The Village Girl

Chapter Twenty Two - [Aaryan]

My mood had not been particularly high for the past few days, mainly because many of the things I deemed to be important were delayed.

As my father had chosen to accept my decision to marry Seetha, my mother was trying her best to get back the control she was losing. Thus, she had begged my father to let her family priest be the one who interpreted the charts that I had brought back. I didn't know what she was planning, but I didn't like it.

It took the priest half a month to get here, and in that time, I had grown extremely impatient, especially since the relationship between my mother and I was clearly beginning to sour.

She had resorted to ignoring me whenever she could, hoping that that would change my mind. Unfortunately, I was not one to waver when it came to that kind of attitude.

In the time that it took for the priest to arrive in Aathikara, there were a couple things I had to complete. First and foremost was to wrap up the issues in the West. With order being nearly completely restored in the West, I could finally send out the order to allow the troops of Aathikara to return home from the Western Fort. This order would bring peace to many men and their families in the Western Fort, seeing as they could finally come home.

However, with that order, another, more personal request was needed to be made.

Two days before my mother's priest was meant to arrive, two more important people arrived at the palace. It was late, and as I waited near the garden, I wasn't surprised when someone threw their arm around my neck, pulling me into a hug.

"My Prince!" The young man shouted loudly as he hugged me.

I let out a short laugh before patting his back. "Lakshman," my best friend.

When he pulled away, the tall, fair skinned man with childishly large eyes, smiled warmly at me. "I was a little offended when you didn't come to meet us at the gates–"

He was cut off when someone else jumped into my arms. 

Saumiya had no shame, not caring that she was a married woman, hugging another man so tightly in front of her husband. "Oh, Aaryan!" She squealed a little too loudly.

My ear was ringing thanks to that, but I hugged the girl back. She was the closest thing I had to a sister and I was indeed happy to see her. "Welcome back," I said to her as she pulled away and kissed my cheeks.

"Why didn't you meet us at the gate?" She asked, her arms still around me.

I looked at the beautiful woman with a smirk. Saumiya had always been extremely beautiful, with long, thick black hair and skin the colour of milk. Her eyes were so light that they matched the colour of sand and those eyes were enough to make most men crumble.

It still baffled me to think that I would have married her if I was one of them.

"I have better things to do then to run around escorting you two."

Saumiya hit me playfully with the back of her hand.

"I guess we cannot blame you," Lakshman stared. "Look at you... Chief of the Chandraba army already. Your father was quite excited to hand that title to you, wasn't he?"

He was right. I was the first Prince to take on that title at this age in the history of Chandraba. "He wanted me to be responsible for something as a form of training for when I become King."

Lakshman laughed. "Well, you're doing great... I've heard nothing but praise. My father won't stop talking about you and your successes. First in the south, then in the west."

"It's been that long, hasn't it?" Saumiya asked.

I nodded. Very long. At least two years had passed since the conflict in the South. "You two look well."