THE CONQUEROR'S CAPTIVE

STUPID PRINCE

Surabhi's POV

Ratnagarbha needs you.

Ratnagarbha needs you.

Ratnagarbha needs you.

His words kept echoing in my ears as I walked to meet Guruji to talk about what I was thinking. I had asked Jija ji to not talk to Padmini regarding our meeting and simply just anything about me being here. In return, I had promised to talk to Guruji about this. His words were right. There were other ways I could survive. I did not have to be a guard to some guy who was learning how to be a royal. I was a royal myself and royalty flowed in my blood. I did not have to fear anyone. I could just go stand in front of Padmini Didi and she would take me back home. I was having second thoughts about my decision and I had to talk to Guruji to inform him about it.

I saw him sitting in the temple his students had told me he would be at and he was meditating. I walked to him and sat in a decent distance from him and waited for him to wake up. It was very quiet in there until he spoke. "Doubts", my head snapped towards him and I stood up. "You are doubting something". He slowly opened his eyes and joined hands looking at the sky. He lowered his head and looked at me with a smile and asked, "Speak, Rajkumari. Tell me why you are here". I bowed go him first and then told him everything that had happened that day and he just smiled knowingly while looking at me. He stood up and walked away from me and I quietly followed him. "Do you know why you are here, Surabhi? Do you know your purpose here?", I shook my head. I knew that I was here because I was kidnapped and my purpose here was to guard the king. But somehow, I knew those weren't the answers he was looking for.

"You are not a stranger to this land, Surabhi. Your soul isn't new to this soil. You have ruled this land for years until you were snatched away your right as a queen and was reduced to nothing", my eyebrows knitted in confusion as I registered his words. He nodded and continued as we walked towards the palace, "I thought keeping this a secret would help you. But I don't think that is an option now. So, listen to me. Many generations ago there was a king who fell in love with a beautiful princess and married her. Everything was perfect. They had seven lovely children. They loved each other very much and this island kingdom was considered to be the most powerful kingdom in the whole of Akhandadesh. If you think your Ratnagarbha is the strongest now, you should have seen Rishabhapriya in their reign".

We entered the palace and he kept walking a certain direction and I kept following him. "All the happiness came to an end when one day, a seductress, who was a Visha Kanya was sent as a gift to the king by one of the kings back then. As you already know, Visha Kanyas are known for their enchanting beauty and the king fell for it. He fell into the trap and threw the whole kingdom aside for her. The king's family who did not like the queen, thought she was not a perfect match for the king and were always plotting against her. When they saw that the king was at his most vulnerable stage, they made a plan to get rid of the kind queen. They made her look like a fraud who was secretly having an affair with the same king who had sent the Visha Kanya and pressured her own husband to banish her from the kingdom", we were going up the stairs leading to a destination only he knew about. 

"She accepted her fate after fighting a lot and decided to go away but then the king's married brother tried to force himself on her after the banishment as she wasn't considered the queen or the king's wife and that is when she cursed this land. She said that this land, which she worked day and night for, for a long time, has betrayed her and when their king betrays his wife by cheating on her with a married woman, they'll lead their bloodline to an end and a new bloodline will start ruling Rishabhapriya. Their generation would end with them and all of their offspring would die because of illnesses".

He walked towards the door of a chamber in a corner of the palace that I hadn't explored at all and opened the doors widely and walked in, "That was the reason the previous king died. You know that. But do you know who this queen was who cursed his bloodline?", he asked as he walked inside the chamber which looked like a huge hall filled with paintings and other stuff they did not need. It was dusty and dark. He put on a fire torch in front of a painting and looked back at me. "Why don't you see for yourself?", he pulled the red, dusty cloth on a huge frame making it fall down revealing a huge portrait of someone but nothing was visible as dust covered most of the painting. I strangely felt drawn towards it and walked closer to see the painting and swiped my trembling hands against the top of the painting to reveal the face of this queen he was talking about.