The king's first wife

Changes

" Have you heard? The prince wants to leave his second wife?"
" Oh, that poor woman!"
" Worse! He wants to bring women from Raniganj into the capital and give them a place to stay here!" 
" He was so sensible when he was a kid! Why is he doing all this now?"
" I heard na... The crown princess asked him to do all this after she came back from that place,"
" WHAT?! And he listened to her!?" she was holding her ghunghat in her hands as she stood nearby all the dasis who spoke ill about her and her husband. 
" She had his first son after all. He would listen to her,"
" Yeah but. Who even knows right? She stayed in that place for so long! And she came back with a man!!!" the newborn who would always sleep peacefully in her arms was now a month old and his favorite place in the world was in his mother's arms. But that wasn't where he was at that moment. He was in his father's arms at that moment. A father who wanted to chew those women alive in anger. A man who wouldn't be able to handle his temper if it wasn't for his wife holding his hand back 

" How many people will you shut up? These are 3 dasis. There will be 30000 more. How many people will you silence Sohit? And what will you say?" she asked him after he asked her why she didn't him tell those women something. Why she didn't let him give them a piece of his mind... He asked her upfront and that was her precise, stable, and mature answer to him 
" I don't care how many of them there are-"
" You are the crown prince Sohit!" ever since she had come back, she had clearly seen in his eyes what he was focusing on 
" Yeah but you and Pratik are the most important people to me... In the whole world!"
" Before being my husband. Before being Pratik's father, you are the crown prince of Amber Sohit!" she held his cheek sternly and looked him dead in the eyes, " And as the first prince of Amer, you have a responsibility to look after the people. Don't. Ever. Forget. THAT. EVER... Ok?" she raised her eyebrows and he just stared at her to continue. Didn't know how to react to that because even he knew that he had been acting much more like a husband than a prince ever since she left. 
" People will speak. They will say something bad today, something nice tomorrow, and something horrible the next day. But if what they speak moves the ground under the crown prince's feet, how will this nation be stable? If you succumb to your anger, how will you be able to rule justly? How many people will you punish for speaking their minds? And what fair reason can you give to punish innocent dasis who don't even know the truth? If you want to right the wrong, punish the guilty. Let people speak. That's all they can do. You should not be affected by any of their words. That's what the future king should be like..." 

There wasn't anything like divorce in the kingdom.

What there was instead was to send your wife off to her "Mayka" forever and never return. 
That's how men got rid of their wives whom they didn't want around them. Yes, it was inhumane. It left the woman with a hopeless hope that her husband would one day come back to pick her up and take her back. But her hopes would only be shattered eventually. 

And that is what he had decided to do with Aditi. 

Since he took care of the internal affairs now, he didn't need to answer anyone about why his wife was being sent back to that place. He didn't need to be worried about anyone questioning his decision and even if there was any, he didn't care anymore. 
It was needed to be done after what had happened the last time that he had seen her.

After how she acted and the ultimatum that he had received, there was no way in hell that he could even keep her near himself. 

As for what the women were talking about, he had decided to bring all the women in Raniganj to the capital. At once. 
There was a big mansion vacant at one end of the palace and that is where he was going to situate them. But that wasn't all. He was going to give them jobs. To work in the palace. To earn in a more humane way. To get out of the cycle of being shunned. He wanted to give them a chance. Now that Pari had a soft spot for them, his determination was even stronger. 

They all did have royal blood running through their veins. 

They were all innocent women caught up in someone else's schemes. 

They were all after all just trying to fend for themselves and save themselves. 

Although he was opposed heavily in the royal court for his decision when he had put it forward, he hadn't back down. His idea still hadn't come true because the king hadn't approved of it but he knew that it was just a matter of time till his father agrees with him. He knew his father had a soft spot for all those women in that region. Especially ever since his own sisters were sent to live there... 

" If you know that you are right then never back down. Fight for the truth. Save it against the dirty lies of others... And always remember. You are the prince. You need to think about the people. All your decisions need to be in favor of the people. That is the only way you can ever be a good king. And I want my husband's name to be recognized as a strong, just, fierce yet kind king in the future..."