Ruthless Rulers of Rakshatra (RRR)

Chapter 18 - Fair

Yuvraj simply nodded at her words and signalled Rupika to join.  Rupika joined the carriage of Kalindi while Yuvraj took a horse, since it is a short travel they didn't use the Royal elephant. 

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They reached the temple entrance where the entire crowd was assembled in front of the chariot with the idol of Goddess Meenakshi.  The head priest welcomed Yuvraj and Yuvrani along with their guest and led them to the chariot.  Abhyuday and Kalindi prayed infront of the Goddess while Rupika did the same while standing behind the couple.  Then the head priest asked them to pull the chariot together while standing first in the queue.  Generally the heavy and enormous chariot will have two thick and long ropes tied on both sides so that the crowd can pull it.  Now Abhyuday and Kalindi stood first in the long queue to pull the chariot.  All the time, Rupika was standing aside sometimes looking at Abhyuday and sometimes praying to the Goddess asking to fulfill her wish.  Once the inauguration of the festival is done, Yuvraj took Yuvrani and Rupika to the fair which happens every year during the festival time for one week and attracts traders all around the world.

Kalindi walked along with Abhyuday while looking at the different shops on both the sides.  The shops are the temporary ones made of a simple canopy, where we don't need to go inside and simply buy them while passing by.  There were a few guards following them along with some of her maids, among whom their trusted guards and maids were also present.  People kept greeting them as they passed by them.  Rupika kept silent as she didn't want to come off as a childish girl infront him, wishing to buy each and every thing.  Just then Kalindi saw a bangle shop and said, "Yuvraj, Let me buy some bangles".  He nodded and followed her to the shop.  Rupika also stood on the side while being disinterested to buy from such small shops.  Kalindi searched through different colour bangles and finally selected one set of bangles and showed it to Yuvraj and asked, "Shall I buy this one?".  Yuvraj looked at it and nodded at her but suddenly Rupika came between them and took the bangles from her hand and turned towards Kalindi while saying, "Wow, Yuvrani!  It's so beautiful.  I didn't see this before, otherwise I would have bought before you".  Suddenly the glass bangles dropped from her hand and broke into pieces while her face was almost pale.

The surrounding stilled for a moment.  Rupika was shocked and her breath got stuck as she kept looking at the arrow right infront of her face, just an inch from her forehead.  Then her eyes moved to look at the person holding the arrow just before it hit her, only to realise that it's not one person but rather two persons holding it.  One at the front part of the arrow and another at the last part of the arrow.  Now the two persons, who are none other than Yuvraj Abhyuday and Yuvrani Kalindi, were looking at each other while standing on opposite sides of the arrow and still holding on to the arrow.  Rupika came out of her shock and looked on her both sides and the couple who are still looking at each other while holding the arrow in between them like a barrier and slowly bend down to escape her old position and then took a sigh of relief as she is no more in a target position of the arrow.  Just then the guards came back after trying to chase the assasin and said, "Yuvraj, we tried to catch the assasin but couldn't get hold of him".  Their voice broke the trance of the couple and then Abhyuday took the arrow with himself and decided to leave the fair.  Since there was no casualty, the surrounding people didn't came to know about the incident, only the shop owner and the maids and guards knew about the incident.  Silently they returned to the Palace with a very scared Rupika and tensed Kalindi.

After reaching the palace, Kalindi was walking back and forth in her chambers while Rekha and Lekha were tensed and Gopi was still in her surpised mode after seeing her Yuvrani's stunt in the fair.  Till now Yuvraj hasn't asked her anything, but she doesn't know how he will take this information which was hidden from him deliberately.  On the other side, in Yuvraj's study chamber, Parth met with him immediately after his return with a serious expression and asked, "Yuvraj, I got to know that there was an attack on you while you were in the fair.  How dare they attack you when you were with the Yuvrani? Anything could have happened".  Parth sighed to calm himself down and then said, "I will send some of our men to catch those assasins".  As soon as he finished, Abhyuday said, "No need for that. It's not them".  Parth frowned at this answer and asked, "Then who?".  Abhyuday looked at him and said, "It's me".  Parth was shocked and then asked, "But why? Whatever your plan was, you could have delayed it right. Bhabhi could have got injured as well". 

Abhyuday turned his back to him and said, "It was done for a reason".  Just then a soldier came and said, "Yuvraj, I went to do a background check on the maid you gave mentioned and after confirming that they were not any poor family but her father was one of the low level official under Minister of finance.  So on the ground of deceit to Royalty, I tried to arrest her but -".  Seeing him hesitating, Abhyuday scrunched his eyebrows and said, "Continue".  The soldier continued, "but that girl's face was looking like an old woman.  I mean to say, she suddenly got so many wrinkles in a single day and her face looks like an old lady.  I got afraid of any disease so I came back without arresting her".   Parth immediately pulled out his sword and put in on the soldier's neck and shouted, "How dare you come directly to Yuvraj's chamber after encountering such an anonymous disease.  What if you spread it to him?".   Abhyuday rubbed his head and sighed.  The soldier replied without showing his fear, "Young General, I didn't come directly here.  I went to Vaidhji to check myself for any disease and took a bath.  Then only I came here.  Please believe me.  Yuvraj!  I apologise for not completing my task".  Abhyuday simply nodded at him and asked him to leave.

Parth said frustratedly, "I don't what is happening around me anymore.  On one hand, you are saying that the deadly attack was done for a purpose.  And on the other hand, there is some unknown disease which should be controlled before it spreads".  Yuvraj looked at him and said, "You don't have to worry about that disease.  I will look into it personally", when Parth was about to refuse, Yuvraj stopped him.  Then he continued, "As for the attack, I thought carefully and chose one of the best archers among our soldiers.  So that they don't harm Yuvrani at any cost".  Parth exclaimed, "But why? Why such a risk?". 

Abhyuday looked at him and asked, "Do you know how the attack was disrupted? Or by whom?".  Parth replied, "As usual, it will be you".  "Well, this time, it's not only me.  But Yuvrani as well.  She sensed the arrow and captured it on time, along with me".  Parth was frozen for a second as he couldn't digest the news.  Then he asked, "Yuvraj, Were you aware of this already and this was a ploy to make her come out of her cover?".  Abhyuday replied, "No, I didn't know that she had knowledge in weaponry".  Then he took a pause as he didn't want to talk about his wife's bold act infront of his friend and then continued, "There were various incidents which pushed me to think that she is not what she shows herself to be.  But the reason for this stunt was not Yuvrani, it was the princess of Khurram".  Parth thought about his words for a minute and asked, "I get that you wanted to scare her off and send her back to their kingdom as soon as possible.  But wouldn't it affect our reputation if such an attack happened on a foreign princess.  It would be a blotch on our Kingdom's security system". 

Abhyuday said, "As you have known, not many common people know about this.  May be even the king hadn't heard of this yet, it seems.  So it won't be much of a problem".  At this point, Yuvraj was ready to take the risk to send her off.  He couldn't tolerate her roaming around him here and there, sending some gifts through the maids, watching him practice sword in the shastrasala with some lame excuses.  He can't tolerate anymore.  Abhyuday finally said, "Leave for the night, we will discuss tomorrow.  It's already midnight".  Parth nodded and went away.

Glossary:
Maharaj - King
Maharani - Queen
Yuvraj - Crown Prince
Yuvrani - Crown Princess
Bhabhi - sister-in-law
Shastrasala - Godown of weapons with practice arena
Gurudev - Teacher

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Hi guys,

Hope the revelation satisfied your expectations and upto the mark.

Do vote and comment if you like the chapter.

Thanks,
SM.