Cittaja || Indian Historical Romance

74.

Shakra hissed in annoyance. The stupid scent wouldn't get off him. He had bathed in Taarini seven times and still, the scent refuses to completely go away. That little make-out session with Mayurakshi had left her scent on him. Now, when he was thinking about it, his wife was extremely clever. She had her doubts and just to confirm it, she rubbed her perfume on him in a way he wouldn't even doubt.

Shakra sighed thinking that the woman knew him too closely for his good. He realized that she was right about what she said in Shatrujit's study about knowing him.

"Did you seriously fall into that damsel's trap, Anna?" He commented.

His little sparrow was too clever. She was right about one thing. He is usually too busy with something else around her to notice what she is observing about him and what she is not. She had managed to pass off her little scent on her and sent a letter to Maukali about her having a job for him. Shakra is a stickler for her. Her sudden choice to hire Maukali for something was out of the syllabus for him.

"Yes, I did. She is my wife. Don't blame me if I really fell for her beauty. There isn't a woman who can distract me except for her. My brain stops processing any other information from her except the proximity between us." Shakra sighed loudly. There was no way for Shakra to be able to pass on even a little of that perfume to his alter ego's duplicate.

Shakra had always known the chances of someone being able to reach him and wondered that he was Maukali; hence, he had previously designed a foolproof way to cancel his name as Maukali from time to time. The identity of Maukali was shared by three people. All three of them had a similar height; the other two had learned to repeat Shakra's way of killing. That was the training they went through. Other than Shakra, only Amartya and Shatrujit knew who the other Maukali was. That too; they only knew one of them. Maukali was primarily Shakra's alter ego. Maukali was invented by Shakra to keep an eye on his enemies.

Raja was his paternal uncle's son. His uncle was a despicable man who was killed by Shatrujit for the crime of raping a woman. Unfortunately, she ended up getting pregnant. Shatrujit knew that the woman would be looked on with contempt by the people and wouldn't ever find peace anywhere if people knew her identity. Hence, her identity was kept a secret. To save her from being defamed for having a child before marriage, Shatrujit's bodyguard, Deva, offered to marry her and accept the baby as well. Only Shatrujit, Amrita, Anvesha, and Shakra knew about Raja's truth.

Shakra, as a 3-year-old, had mistakenly entered his uncle's palace while playing. That is how he became an eyewitness to his uncle's despicable actions. When the woman went to Shatrujit to tell him about what happened, his uncle completely denied it saying she was defaming him. Shatrujit knew his brother was capable of such an action but couldn't find proof. The two other guards who were there were threatened by the prince. Hearing from his mother that Shatrujit was devastated at being unable to provide proof to punish the wrongdoer, Shakra told his mother that he had witnessed it.

Amrita brought him to Shatrujit, where Shakra explained what he saw. It was unusual for a 3-year-old to explain what had happened, but whatever bits he could explain were enough proof.

Raja, being just 3 years younger than Shakra, had an uncanny resemblance to him. Their height, their eyes, their physical shape, the way they spoke, and the way they walked. There were a few differences but once they wore the mask, it was almost impossible to tell the difference. So, often Raja would take Shakra's place when Shakra went out as Maukali. Shakra and Raja both were mostly identical to their grandfather, the late Emperor. Shakra and Raja both often used each other's identities. Shakra goes out as a trader becoming Raja or Raja sometimes taking Shakra's place. It also meant that more often than not, Shakra and Raja never lived close to each other. Raja didn't associate a lot with people who could come across Shakra and Shakra lived in high-out places where most common people didn't get it. It was a difficult task to manage but they worked it out.