ENCHANTED- BY LOVE (completed)

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*** Sruthi ***

'The king wishes to see you'

Those mere words are enough to steal the peace of anyone's heart. Especially when it happens the day after you get caught sneaking into his private chambers....I still remember the absolute trauma in Veer's and Naina's face when I told them that I sneaked in last night.

"That is the worst place you could sneak into," were Veer's exact words. Apparently the King's private chambers is also the place with all of the state's secrets and sneaking in there would automatically make the King assume that you are a spy for the enemy and you would be investigated as such, if not trailed.

Is that why the king called me? Why do I always end up in wrong situations?

I thought to myself as I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," the King said and I nervously walked in and greeted him.

"Sit down," he said calmly and I sat down while the King continued to look at a file in his hand.

"You look scared," he commented when he eventually looked up.

"Your highness....I..." I hesitated, "I....made...a mistake....so..."

"Save your fear for when that becomes the topic of discussion," the King said and I looked at him confused. "I only called you to ask how the chess championship is going," he added.

"Not good," I whispered to myself.

"Why is it not good?" the King asked.

"You heard me, your highess?" I asked surprised.

"I am trained in sabd bhedi baan," he replied, "I have a hightened sense of hearing." 

"Oh," I said amazed.

I've only heard about this skill in stories and to have a man actually trained in it is.....wowww!

"My achievements aren't a topic of discussion now," the King said and got back to his original question, "Why is the chess championship not good?"

"I lost both the matches yesterday," I said looking down, "and...and the..." I paused not wanting to rant out on the intellectuals.

"Bishop made fun of you?" the King completed.

"The general told you, your highness?" I asked surprised.

"Vishnu sir did," the King replied, "He also told me that he had the bishop removed from the championship for inappropriate behavior."

"That's sweet of him," I said honestly.

"He also wanted me to convey it to you that irrespective of the differences between the soldiers and the intellectuals, he sees you as his daughter and would do everything in his power to make sure you are comfortable in the championship," the king added.

I smiled.

"But I don't really think I would move to the next round your highness," I said honestly, "I lost every match I played up until this point."

"You lost every match you played while parallelly battling the anxiety, humiliation, and confusion that came from the harsh words and judgemental eyes," the King rephrased my words, "or to quote the Queen, you lost the race because you were running on glass pieces while the rest were running on soft ground."