Prince's chamber ( rajvanshi empire )
Neutral pov:
" Go on. "
The attendant shivered unnoticeably as he opened the scroll. He looked at the prince and nodded once, bowing before he started with the scroll.
" To Aadhrit Singh rajvanshi,
Greetings from Malik Empire. We are delighted to inform you about the crowning of our 100th monarch. We cordially invite you to join the ceremony and hope to strengthen our relations through the same. We look forward to your presence at the ceremony.
(Royal seal)
Malik Empire "
" The date ? " ,.......the question was briefly muttered.
The attendant scrambled through the scroll in his hand out of panic for a second before he finally got hold of the date and timings at the end of the letter. He read out the same as quickly as he could.
Aadhrit nodded shortly after.
" You may leave. Also, inform the royal advisor to meet me here. Now. " ......The urgency was emphasised by the last word.
The attendant nodded, and bowed before he took his leave through the door.
A few minutes later, a brief knock at the door interrupted the man's chain of thoughts as he looked up to see the royal advisor at the threshold, waiting upon his permission.
" Nishith. Come in. Close the door behind you, we've quite a job to work out here. " ....aadhrit smiled at him.
They were friends, good friends. Nishith, though young, was chosen as the advisor for the royal household owing to his exceptional negotiation skills. He could somehow see a way where everyone saw walls.
He had proven himself multiple times, displaying his amazing skills at problem solving and cool-mindedness.
He was much liked by aadhrit. One principal reason, as everyone would guess, was that they belonged to the same age group which enhanced bonding opportunities for them. But really, aadhrit was drawn towards nishith for his logical side. Nishith, on the other hand, liked Aadhrit's practicality and discipline.
Owing to all of these reasons of big and little consequence, they became friends in a very short span of time. As far as the kingdom was concerned, it was always good if the monarch bonds well with his council.
Nishith smiled back at aadhrit as he went towards the couch, closing the door behind him.
" As you command, Maharaj. " ........his eyes held humbleness and innocence. He was always polite, regardless of the situation.
Everyone in the kingdom somehow grew fond of him. His eyes held that boyish charm. As if maturity hadn't hit him just yet.
If they hadn't known any better, the people in the kingdom would be deceived into thinking of him as a naive, peaceful, normal boy who knows nothing of the world.
Perhaps it would remain a mystery how he maintained that innocence on his face after having almost all the knowledge of the world. He was
amazingly educated, and it was hard to find a topic which would trouble him or atleast make him stumble on his speech. Nevertheless, his face betrayed all of those.
He sat down opposite to aadhrit, and was handed out a scroll just a few moments after. He received it and opened it, skimming through the keywords skillfully. It didn't take him more than a minute.
He kept the scroll down in what seemed like twenty seconds and looked back at aadhrit.
" It is addressed to your name specifically. Provided you're not the monarch yet, it is alarming. Though still not a matter to be worried about. "
........his voice was light, mature and slow as he held out each of his words distinctly. He finished and looked at aadhrit straight away, waiting for his reply.
Aadhrit chuckled, amazed at how Nishith had spotted the obvious reason for his discomfort so flawlessly.
" Exactly, you seem to know all of my troubles. Now do what you're best at."
Aadhrit shrugged as he leaned back on the couch.
" Are you sure of the authenticity of the source ?" ...Nishith suggested intelligently.
" Not really, but now that I think of it, there's a point. Do you sense foul play? " .......he straightened from his previously leaning position.
" Not really. However, it's important that we know what we're dealing with. From what it seems, it could be anything ranging from a kingdom trying to establish relations, to a culprit who wants to create misunderstandings between two giants in the land. "
Aadhrit nodded.
" Right. " ...He said.
A few moments of silence followed. Aadhrit leaned towards the table as he ran his fingers on the outline of the scroll. Finally he broke the silence.
" Okay. Let's keep this in the backdrop. For now, we consider the scenario where the authenticity is confirmed. What follows in that case ? "
Nishith nodded.
" Have you consulted or informed either the king or the queen ?" ... .he threw again.
Once again, aadhrit was stupefied as he sat there staring at nishith.
" Come on dude. Would you stop attacking me like that ? It's getting hard. " ......He threw his hands in the air almost like a child. This careless aura of the heir was visible very rarely and only around a selected few people.
Nishith had to be one of them. He smiled gently, keeping a hand on Aadhrit's shoulder.
" I'm not attacking you. The terminology is a bit inapt. However, it's painful to see your lack of preparedness provided that you're always equipped till teeth. Perhaps, even you aren't holding up well with how unprepared you're. "
Aadhrit looked at the hand on his shoulder and then at nishith.
" Maybe. This was just so sudden. Malik's have never bothered about us. They had always been straight in their ways. And suddenly they want me at their coronation. I am not against strengthening neighbouring relations, but we've been around for half-a-decade. They never felt the need till now but only now. They couldn't care less about their neighbours. Especially when this invitation is specifically addressed to me. "
Nishith nodded once again.
" True. So neither the king or the queen know about this ?"
" No, not till now at least." ....aadhrit said as he shook his head lightly.
" Do you think I should tell them ? I didn't really care about it till now. I mean, I have to be the one dealing with things sooner than I think. Perhaps, I could tell them but I feel like I know their reply. " ......He folded his arms as he sat back in a more comfortable position now.
Nishith chuckled in an odd way. As if not believing aadhrit.
" You're nervous." ....he simply worded it out.
" What ? No-" ......aadhrit was cut mid-sentence as he tried to defend himself.
