Cruel Politics

Ambikapur, Palace

Lady Mandakini could not sleep the whole night due to sadness and anxiousness and fell in slumber in the morning. When she woke up from a knock on the door, it was already noon. She looked at her daughter on her side and stroked her cold cheeks lovingly. She looked like she has lost all her energy and was calm as nothing matters.

She moved and slowly opened the door and found one of the maids waiting with a piece of paper. Maid gave her the paper and said "My Lady! Your messenger bird brought this." Lady Mandakini opened and read the word written on the letter 'Done' and her tears started flooding her face and she couldn't stop herself from shaking violently.

"My daughter's letter reached her lover, my daughter's close friend Meena is out of this prison, now I don't have to control my emotions," Lady Mandakini thought. She was afraid that if she showed her sorrow before, everyone will know and then someone will intercept Meena and her daughter's last wish will not be fulfilled. But now there was no use of stopping herself, her tears fell, she dropped to her knees and her mournful wails echoed in that part of the palace.

Within minutes other Consorts and Princesses heard the news of the death of Princess Vishnupriya from maids and palace guards. Many people have different and complicated feelings about this event. King Mahendra Dev decided to hold an emergency meeting with his royal family and some special ministers.

Many chiefs and ministers were already present in the courtroom after getting the news of Princess Vishnupriya's death. After few minutes, King Mahendra Dev and Queen Devyani also entered the courtroom and took the main seats. Queen consort Mandakini was also called. Few other members of the royal family are also present. Lady Mandakini is sitting on one side of King Mahendra at a lower level. In front of Lady Mandakini, King's younger brother Rajendra Dev, Prince Veerbhadra Dev, Princess Shri Devi and Prince Balbhadra Dev are sitting at the same level. And at the lowest level and in front of King, Priest Minister, royal physician, army head and few other ministers are sitting.

Lady Mandakini is still red-eyed and has not yet recovered fully. She saw all the people present and she knows that this gathering is not to show sympathy to her or get justice for her daughter. She looked at the king and said in a hoarse voice "His Highness! Priya has departed for more than one day and her last rites are yet to be performed. Can we please do that first?" King Mahendra who is sitting in his seat eyes closed like thinking something, remained in the same pose and gave no reaction.

Queen Devyani who was sitting beside King Mahendra looked at Lady Mandakini in questioning gaze and said with contempt "The decision of Princess Vishnupriya will greatly affect the honor of royal family and you also did not fulfill your duties as her mother. You could not make her agree for marriage and on the other hand, you hid the fact of her death for more than one day which has also delayed the plans of loss control which could have been in action by now."

Lady Mandakini saw King Mahendra Dev, who has been sitting unaffected and then saw Queen Devyani with a sorrowful heart. Because she is the daughter of a farmer from a village in the kingdom of Ambikapur, other queens, who are from well-known families, never give her proper respect.

King Mahendra Dev, who once met her during state tour, was attracted by her beauty and got married by giving her the promise of his lifelong love. But just after few years he started treating her like everyone else never taking her side in palace politics and Lady Mandakini had only her daughter as her own and no one else since then.

Rani Mandakini lost the battle of dominance in the palace and in the heart of King against the other women who are the daughters of influential families like the daughter of the Army Leader, daughter of Prime Minister, daughter of a minister of Kashi state. And today she even lost her only child and it feels like losing her life.

Lady Mandakini looked at Queen Devyani with tears and said, "I only wanted to do good for my daughter, but as a mother, I could not understand my daughter's heart. Yes, I am guilty of my daughter's pain and death too." Her tears flowed and looking at King Mahendra Dev, she said with a sardonic smile "And I am deserving of harsh punishment to break the ambitious relationship with the Magadha Empire. I hope his majesty gives me the death sentence."

Everyone is shocked to hear the words of Lady Mandakini. Nobody expected that she would have the courage to speak like this. Everyone thought she was a naive and kind type of women. What do people know, a woman who can not win the affection of her husband, who has lost her only child, what can make her fearful in life? Upon hearing Lady Mandakini, King Mahendra Dev opened his eyes and looked at her and said in a loud voice "I think that we have given much more freedom to you and your daughter, and that's why you did whatever you want."

Lady Mandakini smiled mockingly and said "Who wants to give up life after getting freedom? His Highness thinks that the jails created by him provide more freedom than the outside world. Do you not think that you are announcing the events in a different way?" Her tears flowed when she saw that King Mahendra Dev's attention was not on her. He didn't even respond to her provocative outburst.

