THE RULERS OF RISHABHAPRIYA

4

Surabhi's POV

I was not surprised that he knew who I was. I nodded and replied," Likewise, sir". He scanned me from head to toe and said in a low tone," I am deeply hurt by seeing your state in our kingdom. If the people knew about this, they would have undoubtedly revolted against him", he said making me wonder if he was saying the truth. "So, nobody knew all this time, for more than three years, that a princess was kidnapped by their king and was imprisoned in their kingdom", I said to which he nodded and said," His arrogance and wrong ways made my student, Bhargav, revolt against him. Bhargav has great knowledge in political science and economics. The king was making huge investments in unwanted things and Bhargav had pointed out his mistake almost five years ago. But just a month before your kidnapping, while the king was leaving for the war, he had made a statement about that in front of the people and from that day, he was being tortured in one or the other way. I knew something like this would happen and Bhargav has been completely trained for it. He'll just need some time to get used to it"

"But the reason I wanted to talk to you is, " he cleared his throat and said," I want to appoint you as his personal guard", I scoffed.

" Sir, no offense to you, but I used to be a princ-"

"And then you were a prisoner for four years. Everyone in Akhandadesh thinks you are dead. Your own brother lost hope and did your final rights very recently"

Tears welled up my eyes as soon as his words fell on my ears. My brother had given up. He had lost hope in finding me. It felt like a hard slap across my face when I registered what he had just told me. 

"And if you plan on going back to your kingdom now, think again. Who will accept you? Sita Mata who was the definition of purity was questioned about her loyalty towards her husband. Who will accept you after all this time? Maybe your family will. They love you and will assume that you are still pure. But what about the people. What about your marriage? Who will marry you? You will have to live with your brother as he dies everyday inside to see his sister live unmarried and alone. Don't you think this is better than that?"

"I do not care about what the society thinks about me. My family will accept me and that is enough for me"

"How long will that be enough for you? At one point in your life, you will feel ashamed about yourself for hurting your brother. I am sure he is in pain for losing you. But with time, it will all fade. Just imagine seeing you live like a broken person everyday. That pain will never heal. You have the choice. Will you make your brother suffer for just a few years and stay away from him for his happiness or will you go there and kill his peace everyday. Let me know what you think by tomorrow. If you still think you should go back, I'll myself make the arrangements for your journey back to Ratnagarbha".

He turned around and walked away. I looked at the view from the corridor and saw how the palace was on a mountain. I had no idea I lived on a mountain for such a long time. But living here for the rest of my life was the choice in front of me. I decided to think about it later and walked back to the royal court where Janaki's parents were at the saints feet crying loudly while scolding their son. "You don't know how he has saved our whole kingdom. This is the time for you to support him. The whole kingdom being against him is enough headache for him. Give him some peace at least now", the saint advised.

"Just ask him to return our house. We will forget that we had a son and live without cursing him. Please, that is my only request", the father cried. The king looked defeated and turned to look at some soldier who quickly ran away as if to get something. He came back with some scrolls and got the king's signatures on it. He gave it to the saint and he handed it over to the old man. "There you go, your home. Now bless him. After all, you are his parents", the old couple did not even look at him. "Just do good to the kingdom. That is all we want", they said and walked away with their daughters.

All eyes were on them when they walked away and then they were on me. "Bhargav, this is Pranahita. She will be your personal guard from today", he looked at me while his eyebrows knitted and said," But Guruji, I don't think there is any need-", he was cut off by the saint. "There is need, Bhargav. She has good skill and at this moment, she feels like the only person who can defend you against any enemy. It is tough times we are in. Just listen to me and do as I say", he then called for some attendees and asked them to help me freshen up.

I was taken to a huge chamber, much bigger than the one I had at Ratnagarbha and I was taken to the bathing area. The attendees helped me undress and enter into the pool filled with rose petals. The first touch of water on my skin after a long time felt unreal. I could see the water slowly turn dirty as the attendees scrubbed my skin with some paste. "Where were you all these days, dear?", an attendee asked. I turned to look at a woman maybe in her late thirties, in a white saree rubbing my skin with a paste which I guessed to be made from sandalwood. "In the prison", I replied. My voice was dead with no emotion. 

"Don't worry. I'm sure you will be treated better by the new king", she said.

"So, you think that the dead king was a bad king for this kingdom?", I asked.

"We all knew his real face. He was nothing more than an alcoholic womanizer. The day we found him with a married woman, and treat the brahmins like his slaves, we knew he was a wrong choice for this kingdom. His parents and ancestors had made this island kingdom very well known for its beauty and the rich heritage here. Our kingdom is well know for the rich history and knowledge and the brahmin community belonging to this kingdom is a great contributor for it", her movements halted as she moved to pour water on me, slowly washing away the paste residue from my skin.

"My mother had told me that a long time ago, a very well know Sadhu had once met the then King of Rishabhapriya and had predicted that the day any one from the king's bloodline lusts over a married woman, his bloodline would end right there. It was some curse or something. The king imparted knowledge about this in all of his children and grandchildren. And for many years, everyone in the family followed the rule. But the dead king, even though he had knowledge about that, he decided to challenge the Sadhu's prediction. We never saw who the woman was but we just know that she arrives in a horse once every month and leaves the same night. We only know that she is married but not to him because he had told that himself as if his bloodline meant nothing to him".

I wondered who that woman was who destroyed him without even knowing about it. I felt bad for her husband who maybe had no idea about her affair with someone else. I pushed all my thoughts aside and listened to the woman as she rubbed some oil on me while massaging to relieve the pain in each joint in my body. "Gradually, we started to find out that he had started to waste the money in the name of the kingdom on her. He had started to send loads of gold and coins with her and now, we are one of the poorest kingdoms in Akhandadesh. We feel shame to even say that. We just hope that this name will get washed away soon from the conqueror", I got out of the water after they washed away the oil and they dried my hair and body with soft cloths. 

"And now you are here, to guard him. I'm sure he isn't okay about this. After all, his male ego would never accept the fact that a woman is guarding him. But don't let anything happen to him. He is our only hope now", I signaled her to stop and walk out with the others. 

I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself in it for a few seconds. My eyes were dull and lifeless. My nose looked slightly crooked and all credits go to the punches that have landed on it for two whole years. My lips were swollen unevenly and there were cuts and bruises on my face in a couple spots. My neck had many cuts and bruises too because of the heavy chains wrapped around them for a very long time. I slowly let go of the cotton cloth that was wrapped around me and I started to sob uncontrollably.

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This chapter made me so sad fr

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Lots of loveee❤️

❤️AISHWARYA❤️