Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

Chapter 80: Covert Intentions and Underlying Chemistry

Mriga could feel Abhirath's frown making a hole in his back, but he didn't have time to give her a reassuring look.

It's all about time now!

The other competitor girl only managed to get one hand on the rotating pulpit and was consequently dragged along the circular platform but she did not let go of her grip. He immediately disappeared towards the opposite side of the tree which was pulled by a moving motion.

Now!

Mriga threw the khukri at a sharp angle towards the resources hanging on the tree. At the same time, he launched himself with all his might at the girl pair.

The poor girl was unprepared for the body attack and fell backwards, landing hard on her butt. Mriga recovered at whirlwind speed and ran back to catch the cheerfully packed gift in her hands.

"Come to me, my dear," whispered Mriga, grinning to herself.

All of this happened in a split second. At this moment the contestant, who finally managed to get both of his hands on the pulpit, returned to this side with a triumphant grin on his face. Unfortunately, the grin turned into a frown and then a frown as soon as he realized the changing circumstances.

The loud gong made Abhirath and Vaishali stop in the middle of their battle to see what happened.

Without hesitation, Vaishali pushed Abhirath away and ran to where her partner was. He picked up the bow and arrow that was being guarded by his comrade.

Mriga starts laughing when she realizes that the other girl intends to replicate her trick. But he did not wait to see if he would defeat the other girl frantically trying to climb the tree now to snatch the final reward.

Taking Abhirath's hand, Mriga ran towards the exit and stopped only when they reached the guards. Only by handing the objects in his hands to the officers and marking the presence of the two partners could he record his success.

As soon as they stepped out of the place, did Mriga release the breath she had been holding unconsciously.

Abhirath, who had maintained a serious face and calm demeanor throughout the event and especially in front of others, ended up laughing out loud.

"Your Majesty, you are amazing today!" he turned to face her and bowed deeply.

Mriga threw her head back at his antics and laughed as well. Although this was only the first stage, but right now it felt like he had won the fight.

"I was thirsty and hungry, too" he lamented the next second.

Gazing into the sky, he realized that it had been more than four hours since they entered first.

"Guruji is very rude. Does he want the contestant to die of dehydration if we manage to escape the obstacles?" he's pouting.

Abhirath gave him a pampering smile and said,

"You're not fair. He gave us the whole lake. Is that not enough for you?"

He rolled his eyes at her and called her the pet teacher.

"Should we go now? I want to go back and take an old shower. Who knows what crawled through my body," he shuddered.

He nodded his head but then suddenly remembered something.

"Why don't you go and find out the travel arrangements to return and I'll see you at the entrance soon" he said.

'Huh! Her face was like a sunflower just a moment ago. Why did it suddenly become a storm?' Mriga thought when she saw him rushing away.

"I'm here to file a formal complaint. I want to meet with the organizers" Abhirath told the officer stationed at a nearby table, making several notes on the parchment.

The man looked at Abhirath's serious face. He seemed to be debating something internally before raising his hand and pointing towards the tall tower on his left. The young man put a stern expression on his face and walked away with long strides.

.

Fifteen minutes later

"Where are you? We just missed the coach to come back. Now we have to wait another ten minutes" Mriga told Abhirath who had just walked out of the place.

"I, uh. needed to do something urgent" he said faintly.

He frowned and was about to ask her to clarify when she came to a realization.

"Ah. I understand. Sure," he patted her on the arm.

Abhirath's eyebrows are fused. Whatdoes thatmean? There was no way he could find out that he was going to complain about criminals. So what happened to his evil head?

He had yet to ask a question when he suddenly started giggling and told her in a proud tone,

"At least, now you agree that Guruji is evil, right? He didn't even give us a chance to use the restroom. Poor thing, the lake can't help you in that aspect."

Abhirath's mouth was wide open. Is this girl engaging in toilet humor with him now?

Gross!

She was tempted to question her own wisdom in falling in love with such a girl instead of finding her polished and graceful self. Unaware of her dark thoughts, Mriga keeps turning her head from side to side on her rude jokes.

They dragged their tired bodies into the carriage that had just arrived. Right behind them, came Vaishali and her partner. Admitting it with a small nod, Mriga leaned back on the chair and closed her eyes which were imitated by the injured Vaishali couple.

Abhirath looked out the window, seemingly watching the surroundings passing by.

