Love and Redemption

Chapter 88

Uday grinned like a mad man while he waited for the arrival of Nandini, the dusky beauty who was making her place in his heart with her wit and innocence. It had been over a month, Uday had settled properly in the royal palace of Vijaygarh while the former king and queen of Shivgarh were residing in their own palace. There was no change in the condition of his only friend, the prince of Shivgarh, Yuvraj Veerbhadra Singh Rajput which was surely bothering him but his new friend, Nandini was keeping him sane.

His heart fluttered at the thought of Nandini and her sweet smile. A current passed through his body as he remembered Nandini freely laughing and talking to him. Being a quick learner, Nandini had attained grip on her pet horse, a white Arabic breed in a month. Her training would have come to an end if Uday was not enjoying her company. Despite Uday felt he was being selfish, still he could not deny the attraction between them.

Nandini, on the other hand, loved her new life in the royal palace of Vijaygarh. She had no ounce of regret in her life. She was glad that she chose the side of humble and righteous Rathores instead of the sly ones. She was grateful to her uncle, Maharaja Vijay Singh Rathore who cared for her more than her father. She was elated to find a sister in the mighty queen, Maharani Aparajita Singh Rathore who treated her with love and respect despite, she had responsibility of whole kingdom on her shoulders.

Nandini was living her life like a free bird, fulfilling all the desires she had. Though she had begun her journey as a royal with tears in her eyes, her stay in the royal palace of Vijaygarh was blissful. Being surrounded by positive people around herself, she was gradually forgetting the tyranny of her husband and her mother-in-law.

A sad smile crept on her lips when Nandini remembered the ceremonious gathering a month ago wherein her father-in-law was beheaded. She had expected that her mother-in-law, Shyambhavi Devi would also undergo the same punishment since the queen had ordered the same but much to her disapproval, the royal priest of Vijaygarh had objected the queen’s order.

According to the rules and regulations of Vijaygarh, a woman could not be beheaded irrespective of her status, whether royal or not. Nandini remembered that much to the dismay of her and Aparajita, the cunning woman Shyambhavi Devi was thrown into the dungeons. However, as luck would have it, her sadness was short-lived.

After witnessing the death of her son and her husband, Shyambhavi Devi was utterly depressed. The old woman lost her mind and stopped eating her meals. Her health deteriorated and around a fortnight ago, she lost her life. She had a natural death, as the royal physician had claimed which was indeed, satisfactory for Nandini after all, her evil mother-in-law had destroyed her mental peace once upon a time.

After the death of her husband for good, Nandini had never imagined that her life would take a positive turn. She was exploring her hidden talents and learning new things, making new friends and enjoying her new life. With a newly found confidence, Nandini had begun attending the royal court.

Initially she was worried that the royal ministers would comment over her widowed status or judge her being a non-royal by birth, but to her surprise, the wise ministers of Vijaygarh not only supported her but respected her ideas. No doubts, the male dominant Kshatriya background of Vijaygarh had transformed into a society promoting equality, for good.

Nandini had resumed her education. As a kid, shimmering stars in the sky always left her curious. In her childhood, she always wanted to study about planetary sciences but due to lack of resources, her father could not afford a good teacher for her. Now that, she had got an opportunity, Nandini enjoyed studying astronomy and astrology from a renowned royal teacher and was looking forward to become an astrologer.

With her newly found knowledge about the planets revolving around the sun, Nandini had attempted to study the horoscope of the prince of Shivgarh, Yuvraj Veerbhadra Singh Rajput. She was horrified to know that the prince’s health shall not change for coming six months however, the only thought that calmed her was the prince was supposedly to have a long, blissful life.

More than everything, she looked forward to meet Uday Singh Chauhan, her friend in the bliss of crepuscule when the hues of orange and red glowed in the evening sky with a melodious song of birds in the backdrop. She was deeply sad that her horse-riding training would come to an end soon and hence, she was trying to find ways to meet Uday every day.

Nandini was planning to begin her training to learn sword-fighting skills so as to find reasons to meet her friend every day without yielding any suspicions in the minds of everyone. She enjoyed Uday’s company and often she compared Vikrant with Uday. She wished how lucky she would have been in case she was married to someone sensible like Uday instead of that rogue Vikrant who thankfully was dead for her own good.

A forlorn smile crept on her lips, as Nandini passed through the vast training grounds and realized Uday Singh Chauhan was indeed, a forbidden fruit for her. She had liberty to live like a maiden after the death of her husband so she must not misuse her freedom, she deduced. However, at the same time, she saw Uday as a good friend of hers and she did not want to lose him at all.

Clad in a peach colored silk kimono, Nandini walked towards the stables where Uday Singh Chauhan was already waiting for her. Today, she had decided to have a word with Uday and ask him if he would be able to train her sword-fighting. She was indeed, nervous and anxious but as soon as she saw Uday waiting for her at the usual spot, her nervousness got replaced with a full blown smile.

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Hi everyone

I am sorry for the delay.

I hate to break you this but I had got infected with Covid-19 and trust me, it was terrible. I used to smell like burning flesh when I had fever and cough was horrible. All I will say is, by God's grace, thankfully I recovered but amidst this dark hour of the pandemic, please take care of yourself and your family. 🙏🏻💙

So, I am loving the blossoming attraction between Uday and Nandini.💕

I wanted to behead Shyambhavi Devi too but then I decided against it,not because she is a woman but because I wanted her to feel the same pain she inflicted on Aparajita when she lost her mother and brother. 😐

I will be back soon till then, VOTE, COMMENT AND SHARE this story 😍

Take care 💕

Love you all
💜