Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

Chapter 81: Get ready!

Gurukull, Chandragarh

The four boys were used to the charade between the two companions and did not bother to interfere in their quarrels. After all, Vandit, the most vocal, was busy sulking.

Yash was the only one who spoke up as he spoke to Mriga,

"How's your hand now? Do you think you will fully recover in the next two days? What did Vaidya say?"

While Abhirath scowled at her for using it as an opportunity to attract her attention, Mriga smiled slightly at Yash.

She knew that she asked out of worry and told him that there was nothing to worry about.

"Since the physical test is over, I suggest we start with stage 2 tonight on our own. I know you're tired after a long day, but since you've managed to get a little sleep, we can do a few rounds of tests. Verbal question and answer session, right? Treat it like a warm-up, "yash's advice hesitates, almost bracing himself for rejection.

His face was without any emotion.

This time Abhirath did not mind because he also knew that time was very important and all forty-five girls who had completed the round, would burn the midnight oil for the next two nights.

"Alright, sure. Let's do it" replied Mriga.

Yash pushed his chair back and got up.

"Then, I'll get the questions I've chosen for training. See you outside the girls' dormitory soon," with that, he's gone from there.

Ishani is the one who sighed softly looking at her sad and receding figure.

'This is the only way he can show his love to her now, ' he thought inwardly.

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Himprayag

It has been three days since the incident on the frozen ground. Shaurya has fully recovered and has frequently traveled to military camps with Bela and Gayatri since then.

He had not seen Ahilya post that day when she came to the room where she was recuperating. That's a good thing because Gayatri's antagonism towards him is apparent even without Ahilya's presence here.

She obviously hated him for creating a rift between her and the princess.

But Shaurya chose to ignore it and concentrated on gathering all the military details and information he could, from his interactions with the army troops.

Thankfully, Bela also did the same and did not want to worry about the 'sensitive problems' of the royal family.

Apart from Gayatri's personal grudges, she is very focused and professional in her behavior in official affairs.

If anyone knows the proposal in detail other than Ahilya, it is him and hence, he also understands gravity and the importance of the same thing.

"When will we meet the King?" Bela asked Gayatri politely before ending the day.

They are running out of time and Ahilya does not seem to understand their urgency.

"I'll ask the princess and tell you about it. Good night," Gayatri replied briefly and tilted her head towards Bela, ignoring Shaurya completely.

As her straight back moved away from their eyes, Bela sighed and said,

"Tsk tsk, wondering how long his sulking lasted. That's why romance and professional life shouldn't be mixed into one."

Shaurya, who had been listening to Bela's grunts with half an ear, suddenly became alert.

The implications of his words became clear to him and struck closer to home and he hurriedly replied with,

"I ... um, I think if one partner is mature enough, there shouldn't be too much trouble. In this case of these women, I believe that both are very childish in terms of emotions. But not everyone is like that."

Bela only spoke in the context of Gayatri and Ahilya when she said that but seeing Shaurya's sincere expression, she almost burst out laughing. This person is ready to continue his own agenda at every opportunity!

"You've been invited by your friend to join him for dinner at a regular place. Your friend will wait anxiously," a uniformed bachelor came and told Bela.

This time there is no record other than someone. It seems the minister likes to mix things up. But he used an official guard for this job. Was he worried about getting caught?

Bela was very suspicious of Rudradev. Trying his hardest, he could not understand his motive for helping them.

Why would one bother risking his good position in the royal palace to help another country continue its agenda?

What did he get out of it?

He looked at Shaurya who shook his head negatively.

For the past two nights, he had been out to explore and search for information about Rudradev, but until now he had gotten nothing.

The previous link which was helpful in giving her sensitive material about the Princess, was conspicuously absent now which made her believe in her original theory that it was her minister who had helped her before.

Butwhy?

At first glance, he belongs to Prince Mithilesh's camp and seems to enjoy a lot of influence there. Then why?

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Royal palace

King Indraditya lay on the bed with sweat stuck to his forehead despite the cold outside.

Vaidya was collecting his equipment when Rudradev entered the room. He was shocked when he received a call at this hour from the king.

Thankfully, he had not yet gone to the inn.

"How do you feel, Your Majesty?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice.

Waving his hand, the king gestured for the younger man to sit by his bed.

"What is Chandragarh reporting? Don't bother decorating it. Give it to me as it is," he said.

