old with her body tied to a wooden beam two meters long.
"Take her to the edge of the cliff!" said a young man about 25 years old with his luxurious clothes covered in a long robe, stretched to the ground.
On the young man's head, he wears a golden crown. Now and then the gemstones that decorated the crown reflected the soft light of the moon, which by then was already at a third of its initial height.
From a distance, the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks is heard rumbling, mingling with the roar of the wind that blows loudly tonight as if it pierces every ear that hears.
"Pramudya…! I beg of you, let me go! Y—You've already got what you wanted. Let me go, let me go, please…!"
The woman's screams were completely ignored by the man. He continued to walk, leading several soldiers who were dragging the wooden beam where the girl was bound.
The flapping of bat wings and the sound of owls seemed to accompany every scream of the young woman who was getting closer to a cliff. The cliff itself is like a huge horn protruding into the abyss.
The girl couldn't move at all except only her head. Two hands were tied at her side, a large rope wrapped around a wooden block that the four soldiers were dragging.
Arriving at the edge of the cliff shaped like a large horn, the four soldiers erected the beam so that the bound woman could face the man in the crown.
"I'm begging you, Pramudya," the young woman sobbed so much that she almost lost her voice. "Let me go! Am—Am I not your wife? And, and I never once hurt you."
The young man smirked. "My wife?" he repeated and ended with loud laughter. "Oh, Lathi, Lathi, Lathi… you are too naive, my dear."
"Please," said Lathi. "Don't do this to me, let me go!"
"That won't happen, my dear," Pramudya stroked his wife's cheek. "Let me tell you a secret," he said. "The illness your father and mother suffered, I was the one who caused all of that. You know, the Seventh Day Poison Flower is indeed very deadly," he said while patting Lathi's cheek.
Lathi widened her eyes and burst into tears. She didn't expect that the man she hoped would be a good husband, a husband who loved her and loved her mother and father, turned out to be a human with an evil heart.
"I just want to get your royal throne, my dear," said Pramudya. "Also, this beautiful land."
"Y—You got that already," Lathi said. "Please let me go. Don't you feel sorry for me? And, and don't you often say that you love me?"
"Me? Love you?" Pramudya laughed out loud again. "Why are you so naive, Lathi?" again he patted the young woman's cheek. "Are you all blind?" he asked some soldiers accompanying him.
The soldiers smirked and some even laughed in response to Pramudya's words pointing at Lathi.
"Let me tell you in case you don't realize your condition," Pramudya said to Lathi. "You're fat, you don't look pretty at all, plus your black skin. Then, you think a dashing and handsome man like me would really love you, can't you be realistic?"
Again the sound of laughter boomed on the cliff, the laughter of Pramudya and his soldiers. And Lathi could only bite her lips so that her cries wouldn't come out louder. Meanwhile, tears flowed from the corners of her eyes down her chubby cheeks.
There was only one person who didn't laugh among them. A middle-aged man wearing a black hood and wide robe. He seemed to hide his face behind the hood. Now and then, the look in his eyes seemed to show sadness with what was experienced by Lathi who was actually a princess, Princess of the Kingdom of Artapurana.
"I married you just to get the royal throne, I poisoned your father and mother too with the same purpose."
Then Lathi's tears flowed like a river. There were no more words for Lathi to say. She only cursed her condition in his heart, cursing the bad things that happened to his father and mother, and soon it might happen to all the people in this country.
Will not the gods and goddesses in heaven be fair to me? To the people of this country?
"About letting you go," said Pramudya. "You know, I'm a guy who does everything to the end. Letting you go will only threaten my reign in this beautiful land in the future."
Pramudya grabbed the two ropes holding the block from the hands of the two soldiers. He smirked as he gripped the ends of the rope tightly.
"That's why, my dear Lathi," he said with a sinister-looking smile. "You must die. And you should be proud because I will give you a beautiful death, a special death, sinking to the bottom of the cold and dark sea."
Pramudya even mocked Lathi by deliberately stretching the rope he was holding so that the position of the block was leaning towards the ravine.
Lathi gasped and screamed with tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"Oops…!" Pramudya chuckled, and that made the soldiers laugh too. "Kencana Ireng, come here! Do your job!"
Lathi was getting wider to hear the name. She knew for sure who the name belonged to.
The middle-aged man who seemed to cover himself with a hood and a wide robe stepped forward, he approached Pramudya and bowed.
"My lord," said Kencana Ireng, and after that, he approached Lathi who looked at him in disbelief.
"I'll tell you one more thing, my dear wife," said Pramudya as he handed the two ropes holding the beam to two soldiers. "I am Pramudya Antaguna, the crown prince of the Linggatan Kingdom."
Again, the fact that was opened by Pramudya made Lathi stare wider.
Pramudya smirked. "Now you understand why am I doing all this, don't you?"
Lathi's gaze was fixed on Kencana Ireng as if demanding a deeper explanation from the middle-aged man.
"I did this on purpose so that you can take your revenge on Pramudya," said Kencana Ireng in a whisper to Lathi.
Lathi frowned, she did not understand the attitude of Kencana Ireng who was previously a Royal Advisor, a loyal companion of his father, the King of Artapurana.
Kencana Ireng whispered to Lathi without Pramudya knowing, nor the others. He disguised it all while carving a mark on Lathi's forehead using a type of blood.
"Are you done, Kencana Ireng?" asked Pramudya.
"May the Gods and Goddesses forgive my sins. Because there is a mission so destiny is created," whispered Kencana Ireng while moving away from Lathi who was increasingly confused by his attitude and speech.
Pramudya again approached Lathi. "You know," he said, caressing his wife's cheek which was still wet with tears. "I even pledged my life to the devil to get me to this day."
Pramudya smirked, and Lathi gasped to find that Pramudya's upper pair of fangs seemed to be sticking out longer and sharper than usual.
"Just as I did to your parents," said Pramudya, "I also put a mark on their foreheads. You might think that your mom and dad were cremated the way you wanted. But no, my dear Lathi, I threw them both right under this cliff. And soon, you'll catch up with them."
Simultaneously, the two soldiers holding the restraint ropes let go of their grips.
"Goodbye, my dear!" Pramudya smirked and then kicked one of his legs until it hit Lathi's stomach.
The kick accelerated the fall of the wooden block Lathi was tied to into the ravine.
"No…!"
Lathi couldn't help but scream as she looked at Pramudya who was standing at the edge of the cliff with tears in her eyes and so much anger, anger that she couldn't possibly repay.
Or… that's what it looks like.
Splash..!
It turned out that the wooden block had been weighted so that when Lathi plunged into the sea, the block kept bringing her down further and further, closer to the seabed.
Gods and goddesses in heaven, save the people of Artapurana!
That's how Lathi screamed in the water.
Her open eyes were increasingly unable to see because she continued to be carried further down, and finally, all was swallowed by the darkness of the seabed.
***