While Mayurakshi was sitting in the study of Raj Bhavan and discussing the financial reports with Shatrujit, a soldier came in.
"Rajkumari, there is a letter for you." He handed him the letter and left. The two looked surprised at having received a letter. She saw the seal and smiled.
"Ambika..." She explained it to Shatrujit. He chuckled at her excitement and returned to his work. Shatrujit was helping her understand the detailed administration process of the Empire. Every day, they spend at least one prahar learning about administration without fail. Shatrujit taught her, and she would learn from him.
Kunwari Sa,
I do not know how to thank you for the favor done to me by you, Kunwari Sa. All of Vijaygarh is perhaps in debt to you. I was extremely happy to meet my Jija. He was affectionate to me. He stayed and helped in the rebuilding of certain areas of the civilized areas. Please do convey to the Emperor my thanks for sending help to our civilians in hindsight. The war had left us needing a little support in taking up civilian welfare again. Vijaygarh owes you a great debt. If you ever need a favor, do not hesitate to remember that you have a friend in us.
I am also writing this letter to you in congratulations. With the marriage of Kunwar Ameyajit to the Princess of Rajputana, Veer Bai Kunwar of Amarkot, we have become an actual family. I am sure that the cultural difference would be huge for Veer Bai Kunwar. I just wanted to ask you to help her understand various things. Veer Bai Kunwar is a friend of mine and a relative of my maternal grandmother's family. I know she will be a great friend to you too. I have already written to her about you in the Kalika Empire being a friend she can rely on.
Veer Bai Kunwar will surely bring glory to your family, Kunwari Sa.
I hope you attain all the happiness, prosperity, success, and love in your life.
Yours,
Ambika Bai Kunwar
"What?" Mayurakshi looked confused. Shatrujit looked up in confusion. "Did you send a marriage proposal to Amarkot?"
"Kanna, wouldn't you get to know about it if I did?"
"Then why does Ambika think Rajkumar Ameyajit is married to the Princess of Amarkot?" Mayurakshi exclaimed and showed him the letter.
"I think there must be a rumor or something." Shatrujit was confused. Soon, the soldier came inside again.
"Maharaj, there is a letter from Yuvraj for you." Shatrujit quickly opened the letter, and when he was done reading, he took a few deep breaths and then pressed his temples.
"There isn't a day these boys will let me live in peace. First, there is you, who decided to shoot Shakra's temper through the roof. Then there is Abhijit and Anvesha having a problem such that he doesn't even want to acknowledge her presence. Then now there is Ameya in line."
Mayurakshi took the letter from his hands.
Maharaj,
We have driven the invaders out of the boundaries of Aryavarta. The horrors we have seen here should be a warning to us all about having future problems with these invaders. They seem to be nothing short of dangerous animals who have no ethics or morals. We should prepare ourselves for it. Though I am sure that our forces have taught them a brilliant lesson for now,.
I would like to congratulate Amma Saatvika and you on having a brilliant daughter-in-law from the land of Rajputs. The Princess of Amarkot had received a marriage proposal from our Ameya, and she accepted it. So, now you have a second daughter-in-law. I suppose our plan to expand our presence further into the northern part of the country has gone well. Now, our family has a marital tie with Rajputana.
Please prepare for the welcome of your daughter-in-law. By the time you get this letter, we will have almost reached Ambikapuram.
Yours
Shakra
PS: What a fool has been created by you!!! This fool couldn't figure out the difference between Bai and Bhai. Did you not stress about teaching him stressed alphabets? It is my humble suggestion that you do not let such language lessons go soft with Vikram and Rudra!!!
Mayurakshi sighed loudly at that.
"How could Rajkumar Ameyajit...??" Mayurakshi put a hand over her mouth. "How are we going to explain this to Mahadevi?"
The duo sat silently for a while in the chambers, asking that question. After a few moments, both of them burst out laughing.
Both of them laughed for a while. "What a brilliant piece of work you've done, Mavaiyya!!! There is my husband. I don't need to stress about how crazy he can get. He came to Krishneri and publicly started shouting about the affair our commander's wife had with Anna. Then we have Rajkumar Abhijit, who has managed to get Maharani Anvesha extremely angry. And now we have Rajkumar Ameyajit, who mistakenly ended up marrying a princess due to mistaking a laghu akshara for a guru akshara."
He shook his head as he laughed at that.
"Also, I want to note to you that my husband chose the easy way out by telling you instead of explaining it to Maharani Anvesha or Maharani Saatvika."
