Page 188 of Rudra Nandani: The Saga of Control And Seduction

He kissed the top of my head.“I love you, too, Ranisa. I am your King. And if you weren’t my Queen, I would’ve never found the crown,”

I smiled weakly.“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,”

He exhaled.“No, it’s true. I exist because you came into this world from heaven,”

I chuckled and looked up at him.“You’re buttering me,”

He grinned.“Maybe. But it’s still true. I’m the Devil that was left behind after you... to protect you from the world—and from myself,”

I laughed harder.“If you’re here to protect me, then you’re no devil,”

His smile softened, and suddenly he shifted me under him, hovering over me as he cupped my cheek.

“Every protector has to become a devil first,” he muttered.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, teasing,“Oh, really?”

He nodded.“Yes,”

He leaned down to kiss me softly, and I giggled.“Rudra…”

He paused and looked at me with a certain stillness in his eyes.“You know what happens when you call me by my name,” he said.

I blinked, confused.“What?”

His smile vanished, and he turned serious, his gaze softening, and he lazily looked into my eyes.

“When you say my name, it feels like I’m looking into a mirror. All my life, I’ve heard Bhaisa, Prince... titles. But when you say Rudra, it feels like you’re calling out to my soul. Not the King. Not the warrior. Just me,”

My heart fluttered, and I brought my hand up to his face, thesound of my bangles chiming softly as I traced his lower lip.

“Because I love you for the man you are. Not for what you represent. There’s a difference between loving someone and loving the version of them that fits into your expectations,”

He kissed my hand gently.“Sometimes you talk like someone twice your age, little melon,”

“You never get tired of giving me nicknames, do you?” I whined.

He laughed softly.“I love you so much that I see you in everything. If I see a melon, I think,‘Ah, so cute, like Nandani.’If I see a bird,‘So beautiful, like Nandani.’If I see a tiger, I think,‘So fierce, like my Nandani.’You’ve ruined me. You’ve spoiled me completely, little wife,”

He buried his face in my chest like a baby with a playful groan.

I laughed, though I felt a little awkward. He was much bigger than I was, yet he acted like a child.

“You know,” I teased,“if anyone ever saw you like this—behaving like a baby, especially your brothers or Maasimaa, they’d probably die from the shock,”

I said, and suddenly remembered that I hadn’t seen his Maasimaa for a while. She hadn’t caused any problems in our lives since the push-ups incident.

“By the way, where is your Maasimaa?”

He inhaled sharply and looked at me sadly.“I don’t know where she went. She left a letter saying she’s going on a pilgrimage. I wanted to talk to her about the truth of our parents… I’m still waiting for her to come back,” he said.

Something clicked in my mind. My brows furrowed.

“She went on a pilgrimage?” I asked.

He nodded.

I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t quite believe it. A sudden pilgrimage? It felt odd.

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