Chitra has pulled her hair into a tight bun using a small silver hair pin. Arjuna has suggested that they should go in commoner's clothes so that they can maintain secrecy. Few times it's the best to not even trust the soldiers whom you have known for years.
The cotton saree didn't feel foreign on her skin instead it made her remember the day they got married.
Pulling her brain away from going back to the past she walked along with her husband, their hands intertwined as they quietly made their way out the royal quarters.
Chitra couldn't point the way they were walking in, she was still trying to memorize all the ways around the palace. After a few turns around the palace they reached a small room.
Arjuna slowly knocked on the door three times, it must be a code, she thought. And to Chitra's surprise Vikram opened the door.
"Bhaiya! Where were you yesterday?" Chitra asked, smiling as she walked inside, all her concentration was now diverted on her dear brother.
"I was at the training grounds yesterday but I couldn't find you later in the evening?" Vikram enquiried, wondering in a deep thought.
" Oh that, I was at the royal kitchen trying to learn cooking as Rajamatha has suggested. I tried cooking a sweet with milk and flour but unfortunately it turned salty and slightly black! No one was even tasting it!" She complained, shrugging her shoulders in dejection looking down sadly.
Laughing Vikram patted her head lovingly, " Next time take it to your husband he would love to eat it!"
He tried to tease her but Chitra had a determined look on her face, " You are right! I will get it for you and Arjuna to taste my dishes!"
Arjuna's face paled and his nose scrunched up as if he could really feel it in his mouth by thinking about having a burnt sweet which turned out Salty. While the room was filled with laughter.
Startled Chitra looked around and found two other people looking at her in amusement. Her face and ears turned red in embarrassment.
Smiling, Arjuna pulled Chitra to his side and introduced her, " This is your Queen, Chitralekha Verma."
"Chitra, this is Gopinath Rao, our defence minister and this is Rajan he helped us leading our way at Ramapur's forest when you were abducted. He is training under Vikram for our Army." Arjuna introduced them to Chitra.
"My queen." Rajan immediately bowed down, paying his respect. But Minister Gopinath didn't budge from his position and Chitra understood that he didn't accept her as his queen, but she won't complain, just because she married a king doesn't make her a queen. Not understanding how to respond she just smiled.
All the four of them sat around a wooden table with a huge map of their kingdom on it. The borders of the kingdom where the bandits attacked was covered with some black mud indicating that the damage has been done.
"Our soldiers were attacked today near the Mothidhaar river, only one soldier managed to survive." Gopinath spoke in a serious tone.
"What happened to the backup team?" Asked Vikram,
"These bandits are playing games with us. All this while they just attacked only one Village but today they increased their attacks, two villages were burnt, so by the time the backup team ran for the other side the damage was already done."
"Do they have any pattern?" Chitra asked, wondering if anything could be decoded if they have a pattern.
"No, my queen. They are attacking randomly with specific targets." Gopinath rubbed his forehead as he spoke.
"I think they do." Said Rajan moving the map closer towards him, "See this, their first attack was at the north side and now it's towards the east side." He said, almost whispering to himself as Arjuna closed his eyes hitting his head to the wooden head rest of the chair.
"What happened?" Chitra asked.
"This means you were right Chitra, they have our kingdom's map and they are trying to get to the palace in a zig-zag manner."
Chitra's eyes widened listening to that and Gopinath tried to contradict that thought, " But my king, in all my years I have never seen a careless minister! Everyone loves Abhiras to bits and pieces! Why would anyone sell their own motherland?-"
"Power." Chitra answered looking straight in his eyes. " From all the Administration classes I have taken till now, I read that all the greatest battles in our history were fought on one person's hunger for power."
" Power and lust are the first steps for destruction of any person or a kingdom." Chitra reminded him, trying to come up with a plan to catch the traitor.
" Who can that be and how do we get to the traitor?" Wondered Vikram, suppressing his anger.
" I have a guess about who could it be." Said Arjuna placing their kingdom's flag on the their kingdom map.
" And I have a plan to get to them." Chitra smiled as she looked at Arjuna.
Slowly they formulated a plan based on their instincts, pulling out some random guesses is better than nothing at all.
While Arjuna and Chitra were leaving Vikram and Rajan bowed paying their respects and this time Gopinath Rao also bowed paying respects for his queen.
Gopinath was not convinced when he first saw her but after having a conversation with her he understood that her sweetness towards others was not her weakness, it was her strength to love people for what they are. Her knowledge and care for a kingdom she barely knows is her mothering nature.
He thought that their king forgot his duty by marrying someone who has no power. But now he knows that power is nothing in front of knowledge and love.
So he will bow down in front of her. Abhiras's Queen, his queen.
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Queen Chitra is marking her status isn't she?
Okay so some interesting chapters will be up soon!! But the next update will this Tuesday or Wednesday.
Till then stay safe my little flowers😘 ❤️
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