19 It's not the beauty of a woman that blinds the man, the man blinds himself!

By the time Rudradev arrived at his study located in the front yard of the Bali mansion, his assistant was waiting with the order from his father, Kirtidev.

No matter how well-spoken or charming Rudradev was to the outside world, when it came to his father, he was the nervous, bumbling eldest son, who had never ended up being good enough!

"What is so urgent that it cannot wait till the night?" He muttered discontendly before hurrying out of the room and walking towards his father's study.

Approaching his late thirties, Rudradev was a thin man with pointed features and a weak chin. But he had ruddy cheeks, straight shoulders and self-deprecating charm which many women found irresistible.

Despite being married for twenty years, his appeal hadn't diminished. Infact, he was quite proficient at making the opposite gender weak at their knees. But he hadn't been the kind to use this quality of his at random. He was quite content with his elegant wife and the peaceful environment at home.

It was only after the arrival of that bewitching beauty that he realised what attractiveness meant or that one could fall in love at the first sight!

Mandhaar was a fairly open society where there wasn't much prohibition on the interaction between males and females but promiscuous behaviour was frowned upon amongst the aristocratic society. This was an unspoken norm which had started under the reign of the previous king who suffered greatly in his growing years due to his father's overflowing harem.

Hence, he had decreed that his harem would not consist of more than ten women. It was a shame that he died too early, for people to verify his words.

Nonetheless, his son, the present monarch, Raja Indraneel had followed his father's intention and had even lesser women in his harem than his father. Of course, it had also something to do with Raja Indraneel's painful past.

"Master is in his study with the third master," Bhadrak informed Rudradev politely after bowing.

Rudradev nodded slightly and was about to enter his father's chambers.

"Has Jayantdev been inside for long?" Rudradev paused in his steps to ask this question to his father's most trusted minion.

Rudradev disliked this pompous servant of his father as much as he hated his youngest brother. Both of them were too full of themselves for no reason!

"They have enjoyed two cups of tea till now," replied Bhadrak, maintaining a deferential position.

Rudradev scowled and flicked the sleeves of his silk kurta with displeasure. He was still dressed in a dhoti* and a kurta* which reached up to his knees. A dhoti and kurta was the official dress to be worn in the royal court by all ministers.

There had been no scheduled appearance in the royal court this morning since the emperor had been feeling unwell for the past couple of days. But during the second half of the day, Raja Indraneel had summoned all the ministers to speak about the winters which had arrived sooner than expected and the relief measures to be put in place in the far-flung areas of the kingdom.

"Elder brother, you are finally here. We were about to give up waiting for you," the smiling, chubby face of Jayantdev greeted him.

"Father, I am sorry for being late. I was delayed by the matters of the royal court," Rudradev went ahead and touched his father's feet as a way of greeting.

Though it was a custom to greet parents every morning and night, Kirtidev had exempted his sons and their families from paying this obeisance since his wife passed away. He found it troublesome to have everyone trickle in every morning and night, just to complete this formality.

"I hope you will pay attention to the suggestions, which come in, on their merit rather than supporting or contradicting them on the basis of who made those suggestions," Kirtidev said in a stern tone.

Yet again, his father had managed to pull the rug from underneath Rudradev's feet.

'The damn assembly got over not more than an hour ago and my father already has the update! How many people are there in his information network? Has he really retired? How is this any different from him actually sitting in the royal court?' While these thoughts crossed Rudradev's mind, he made sure to keep his face impassive and his head down.

"I will take note of your advice, Father. I will remain impartial and show prudence in this matter," he replied humbly.

"Prudence? If you knew the meaning of the word, you wouldn't have been spending your money and time in the newest brothels of Dima city. Your daughter is of marriageable age but I don't see any matchmakers standing outside this residence. Your wife is displaying her pettiness yet again but you don't seem to have a clue or care about it. When will you stop disappointing me?" Kirtidev thumped his cane on the stone flooring with a bang.

Jayantdev who had been enjoying the show quietly till now, suddenly rose up and walked up to the old man.

"Father, you need to calm down. So much stress is not good for your health," he cajoled Kirtidev, placing his pudgy hand on his father's frail shoulder.

"Don't try to mollycoddle me. I am not a child. As for you, Jayantdev, if you think that your bribery network is hidden from the emperor's eyes, you are sadly mistaken. I had you take on our ancestral business of money lending and real estate, looking at your acumen for numbers. It wasn't handed over to you for you to manipulate the price of land in cahoots with other people who have malicious intent. Do you think I don't know about your coalition with the land development ministry? The ministry declared that the agricultural land on the southern outskirts of Dima was a wasteland and your consortium went and bought the 100 acres from the people there at throw away prices. Thankfully, I didn't hand over our farmlands to you, else you would have done some treachery there as well. By doing this kind of duplicity, you are simply giving ammunition in the hands of the emperor to impeach you the day he thinks that you are an eyesore. At that time, along with you, the whole Bali clan will suffer ignominy and harm. Both of you… it seems that I have failed as a father, in protecting my second-born and in showing both of you the right path," Kirtidev's voice held deep anguish.

*Dhoti - a garment worn by male Hindus, consisting of a piece of material tied around the waist and extending to cover most of the legs.

*Kurta - is a loose collarless shirt worn in many regions of South Asia. The front and back of a traditional kurta are made of rectangular pieces, and its side-seams are left open at the bottom, up to varying lengths, to enable ease of movement.