"Oh, I always know it. That little-"
"Mavaiyya..."
"Now you have a problem with people swearing at him? What was your husband doing there? Dancing? Where was your husband when all of this was happening?"
She laughed. "I am 100 percent sure he must have been trying to pry out information from my friend about me and her while your other son had made such a huge blunder."
"Now, I will have to explain to Saatvika that her son is now married."
"I still feel she is easier to handle than having to explain why Mahadevi how, within three weeks of her absence, so much has happened. Within three weeks of her absence, Abhijit is arguing with Maharani Anvesha and Rajkumar Ameyajit is now married."
He sighed loudly, making Mayurakshi laugh more. "Stop laughing."
"I'm sorry, but it is just..." She laughed again. She stood up and tapped on the table, urging him to stand up. "You should be telling this to Maharani. I'll be off to do the welcome rites."
"You're going to leave me and run away as well?"
"Yes. I'm not ready to face her. She already doesn't like me much."
He sighed loudly and pressed his temples. "Don't plan to just let her find out when the caravan reaches here!!!!" Mayura exclaimed as he didn't seem to be in a mood to stand up.
Just as Mayura said that the door opened to show Anvesha standing there with Saatvika. "Will the Emperor try to explain to us why our son is arriving with the Princess of Amarkot?"
"I don't think my husband has that much courage to write her a letter," Mayura whispered to him.
"That is Anvesha. She has people who report things to her." He moved his head to the side to answer Mayura and then looked back at Anvesha. "Your son couldn't properly judge the difference between a deergha akshara and a laghu akshara. That is why the princess is here."
"What?!!" Saatvika exclaimed, not ready to take that as an explanation.
"I swear on Kalika!! I have no hand in this event." Shatrujit put his hands up in the air. "That is all your son's doing."
Anvesha stepped close to Shatrujit, and the man rightfully moved back into the chair.
"You want me to believe there was nothing you did in this?" She stared right into his eyes.
"You think I'll lie after swearing on Kalika?"
"If you don't explain things properly, Kalika might as well appropriate your wife," Mayura commented coyly.
"Eyy... shushhh..." He silenced her clever commentary.
"What is happening?" Anvesha demanded.
"It seems that Rajkumar Ameyajit confused Bai for Bhai and sent a sword to the Princess, thinking she was the Prince. Before things could be correctly understood, she must have accepted the sword." Shatrujit explained.
Anvesha sighed deeply, trying to control her temper, and seemed the cool and collected queen she was expected to be. Shatrujit expected an outburst at any moment. He stood up from his throne-like chair and poured some wine into a glass. "May I offer you a seat and something to drink?"
Anvesha glared at his attempt to smooth talk and was about to say some 'not-so-polite' words, but Shatrujit made her sit on his throne-like chair and handed her the glass. "Drink."
"How did you manage to create children that refuse to give us a little breathing space? Are there fewer things to worry about? What is this? A competition to see who can raise our blood pressure." She asked, pointing to herself and Saatvika.
"I 'created'? Excuse me!!! I remember you women doing the manufacturing and transport. I only provided half the raw materials." He commented.
"Nope. No..." Mayurakshi whispered to her father-in-law, vehemently disapproving of the plan to calm her by trying to be a little smartass. "Not the right space for that joke. If you weren't the Emperor, the wine in the glass would have been dumped on your head."
"You two..." Anvesha pointed to Mayurakshi and Shatrujit.
"I'm not at all involved. I have no part, angula, or truti in this. I didn't think of this. I didn't know about this. I didn't support any of this. I'm not at all involved. I have no relation to this whole event whatsoever. I haven't done a single bad thing in my life. I'm innocent. The person you might want to interrogate regarding this is my husband. Not me. I doubt even he would try his luck with something this crazy." Mayurakshi washed her hands off the whole blame.
"I don't know any of it either. I was before your eyes the whole time. What could I have planned without you knowing?" Shatrujit backed out too.
"Maharaj, Yuvraj's caravan has reached the fort of Ambikapuram." The soldier informed me. Anvesha stood up, her eyes glaring at her husband, as she left with Saatvika. Shatrujit picked up the wine that Anvesha didn't accept and dumped the wine in his throat.
"Someday all of you are going to give me gray hair purely by existing."
"Are you sure this isn't karma giving it back to you for leaving broken hearts around as if they're war trophies?" Mayura questioned but didn't stand around waiting for a smartass comeback from her father-in-law.