" You've been changing your position constantly and you keep tapping your foot. Your body language is a clear giveaway. "
Aadhrit looked at nishith with a look mixed with annoyance and admiration.
" What exactly is it tho ? The letter or telling your parents about the letter? " .....the question followed.
Aadhrit kept looking at nishith without buzzing.
" I'm having a hard time figuring that out. You tell me. ".......he said this time as a playful smirk coloured his lips.
Nishith raised his brows as he picked up the playfulness in his tone.
He looked down towards the scroll once and shook his head slightly in disbelief.
" Tell me what the future monarch wants to do ? Do you want to go ?" .....nishith questioned this time as he indirectly sidelined Aadhrit's attempt at humour.
Aadhrit rolled his eyes playfully before he got back on the subject at hand.
" Well, that's tricky. While establishing good relations with neighbouring monarchs is indeed a virtue, I have to be careful of the dangers. Also, it's been eating my head why they suddenly want to do all of these 'love thy neighbour' stunts. We've been around for fifty years, they never cared. " .....he let his thoughts out.
" Indeed. Perhaps it has something to do with the new monarch ? As cheesy as it might seem, the new generation monarchs are taking over now and their ideals and motives are often different from their forebears. This could just be an attempt at camaraderie by the new monarch. " ....nisith suggested.
" Perhaps. "
Aadhrit didn't say anything more as he seemed lost in thought.
Nishith sensed the tension in the air.
" Well, don't be too worried. You've your wedding in a few days, I'm sure your to-be wife wants a husband without dark-circles on the aisle. " ...He joked.
As he looked at aadhrit, the look on his face changed. He felt like he struck a chord he shouldn't have been near.
" We better keep that topic off. " ......Aadhrit passed silently.
" Well, you can talk about it with me. You know, if it's anything with a lot of trouble, I'm always here. Besides, it's been really long since we actually told each other of our troubles. " ......Nishith said slowly as he placed a hand on Aadhrit's thigh.
Aadhrit looked at him for a good while with a straight face.
" Right. We went to guruji's this morning and-.........." .....and he poured the whole thing out. Nishith listened as attentively as he could and didn't leave any attention gaps.
After listening to all of it, he was silent for a few seconds as if letting everything set in.
" Well that's a lot of backstory. I don't know why you thought of hiding it from me. ...And neither do I know what to say next but......." .....he placed a finger on his chin as he stopped midway in his sentence. He looked up, as if collecting data.
" Didn't ruh live there with the Malik's for a long time? " ... .he questioned after a second of thought.
Aadhrit's face twisted a bit as he unconsciously leaned in.
" I didn't really think of that but- yeah, she did. " .........He said slowly, immersed in thought.
" Do you think there's some connection ? " .......aadhrit said again after a short gap.
Nishith nodded slowly once.
" Well- that would be a very vague guess to make. There isn't any mention of her. Nevertheless, this is between kingdom's. The chances of this involving ruh are very microscopic if you ask me. We cannot say anything without narrowing things down. Notwithstanding, I don't think it has anything to do with ruh." ........nisith said as he looked at aadhrit directly this time, with a look that asked Aadhrit of his own ideas.
Aadhrit shrugged his shoulders once in a 'i-don't-know' gesture.
Nishith drew in a deep breath once and released a sigh.
" Why don't you just go ahead,,,give it a try. I mean- i don't think the danger factor should be considered here. Malik's would never stoop that low to call you discreetly and challenge you alone. It will be a breach to their pride as they call it. I mean, they're too proud to do something like that. Which is a good thing, for us at least. "
Nishith suggested that intelligently. However, aadhrit somehow picked it up negatively. Nisith's talking about the Malik's in high regard was picked up by aadhrit indirectly as regarding the rajvansh as inferior.
It was a misinterpretation on Aadhrit's side, but it somehow spoiled the impression of the Malik's in his eyes. He was too proud too to admit that the Malik's were there in history since half-a-century before the rajvansh and their marks in the land were more deeply engraved as compared to rajvansh.
This was never brought up directly as the Malik's weren't an everyday topic. However, it was evident now that the heir of the rajvansh didn't handle its mild inferiority well.
In such circumstances, a rift was natural. One could just wonder what would spark the flame further.
Nishith somehow managed to convince aadhrit to give it a try and visit the Malik's on the coronation. It was mutually decided to keep the king and queen on a need-to-know basis.
Also, a few days before the coronation, the prince can technically be considered the king so aadhrit didn't see anything wrong with taking up full charge.
" What gifts should I bring in ? " ......The question was asked of aadhrit after a mild settlement that he was going to attend that ceremony as the prince and heir of the rajvansh.
Nishith laughed slowly.
" Well shouldn't you be discussing that with whoever's in charge of gifts etcetera? I don't really know how much about your royal stuff but I occasionally saw the king take in some extravagant accessories to coronation ceremonies. Actually, you've been there with them but you were too busy to notice. " ........nisith shrugged his shoulders.
" Well, ......this is kind of tricky. I can't arrange things without having either mother's or father's assent on that first. " ......Aadhrit said as he let out a sigh displaying his helplessness.
" Well I don't know so much about that. All I can say is, you're known for being sneaky. You've channels.....you know your way. So, I'm confident you'll get it done. " ......Nishith said as he patted Aadhrit's shoulder once before he got up to leave.
" Yeah sure. Easy for you to say. You've never been the one sneaking things. "
" If I ever have to, I'm sure I'll have you for that maharaj." ......Nisith said as he exited the door, winking playfully.
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