Ruthless Rulers of Rakshatra (RRR)

Chapter 29 - Weird Couple

Abhyuday replied, "If I have to be honest then I would say, neither".  Kalindi looked up from his chest and when she saw the serious expression on his face, she knew that he spoke the truth.  She sat up with the bedsheet tightly clutched at her chest and asked desperately, "But why?".

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Abhyuday replied to Kalindi, "There is no specific reason.  I'm simply unable to mingle with kids.  They will not follow my orders so I don't like them".  Kalindi looked at him with ridiculously and said, "That's not a good reason.  And I'm telling you I need kids.  More than one".  Abhyuday felt wronged and said, "When did I say that we shouldn't have kids? I just said that I don't like kids".  Kalindi fell back on the bed with a relieved sigh and then said, "You know what I think.  You will be the one who will spoil our kids when they are born and I will have to be the strict parent.  People who say they don't like kids, are the ones who love their kids the most".  Abhyuday didn't take her words seriously and refrained from commenting anything. 

After a few minutes, knowing well that he has not slept especially without hugging her, Kalindi asked once again, "Didn't you think of strengthening your position for the throne, by having a heir? Or didn't you think of having a heir to succeed you?".  He turned and hugged her and then said while snuggling near her neck, "There is a famous saying that a Kingdom doesn't make a King, rather a King makes his own Kingdom wherever he goes.  So I don't mind whether the throne of Rakshatra is given to me or not".  Kalindi hmmed and remained silent as she was not able to understand his words or the underlying meaning behind his shallow words.  Then he completed his words by saying, "But I do mind if it is given to Oormila's son".  With that said he had cleared his stance and intentions and then they went to sleep.

Next day came with a surprise for Kalindi as she met her brother and her sister-in-law after their marriage.  All three of them spent some time together and then Kalindi went to meet Grandmother as she had asked her to visit her regularly.   After that Kalindi went to rest in her chamber when Susheela came to take her to the sight seeing arranged for all the Royal ladies near the famous lake in their Kingdom.  When all the ladies were enjoying the view, swarnalekha came there with a set of maids who were all carrying some refreshments.  She said to Susheela, "Yuvrani! Please accept these from my side.  Since you were overwhelmed with taking care of your child and all the guests, as a sister, I took it upon myself to do some small help here and there.  Hope you don't mind".  Susheela as well as Kalindi could understand the underlying meaning which she was implying.  By taking care of the guests, she meant to say that Susheela was not competent enough to manage household and official works together.

Susheela was way too angry but couldn't express her anger infront of the guests, even more so her father-in-law has close relationship with this "surpanaka's" father, which is the main reason for her to tolerate such a creature nearby her husband.  Just when Swarnalekha was cherishing her subtle victory, Kalindi said while sipping the refreshments, "You are right, Swarnalekha.  Yuvrani post is very tedious.  And it is Yuvrani Susheela's good fortune that she got a loyal assistant like you".  And that wiped away the smile from Swarnalekha's face and everyone else chuckled at that.  Susheela controlled her laughter, looking at that surpanaka's face.  Not able to withstand the mocking smiles, Swarnalekha stroded off from there while her maids followed her.  The Royal ladies went on to continue their sight seeing and failed to notice the hateful gaze of Swarnalekha on Kalindi.

Once the ladies were back to the palace, Susheela and Kalindi were chatting in her chamber.  Susheela asked, "Kalindi, I want to thank you for saving my respect infront of the guests.  That woman has always been a thorn in my life".  Kalindi didn't reply anything and just gave a small smile.  Then the day went by and from next day onwards, the competitions began.  There were different kinds of competitions like hunting, horse riding, wrestling, archery, sword fighting which itself has many subtypes and so on.  A few days went by conducting these competitions and today it was Hunting.  Abhyuday, who didn't participate in any other competition, took part in this and brought the biggest hunt among all others.  Those who were looking down upon him for not participating and those who questioned his credibility of being the most outstanding student of Gurudev Rishaba, were tongue tied when he brought the rare tiger from the hunt. 

