The untold story of the first wife

Chapter 11 - Plotting

Translation

Diya - Mud Lamp
Vaidh - Doctor

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It has been more than a month since Yuvraj left for his tour and he will return in 3 days. After that only a week will be left for the full moon day.

In the course of his tour, yuvraj realized that there were many improvements in the villages like bore wells dwelled in dry areas to bring water from far away river through big water tunnels, drainage infrastructure has been constructed in congested areas and do on.

When enquired from the local representatives, he came to know that it was Anamika who did all these works in his absence. He was surprised as well as proud that she took up most of the responsibilities in his absence instead of pressurising Ranasa with works.

He even came to know that Anamika had opened an orphanage which gives shelter to elderly and children whose parents are dead. Also a self help center was opened to accommodate widows and train them in certain hand works like stitching, embroidery, weaving baskets and so on. All these things will be sold in markets.

Yuvraj sometimes go out in disguise to see the problems of the people which were hidden from him during the official visit.  It helped him a lot in identifying the basic problems prevailing in the villages.

Once satisfied with his visit and detailed analysis of the problems, Yuvraj decided to return to the palace and started his journey. Only 3 days were left for him to reach the palace.

The Palace

It was yet another day in the Palace.  Everyone were following their routine work. Suddenly there was a loud noise. Ranasa, Ranisa and both Bahuranisas came out of their wings to check for the noise.

When they didn't have any clue of where the noise came from, a Dasi came and informed them that the noise was from the kitchen. They all rushed there to see what is the problem.

In the kitchen, many soldiers were rescuing some of the kitchen workers who are trapped in the kitchen which was entirely burn down. Once all the kitchen workers are evacuated from the place and kept in the Vaidh's place which contains many beds, Ranasa asked the soldiers about the accident.

One soldier replied, "Ranasa! Actually we were keeping the extra stock of firecrackers in the store room beside the kitchen as we used everything when yuvraj returned from war. Suddenly one dasi came to inform us that we should take some firecrackers out for the full moon day celebration and puja. She had a plate full of diyas in her hand and on seeing a lizard there, she shrieked and the plate fell down. We immediately ran out of the place as we know that the firecrackers will blow up. But what we didn't expect was that the fire spread to the kitchen as well. I am extremely sorry for the mistake Ranasa. Please pardon me. We will be careful hereafter that such accidents don't happen."

The soldier was begging to spare him from harsh punishment. Ranasa looked at him and said, "You will be spared or not will be decided by the conditions of those who were rescued from the kitchen." Saying so Ranasa went to the Vaidh and asked, "How are these people Vaidh ji?" 

"Most of them are just injured with slight burns Ranasa. Only two of them are seriously injured, that is the head cook and the dasi who was nearby him to help in cooking. These two were the only ones near the vessel kept on fire as others were just helping with cutting vegetables and so on. So when the fire spread, it was intensified with the fire kept for the vessel", the Vaidh replied.

"Will they be able to recover?", Ranasa asked. The vaidh ji replied, "They will be able to recover but it will take minimum one year Ranasa. "

Nodding at him, Ranasa came out and said to the soldier, "Except two most of them are safe. But for your carelessness, you need to spend at least 1 month in jail along with your companion and the dasi. And certain amount of your salary will be given to the medical treatment of those two till they recover. "

Accepting his punishment the soldier went away from there to inform the other two. Ranasa went to the discussion hall that is only meant for family members and informed Ranisa and Bahuranisas about the accident in detail.

They nodded at him and suddenly choti bahuranisa said sarcastically, "Here everyone is preparing for the full moon day and talking about the heir and such an accident happens which is the first in the history of this palace. What luck will the heir bring?"

Anamika said immediately, "You are the one who is pregnant, Choti bahuranisa. If I repeat the same to the child in your womb, what will you say? "  Anamika is not the one to reply to such nonsense taunts.  Everyone knows this and that's why they were surprised by her reply. But they forget that Anamika was just a wife and daughter-in-law till now, so she kept her cool. A mother can never accept any taunts or mocks for her child. Anamika, though has her doubts about her fertility, already started considering a son for herself as per the pandit ji's words. So she could not hear absurd words for her son.

At the same time, she never considered any of the girl children as just Yuvraj's or Saudamini's but hers as well. So she apologized to Saudamini, "Sorry for saying this choti bahuranisa but I just wanted to give you a reality check and how it feels to blame one's child. That's it. "

Anamika didn't feel it necessary to tell them that she considers the girls as her own children. Everyone became silent at that and then Ranasa said, "Choti bahuranisa, you must think about your words before you talk especially about the future heir to the throne. He will the most precious gift for me so I won't tolerate anything regarding him. I am not saying that I don't love my grand daughters. I love them all equally but it's just that we are going to get a grandson after lots of struggles and prayers. So I'm very much protective about him. "

Saudamini nodded at him. Then both bahuranisas took their leave from the discussion chamber and went to their wing. Ranisa turned to Ranasa and told, "Though Choti bahuranisa acted our of jealousy, there is some truth Ranasa."

Ranasa asked in anger, "What do you mean Ranisa? Are you saying that our grandson is bringing bad luck to the kingdom? I didn't expect this from you Ranisa". Ranisa answered immediately, "No Ranasa. I'm not telling anything about luck. But think about what Pandit ji said. The heir will win over all the schemes and plottings to kill him. I just want to take this incident as a warning for us to take precautionary measures."

Ranasa thought about it and said, "You are right Ranisa. Thank you for pointing this out. I will take the precautionary measures. I will increase the security of the palace so that anonymous persons can't enter. And hereafter whatever food badi bahuranisa eats, should be tasted by someone else in front of her."

Ranisa said, "We can start that once badi bahuranisa became pregnant Ranasa. why immediately? Also we can do the same to choti bahuranisa as she is also pregnant."

Ranasa said, "You are right Ranisa we should do the same to Choti bahuranisa as well. But it is better to start it now itself Ranisa. Why should we take any risk? Let's start this now onwards."  Ranisa nodded and both moved to their chamber.

Unknown place

An unknown person was fuming in anger, "What the bloody hell happened? Because of that stupid Dasi, now we cannot do anything. Our person is injured and out of work for some time. We need to make our new member enter the Palace to do our work. "

The other person nodded and went away.

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SM.