
Half an hour later, Foodhall
Abhirath was worried and kept looking at the busy girl stuffing her face with food as if there was no tomorrow. Perhaps the nervousness over the past two days had prevented him from eating until he was full and he was trying to compensate for it now.
"Can you explain to me well about your answer? What exactly are you writing?" he asked her for the umpteenth time.
Upset with her nagging, she gave him a frown and said,
"Once the results come out, I'll tell you. I'm not a fool. If you don't like my answer now and I don't finish the rounds by chance, you and I both know what's going to happen. Why are you being scolded continuously?"
The man was confused by his strange logic. Was he trying to say that he always reprimanded her unreasonably?
Nirbhay grinned as usual at the free show and intervened,
"When was the result announced?"
Mriga did not know and shrugged her shoulders while Abhirath who had studied the entire schedule by heart, replied in a heavy voice, saying,
"In two days' time."
"Oh then, someone will wander around worriedly for the next two days," he grinned.
Mriga stopped in the middle of putting egg curry into her mouth and said,
"No, I don't. What's done. I gave it my best"
"He's talking about me, you idiot," Abhirath put his face between his palms and hid it.
These were all replies to his arrogant behavior in the past. He believed himself to be on top of this basic human reaction until two years ago when he first saw this voracious girl.
And now, he could not even look into his own eyes. How sad!
.
Late at night, outside Dean's office
"Are you sure this is the list?" Vindhya asked in surprise.
The girl standing in front of him shook her head in embarrassment and replied,
"Yes. I'm sorry, but this is the last list of girls who complete the double-choice question round."
He was the same person who had helped Vindhya during the exam by telling her about the choice of more than one correct answer.
Vindhya looked at the girl suspiciously,
"How do I know that you didn't show me the fake list?"
The other girl shrugged her shoulders and said,
"How can that help me? I managed to get this with great difficulty just because I believe that you are the right person to be the next queen of Chandragarh and also because you need to do it. Unfortunately, this list does not contain your name. This means you don't get even 50% in this exam which is a passing score. Storing it into the main scheme, your total score has already been greatly affected . What are you gonna do now?"
Vindhya scanned the list again and frowned,
"Even your name is not here. Never mind, I'll find out. For this, thank you again. If I become queen, your loyalty will not be forgotten."
With that, he picked up the list and left in secret. The girl who stood there until now in a submissive manner, straightened her shoulders and looked at the distant figure with disdain.
The palace-appointed committee had just completed the first scan of the open-ended question answer.
They have been asked to rank answers ranging from best to worst.
As per the rules, they submit the assessment sheet to the Admin team. As Prithvi is absent, the task of conducting a second round of evaluations falls to Saraswati who sends a pleading gaze towards her father. Between the two of them, he was more qualified to perform this task.
Sighing, she looked at her skinny daughter's face and said,
"My eyesight was not good and especially under the lights. Why don't you start reading answers to me and we'll give them our signs and comments? And do not dare to look at the value given by the previous team. I don't want to burden our scores with the weight of other people's opinions."
Glad to share her burden, Saraswati nodded vigorously and began to read her answers.
After compiling the scores from the first team and their team, the final list of the top fifteen answers will be selected and sent to the queen who will select the top ten qualifiers from this round.
There will be some reserves saved if one of these qualifiers out of the top ten fails in the double-choice round.
Everything involves calculations and that is not Saraswati's expertise. Only he knew how much he wanted Ramanujam to be here at the moment. He was very upset at her for bothering him with unwanted attention and not being here when he needed it.
Meanwhile, he shamelessly delegated the task of calculating the collected results to the official selection committee because Prithvi did not exist. He wasn't brave enough to mess up the results with his incredible 'computational skills.
.
Royal Palace, Chandragarh
.
The next morning, Indrani was followed by an officer carrying some fruits and a cup of warm milk and another carrying a plate of tightly bound scrolls sent by Gurukul this morning.
After showing that they were putting things on the table next to the intricately carved mahogany, he gestured to the women waiting to leave the room. For the past few days, Rani Samyukta has been very pensive.
Under normal circumstances, she would not be hampered by anything that made her worry, but this time felt different. Already a frugal eater and light sleepers, it's been worse over the past week.
.
Royal Palace, Chandragarh
Although Indrani wanted to ask her concerns, she held back. When the queen is ready, she will come and share it with him. Until then, he only needed to take care of her as best he could!
"Susu was currently at a perfect temperature, almost begging to be consumed now. And the gardener assured me that the wine was very sweet this time. He was so sure that I ended up betting with him that if it turned out to be not sweet, he would have to cover the entire royal garden by walking crouching. The forty-year-old idiot agreed with that. I keep hoping you'll go to find the wine is so acidic that I can enjoy watching it die squatting on that long land," Indrani sounded like a twelve-year-old wicked girl, not the queen's quiet personal assistant.
Rani Samyukta's lips clenched tightly as she tried to hold back laughter at the image of the poor gardener. He had experienced the misfortune of expressing his fondness to Indrani a long time ago.
When Indrani finds out, she feels very angry and makes sure that she makes her life miserable at any time from then on. Did he ever see himself in the mirror?? Hmph!
"Why do I feel like I'm under so much pressure right now? Thank goodness I don't want to eat wine today. Maybe a glass of milk and an apple, hmm?" Rani Samyukta said calmly but her eyes sparkled with excitement.
Indrani, who had made up the whole story just to see her friend smile, felt that such childish nonsense was once in a while worth talking about.
