The dramatic farce that had been going on for so long in that mysterious, torch-lit dark corridor of the prison changed its course in a single moment. After hearing Snigdha's extremely arrogant and haughty words while standing behind the wall, Prafulla and Prabhasha together stepped forward with very firm paces to face Snigdha directly. Snigdha was still looking towards the Tantrik, restless in her mind to get Rupanjan and immersed in the intoxication of her own conspiracy. She did not perceive in the slightest that her own twin brother and sister had come and stood right behind her back.
Suddenly, without giving any opportunity to understand or think, Prafulla extended his large right hand and in one jerk tightly grabbed that cherished, beautiful bunch of hair of Snigdha! Due to the pull of the thunderous fist of Prafulla's hand, Snigdha's head tilted backwards. Reddening his two eyes in anger and gritting his teeth, Prafulla roared in an extremely harsh voice and said, "What Snigdha? Standing in front of the dark cell of this forbidden and dirty prison, what are you doing this early morning, huh? Answer me!"
Seeing this kind of sudden attack by her twin brother and the event of grabbing her bunch of hair so tightly, Snigdha was completely startled in a moment! Her heart began to tremble with fear and her fair face turned pale in a single moment. Turning her large eyes upwards and looking at Prafulla and Prabhasha, she got very scared. Becoming extremely terrified in her mind, she began to think, "Oh my god! What a matter, brother! This Prafulla and Prabhasha—how did these two leave the inner quarters of the royal palace and come right inside this dark jail this early morning? Have they been standing in hiding all this time and heard all the conversations between me and the Tantrik? If they have really heard it, then today there is no salvation for me!"
While Snigdha was turning completely blue out of fear inside her own mind, right at that moment, Prafulla slightly loosened his hand's grip and looking at Snigdha's face, said in a very artificial scolding tone, "What happened? Why are you staring blankly like the mute? At least say something with your mouth! Being the princess of Junagarh, what are you doing here among these convicts, let me hear? We two are searching for you like mad throughout the royal palace, starting from the garden to the inner quarters! Don't you know that how much worry and anxiety gets created inside our minds upon not seeing you? How much distress we face for you, do you ever have any regard for that? Where do you vanish anywhere as per your own whim whenever you want, tell me?"
The moment these words of Prafulla's mouth, especially this sentence—'we don't find you, so much worry happens'—were heard, the huge cloud of fear inside that cunning mind of Snigdha cleared away as if in a single glance. She felt very relieved and heaved a huge sigh of relief inside her mind. Becoming very delighted in her own mind, she began to say, "Thank goodness! This stupid Prafulla and the foolish girl like Prabhasha actually could not hear any of our words from hiding! If he had heard those harsh words of mine made regarding Rupanjan, and the threat of killing him alive—then he would have dragged me by my hair's bunch and slammed me down now, he wouldn't speak about worry in such a soft tone! Thank goodness, it has happened very well. He is only doing this assault and screaming at me out of his own anger just because he did not find me after searching the whole palace! Then there is no more worry in my mind. Now changing my own form, I should sit down and stage a drama of a highly chaste, virtuous and simple girl properly, then only these two will become calm in a minute!"
In a flash, Snigdha brought a fake sweet smile onto her face. Looking at Prafulla in a very affectionate and coquettish tone, she said, "Oh Prafulla! Why are you getting angry at me like that without any reason, tell me? What can I tell you, tell me! After talking with Prabhasha in the garden, I was going to my own room. But suddenly, a strange curiosity arose in my mind—how actually is my own fate? How will my future life pass? Therefore, thinking of showing my hand a little in my own mind, I came straight through this tunnel path to this Boudi! This Boudi is truly possessed of immense miraculous powers, Prafulla! For so long, she examined the lines of this left hand of mine very attentively. And looking at my hand, she told me—that my fate is supposedly very good, I will get a groom like a prince of a very beautiful mind in the future, I will get a very beautiful royal household! She was telling me all these good and sweet words only, and nothing else! Come come, now it's enough, since you have arrived, let us all now go back upstairs from this dirty prison of the royal palace. I too am not liking it even a bit to stay here for another moment! The inside of the surroundings is very dark and releasing a somewhat ghostly smell!"