Ruthless Rulers of Rakshatra (RRR)

Chapter 35 - Return

After that, Kalindi didn't nag him with questions as she realised his disturbed mood in his solemn answer and laid down on the bed.  Only then did she thought, "Where was Bharat all this time?"

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The next morning, even before they could finish their breakfast, they resumed their journey as the injured needs medical help.  Abhyuday and Kalindi travelled together in the horse carriage.  Seeing Kalindi in deep thought, Abhyuday asked, "What are you thinking about so deeply?".  Kalindi didn't reply until he touched her hands.  She looked at him and asked, "What?".  He repeated his question with a soft sigh as he felt bad for involving her in his tragic life full of misfortune.  She looked at him who was sitting opposite to her and felt the self admonishment in his eyes.  She moved to sit beside him and leaned on his shoulder and said, "I was just thinking about what happened in Krishakya when we left.  About the death sentence of the entire family".   Abhyuday gave a solemn smile and said, "It's just that my people found that scroll from that Prime minister's trusted man, who was also his right hand man.  The scroll was a hand written statement of the victim who was forced to die in the hands of the Prime Minister.  He asked his right hand man to burn the scroll which contained the final statement of the victim but that subordinate man wanted to keep that scroll inorder to blackmail the prime minister in the future.  And it was useful for us in the end.  Supposedly the victim got to know about the Prime Minister's plan to usurp the throne almost 10 years ago when my uncle was out of the capital city.  And as soon as the letter was written, the victim was murdered before the letter was sent.  Now my uncle found the mystery of the old incident and declared the death sentence".

Kalindi took in all the information and then said, "But I never thought your uncle will be this aggressive to declare the death sentence overnight and that too with all the family members included ".  Hearing her exclamation, Abhyuday said, "He needs to be aggressive when the victim is his own wife, who was found to be hanging in her own chambers while her personal maids were dead due to consuming poison.  No matter what the reason of her supposed suicide was never found.  Now he may know that when the case was given to the accused himself then how could it be solved?".  Kalindi was shocked and moved away from his shoulder and whispered in a sympathizing tone, "Being a Queen by also couldn't guarantee her safety.  Sometimes I wish I was a normal subject in the kingdom rather than a royal family member".  She looked up at him and asked just out of curiosity, "Yuvraj, Have you ever felt like me when you were facing the rough phase of your life?".

He looked at her and said, "Before I met my Guruji, I felt like that.  I felt that if we were a normal family then I would have had normal and loving parents together with me, as one happy family.  But my Guruji changed my views.  He gave me many philosophical lessons on why I am fated to be born here and that I have a specific role to play and so on.  And the crux of all those lessons is that If I always think about becoming a common subject, who had to think about their life alone then I am not qualified to be their leader or King.  So then onwards I never ran away from my identity.  Rather I am flaunting it proudly and using it to the maximum advantage".  She smiled at his explanation and remained silent while thinking about herself and whether she could attain that level of acceptance of her identity.

Abhyuday laid down with his head on Kalindi's lap and said, "Don't use your crooked brain for such good things.  I will resolve your doubts.  You think that you have not accepted your identity but that's not true.  You have accepted your identity long ago and that's the reason why you use it to your full advantage by..", he stopped to think of the right word and then said, "Ruining people".  Kalindi who was massaging his head till now, frowned at his words but didn't say anything as that was the truth.  He asked further, "I have a doubt though, why don't you simply kill them rather than painstakingly give them such a herb to ruin them?".  To which she answered, "First of all, most of the times they didn't do some murderous crime, so it was not an offence punishable by death.  And I don't know how to play those behind the scene kind of tricks or word play.  All I can do is attack directly and that's what I do".  Her answer was acceptable so he didn't ask further.

Soon they reached the palace of Rakshatra and welcomed by the King and Queen.  Kalindi felt that there was something different with Oormila's smile as if she had achieved something.  Later Kalindi went to their chamber while Abhyuday went to the court as there were some important discussions going on.  As soon as Kalindi entered their chamber, she felt nauseated and lightheaded and asked Rekha, "What is this smell?  I can't tolerate for another minute".  Saying so she went out of the chamber and the maids followed her.  Rekha said, "May be, the chamber had been locked for these many days as we are the only maids allowed inside so no one cleaned it.  Yuvrani, may be the sudden smell of the room which had been closed for too long didn't go well with you.  Please wait here, I will clean the room and open all the windows so that the room could get back to the normal condition".  Kalindi nodded still trying to distract herself by taking deep breaths to avert the nauseated feeling.

Abhyuday came at night time, when he heard Lekha say, "Yuvrani, please eat something now.  You refused to eat during noon time since the room smell didn't go well with you.  Atleast now, during dinner, eat something.  I have specifically asked them to cook your favourite food ".  Kalindi groaned and then saw that Abhyuday had entered the chamber.  The maids went out keeping the food trays for both of them on the bedside table.  Abhyuday started removing his ornaments to take a bath before sleep and looked at her through the mirror, who was keenly watching his every action.  When he removed the ornament which was worn around his waist, over his dhoti, she bit her lips thinking about removing the knot of his dhoti as well.  He smirked looking at her reaction and wandered his hands around the knot of the dhoti for sometime before simply moving towards the bathing room. Kalindi felt irritated by his teasing action and went behind him and stopped him before he stepped into the pool.  Then she asked, "You teased me knowingly, didn't you?".  He laughed at her cute frowning face which only comes out infront of him during their alone time and said, "Yes.  What are you going to do?".  His answer flared her anger and she pushed him into the pool without a second thought and she herself felt surprised by her actions.

She would have anyways pushed him but how she reacted immediately without thinking about anything was definitely not her way.  Abhyuday came out of the water and removed the hair sticking to his face and looked at her pointedly.  He asked, "Didn't anyone teach you about how to treat your husband with respect?".  Kalindi just smiled at him without answering and kneeled on the platform of the pool and said, "If you were a good husband and not teased me then I would have behaved as a dutiful wife".  When she turned around to leave, Abhyuday caught the end of her saree and pulled it, which made Kalindi fall into the pool as the pull was unexpected and strong.  When she came out of the water, her saree had fallen off from her shoulders and gave her husband a pleasing view of her drenched blouse.  He pulled her near him and said, "Let's take a bath together".  His voice promised not just a bath though.

Once their intimate bath was over, they decides to complete their dinner and then went back to a pleasant sleep.  In the morning, after the breakfast, Kalindi was surprised to see Abhyuday coming back to the chamber and asked, "You are not attending the court today?".  To which he replied, "Yes, I have informed Maharaj about my absence.  And now we are going out of the palace for some adventure and sight seeing.  So get ready to ride a horse".  She was surprised by his reply as well as excited to go on a ride with him.  And she was sure that this ride will not be a simple ride and there surely be some kind of adventure as he said.  So she changed her saree with a longer one so that the bottom half could be folded like that of the dhoti(pant style for bottom).

Glossary:

Maharaj - King
Maharani - Queen
Yuvraj - Crown Prince
Yuvrani - Crown Princess
Rajkumar - Prince
Bhai - Brother
Bhabhi - sister-in-law
Vaidh ji - Doctor
Chacha - Father's younger brother
Shastrasala - Godown of weapons with practice arena
Gurudev - Teacher

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Hi guys,

Finally we are back on track.  Let's wait for the adventure 😉.

Do vote and comment if you like the chapter.

Thanks,
SM.