After a few moments, Maharaj Mahendra Dev looked at the ministers and others present and said "Now we have two problems, one is the Kingdom of Ratanpur and the other is Empire of Magadha. Do you have any opinion on these?"

One minister said "After the demise of Emperor Skand Gupta, his cousin Purugupta has now become the emperor. If we would have married the princess to the son of the municipal authority of Pataliputra, we would be associated with the ruling dynasty in a way. The daughter of municipal authority is married to emperor Purugupta and even if she is not the queen but even being a consort is also not any less powerful. It was our good fortune that those people came here for business and their son expressed the desire to get married to the princess." And then he sighed and said, "But our misfortune is that nature's conviction was something else."

Another minister said, "His Majesty! Princess Archana is also very beautiful. Why should not we send this message to Pataliputra that the princess Vishnupriya has died from the snakebite and we send the birth horoscope and a picture of Princess Archana together? We will have to do this work keeping in mind that they should not get this news before we send it to them ourselves. So we need to hurry on this front."

King Mahendra Dev looked at that minister and said after thinking for a few moments "Even after the death of Maharaj Skand Gupta, the state of northwestern India has become independent and the Gupta dynasty has weakened, but still I have full faith that still roots of the Gupta dynasty will remain in Magadha for a long time. And the relationship of every ruling dynasty with municipal authority's family will be good because other than managing city they are also big trading family and everyone needs to maintain good relations with a businessman whether it is a King or a pauper.

Princess Archana is the daughter of the second queen and the second queen is the daughter of the prime minister. Queen Devyani added "This suggestion is good. Princess Archana is not as stubborn as Vishnupriya." And then seeing the prime minister asked: "What is your opinion, Mr. Prime Minister?"

Prime Minister said in a respectful posture "It will be a good fortune for my granddaughter and our family." Lady Mandakini saw Queen Devyani and the Prime Minister satirically and thought that the fate of a princess was decided like this in just a few sentences and with political bets.

King Mahendra Dev then said "Let us proceed on this, we do the same thing. Send the message as soon as possible about the news and princess Archana. Prime minister will be responsible for this work." After seeing the prime minister nodding his head, the King continued "And what is your plan regarding Ratanpur, everyone? The Gupta Empire is becoming weak and at this time we need to make good relations with the states around us. Bhishm Raj is returning from the northwest with his lion army, and the Kingdom of Ratanpur which was ordinary without him will be better than us in power again."

Bhishm Raj is the elder brother of King Ratanpur, Bhoj Raj. Bhishm Raj does not wish to rule while sitting on the throne, but he enjoys ruling the field of battle sitting on his warhorse, and for this reason, he has made his brother Bhoj Raj king and he himself took over the leadership of one of the troops. His valor and military discipline also made his army very powerful, and this is why the surrounding states called his army as a lion army. Everyone fears the lion army of his.

Army Leader said, "His Majesty! We feel that as of today Ratanpur is the most powerful in the surrounding states and its history is also from times of Mahabharata. Although they have only 50,000 soldiers in the army yet they can fight an army of 100,000 head-on due to the lion army of Bhishm Raj. If we establish and maintain a friendly relationship with them, our power and impact will definitely increase ."

Queen Devyani smiled while looking at King Mahendra Dev and said, "Princess Shri Devi saw Crown prince Veer one year ago in the festival of Mahamaya temple of Ratanpur and she had not forgotten him. If his majesty wants, we can marry Princess Shri Devi to Veer. " Princess Shri Devi is the daughter of Queen Devyani, and she is also present in the meeting. Her age is 20 years, just 1 year older than Vishnupriya. She listened to her mother and bowed her head blushing.

Lady Mandakini, who was sitting quietly, could not stay silent and said, "When my beloved daughter said that she loves Veer and wants to marry him, you not only disagreed but put her under house arrest and forced her to die and then only she could get her salvation. And now this marriage with Veer has become a very important thing for you?" And then looking at Queen Devyani she said "Veer has also written a letter for marriage to Priya and wanted us to go to Ratanpur with a marriage proposal. At that time it was you who said that this relationship was not necessary and did not send any reply to Veer. And also there was no plan to marry in Pataliputra at that time. "

And then, as if she remembered something and then said in a sad voice, "Did you force my daughter to commit suicide for your own daughter? Veer also loved my daughter and after the death of her beloved, do you want to send him a new marriage proposal? Are you not ridiculing their love? "

Before anyone could answer, Princess Shri Devi said, "Crown prince Veer did not meet me, so he does not know that I am superior to Priya in both knowledge and sword. When he will come to know about me, he will automatically realize his mistake. Anyway, he is a prince of a state, he has to marry somebody and love will grow up after some time too."