The ladies who were watching the scene were astonished at the sight.  Abhyuday with his naked upper body dripping with blood of the tiger walking towards them, was a sight to behold.  But when actually neared their side, they started moving away from their places with a screech.  And at last the only one who stayed in the same place was Kalindi, who was not afraid of the tiger or felt disgusted by the blood.  As he stood infront of her, she asked him, "Where is the one that I asked for?".  Abhyuday rolled his eyes which was not visible to others and then asked Bharath to come, who brought with him a rabbit.  Kalindi took the rabbit from him with a smile and went on to play with it.  Abhyuday sighed and then gave the tiger to Bharat and looked at Kalindi who left the rabbit on the ground.  The couple looked at the rabbit which once again moved towards the forest while the other people were simply watching the interaction, some with jealousy and some with surprise.

Abhyuday returned back to his chamber while Kalindi followed him.  Abhyuday went inside the pool and started to clean off the blood from his body.  Suddenly he felt a hand touching his arms and slowly wiping his arms on both sides.  He turned slightly to see his beautiful wife helping him in the bath.  He asked amusedly, "How come my Yuvrani got time to serve me?".  Kalindi replied back saying, "I'm just helping my husband, like a good wife".   He chuckled at her answer but that sounded like a dark one for her.  Before she could comprehend his thoughts, she found herself in the pool as he pulled her inside.  Once she was in his arms,  he said, "Then wife should serve husband in any way he wanted her to.  Shouldn't she?".  She didn't get time to answer him as he kissed her hungrily.  Soon the pool water had spilled out of the pool due to their harsh activity which involved removing all their clothes.  After the long bath, they came back to their bedroom and sat down to have their lunch.

After lunch, Kalindi asked Abhyuday, "Yuvraj!  Do you know how Bharat got the wound near his shoulders?".  He looked at her and said, "Yes, I was practicing sword fighting with him, during which he got the slash wound".  Kalindi nodded at him and thought about Rekha's words where she said that it was a deep wound rather than just a slash wound.  Seeing her engrossed in her thoughts, Abhyuday said, "You have some doubts on him".  Kalindi came out of her thoughts and said, "I wanted to ask you whether you trust him or not?".   He said with a smile, "I trust him or not, it shouldn't matter to you.  If you have some doubts, you should clarify yourself rather than just validating from someone else".

Saying so he left the chamber leaving her to her thoughts.  As Kalindi was thinking about her next move, her maid Rekha came in.  She asked Kalindi, "Yuvrani, Did you discuss your doubts with Yuvraj today?".  Kalindi nodded and then the next question was put forward, "What did he say?".  Kalindi told her about his words and then said, "We have to wait before taking any hasty step".  And then Kalindi went to Grandma to continue her usual routine.  So after she finished reading a few pages for Grandma, the old lady asked her to keep the holy book away and simply sat together for a few minutes.  Then Grandma said, "You know when I saw Abhi few years back, it was on the funeral for his mother.  And suddenly he became someone unknown to me, with his emotionless face and the anger along with immense hatred towards the people responsible for his mother's death.  It is still unbelievable for me that he had changed into a completely different person from being a happy child with a smiling face always.  And I really wished that if I get a chance to go back in time then I would avoid certain people, prevent certain mistakes from taking place so that my Chandria will be alive and her children could have had a happy life".

Then Kalindi asked, "Grandmother!  Could you please explain the reason behind Yuvraj's hatred towards his own family members.  I could have waited for him to tell but since you were talking about it, I couldn't control myself from asking you".

Glossary:
Maharaj - King
Maharani - Queen
Yuvraj - Crown Prince
Yuvrani - Crown Princess
Rajkumar - Prince
Bhai - Brother
Bhabhi - sister-in-law
Chacha - Father's younger brother
Shastrasala - Godown of weapons with practice arena
Gurudev - Teacher

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Hi guys,

Do vote and comment if you like the chapter.

The initial part of the past is in next chapter.

Thanks,
SM.