Part 16 Allegation
Arnav didn't know, the matter which he brought to the king not only going to shake the king but also Arnav himself in an unexpected way.
"What do you want to tell me, Arnav?" King Chaithanya asked.
"Many atrocities are happening in our Kingdom. Our People are meeting injustice..."
"What do you mean, Arnav?"
"Yes, Father, a lecher is spoiling girls' life..." Arnav said it in detail.
"Who the hell is doing this? We have to take severe action against the person who is misusing his power. I don't care who he is..."
"He is none other than Hemadri... my uncle... your brother-in-law"
The king was shocked.
"What are you saying, Arnav?"
"Yes, Father... the foreigner who accompanied me to our palace is an eyewitness. She saw a man trying to take a girl with him. She fought with him and saved the girl"
"Did the foreigner get to know about the cheap thing that was happening in our kingdom...? Shame...!" he felt bad.
"Yes, Father. No one from our kingdom is ready to stand against Hemadri. They are scared to raise their finger at him"
"I'm issuing the order... arrest him... send him to the underground prison," The king said furiously.
At the same time, a man rushed inside the room, shouting,
"Danger... we are in danger..."
Arnav and the king looked at him frowning because he was Hemadri himself.
"What danger are you talking about?" The King asked.
"The danger that our honorable Prince brought to the palace"
"What do you mean?" Arnav gritted his teeth.
"The girl whom he brought to the palace is a SPY. She is here to stalk us. She is from Kalinga..."
Arnav became wrathful.
"It's a lie... she is from Dolakpur..." Arnav shouted.
Cutting him,
"Do you have any proof? Just because she said she belongs to Dolakpur, it's not necessary to be true"
"Do you have proof to prove her a spy?"
"I have spies all over the kingdom. One of them brought me the message"
"She saved my life from the poisoned arrow. Because of her, I'm alive now. If she is a spy, she should have let me die instead of saving me"
"That's her smartness... see, how you are taking her side now? You even brought her to the palace... treating her like a princess... she is here with a plan. How could you allow such a person into the palace without analyzing anything, Prince Aparajit?"
"She has no plan. I know her. She could not be a spy because she has no qualities of a spy. After a long analysis only I bought her here"
"Nowadays spies are so smart. They are trained not to act like a spy but as simple people. Being a prince, how could you fall into her trap easily?"
"I warn you... if you talk one more word about Khushi, I won't spare you"
"I don't know what magic she had done on you. You are behaving like a spell bounded person. (He looked at the king) Maharaj, please take immediate action. Save our prince from her. Or, else, we will lose our Prince. I, myself will arrest the witch and send her to the underground prison if you order me" Hemadri pleaded the king.
"Don't you dare call her witch... she is a Royal guest" Arnav shouted.
He looked at his father.
"What the hell is this father? He is trying to turn the table against Khushi who is the only witness of his wrong deeds"
"My wrong deeds? What are you talking Prince Aparajith? What did I do other than work hard for this kingdom?"
"We knew how much you worked hard... and, in which way..."
"Maharaj, I can't understand what Prince is talking about"
"The Prince brought an allegation against you"
"Allegation against me? What allegation?"
"You have raped many women and became a cause of their death"
"Hey, Bagwan... are you keeping me alive only to hear such an allegation?"
Arnav glared at him with a sharp gaze. He could not stand Hemadri's performance.
"Maharaj, can't you understand the plan of the girl? She is here to cause a rift between us. She is here to cause domestic chaos. This is her aim. Kalingas don't want us to get participated in the war. To make it possible, they have to destroy our unity. That's what she is doing here"
Arnav saw confusion in King's face.
"Father, don't you trust my ability?" Arnav roared.
"Arnav, you are a Prince and Hemadri is a head commander. How can I make a decision right away? This is about our kingdom. You both are equally powerful in this kingdom"
"But, the commander is complaining about not me but my friend"
"No... how could I complain about you Prince Aparajit? Don't I know you?" Hemadri said.
"Exactly... you know me but WE don't know you..." Arnav looked at the king with a spark and hinted something to the king.