Princess Shri Devi knew about Priya and Veer's love a year ago when all the people went to the festival of Ratanpur. She has also fallen for Veer, but she had knowledge of politics and position of Ratanpur and she was waiting for the right time. With the help of her mother, she made the son of municipal authority of Patliputra attracted to Vishnupriya in a very planned manner and took her out of her way. Now when Ratanpur has returned to its glory, and Priya is also not in her way, this is the right time to get the Veer. Although the death of Priya was not in her plan, it doesn't matter if a non-favored shadow princess died.

King Mahendra Dev looked towards Lady Mandakini and then looking at the people present in the meeting said: "Decision in politics is not based on emotions but it is done based on time and circumstances." And then looking at Priest Minister said "High Priest! You will take care of this thing. Please leave for Ratanpur as soon a possible with the marriage proposal of Princess Shri Devi with crown prince f Ratanpur."

High priest looked at Lady Mandakini with compassion and then toward the King and said, "Sure His Majesty, I will depart with full preparation today itself." Queen Devyani and Princess Shri Devi have a face full of smiles.

Lady Mandakini saw Princess Shri Devi and thought that instead of feeling sad on her sister's death, she is feeling happy about marrying her dead sister's lover. Tears flowed in her eyes and she thought, "My daughter Priya! I have seen the true heart of your father and other relatives. Now let's see the love of your beloved for whom you have given up your life for."

King Mahendra Dev saw the Lady Mandakini and said, "Lady Mandakini! The decision that Priya has made can greatly affect the honor of our royal family. To make a plan to prevent the loss due to princess's act is also important." And then he looked at all the people present in the courtroom and said: "All of you should keep in mind that the death of the princess has happened with the snakebite and no other matter should be spread." Seeing all the people nodding in agreement, he looked at his younger brother Rajendra Dev in the meeting and said, "Younger brother! You go and arrange the funeral of Priya, we have to work with the ministers on contingency plans."

After that Rajendra Dev, other princes, princess and Rani Mandakini also got up and went out of the courtroom. From the door of the hall, Lady Mandakini saw King Mahendra Dev busy in discussion with the ministers and remembered her daughter's love letter and thought "It was my misfortune that after seeing a king fall in love with me, I felt blessed and married and today I am loveless and have also become childless. If I got another opportunity, I would have poisoned myself so that my daughter could leave everything to go with Veer without worrying." Her tears fell with every step.

Ratanpur,

Bhim Singh and his wife arranged food for the Veer and Meena and when they came in the courtyard and saw that there was only Meena present. Bhim Singh asked Meena "What happened? Where did Crown prince Veer go?"

Meena told Bhim Singh about the princess Priya and told that after sending the reply by messenger bird, Veer went away somewhere. Being a trusted person of crown prince Veer, Bhim Singh always was around as a bodyguard with Veer and he also knows the love of the princess Priya and the Veer. Now after knowing the news of Priya's death, he was also sad and felt uneasy in his heart. His heart started beating faster and he ran and went to the door of his house and did not find his horse there.

He ran and came inside the house and both his wife and Meena saw him with a questionable gaze. Meena asked "What happened? Is Crown Prince Veer in some problem?"

Bhim Singh said while holding his armor "Prince Veer has gone somewhere with my horse and I think he wants to see Princess Priya for the last time. Therefore I am afraid he might have gone toward Ambikapur." And he started wearing his armor.

Meena also said in a sad voice "Then what should be done? What if Veer does something against someone while he is feeling sad and angry, what would happen to him? After Priya, will Veer too...." she could not say anything as her words got stuck in her throat. She is Priya's childhood friend and how could she see anything happen to the lover of her bosom friend.

Bhim Singh took his armor and weapon and then spoke to his wife and Meena, "Nothing will happen to him. Do not worry. I will go and get some best riders and follow him. He is the crown prince of Ratanpur, Even in Ambikapur, nothing will happen to him so easily. "

After comforting them he ran out of the front gate.