Moremi heard the footsteps in the hall and hurriedly stood up from her bed. She had been in her bedroom waiting for word from the battlefield. Prince Aseju had suddenly stormed the capital and everywhere was in chaos. Surely, that was all over. If not, whosoever entered the anterior room would have stormed in to kill her. Kill her? If only that was what would happen. The rebel soldiers were known to rape women. Besides Prince Aseju might decide to keep her as a sex slave.
She was about to leave the room when Akinlalu, her king and loving husband fell at her feet. She bent down to touch him and she felt something sticky. Blood.
"Akinlalu!" She screamed at him, trying to lift him up. Akinlalu looked up at her and wearying stretched out his right hand pointing to something in the room. With that, he breathed his last and his body became lifeless in Moremi's hands.
Moremi turned to see what he was pointing to. The bottle containing the painless and quick poison was on the table. She looked at the bottle and got the message.
A quick and painless death was better than humiliation and rape.
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