As they reached the gate, they saw a palanquin enter behind the two princes. A few soldiers from her native country had also arrived with her. The stark difference in the culture was surprising to them. Shakra and Ameya got off their horses and handed them over to the soldiers. Shakra greeted his parents.
The arrival of the palanquin surprised the whole fort. They couldn't understand why the palanquin had arrived. Moreover, they were curious to see who was in there.
"Amma..." Ameya tested the waters.
"I hope the prince can save a few moments later to have a conversation alone."
"Yes, Amma." He winced but acted cool.
"All the best..." Shatrujit wished his son well for the battle he was going to lose horribly.
"I'm sorry..." He whispered.
"Nanna, sorry isn't going to cut this time. You messed up big time."
"Annaiyya forcefully got me married. What can be worse?" Ameya sighed.
"It was either the manglasutra around her neck or my knife going around yours, little brother. Which one would sound like a smarter choice?" Shakra commented. The look on his face was enough to tell the family that Ameya had messed up big time.
"Okay, okay, please don't start this here. Let's go fetch her." Aparajita suggested. Mayurakshi agreed with her sister-in-law on a rare occasion.
"Rajkumari..." Aparajita walked over to the palanquin. The maids came out of the other transport methods behind them and quickly reached over to the girl inside the royal palanquin. A girl in a bright orange and red outfit appeared out of the palanquin. Her face was covered with the dupatta around her head.
"Why is her face covered like that?" Anvesha looked confused.
"They have a culture of covering their faces, Maharani. My friend explained that the way those invaders are, it is unsafe for their women to have their faces seen." Mayurakshi explained. "What must have started as a security measure must have become a cultural thing now."
Mayurakshi walked ahead with the welcoming tray. "Rajkumari, welcome to the Kalika Empire." Mayurakshi insisted she pull the dupatta up. The maid just lifted it a little to allow her to put the tilaka on. "I am Mayurakshi. Kalika Empire's eldest daughter-in-law. I'm not sure I remember what you call your sister-in-law in your language."
"I'm Aparajita. The eldest princess of the Kalika Empire." Aparajita introduced her.
"Medhajiti. The youngest princess. Welcome home, Vadina." She welcomed. The girl didn't understand the term.
"The elder brother's wife is referred to as Vadina," Mayurakshi explained.
"The Empress of the Kingdom is Mahadevi Amritakumari. She is your eldest mother-in-law. She isn't here right now, but she'll soon return." Mayurakshi pointed to the queens. "This is Maharani Anvesha. Mahadevi Amritakumari is your second-eldest mother-in-law. Then this is Maharani Saatvika. This is Maharani Sukanya. This is Maharani Soundarya. This is Maharani Rudrani. They are all your mother-in-law."
The new bride touched the women's feet. The queens blessed her lovingly. Saatvika walked up to her and slowly pulled up her veil. The girl only looked down. Saatvika smiled at the girl. "Such a beautiful face shouldn't be hidden behind a veil." She praised her.
"Pranaam, Maharani."
"Saatvika Amma gave birth to this brilliant brother of mine here." Aparajita pointed out, looking at Ameya.
"Shshhh, you're younger than me. Quit trying to be my amma." Ameya hissed at her.
"Ameya..." Saatvika silenced him.
Mayurakshi brought her before Shatrujit. "This is the Emperor of the Kalika Empire. The man on whose shoulders the whole of the Empire stands. He is the man who always ensures the welfare of his people in all ways. While you may miss your father here, you have a loving father-in-law here to suffice for it."
She touched his feet respectfully. He blessed her and made her stand up. Shatrujit put a finger beneath the princess's face and made her look up. "It suits a Rajput to stand tall and look into people's eyes fearlessly. A tigress's fiery eyes are her first impression."
Shatrujit turned to the princes standing behind him. "You already met Shakra, my eldest. Here, meet the others. Abhijit is my second eldest and Ameya's elder brother. Kamaljit is Ameya's younger brother. Abhinavjit, the fifth one. Then came the two youngest of the brothers. Vikramjit and Rudrajit."
Kamaljit's eyes fell on the beautiful idol of Krishna, which came with the princess. It was one of the most beautiful idols he had seen. He then focused on the sister-in-law who arrived with it. "Welcome home, Vadina." He touched her feet. Behind him, the rest of the brothers touched her feet too.
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Well, let's all welcome our sweet Rajput Princess into the Kalika Empire. What do you guys think??
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