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Himprayag

Rudradev lowered his head and answered the king respectfully,

"I fear that Prince Mithilesh seems to have encountered obstacles as far as negotiations are concerned with Rani Samyukta. That is why he decided to stay in Chandragarh in hopes of changing his mind. But according to my sources, he is unlikely to do so even under extreme circumstances. His position in allowing other countries to establish their financial bases in his kingdom was really strong. As their domestic trading system developed, the temptations that the prince might offer at this time would not be enough to influence the queen. I'm sorry."

"Aren't these supposed to be your propositions? You are the one who thinks about it at first. Shouldn't you be more responsible and look for solutions in such situations?" the king growled because he was not happy.

Rudradev kept his face submissive and said,

"Since the king has asked me to speak without coloring the facts, I will. Forgive my frankness. The original draft I created only wanted to target a few elected monarchies at a time, which I knew I could influence by incentivizing a deal. Once the model becomes successful in this regard, it will be much easier to convince big countries like Chandragarh. Bu... but Prince Mithilesh.

He let his voice follow on purpose.

"My son who was driven by ambition treated him as his personal shortcut to the throne without heeding the possibility of a trap," the king looked breathless now.

"What do you propose we do now?" he asked the minister.

Although the question seemed simple on the surface, Rudradev knew that the king was looking for a way out. For the first time in many years, she finally realized that the king actually wanted her son to ascend the throne rather than her daughter, even though she pretended not to care for the two of them.

"I believe that in order to keep justice, the king must offer the Princess similar but equally impossible opportunities" he said.

The king did not react and closed his eyes in exhaustion before saying,

"You can go now."

Rudradev lowered his head and stepped out of the room. Then he turned around and walked with quick steps.

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East Zilla, Chandragarh

Ramanujam groaned in pain and opened his eyes. But he can't see anything. Was it because her eyesight was affected or was she in a very dark place?

"It's not the first time I've woken up here," he realized slowly.

Apparently, he had floated in and out of consciousness several times which meant that he had been found and captured. He tried hard to remember the last thing he did before coming to this place.

Ahhhh, he followed Sharada, the head of that Eastern zilla as he stepped out of Suraksha Chakra's office. He was very cautious and he seemed to be unconscious or worried about being stalked.

"Because he knew about my presence from the beginning! When did I give my presence? I should have noticed Guruji's instructions," this was his last thought before fainting again.

Footsteps arrive outside the basement door and the person waits for the effects of the sleeping gas to recede before going inside. The perpetrator's lips curled into a smile.

Everything moves perfectly, as it should.

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Gurukull, Chandragarh

Prithvi received a report from the messenger with a cold face. The poor man looked nervous even though he had done nothing wrong.

"You can go now," with that Prithvi told the man to leave.

Saraswati looked up curiously as her boss came out of her room and stood by her desk. He stood up to ask but did not have to wait for long.

"You will take over Ramanujam's duties for a while. Call the Queen's aide and tell her that I am seeking an audience with Rani Samyukta immediately," her voice did not change and Saraswati said nothing but nodded in agreement.

"Maybe that idiot project took longer. Guruji has been in a bad mood lately" he told himself, suppressing the unpleasant feelings that had arisen inside him.

The meeting between the head of Suraksha's chakra and the queen will be held as usual in Devyani's brothel. But they have to be careful even when sending messages to it.

Thankfully, the eagle was a commonly used resource among the three of them along with Shaurya. So he quickly encrypted the message and sent the bird flying towards the royal palace.

.

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03:00, brothel

Prithvi had just finished questioning Rani Samyukta about the progress and obstacles to all the operations that were going on. The queen pinched the gap between her eyebrows to counteract the fatigue that seemed overwhelming at this moment.

"Please don't take this lightly. We strongly advise you to reconsider this decision. At least, look at the options we've discarded before," she pleaded with the queen.

With a rough tone that had never been used before, he told her,

"It's been months since you started investigating the matter. You also have not managed to find the mole or the plan. If we don't bring out the enemy, don't we just extend the inevitable? And don't tell me that you need more time or that you have other plans. It depends, the trap is ready. Nothing will change at this time. Things will go according to the current plan.

Prithvi knew that he was not in a position to argue, but he could not let the meeting end without saying,

"At least, we should consider delaying the competition by a few weeks and increasing security in the capital."

.

