22
"This is harder than I thought," the queen said to herself staring at the list on her study table.
"Your highness, the king is arriving," Naina informed but the queen was too stressed to acknowledge. Naina tried to say it for the second time, a little louder, but the king has already made his way into the library.
The queen, to the utmost surprise of every one of us, is still engrossed in her work.
She never did that!
I turned to look at the king's reaction to being ignored but he simply smiled.
"Books before husband, Vaishu?" he asked playfully while walking towards her.
"Oh," the queen said startled. "I am so sorry....I am just panicking because I thought I would be in charge of 67 people but it turns out there are 189 women in the palace and...." she said looking at the list.
"Vaishu, look at me," the king interrupted and the queen turned towards him. He applied the sindhoor and deliberately continued to maintain eye contact. The queen stopped talking and just looked at him, her eyes full of love!
"You were saying?" the king asked focussing his attention to the list. It took a couple of seconds for the queen to catch up.
"Right..." she said, "I have to handle 189 women and I know nothing about them....so I memorized their family details, likes and dislikes but am not sure if it is enough."
The king looked at her blankly and then at the papers infront of her.
"Your memorized all of this?" he asked. The queen nodded.
"And you are asking me if it is enough?" he asked again.
"Yes," the Queen answered.
"Well," the king chuckled, "It is not enough."
"What else should I learn?" the queen asked innocently.
"Not learn, talk," the king corrected, "You want to know them? You talk to them."
I noticed the queen's expression change.
She is starting to panic and I completely understand that.
The queen is objectively very charismatic.
Her kindness adds to her charm but unfortunately she does not see herself in that light.
She thinks she needs to take everyone's feelings into consideration before doing anything.
She once told me that if she is a room of 10 people, she will try to predict all their reactions before speaking a word.
'I think on behalf of everyone in the room before blinking my eyes and that is plainfully exhausting' were her exact words.
The meeting with the queen's cabinet was not easy either.
It took her days of preparation and research and although she did a good job hiding it from everyone except for the inner circle, she was incredibly stressed throughout.
I could only imagine how hard it would be to do that all over again but with thrice the number of people.
"Vaishu," the king said gently holding her hand, "What happened?"
"189 people....different backgrounds...different opinions..." the queen started talking, more so to herself, than to the king, "How can I....this is a disaster...I should..."Shush Vaishu, stop thinking!" she said to herself similar to the way the king tells her.
The king was surprised the moment he heard the last statement. "Are you mocking me, Vaishu?" he asked.
No she is not. 'Shush Vaishu, stop thinking!' is the queen's mantra to calm herself down. Inspired by the king's words, sure, but she is definitely not mocking him.
"I am not..." the queen immediately replied, "I was just trying to calm myself down."
"By making fun of the king?" the king asked.
"No...Adi...I would never..."
"You should know by now, Vaishu," the king said gently reaching out for a strand of the queen's hair and tucking it behind her ear, "Nobody gets away with making fun of the king."
"But Adi...I did not..." the queen stopped when she noticed his hand run down the length of her braid across her shoudler, "No please do not..." she tried but it was too late. The king already undid her braid and gave her a mischevious smile.
Aww I need a man who does this when he is offended...unlike the arrogant general...
"Naina help me fix my hair," the queen said turning towards us.
"Nobody lays a finger on the queen's hair. That is an order," the king commanded and Naina stopped in her feet.
"I can braid my own hair," the queen said turning back to the king.
"No do not," the king said holding her hand to stop her from reaching to her hair. "Please," he softly added.
He said please.....The king said 'please' ?? They are adorable!
The queen immediately stopped almost as if she is on a spell. She is enchanted by him and I am convinced the king is fully aware of that. He knows exactly how to charm the queen to make things go his way.
The king gently brought the queen's hand down.
"I will see you after court, Vaishu," he said and made his way out but stopped right infront of me.
"See me in the meeting chambers, Sruthi," he said before leaving.
This is not good. Especially not good, given what happened yesterday.
God! I should have just followed Pallu's stratergy and ran away the moment I saw the king. But no, stupid Sruthi decided to stay and watch the cute moments....
"Your highness, I am so sorry..." I started to apologize before the king even started speaking.
"I do not accept apologies Sruthi," the king interrupted me, "Yet, I gave you a chance, the day you abandoned the queen, only to find you intoxicated at work a few days later."
"Your highness, I was not intoxicated," I explained.
"So everything you did yesterday was in full consioussness?" the king asked in a more serious tone, "How exactly do you see this working in your favor, Sruthi?"
This is not going in a good direction and I am starting to get more and more nervous and I started to struggle to form sentences.
"Your highness...the general..."
"He is equally angry. I assure you," the king interrupted.
"The flowers..."
"What flowers?" the king asked again.
"The....the general's apology...." I said.
"The general apologized?" the king said and at this moment I fell silent, contemplating on whether I should continue.
I am not sure what calmed the king but he genuinely softened his approach.
"Get Sruthi some water," he told the soldier nearby and a glass of water was placed infront of me. I took a sip and looked at the king.
"Did the general apologize to you, Sruthi?" the king asked calmly. I hesitantly nodded.
"For what?" he asked again.
"For...his behavior a few days back...when we were playing Ludo," I answered.
"And the flowers he had in his hand at that time?" the king asked, "They were for you?"
"Yes, your highness," I answered.
"That is a surprise," the king said. He looked a little amused.
"Which is why...your highness," I hesitantly continued, "I assumed I was dreaming, and everything else was a result of that pre-concieved notion."
"Hmmm," said the king thinking. "You are free to go, Sruthi," he said after a while.
"Are you sure, your highness?" I asked confused.
"Yes," the king said, "Get back to work."
I thanked my stars and made my way outside.
"Ask the general to meet me. I need to talk to him in private," I heard the king tell one of his soldiers as I walked out.
Any guesses on what might be going on in Adi's mind?