13
The queen finally agreed to speak to the king.
Honestly, good for her and I am very excited to see where this unravels to.
I never expected the king to be this understanding and compassionate.
As a matter of fact no one did. Some even took pity on the queen for having to be with a man as quick tempered as him, but King Adinath took the world by surprise.
Perhaps it's love that makes you do wonders......or acts of stupidity....as proven by my actions infront of the general.
I have no idea why I got so paranoid around him, but if I do meet him again I would most certainly....
"Miss Sruthi!" the general's voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned back to see him walking towards me angrily.
"Greetin-"
"Where in the world were you last night?" he interrupted me before I could even talk.
"Apologies general," I said nervously, "I never abandon the Queen. Yesterday night was an unfortunate mistake on my part."
"UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE!" the general yelled, "The cost of your unfortunate mistake is the state having to continue tolerating a witch."
I did not understand that statement. I understand the reference of Meihu being the witch, of course, but I did not understand how my absence meant tolerating her.
...I did abandon the queen and it was a mistake.
..but Naina was around....and her statement could be used against Meihu. Did she not reveal what happened?
I wish to ask these questions to the general but only if he stopped yelling.
"Do not forget that you fall under my direct line of command," he continued. "If I see you abandoning your post again, I will not be kind," he warned before storming off.
So....this is 'Kind'. Threatening, yelling, and storming away without giving complete information or letting the other person speak is 'Kind'.
It is at this moment that I have decided, the general is no longer attractive to me.
If 'The king' could turn into 'Adi' for his queen, I atleast deserve a man who would not use his authority to threaten me.
"The parani (Mahaver) is being applied to your palms, your highness," the maid joked, "Why are your cheeks turning red."
"Were they?" I asked distrated from my thoughts.
"Were you thinking about someone?" the other maid asked. I smiled.
"The king, who else," I replied.
"Then maybe you should meet him, your highness," Pallu suggested.
I signed. "He must be in the court....or his private chambers...or his meeting chambers....busy with the affairs of the state."
"At this time, he will be in the fencing court, your highness," Naina said, "Practicing sword fighting with the general. You can visit him."
"No you must not," said Sruthi, "Your highness, women are forbidden from entering the fencing court."
"I do not want to enter the fencing court," I said, "I just want to have a glimpse of my husband."
"We could do that," said Pallavi and all the ladies, including me, turned their attention towards her.
"The weapons chamber has a window that would open to the corridor on the way to the Queen's private chambers," she explained, "So if the queen commands for the guards on that corridor to evacuate, we could climb in the window, reach the weapons chambers, and look through the second window into the adjacent chambers, which is the fencing court. "
"No Pallu no," Sruthi immediately started panicking, "Entering the weapons chambers would most likely be a crime."
"It is a crime," I added, "and the law states that the punishment is up to the king's discretion."
"That is very informative your highness," Pallu said sarcastically, "Congratulations, now none of us can use ignorance of law as an excuse."
Sruthi lightly slapped Pallavi on the head.
"Apologies your highess," Pallu apologized, "So are we going ahead with the plan?"
All the 12 ladies in the room looked at me. I thought for a while.
King's discretion right? The king is understanding....or so I assume....
"Yes," I answered.
"Your highness, look at this!" Pallu said trying to touch a sword.
"Do not touch anything," I ordered. Well, I just said, but perhaps the word choice made it sound like an order. Pallu immediately put it back and together we all tiptoed towards the other window which was way taller than our previous window.
I grabbed a nearby chair and climbed on it and peeped through.
"What do you see?" Pallu asked, "The king? Do you seee the king?"
"Yes I do," I barely replied completely engrossed in the view I was having.
The king is not in his usual royal clothes but in his more casual clothing. A loose white shirt and pant. For some reason, it made him look more beautiful and the way he swayed his sword looked like he was dancing with the air.
I've never been more in love with any man before!
I was observing when the king suddenly turned back and I immediately started to panic and fell on the floor.
"Your highness..." the women came to my aid.
"I am alright....get yourselves out of here," I said, "The king saw me!"
The immediately ran out and just as Sruthi stepped out the window, the king banged open the door.
This is a glorious position to be in. In the weapon's room, that no one is allowed to enter, standing beside a chair that I used to snoop into the fencing chambers.
"Apologies, your highess," the general came to my rescue, "I almost forgot that I invited you to show our weapon collection."
"Yes...general.." I nervously played along, "That's absolutely...."
I paused when the king looked at the other window. The open window I jumped in from.
"How could the guards be careless enough to keep the windows open?" the general asked still trying to not give up.
"Or a better question, how could all the guards in the corridor abandon their posting at the same time?" the king continued. "Unless they were ordered to," the king said shifting his attention towards me.
The general fell silent.
"Give us a moment, general," the king said with his eyes still on me.
"Yes, your highness," the general said and left the room closing the door behind him.
The king slowly walked towards me and my heartbeat kept increasing.
"What is this, Vaishu?" he asked once he was close enough.
"I should....probably leave," I said and tried to walk past him but he pulled me back.
"No you shall not," he said, "Not after breaking all the rules." "You are not allowed to be here, do you know that?" he asked.
"Yes," I nodded.
"And you are not allowed to snoop into the fencing chambers either," he added.
"Yes I know," I said, "I read the laws."
"So you not only know it is an offence, but you also know it is a punishable offence," the king asked.
"Upto the king's discretion I read," I said, "which prompted me to take my chances."
"You made the wrong decision," the king said as he stepped a little closer and pulled a sword from the holding stand behind me.
"Here," he said giving it to me and took another sword for himself.
"Crimes do not go unpunished here," he said and took a step back, "If you want me to let go of you, fight for it."
Why do you think Naina's statement was not used against Meihu?