Keshav continued maintaining his distance from Avanti in the hopes of getting her to reveal what she knows about the happenings in Malla. But she didn't.
Frustrated and out of ideas, Keshav decided to take a break from his investigation and clear his mind. And that's when it happened, as he took his usual walk to the park, an alley begged his attention and there lay the corpse, the veiled woman, his client, dead in bright sunlight.
His heart pounded, he was drowning in a sea of uncertainty, and if he called the royal police, they would detect their connection.
Just then he noticed a small package she was clenching in her hands, like a key to the mystery. It could be something that caused her death. He quietly wrapped his fingers around the clothing in his dhoti and picked up the package.
You are not a thief, you are solving a murder, helping a person he reassured himself.
He then walked hurriedly to the royal men in uniform at the park end and informed them of the corpse.
The next few days were a blur for Keshav. He couldn't stop thinking about the veiled woman's death and what it meant for his investigation. Whoever had employed her was now high on his list of suspects. The fact that they had silenced her only reinforced his belief that they were covering their tracks.
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Keshav spent hours poring over the information he had gathered, trying to find any leads that could help him identify the person behind the veiled woman's death. But the more he dug, the more he felt like he was hitting a dead end. It was as if someone had gone to great lengths to ensure that there was no trace left behind.
As he looked at the small package he had stolen from the veiled woman's hands. He knew that it could hold the key to unravelling the mystery surrounding Prince Mukund's death, but he was hesitant to open it.
It was like standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down at the unknown depths below. He didn't know what he would find inside the package, and that made him nervous. But he also knew that he couldn't afford to let his fears hold him back, it was a risk he had to take. He needed to know what was inside.
Keshav's hands were steady as he wrapped a piece of his worn-out dhoti around his fingers like a guard, making sure not to damage the package. He began to carefully unknot the pouch, unravelling the silk with great care.
As he peeled away the layers of silk, he could almost taste the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He knew that he was close to uncovering the truth about Prince Mukund's death.
Finally, he reached the final layer of silk, and as he pulled it away, he gasped in disbelief at what he saw. Inside the pouch was a small, intricately designed piece of paper. On it, in elegant handwriting, was a single word: "Avanti."