"Do you also have a military background?" Vaishali's softly spoken words broke the silence on the carriage.

Abhirath understood that he asked the question because of their similar fighting style in the previous room.

.

Abhirath nodded in response to Vaishali's question but said nothing more.

"I was told that my father had been a soldier before he died and left me alone in this world" he said in an expressionless voice.

As a by-product of parents becoming spies, Abhirath has been taught early on to avoid and avoid all probing questions or their devious follow-up. He did not know whether the girl was sincere or not in her seemingly pathetic actions.

One way, he doesn't care. The only person he wanted to know in detail, was sitting right next to him.

Due to his apparent disinterest in engaging in conversation, Vaishali also becomes quiet.

Mriga, who had been pretending to sleep until now, raised her head to the side and whispered very gently in her partner's ears even with her eyes closed,

"That girl seems to show interest in you. Look at you so rude. You can at least ask about her mother. I'm curious now!"

He did not wait for his biting reply but slipped back into his previous position with a grin on his lips. Abhirath shook his head helplessly at the evil girl.

He wanted to flick his forehead so hard that a hole opened there and he could pour some sense into it. Under normal circumstances, he would be the last person to understand or understand such nuances.

Then why was he reading a one-sided conversation by another girl?

So unfair!

.

The same night, Gurukul

Prithvi was pensive and stared at the void glumly while sitting in a dark room. Saraswati came in with a lamp and a bowl of dal and rice. He knew that his boss was uneasy about something but as usual, he did not ask.

Working for Suraksha Chakra is an honor and he has done all his duties with great pride from the very beginning.

But it is only when he is handpicked by Prithvi to be part of his core team that he learns the true meaning of brilliance.

But tonight, he was troubled enough to filter it out clearly.

"Guruji, you haven't eaten anything since morning. I just received this from a foodhall. No seasoning whatsoever, as you please," he persuaded.

Prithvi exhaled heavily and pinched the space between his eyebrows.

"I want you to go to the courier's office tomorrow. Take that guy to see me, which we sometimes use to send messages. Leave the tray here. You can leave now. Much had to be prepared for the next round," with that, he shifted his gaze and looked back into thin air again.

Saraswati held back her sigh and came out, leaving a tray of food nearby.

.

Medical facilities, Gurukul

Mriga walked out of the clinic after changing his wound dressing a second time. After reaching Gurukul the previous day, Abhirath had been waiting for her to finish her bath and took her to Vaidya before she went to her dormitory to finally clean up.

Mriga had slept well until 8pm before Ishani completely shook her and asked her to come to dinner. Everyone wanted to meet him downstairs and looked forward to a detailed explanation of the day's event.

Although Mriga wanted to sleep for another twenty hours, she groaned and dragged her tormented body down the stairs.

As soon as the two girls came out of the dorm, Abhirath arrogantly told everyone that he and Mriga would meet the others in the dining room.

Before anyone could react, he held onto his arm, noticed the wound on his hand and dragged it away.

At this moment, Mriga snorted due to the stinging pain in his hands and looked at the commanding man standing beside him.

"Are you happy now that the pain is back in the palm of my hand? Can't you just wait for me to have dinner quietly before making me change the bandage," she said.

"Ishani can feed you if you can't do it alone. But your hands should heal as soon as possible. We don't know how much you should write in the upcoming written test. You only have two days between now and then. How can you be so bored about that?" he sounds annoyed.

When Vaidya had opened his bandages now, Abhirath could see red punctures on the backs of his hands and fingers.

Due to the continuous activity during the day, the hands are always used all the time. But now, they swelled to the size of a potato.

His heart was partly sick and partly angry at this moment. But this girl could not be bothered and treated everything very lightly.

"This is it again .. did you know that you are as chatty as an old lady? But I am so tired now that I cannot be bothered to fight with you. Let's go and eat" he said with a huff.

Suddenly, he felt regretful and wanted to make amends but was unable to find the right word.

"Yo .. you were great there today" he said after a while.

Mriga started walking in front of him but now stopped at the sentence he said awkwardly. He knew that he was not the most eloquent in giving compliments but the praise that came out of his mouth meant a big problem and he turned to give him a mischievous smile.

"We made an incredible team, right. If I become a QIT, I will make you part of my inner council" he said with a laugh.

