✔️Rise to Eminence (Ugly Duckling Princess III) (completed )

Chapter 23: The Princess's letter

King Dhruv's (Sahil's) POV

I felt responsible for whatsoever had happened on the fort. From what I was told by the soldiers, a group of women had  arrived at the border with the pretext of fetching water. The kind soldiers offered them to fetch the water from our military tank. And then, they all requested for a place to rest and thereby were escorted to the resting chambers. The soldiers meanwhile had their lunch and they all felt asleep. They didn't remember anything after that.

We all deduced that probably the women mixed some kind of sleep powder in the water tank resulting all the soldiers to fall asleep. The arms and ammunition were all missing. As soon as I reached to the fort, I could not see anyone present. A team of army was sent was sent to investigate or find a trace of a group of women near the border and in the Sukhipur village. The Chief of the village assured that no one in the village had seen any group of ladies passing through their route. However, none of their women came inside the Surya Kingdom. Nevertheless, their river had not dried up.

It felt as if the women had vanished in a thin air. I went to the water tank again. I shivered thinking about what could have happened if they would have poisoned the water? Thank God it was just a sleeping power.

I looked around the water tank to find a blue coloured bead. It looked very familiar. Maybe it was a bead of necklace worn by any of those women.

I also found a piece of parchment on the floor. It said

Greetings to the King of Surya Kingdom, King Dhruv. I have heard the rumours about your genius in playing the game of chess. Chess is equivalent to the art of war in real life too. So let's play the game in the real life!  I am eagerly waiting for your next move!

Princess Adiya

I read and re-read the letter twice. Thrice. Many times before falling into sleep. My rival was a genius. She had guts to openly challenge me to fight in something that was above a mere battle. It was a war!

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Adiya's  (Diya's) POV

"Dear Diya,

How are you? I miss you so much. I hope you finish your duties soon so that I can have you as my life partner. Whenever I see my parents, I dream to have something similar to what they possess. True love and respect for each other!

The world is filled with loads of distrustful people who take advantage of your goodness. I just came across one  today! I am so glad that you are not one of those people!

I love you,
Yours and only yours,
Sahil."

I smiled as I read the letter. However I wondered why Sahil was writing such letter. Did anyone made a misuse of his kindness?  Moreover I realised that one of the beads of the necklace gifted to me by Sahil was missing. Luckily the necklace wasn't broken fully. I could easily repair it myself.

I was already happy due to the success of my mission. Agreed that the war wasn't over. Yet, we won the first phase and that was a huge achievement for me. After so many days, I slept with the feeling of contentment in my heart.