Chapter 3 • The Battle for Love and Honour
When a Warrior Returns Home, Love and Loyalty Collide Beneath the Eyes of Kings
The war had ended. Across the plains of Ayutthaya, the banners of victory fluttered like sunrise after a storm. Among the soldiers who returned stood Khun Phaen, no longer the shy youth of Suphanburi but a hero clad in armour gilded by triumph. His sword bore the scars of battle, and his name was sung in the barracks like a charm against fear.
As he rode through the gates of his home province, the scent of tamarind blossoms carried him back to memories of Wanthong. He longed for the sight of her smile, for the warmth of the house by the river. But fate had rewritten the story while he was gone.
He reached Suphanburi under a full moon. The town slept in peace, yet a strange unease gripped him. At the temple he offered incense, asking the spirits to guard the one he loved. When dawn came, a neighbor approached, hesitant. “She is married,” the man whispered. “To Khun Chang.” The words struck harder than any blade.
For a long while Khun Phaen stood silent, his thoughts torn between disbelief and despair. Then resolve hardened within him. “If love is true,” he murmured, “no decree can bury it.” He went to Wanthong’s house as the sun fell red behind the fields.
She was sitting by the window when he appeared at her door. The moment their eyes met, time folded upon itself—two years vanished into a single heartbeat. Tears welled, unspoken words filling the silence between them. “You should not have come,” she whispered. “The world belongs to Khun Chang now.” “The world may,” he answered softly, “but your heart does not.”
For nights afterward, their stolen meetings became the whispers of the town. Wanthong’s guilt warred with her love; Khun Phaen’s pride wrestled with his honour. Each secret visit deepened their peril. When Khun Chang learned the truth, jealousy consumed him once more. He went to the authorities, his voice shaking with wounded vanity. “Khun Phaen defies the law and dishonours my house,” he cried.
The magistrate summoned Khun Phaen to answer the charge. Soldiers surrounded his dwelling before dawn. He fought with the calm of a man betrayed but unbroken. Yet for every enemy he struck down, another took his place. In the end, outnumbered, he surrendered rather than spill the blood of his own countrymen. Bound in chains, he was led to Ayutthaya for judgment.
In the royal court, the king listened with a face carved from stone. Khun Chang knelt beside him, weeping false tears; Wanthong stood behind the curtain, trembling. “You are brave,” the king said, “but the law is not yours to bend. A man may win kingdoms by the sword, but not a wife who belongs to another.”
Khun Phaen bowed deeply. “Your Majesty, I fought not for possession but for truth. If love be a crime, then I am guilty.” His voice carried through the hall like thunder restrained. Some courtiers turned away, shamed by his dignity. The king, moved but bound by order, sentenced him to the royal prison until further decree.
Behind closed doors, Wanthong wept. Khun Chang offered comfort, yet his touch felt colder than iron. She could not hate him, but she could not forgive him either. Night after night, she gazed toward the city lights of Ayutthaya, whispering the name that refused to die on her lips.
Months passed. Rumors of unrest reached the palace—the northern provinces were rebelling, and the king needed his finest warriors once again. The generals pleaded for Khun Phaen’s release. “A caged tiger cannot defend the realm,” they said. The king relented. He summoned the prisoner and spoke: “Prove your loyalty once more, and your chains shall be broken.” Khun Phaen bowed. “For my king, I will fight. For my heart, I will endure.”
Before he left for battle, he returned to Suphanburi under cover of night. At Wanthong’s house he knelt outside her window, unseen. “I ask for no promise,” he whispered, “only remembrance.” She touched the wooden lattice, her tears falling upon his hand. “I will wait,” she breathed. “Even if the waiting never ends.”
He rode away before dawn, the first light glinting off his sword. Behind him, Wanthong watched until the dust faded. Beside her, Khun Chang stirred in uneasy sleep, dreaming of the shadow that would haunt him forever—the man who fought for love and honour, and whose story had only just begun.
Next → Chapter 4 — The Warrior of Ayutthaya
Freed from chains and called to war, Khun Phaen rises again in glory. Yet the path of victory will lead him back to the one heart he can never truly claim.