Love and Redemption

Chapter 45

Reprimanding herself for behaving incorrigibly as she glanced at the naked biceps of the prince, the responsible queen Maharani Aparajita Singh Rathore gulped hard as she heard the prince saying, “Your secret admirer is delighted to see you here, the enchanting Aparajita”.

She sighed exasperatedly and glared at the prince who just chuckled. Yuvraj Veerbhadra Singh Rajput, standing in his full glory in front of the queen said, “Beautiful! Both this forest and you are breathtaking, Aparajita”, winking towards her.

The little girl inside the expressionless exterior of the queen was overwhelmed but Aparajita knew how to mask her emotions. No doubts, the no-nonsense queen was for once taken aback at the audacity of the prince who openly flirted with her. Being a royal member of the most powerful Rathore clan, she knew how to handle the other royals and their tantrums. Suppressing her laughter, she smirked eyeing the prince as she said, “Yuvraj Veerbhadra Singh Rajput, I know I am beautiful and so is my kingdom. Now, the question is, how you came here?”

Veerbhadra chuckled softly mentally willing to wipe out the smirk from queen’s captivating face, as he said, “It’s Veer for you. I am your friend, right”.

Aparajita was boiling in anger. She was perplexed at the audacity of the man standing before her and ignoring her question without even paying attention to her status of a queen though somewhere she was delighted as the handsome royal acknowledged her real self and appreciated her beauty.

‘Aparajita’ rolls out so smoothly from his sharp tongue, the queen thought and an unknown emotion built up inside her.

She sighed exasperatedly as she gave a tight-lipped smile and asked, “So, Veer how you reached here?” crossing her arms.

“Aparajita, this is a gift for you”, Veerbhadra said passing the big scroll to her that contained the beautiful portrait of the queen he had drawn himself. He was enjoying the cute queen getting angry so he was purposely avoiding her question.

Aparajita glared at him and said, “Veer, answer my question and what is it?” as she glanced at the large scroll.

“I drew a portrait of yours” Veerbhadra said passing the portrait to her. Aparajita could not help but chuckle. Scoffing at him, she received the gift and asked him again, “How you entered the territory, Veer?”, as she walked towards her pet horse Shera and gestured the trained animal to take care of the scroll keeping it beside the horse.

Veerbhadra could not help but stare at the enticing body of the queen clad in a purple colored silk kimono-type hunting dress. It would have been wonderful, if her ebony black hair were open, freely flying with the wind, he thought.

He closed his eyes to divert his attention and said, “I want to take rest and drink water”, giving cue to walk towards the river stream.

Walking towards in the lush green forest of Vijaygarh both Aparajita and Veerbhadra traveled the distance in silence. Reaching the heart of the forest, they both were greeted with the rippling of cool waters in the stream along with chirping of birds. Aparajita admired the little deer who was drinking water in the river stream as she stood under the banyan tree avoiding the scorching heat of the sun in the afternoon.

Veerbhadra washed his hands and his face as he splashed the cold water onto himself while Aparajita patiently waited for him to answer her question. Glancing at her, Veerbhadra sat under the huge banyan tree as the previous memories of him watching the queen bathing in the river stream flashed in front of his eyes. His breath hitched for once and his eyes clouded with lust. Composing himself, he gestured the queen to sit beside him startling Aparajita for once.

Getting irritated, she whined, “Answer my question”, glaring at the stupid prince of Shivgarh who was avoiding it while Veerbhadra chuckled and signaled her to sit.

Helplessly, Aparajita sat under the giant old banyan tree that was witnessing their story of hatred, love, deception and faith. Leaning on the tree trunk, Aparajita looked at him furiously.

Chuckling Veerbhadra said, “Dear Aparajita, I came all the way through Narendranagar and entered your premises by paying the toll tax to the royal guard of Vijaygarh. Innocent queen, Narendranagar is my territory and we are having the trade relations so that entrance is open for me to enter and leave Vijaygarh at any time I desire.”

Aparajita was tongue-tied. Firstly, she had not expected that prince of Shivgarh would use the long route of Narendranagar to enter Vijaygarh. Secondly, she knew Narendranagar was captured by Shivgarh but her prosperous kingdom could not break the trade relations with the rich Narendranagar, the kingdom which was famous for its exotic silk, pearls, and brassware. She disliked the tone of the prince for once.

Glaring at him and contemplating what to say, she opened her mouth to speak. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Prince, I very well know that you won Narendranagar in the war. As per the peace treaty, the territories of Vijaygarh and Shivgarh demarcated five years ago are forbidden to have any relations but it is not valid for the territories acquired later so the relations between Narendranagar and Vijaygarh are fair.”

Veerbhadra internally admired her profound knowledge and diplomatic skills as Aparajita continued, “The trade relations between Narendranagar is important for Vijaygarh. If you are interested to break the ties, you may send the letter to the royal court”.

Now it was Aparajita’s turn to smirk. She knew her prosperous kingdom purchased the goods at the best prices so breaking the ties meant a huge loss to tradesmen in Narendranagar which could lead to an internal revolt against the Rajputs of Shivgarh. No doubts, if prince was an intelligent one, he would surely not agree to it.

Veerbhadra was taken aback by the audacity of the queen. No doubts, she is an intelligent one, he thought as he gave his best smile and said, “Queen, your merchants buy the products at the best prices and we earn the highest revenue. For the sake of profits and betterment of our people, we can keep aside rivalry of our families.”

He smirked happily as he realized he stated the matter of fact. Aparajita could not help but agree with the negotiation skills of the prince. She genuinely admired his vision of working for the welfare of the people. She nodded in affirmation. Their conversation deepened as they talked about measures of working for the betterment of living standards of their people.

Veerbhadra managed to make her laugh and was drawn towards her enticing laughter that rang in his ears. Suddenly Veerbhadra said something that Aparajita lost the color of her face.

“When I got to know that a twelve year old girl killed my grandfather, I was furious and I could not accept the truth but when I saw you fighting with the dacoits single-handedly, I could not help but agree.” Veerbhadra said looking intensely into the expressionless chocolate-brown eyes of the queen which aptly hid myriads of emotions.

Aparajita closed her eyes as her vision blurred with unshed tears in her eyes. The flashes of battle came in front of her eyes, as she reminisced the inauspicious day where she lost two important people of her life, her mother and her brother.

Veerbhadra, on the other hand, smirked as he realized he had hit at the right nerve of hers but little did he know that today he would get to know something which would turn his world upside down.

❤❤❤

Hi everyone

Here's the new chapter of the story.😘😘😘😘

Please enjoy the update and shower your love on this story with your valuable votes and lovely comments 💚💛💚💛💚💛

How's the chapter?

Have a good day and please hit the 🌟 button, pretty please 😃😃😃😃

Love you all
💜