Third Person
"Aashika, stop standing there and help me." Arjun groaned, picking up the red carpet from the floor and looking at his wife who was busy checking out her newly painted nails.
It was yet another day of torture, and Arjun was so tired of his wife being an actual brat that he was almost on the verge of crying out loud.
'God, I have no idea how these people manage to clean the whole fucking palace every day. This is so hard.' He thought, mourning over his luck and cursing his wife at the same time.
"Why? I am a brat, right? And brats behave like this only, so you better get accustomed to it, Mr. Rajput." She smiled sweetly, and went to sit on the chair she had dragged from his room.
"Aashika, if you won't help me I will chuck your stupid teddy bear out of the window." He threatened.
Being married to her for almost a year, he had gotten to know her weaknesses and was so proud of his observant eyes, but little did he know that his wife was as sharp eyed as he was, if not more.
The smile on her face widened when she said,"You do that, and I will throw your telescope out of the same window and make sure my dearest teddy bear and your dearest telescope land at the same spot."
"How- how do you know I have a telescope?"
"That is something someone like you won't understand."
"What do you mean by 'someone like me'?" He raised his brows and crossed his arms over his chest, letting the carpet drop on the marble floorboard.
"You are smart enough to figure it out on your own. You don't need a brat's help." She put extra emphasis on 'brat', just to torture her husband even more. Call her petty, but she was thoroughly offended when her husband called her a brat so she decided that he would see the real definition of brat since he didn't seem to know what a brat actually was.
"Aashika, stop being petty and help me clean up. I will pull up the carpet and you will sweep the floor, okay?" She sighed when his gaze didn't waver even after a few minutes, and thought to help the poor soul without any more tantrums.
She stood up from the chair and picked up the broom from the floor, waiting for Arjun to pick up the heavy carpet.
When she had stood up to help him, he had internally sighed in relief and had mentally prepared himself to teach her how to sweep, but his wife surprised him yet again when she swept the floor clean wordlessly in just a few minutes.
'This brat is not so spoiled after all.' He thought as he gazed at his wife sweeping the floor with her delicate hands.
***
"Manav, it's okay. I will do it. You don't have to help me." Aastha mumbled as she saw her husband pick up the broom to sweep the second floor's corridor for the second time in the span of 48 hours.
"You are helping me, Aastha, not the other way around. You did most of the work yesterday too, now sit back down and help me when I need it."
"But-"
"No, buts, Mrs. Rajput."
'Why is he suddenly being so kind to me?' Was the only thought revolving around Aastha's head as she stared at her mafia husband scouring the floor with all of his dedication.
The answer to her question was really simple. Manav was being kind, because he was guilty of treating this poor soul so badly before and he wanted to change his ways, try to make this marriage work so that he could obtain peace and could finally get rid of his guilt.
But, the one thing he didn't know was that his better half would be so furious to know that he was taking the decisions of their marriage all by himself.
***
Manasvi had handpicked the books which would tell her about this castle's history, but was getting bored of reading the old tale of the great King and the foul Queen who was executed by her husband because of a stupid mistake she made.
Just as she was about to keep the books back in their place, she heard the sound of footsteps and hurried along the big library to keep the books away before the person saw her reading about the Palace's history.
On her way back to the table, she picked out a random book from behind her and, without reading the title, started surfing through the book.
Seconds turned into minutes, but the man was still striding on the corridor and didn't enter inside, and that made Manasvi suspicious.
She took out her gun, which was handed to her by her mother dearest, from the waistband of her pants and strode forward towards the door with soft and cautionary steps. Just as she was about to open the door, it swung outwards with a huge bang to reveal her disheveled husband, with a gun in his hand too.
"Put your gun down." He ordered, pointing his own pistol on her forehead.
She steadied her finger around the safety lock of the gun, while saying,"If you put it down first, I will happily do the same."
"Manasvi, don't waste my time." She complied, only because he sounded pretty serious, and she was in no mood to die in the hands of a burglar, if there was one.
