The air in the room grew heavy with the clanging of Prafulla's sword and his thunderous roars. Prafulla did not delay for another second; pouncing like a tiger, he gripped the imposter prince's hair and twisted it violently. 'THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!'—he delivered several hard slaps in a row. Blood began to trickle from the scoundrel's mouth. Prafulla roared, "Speak! Tell the truth, you devil! Who are you really? And what did you feed my sister to make her head spin like this? Fix her right now, or I will bury you alive today!"
Cowering and trembling at Prafulla's feet, the lecherous boy cried, "Prince, please don't kill me! There is tamarind water kept in the vessel in that corner; feed it to her, the intoxication will fade!" Prafulla wasted no time and quickly made Snigdha drink that water. A few moments later, the veil of stupor began to lift from Snigdha's eyes. She looked around, startled. Seeing the disarray of her half-open attire, she shrieked, "Prafulla! You are here? Why am I here? And why is my clothing in this state? I can't understand anything! Why is this prince standing before me like that?"
Fuming with rage, Prafulla snapped, "Shut up, Snigdha! The one you think is a prince is actually a traitor, a common lecher from the neighborhood! Your so-called 'dear' friends are the actual culprits. They were the ones who bribed him and dressed him up as a prince to plunder your honor. Their plan was to leak all your activities to the kingdom tomorrow so that your reputation would be dragged through the dust! Those you considered your own were the ones who wanted to ruin you."
In a tone of disbelief, Snigdha said, "What are you saying, Prafulla? I can't believe it!" Prafulla jerked the scoundrel's hair again and delivered a powerful kick. "Speak! Confess with your own mouth, you devil!" The boy broke down in tears and confessed, "Yes, Princess! I am no prince; I am just a common scoundrel from the village. Your friends paid me a lot of money just to dishonor you. This news was supposed to be spread tomorrow morning. Driven by greed for money, I wanted to spend the night with you. Please forgive me!"
Hearing these words, the ground slipped from beneath Snigdha's feet. Sobbing uncontrollably, she cried, "What was I about to do, being misled by those devilish friends! Prafulla, did I really want to betray Rupanjan? How will I ever show him my face? I love Rupanjan, Prafulla! How could I misunderstand an honest boy like him? I want to die, Prafulla; I have made a terrible mistake!"
Placing a hand on his sister's head, Prafulla spoke in a calm but stern voice, "Crying can wait, Snigdha. First, those traitors must be taught a proper lesson. Weren't you asking how I found out about this? Those devilish friends of yours are currently drunk on wine, hiding away and laughing at you, celebrating their victory. I heard everything with my own ears, or else you cannot imagine what harm would have come to you today."
Prafulla didn't delay another moment. He tied the scoundrel's hands with a rope. Then he said to Snigdha, "Wipe your tears, Snigdha! Tonight, Junagarh will see what the punishment for betrayal is." Prafulla began dragging that lecher and those cunning friends from their hideout toward the palace. In the middle of the night, Prafulla's horse galloped, shaking the streets, while those traitors were dragged through the dust behind him. Tonight, the court of the royal palace is set to write a new history.