Taking a deep breath, the king said,
"This is about the reputation of our kingdom. Until Hemadri is proven not guilty, he is deprived of his post of commander-in-chief"
Hemadri was shocked.
"Maharaj... is this what you say? Is this what I could get for my selfless service?"
"I have no choice, Hemadri because it's the Prince who brought the allegation on you. I trust him to the fullest. He won't make any decisions blindly. Yet, I want him to prove the girl innocent and you guilty. I'm giving him ten days' time to do that. If something goes wrong, or, if any problem is caused by the girl in the palace, Prince Aparajit should be responsible for it. He will be punished for the consequences" the king said strictly.
"Oh God, why do you examine our kingdom?" Hemadri said sadly.
Arnav looked at his father.
"Arnav, I hope you understand me"
"If anything goes wrong, or, if she is proven guilty, I will take responsibility for the consequences. I will even relinquish my Prince post if needed"
"Prince Aparajith...." The Kind shouted in shock.
"That's final..." Arnav left the place furiously.
"See the outcome of the girl's arrival, Maharaj"
"You are not allowed to talk anything about the girl until you prove yourself innocent" The king left the place, leaving smirking Hemadri.
Arnav headed to his room thinking about how to prove Khushi innocent. But he had to do that at any cost. He could not let her be wrong in people's eyes. But he didn't know how to do that. The people of his kingdom were not ready to speak against Hemadri. Then what could he do? How could he prove him wrong?
Coming to his room, he wrote a message to his friend Viraj who was the real sub-commander of his force. He wrote it on a thin leather sheet. Rolling it tight, he tied in a Pigeon's leg and let it fly. Khushi who came to his room saw that. She rushed to the window with excitement and smiled.
"Wow... what a beautiful Pigeon... is that your pet?" she asked.
Arnav tried to be normal. He didn't want Khushi to know Hemadri's accusation against her.
"No... it's a messenger Pigeon..." Arnav said looking into her eyes deep.
"Messenger? You mean, does it carry your message?"
Arnav nodded yes.
"How does it know where you are sending it?"
"It's trained"
"Amazing"
Arnav smiled. Yet, Khushi sensed a disturbance in Arnav's face.
"Is everything all right, Arnav?" she asked.
Arnav got stuck for a second and nodded yes.
"I don't think so... the freshness your face always carries is missing"
Arnav wondered. To date, no one read his face.
"Nothing. I'm all right"
"Did you meet your father?"
"Yeah, I did"
"What did he say?"
"Hemadri is deprived of his post of commander-in-chief"
"Oh..."
"He is given a chance to prove himself not guilty because we have no strong evidence against him," Arnav said not looking at her.
Khushi found it odd because she was the witness. Yet, she didn't ask him anything more as it was about the decision of the King.
"Actually, I came here to get your permission"
"For what?"
"Shall I take a tour of your palace garden?"
Arnav nodded ok.
"Thank you, so much... your palace is a nice place. I like it very much"
Arnav smiled.
"Are you comfortable here?" he asked.
"Comfortable? I'm searching for a word to describe how happy I'm"
Arnav again smiled. Khushi felt a tug in her heart as his smile seemed so artificial.
"Ok, bye," she walked with deep thought.
Something should have happened at the king's place. Might be, against Arnav. That was why his face carried tension. What would have happened? From whom she could get to know that? She could not conclude.
Khushi saw Padmakshi coming out of her room with a few girls. She smiled at her and Padmakshi reciprocated her.
"Where are you going?"
"We are going to play seven stones" She showed a cotton ball in her hand.
Taking the ball, Khushi smiled. The ball would not hurt anyone. It was so soft. After all, they all were Princesses.
"Shall I join you?" Khushi asked.
"Oh... yes..."
Khushi came to the garden with them. The girls became two teams. But, it was not equal. A team was short of a person. Khushi knew it was because of HER.
"You play sister. I will wait" a small girl said.
"No no... you play. I will see how you are playing" Khushi said.
That was when they heard,
"Shall I join?"
They saw Princess Chandrika standing. Padmakshi looked at Khushi who was also looking at Chandrika.
To be continued...