As soon as Manasvi's pistol was out of her hand, Kabir pushed her aside and strode forward in the direction of the staircase. Manasvi, though a little confused herself, followed him to the first floor of the library, looking around the area for any movements.
Once she stepped on the wooden flooring of the first floor, she gasped at the scene in front of her. Pages of various books were lying on the floor, a lot of books were thrown carelessly and a shelf was toppled over by someone.
'It is going to take a whole lot of time trying to clean this up.' She thought, already dreading the idea of clearing the mess that stupid burglar had made.
"Who the fuck came here?" Kabir growled, looking at the sheets of paper.
'Is he expecting me to answer when I myself don't know who came here?' Manasvi thought when her husband turned his gaze towards her, waiting for her to answer his question.
"I have no idea."
"Manasvi, you were in this room for an hour, and you don't know who came here without permission?" He tried to keep his voice steady, but it was hard to not let his anger seep into his voice.
"No, I don't. I was busy reading books, and I didn't hear any noise."
"You could've checked the whole area before doing whatever the fuck you were doing."
"How-"
"That's common sense, Mrs. Rajput."
"I lack common sense then."
"Right! Not your fault that you were born without a brain."
"Kabir, shut up and help me."
"Library was your arena. I just finished cleaning the dining area, so I am not doing anything." He said, and sat on the single chair placed just behind where they were standing before.
"Asshole!" She muttered, and bent down to pick up the loose sheets and books only to hear a wolf whistle from the man sitting just behind her.
She chucked the book in her hand at his head and snapped,"Stop staring at my ass."
"I am not staring, baby, I am admiring."
'Is this man a patient of multiple personality disorder? He was angry just a few seconds ago, and now he is flirting with me.' She thought to herself in disbelief, and quickly picked up all the books and pages scattered around before asking the only man present there to help her pick up the fallen shelf.
***
Mishka regretted giving her husband any chore once she saw the chaos her husband had made in his room.
She had told him to clean his closet after much insistence from him, but somehow he had managed to mix up all of his clothes and was now sitting on the floor with a burnt dress.
A dress? Where did a dress come from?
"Is- is that my dress?" She screeched when she made out the faint red colour of the only dress she loved.
"Uh- I will buy you a new one." He promised, hiding the burst red dress behind his back and standing up from his initial position on the floor.
"It's not about money, Dhruv. You don't understand, do you? This was my favourite dress." She cried in frustration. The dress she was talking about was beautiful to say the least, and was special to her because her father had got it for her on her 25th birthday.
"I-I am sorry. I will get it fixed."
"No, it's okay. Just give it to me." She held her arm out in his direction.
"No, I will fix it for you. It's okay! Why did you come here?"
"Right, lunch is ready. Clean your mess before coming down." She glared at him before walking out of the room.
She traversed through the empty corridor, her heels clicking loudly on the marble floor and the silence surrounding her gave her a sense of tranquility, a feeling she had not felt ever since she married a Royal. She felt like pausing the time here and living in this moment forever, but the peace didn't last long for a bullet shot through the air, piercing the silence with a deadly sound.
The noise reverberated in the empty palace, which made the rest of the family come down with hurried footsteps.
Mishka was too stunned to say anything. The bullet had narrowly missed her heart, and if she had stood just a few inches aside, she would have surely died today. The thought made her heart beat faster than before, shivers rippled down her spine and goosebumps erupted on her tanned skin.
"Mishka bhabhi, are you alright?" While everyone was besieging the eldest daughter-in-law, Aashika noticed a small, white envelope under the table placed in the corner.
She walked towards it and bent down to retrieve the envelope and a small, ancient key placed just beside the letter.
She was sure this was not there before, because she would have surely noticed it. After all she was the one who had swept this floor thoroughly just thirty minutes before.
She tucked the key and the envelope inside the pocket of her kurti and decided to wait for the right time to open it.
"Aashika, what are you doing there? Come here." Manasvi called her when she noticed the absence of the youngest daughter-in-law.
"Coming."
Lurking in the dark shadow stood a hooded figure, smirking at the people who were sharing concerned glances and whispers among them, completely oblivious of the threat that was soon going to envelop them whole.