Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

Bowing in front of Prithvi, Mriga took her leave from there. She was lauding herself on her self-control. But once she reached halfway from the shop to the Gurukul, she let out a wail so loud that a flock of startled birds woke up and flew out of their nests from the nearby tree.     

"Sorry," she whispered to the birds apologetically and clamped her mouth shut.     

When she reached back, a worried looking Abhirath was waiting for her at the gate.     

"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.     

This stupid girl! Can she not see the concern on my face? What else can I be doing here at this hour but wait for her?     

"I was debating whether to prepare a stretcher for you to be carried back to the Gurukul in case you didn't make it back alive," he said nastily.     

Mriga landed a fist just above his elbow. That was till where her hand could reach.     

"Why did God decide to give me friends like you? I would accept a mean enemy any day instead. Oh God! I have a feeling that this is my last month in this world. I don't think I am going to survive this torturous life for much longer," she started to wail.     

Abhirath wanted to scold her for her over reaction but she looked so cute in the moment that his arm went around her shoulder to pat her awkwardly.     

"It's ok. I am here to help. You are too precious to leave this world so soon," he soothed her in a gentle voice.     

Mriga's sobs stopped and she looked up at him in surprise. Was the surly bear being kind to her on her face? Was this a dream?     

She raised her hand to check his forehead for fever. Abhirath understood her intentions and broke away from her with a scowl. She was the mean one, also the blind one, not to mention, stupid!!!     

"Tell me what happened," he asked with a long suffering expression on his face.     

Southern Zilla     

Saraswati stretched her tired limbs fully before she sat down on the cot. She had returned back just now from the site and her entire body ached. Even though Harshvardhan had arranged extra help for her, the revised target by Prithvi was taking its toll on her, physically and mentally.     

"I am going to take a long leave once this project is over," she told herself before crashing on the bed.     

She had no strength left for even washing herself clean.     

"A lioness doesn't need to wash up, right?" mumbling to herself, she fell asleep.     

Few kilometers away     

"Oh! You are back? How was the trip? How is Yash doing?" Ujjwala asked her husband as he entered the living room.     

He had just returned from the capital after a five-day trip.     

"He is doing alright. Trying to focus his energy on studies and other things," Harshvardhan replied quietly.     

His son's dejected face swam before his eyes but he knew that there was no point in bringing it up. All of them were well aware of their faults and rehashing it over and over again won't help anyone.     

"That's good! I will look him up once I go there," she said to him casually.     

Harshvardhan looked at her in surprise and asked, "You are going to the capital? When? If you had planned to go, you should have just travelled with me."     

Ujjwala got up from the chaise lounge and came to stand in front of him.     

"Have you forgotten that the QIT* competition starts from the end of this week? As a zilla head, I need to be there from the first day itself to observe all the candidates. You know that I will have to support one participant in the end, right? For that, I have to start making a list of the potential candidates," she said.     

Harshvardhan looked at her, trying to figure out the meaning behind her words. Now, what was cooking in her head?     

"Are you saying that you won't be throwing your weight behind Vindhya anymore?" he asked after a pause.     

She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "After a deep contemplation, I realized that she doesn't have the right temperament to be the next ruler of Chandragarh and I will do everything in my power to ensure that she doesn't get chosen."     

He chose not to challenge his wife's reasoning and nodded his head. There was another thing which was more important.     

After framing it in his head, he said, "The girl whom Yash likes... she has decided to take part in the competition as well. I am not asking you to help her. But maybe you can take this opportunity to evaluate her fairly and see if she and our son match well."     

There! He had said it.     

Ujjwala didn't respond immediately. She knew that she had agreed to support Yash but she didn't know that the moment would arise this quickly.     

"If you are implying that I should favor her even if she is not qualified, then you can forget it. This competition is too important for us to treat it as a personal playground. My decision to support Vindhya earlier had stemmed from my belief in her abilities. Wishing her to be a part of this family came after that," she sounded indignant.     

Under normal circumstances, she never offered explanations but she had been making an effort these past few weeks.     

Harshvardhan smiled at his prickly hedgehog and said, "You may have a lot of shortcomings but being a cheater isn't one of them. I am not asking you to help her, only look at her with an unbiased eye."     

Ujjwala nodded her head and mumbled that she needed to go and check on an urgent official matter right now. Harshvardhan saw his wife's retreating back and smiled indulgently.     

*QIT - Queen in Training. This acronym will be used henceforth to denote the same.