A King"s Wife

Chapter -29 - The Queen and the Wife

The Royal patio

 "I never expected such callousness from you Jagruki "! "Riddhima,for the first time, was angry with her favorite handsmaid.

"Why didn't you inform me when you got to know that Somlekha and Kalyani had been missing along with Devika?"

"Ranisaye ! I didn't want to bother you. We thought that they must have gone to their home as a part of their  mid break routine. " replied Jagruki.

Riddhima sighed heavily.
"Now tell me from when they had been missing?" 

"Sunanda"!

Jagruki indicated the assistant maid in charge to answer her queen 's question.  Sunanda was temporarily in charge of  the recruitment, roaster,food and security of all the maids. Jagruki,though was their chieftain,had been assigned to look after Riddhima 's needs and preferences exclusively.
"Tell me everything in detail Sunanda".

Riddhima commanded.

"Ranisaye! Devika had been assigned to give food to Princess Satakshi and Meenakshi...Behind... the bars...sunanda was sweating,while  conveying  the truth. 
"She had not returned since she had gone to the royal prison."

"Riddhima's eyes widened in shock.
"What!" she exclaimed.
And what about Somlekha and Kalyani ? she enquired further.

"They also had gone to give them dinner prior to Devika. " Sunanda exclaimed .

"I cannot take this lightly anymore. I am sure that something grave must have happened. I will have to inform Raja...I mean Arya. "

" Jagruki! How could you be so irresponsible?"

Now Riddhima scolds her directly.

" I sincerely beg your apology Ranisaye ". jagruki  was ashamed of her negligence. 

"Send the guards to every nook and corner and do not forget to send them to the chambers associated with Rani Sulochani Devi and not even the under constructed areas of Rudra Bhavan. She ordered.

45 minutes later 

"Riddhima! Can you please sit for a while."  Nanda holds her hands to stop her pacing back and forth. 

"How am I supposed to do that Didisaye? It was my duty to have  a check if my handsmaids are safe not or not. "

"No, it's not entirely your duty. This is a huge palace. At Least 500 people work here in different segments. It's not an easy task to keep an eye on them. Jagruki didn't perform her part well and Sunanda too was careless. Stop blaming yourself, Everything cannot be in your hands. Sometimes things can be out of order and it's natural. "

" Rajsaye will think that I am incompetent ".she murmured.

Nanda smiled fondly at her cute little sister -in -law.  She pulled her cheek and replied 

"Competence cannot be proved in a single day's performance. You have just started learning these things. Mistakes can happen. No one here is free from faults. When I was new, I also used to  do miscalculations  in mixing the chemicals and ingredients in my medicine. Vansh, who is so perfect, had immense difficulty learning swimming, when he was 11. Even now,sometimes,we make mistakes,and you even haven't committed one ". 

"Agya Ranisaye! "A guard  appeared near Nanda's bedchamber.

"Andar aao (Come in) she said 

"Devika, Somlekha and Kalyani had been rescued from the dungeon behind the  royal storehouse Ranisaye..."