"Prithvi, it is the duty of the royal guards to defend the capital and protect me while Suraksha Chakra must support them with correct intel. As long as both teams are able to do their job well, everything will be fine" he said in a steel tone.

"But your safety is first and foremost for us" he pleaded.

"I am Rani Samyukta, queen of Chandragarh. This is my dharma* to lead my people from the front. You concentrated on making my plan happen. My well-being is not under your watch," with that cold attitude.the words, he turned his back towards her, indicating that this meeting is over.

Prithvi sighed inwardly and stepped out of the room. As usual, he was the one who had to go first.

Instead of directly chasing after her, Rani Samyukta took the broom that was kept at the side and started sweeping the floor.

Since no one should know of the existence of this room other than the spy chief and the queen, no one was guarding and cleaning it.

Since her days as a QIT, the previous queen had taught her to come and clean the place.

A young Samyukta did so out of politeness until his goal became clear to him when he started coming here alone. It was a therapeutic experience.

After spending fifteen minutes tidying up the place, he pressed the lever into the secret hole and bent down to step inside.

Prithvi arrived at his house and took off the clothes he had been wearing. He threw them on the floor in annoyance. He is the result driver, not to mention the one in control.

He knew that he could not get the queen to walk the path he wanted, but the situation was frustrating now especially as it was aggravated by the recent hurdles he had faced.

Despite the cold weather, wearing only a long robe, he walked to the nearby public bathing area. He stepped into the small pond and went into the water while holding his breath.

He wanted to sift through the useless clutter and find the clues that had eluded him all along.

Soon the pressure on his lungs became too heavy and he returned to the surface. It's time to bend a finger and pull out a ghee*!

.

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The next morning, Gurukul

The second stage is to evaluate the knowledge of the candidate which is not only limited to what has been taught in Gurukul. QIT needs to have a holistic picture of the country and its surroundings. Competition has three components to it.

But because of the format it is like that, the contestants can actually only prepare one of the three components - multiple choice question paper.

Topics in this regard will include everything QIT should know, including Chandragarh's administrative policies, laws, financial system, foreign policy, details about neighboring countries, and more.

The second component will be an open question with no correct answer. The contestants will be judged based on the logic or explanation behind their responses.

The problem with this format is that if a contestant answers a question that tries to guess the intent or inclination of the jury, he or she could be wrong.

Therefore, the only way to respond is to stay true to what the contestant personally believes. There is no way to prepare something like this. And the final component is quantitative and scoresheet feedback from teachers and peers.

Vindhya was convinced that the assessment of the teachers and class mates would be entirely in her favor.

In fact, she had maintained a gentle and considerate appearance for many years because of this. Unfortunately for him, the weight of this section has been reduced from 50% to 20% in this competition.

He could not stop cursing the Queen for doing this and introducing stupid 'open questions.

The matter of multiple choice was also something he knew he would master. After all, this was what he had prepared for in his years of growth.

As long as he had the entire 60% under his belt, how bad could he do on the last piece. With that, she smiled at herself and waited for her brother outside the Gurukul gate.

He could not help but think about the strange coincidence yesterday when the two contestants were with their partner, coming and offering themselves to help him in the labyrinth.

After they successfully completed the level, the two girls told him that they would continue to offer help as long as they could in the future.

He did not know whether he should be suspicious of a helpful stranger or just accept the help secretly. Have they tried to lick it?

"I will discuss this with brother Vidyut today. I wonder why he asked to meet me in the middle of the competition. He wasn't the type to cause a disturbance unless it was urgent," he mused as he rubbed his hands on his arms, trying to stay warm.

Within minutes, Vidyut's charming smile was seen by her as she got off the horse.

"Sorry, I made you wait a long time, huh? Come on, let's take a walk. I brought your beloved horse," he said, taking control of another horse from the henchman riding beside him.

Vindhya is very surprised by her brother's actions but does not question him and expertly climbs onto the horse.

"Let's head to the outskirts. At this hour, the path to the city will be crowded," he said before driving his horse.

After half an hour, they stopped the horse.

They are on the bank of a small river. Descending, Vidyut patted his horse that was gleaming with sweat and brought it to drink water. Vindhya.

He waited patiently. She was well aware of her brother's habit of speaking when she was ready.

......................

*Dharma - An aspect of truth or reality.

* Bend your finger and remove the ghee - Idiom which means deviating from the rules to get what you want.