.

"Huh! Who wants to join the board? You think I have nothing better to do with my time than to continue correcting you all my life? I will be a spy, the best to date," Abhirath said with determination in his voice.

It was not that he did not think that he was capable of achieving that position, but that he himself had no plans to become part of the kingdom's evil. It has been her dream to be part of the Suraksha Chakra team for a long time.

"Someone felt very satisfied after finishing the first round alone. Counting your chickens before hatching," a cynical voice sounded from behind them.

Mriga spun on a rough prick of an unfamiliar voice. It was Vindhya's crybaby partner who said provoking words. He stood there with the 'self-proclaimed' winner and the four others, all wearing the same narcissistic expression on their faces.

Mriga's instinct was to ignore them, but suddenly Abhirath darted past him and covered the distance between them.

"Hi friends. Imagine my luck meeting you here. I'm Abhirath. I've heard a lot about you all and always wanted to get acquainted. May I know your name?" he used his rarely used charm but in a strange way.

"How can he hear about them if he doesn't even know their names?" Mriga's confused.

As one of them stepped out to open his mouth, Vindhya's hand stretched out and stopped the girl from speaking.

"I'm sorry we. We have to go somewhere," with that Vindhya gives a meaningful look to her group and leaves from there.

Mriga frowned at the confusing exchange. He swung his eyes at Abhirath's face that resembled an iceberg just now. What the hell happened to him?

Is he bipolar?

"Uh .. did I miss something here?" he asked her.

His gaze finally softened as it turned to his face and he shook his head in a resigned manner,

"Not something, many things. Its alright. Let's go."

Too tired to care about his obscure words, Mriga's stomach takes over her brain muscles and takes her to the dining room.

Yash sees the two of them approaching the table. Although it had only been a day since the last time he had seen them, there was something different in their equation.

It was not that Mriga or the man looked at each other, but the body language between them had changed drastically.

The only way to describe how they look walking together at the moment is – 'comfortable'.

There is a sense of comfort or visible familiarity that was not there before. Mriga either didn't realize it or didn't reject it. Under normal circumstances, Yash wanted to believe that it would be the first but he had an uncomfortable intuition that this time it was the last.

There was no way of knowing what was really going on in one day so they became so comfortable with each other, but his heart was broken under a boulder now.

All along, he had thought that he would use these days to earn his forgiveness before trying to regain his affection.

But if things continued as they were today, he was not sure if he could even come within fifty meters of his presence. Abhirath's projected vibration was no less than that of an alpha male marking his territory.

"What are you thinking with such a serious face? We won today, then why look so grim?" Nirbhay commented on the intensity on Yash's face that could not be missed.

Before Yash could answer, Vandit interrupted and grinned,

"Can't you see that poor man's heart is burning? How can you blame him? Did you not notice that our sour bear has been clinging to Mriga like a leech ever since they returned from the contest and more importantly, he did not bother pushing her away like he used to, before."

Yash could not stop the naked wound appearing in his eyes which made Ishani feel a little bad for him.

He nudged Vandit's ribs hard and said,

"Sometimes you make me wonder about your 'orientation. I don't think that I've ever seen you pay so much attention to me when you bathe in Abhirath. Didn't you and he swear enemies at one point in time? I wonder what your reason for turning 180° from that position is to know the smallest change in the feel of his face lately."

Chiranjeev, who as usual watched the show as an observer, almost choked on the bite of the food he had just eaten. As Vandit's face turned red like a tomato, he glared at Ishani who stared back at him calmly, with a questioning look.

"Give me a place, Vandit. I want to sit next to Ishani," Mriga pouted as soon as she reached the table.

Without waiting for the man to react, Ishani pushes him violently and picks up Mriga's plate full of charge, helping him sit up.

"Why are you so angry with me? Whose orientation should be checked?" Vandit grumbled softly.

But Ishani did not pay attention to his words. Instead, he looked at Mriga's plate and laughed out loud.

"Did someone tell you that the food stalls are closing from tomorrow? Why is there so much food on your plate?" he asked his best friend.

Mriga gave him a wounded look and replied,

"How can you ask me that question? Last night this ogre didn't let me eat anything but a few pieces of meat. And this morning was the greatest torture of my life, fighting. When I returned, I was in no condition to eat. How can you hate me that little extra I get on my plate right now?"