THE 50TH QUEEN

Chapter 3: The 49 queens

All the queens were standing there listening to the king with a bow head. Firstly, those 48 women were the wives of soldiers, they never expected even in their wildest dreams that one day a king would be facing them directly. And secondly, they never ever expected that the king facing them was non other then but their own husband! It was a very weird situation for all. Their husbands died, became widows, king married them, became queens....all this within a week! Some of them were sad because their husbands died, some of them were happy too that they became queens and going to live a luxurious life and rest were confused...as they just lost their shit because of this fuzz. However thinking this or that, everyone accepted the offer. Only one woman was standing with her face up, directly looking in the king's eyes. She was queen Ramawati. With eyes wide open, she was standing with an expressionless face the whole time. But after listening to all the things said by the king she spoke in anger " wow! very intelligent you are! Marrying 49 ladies of martyrs...you showed off yourself as a great man, as a diety! Now what happened to your greatness? If you married us, give us all the rights of the wife as well! Take care of us, spend time with us, sleep with us!!"

Before she could say anything more king shouted "enough! You are crossing your limits queen Ramawati! Wasn't it you who accused me for making you widow? Now that i married you...this is your behaviour towards me?

Queen Ramawati replied "if you wanted to take care of us, you could adopt us all. Marrying 49 women at once is not a solution king Samarthya, specially if you cant fulfil the duties of a husband!"

King replied "I wonder if a queen as arrogant as you might accepted the offer if i asked to adopt. Doesn't it looked like if i want to humiliate you intentionally and to supress you! And also I don't care what you think of me..if you don't think this is good for you, you are very much allowed to leave! The gates are there" the king pointed towards certain direction.

Queen Ramawati shouted "now that you married me.. you have to face the consequences!"

She left the room angrily.

Not only to the king, but also to the other 48 wives of his, maharani Ramawati was very much rude everyday. She treats every one like they are not the wives of king, but the daasis. As none of them had the courage to counter her so there was never a fight but a pure queen slave relationship. Although she was equally rude to everyone and took every queen as shoes to her feet, she was specifically more rude to rani Arushi. She used to shout on her out even for a small mistake and illegitimate her on every other thing. Other queens used to say "we are co-wives to queen Ramawati in this life only, but it feels like she considers queen Arushi as her sautan for past six lives and is now taking revenge"

Today after a long time, king again went to meet the queens. This is one of the most weird things in king's life, Specially facing queen Ramawati. Also queen Ramawati only liked to stay in her kaksh and never attended any meetings. So naturally what that old brahmin said today was not known to her and somehow this is what king was happy about.. otherwise there's gonna be a new ruckus.

That's not that she loved him anyway or she didn't want anyone to come in his life but simply she didn't want to spare a single chance to insult him. She only wanted to make him angry. However she never did anything to harm him or anyone else.

All the queens knew already that king was going to meet them, so they all wore expensive and their favourite attires to impress him. However every single queen knew that all their hard work was gonna go in vein as king hardly notices any of them.

When king arrived in the kaksh, all the queens who were chatting and chirping before, suddenly became silent and stood up to show respect. Although there is no husband wife relationship between the king and queens, the king was quite polite towards all and take good care of them.

All the queens greeted the king "pranam maharaj!"

The king replied "pranam! The king went to sit on the divan and asked in a hesitant voice "how are you all? How are kids doing these days?"

The queens replied in sync "very well Maharaj, very well!"

The king then said "is there any problems any of you facing? Tell me anything I can help for."

Queen Krithi, who was standing in front of the king in the brightest and most beautiful lahnga choli, replied "Maharaj, we already owe you everything. How can be there any problem under the rule of our Maharaj!"

The king smiled and replied "well, thanks for always understanding and supporting me. I know I am somehow unfair to you but you all still understand."

Queen Krithi although said that they all were fine but listening to the king reminded her that king actually does not belong to them, made her really sad.

After noticing something he asked "By the way, where is queen Ramawati? Has anyone seen her?"

The youngest queen, queen Ashwini said "maharani has gone to her old mansion, the mansion of shranya."

"Oh, she still visits there!" The king spoke in surprise.

The old mansion of shranya was now under the control of king but as maharani Ramawati demanded that this mansion should be kept as it is, it was never used for some other work or descended.

One of the queen said "yes maharaj, infact now a days she goes there so often!"

The king was no more interested and said "let her do what she wants, until she is not causing any trouble"

Suddenly, The king noticed the commander was outside the kaksh waiting and anyway he wanted to go out of this weird conversation, he came out of the kaksh to ask if there's anything important. The commander showed him some scroll paper and told him something. After a while, the king came back in the kaksh and said to the queens "my apologies, i have to go out urgently for some work, next time i come, I'll surely see the kids!"

After saying this he left the kaksh.

All the queens took a deep breath, the breath they all were holding from the first second king entered the kaksh. King didn't said anything related to the old man's saying, so none of them dared to dig out this topic. The very next moment, the queens again started chatting and chirping like nothing had ever interrupted them.

After half an hour, maharaja came out of the mansion. But this time not in his royal suit, but he was wearing extremely sober clothes. Above was a brown khadi kurta and below, a white cotton dhoti, which was not pure white but faded like its been old. Although he dressed like a common farmer, his sharp features, handsome personality and bright shining eyes were no less than a heavenly deity. He also added a fake mustache and a beard on his face so that no one can recognize him.

In front of maharaja, were standing his twin horse and mare; Ambar and Kshiti. But this time instead of the big white chariot, a cart full of vegetables was attached to them.

The king went near to Ambar and Kshiti, flue his fingers over them and said "be ready Ambar - Kshiti, we are going on a mission!"

The commander said "maharaj, you may be needing some soldiers and weapons. What if this turn out something dangerous?"

The king replied "do not worry Suryaksha, this is nothing dangerous, just a small investigation, and rest will be solved automatically."

"As maharaja says!" Commander replied. But after a pause he continued "But at least take your sword with you. Or take me with you maharaj, ill assure that no one can come near you. I will rip off the person into two!"

Maharaja laughed "hahaha....the great commander of Heelshila, if you will not allow any person to come close to me, how will i investigate that person?"

The commander gave a faded smile and said "fine maharaj, only if you want so, i will not accompany you. But just take good care of yourself."

"ok then, ill take leave now" the king replied and started to ride towards south.