Things to do for the boss, sigh!
With a disappointed face, Indrani replied,
“Serah Her Majesty. These are the answers chosen from the exam that was held yesterday. It is ensured that the people who check the results do not know the names of the candidates whose papers they mark. But now, the name has been attached by your internal team to their answer sheet. In addition, after you have finished assessing this, the combined results will be announced the day after."
Rani Samyukta nodded to show that she understood and got up from her chair to pick up one of the sheets. Indrani withheld****** others will come out of her lips. He would have preferred if the queen walked to the next table containing food.
To be honest, how could this woman put work on top of food?
Before the queen could unroll in her hand, the warm cup of milk was thrust into her other hand. He smiled looking at the militant expression on Indrani's face and swallowed back the words about having it later.
"At this level, I had to tell my parents that I could not show my devotion to them even after I was relieved of my duties in the royal palace. All because of the fact that the child who lives with me , refuses to grow up and take care of himself, '" Indrani complained to him and then excused himself on the grounds that he also had a lot of work delayed.
He opened the first scroll containing the answer to the question - "The most dangerous liar…"
Rani Samyukta had seen the four questions at a glance when Prithvi had sent it to her for approval well in advance. Now, he was eager to see the answers given by the contestants.
His disciple, Vindhya wrote,
"For a country, there are three most dangerous liars. First, a teacher who is dishonest in his teachings and pollutes the minds of future generations. Second, a sycophant royal minister whose unwillingness to show a mirror to the wrongful actions of the ruler, could be very detrimental to the people of his country. Lastly, the ruler himself. A incapable and foolish king who cannot be honest about his flaws will surely bring the country to its decline."
Rani Samyukta was impressed by the student's point of view and agreed with all her heart. He raised his eyes to take down the name of the contestant. Ah, the daughter of the head of the Western zilla, Vasudev.
Samyukta smiled to herself and thought that she would expect nothing less than this from the daughter of one of the most respected and high-performing heads of the zilla.
He immediately put the scroll on a list of approved answers. This one definitely deserves to advance to the next round.
Next was a question that even he had thought of when he first read it.
"In this world, who is the true wanderer..."
Rani Samyukta looked at the answer sheet of a girl named Yuvati who neatly wrote,
"As all of humanity knows, the Sun and Moon are the only ones who continue to travel continuously, rising and setting every day, nonstop. They are true travelers."
The queen smiled as she folded the scroll back. She preferred the girl's answer because she had used universal truth to give her answer, making her undeniable.
The queen began to appreciate Prithvi's insistence on including this category in the written process stage. It does give an indication of how one thinks.
The next few scrolls had some good answers but it was under the two scrolls he had read from the start.
Next, he read the unanswered questions satisfactorily in the previous experiment.
"What is heavier than the Earth, higher than the sky, and faster than the wind?"
The answer had been tried by someone named Vaishali and his bold writing stood out on the parchment,
"A mother's patience is heavier than Earth, a father's sacrifice is higher than heaven, and his thoughts and thoughts are faster than the wind. "
For unknown reasons, the heart of Samyukta's heart was drawn by this answer. He looked for information about the girl who had written his answer and her lips formed a sad smile.
Only an orphan thinks his parents are bigger than life and sees them in every area of his life, even during exams.
Some time later, the queen made it through the entire stack except for one. He picked up the last sheet in a daze and glanced at his answer.
His eyes widened at the words written there and bursts of laughter escaped from his lips involuntarily.
Question asked is–
"The most stubborn one is..."
The candidate's answer is,
"Our nails and hair. We cut and continue to grow from our birth to our last breath. Really stubborn!"
.
Royal Palace, Chandragarh
Wiping the joy out of his eyes, Rani Samyukta looks for the person who has written this answer and remembers everything she knows about Mrignayani now.
The girl had left a deep influence on the queen on the first day of the competition with the development of her own weapon. But from then on, the background was revealed and added more depth to his background.
The biased part of Rani Samyukta hopes the daughter of the impressive spy actually advances in the contest.
Although Mrignayani's answer may look superficial on the surface, the queen admires the fact that the girl bravely and intelligently used her own interpretation to answer questions instead of trying to play into the gallery.
By doing so, he demonstrates his confidence, quick thinking, and ability to take risks when faced with unexpected situations.
"Not bad! We have some really competent candidates this time," the queen thought to herself before pulling the bell to get an assistant in the room.
.
Gouruk
Yash was walking towards the library. The sun was not yet too bright and the cold wind reminded him that he should have worn a cardigan over the kurta before stepping out.
Due to the ongoing QIT competition, the workload in most classrooms is much less as almost everyone is involved in the selection process.
Yash wanted to use this opportunity to do research on his financial project. With the written exam conducted today, this marked the end of the second stage. Unfortunately, he will not be able to help Mriga for the next round, openly.
As already announced, at the end of the second stage, ten contestants will be finalized for the final stage after compiling scores from three different parameters.
This final threshold will once again consist of two parts but unlike the previous stage, here, the elimination will be done at the end of the first half and then become the final elimination.
The first step is to gain the support of one of the zilla chairmen who will nominate one nominee name to advance to the next round.
Mriga did not want to visit the head of the Northern zilla this early because the results had not been announced. He believed that it would be presumptuous on his part to do so.
But both Chiranjeev and Abhirath insisted it would be too late if he left after the results were announced.
He at least, needed to do his first 'throw' today before going to the chairman again if he completed stage 2. As a result, he was on his way to visit the head of the Northern zilla this morning.
Yash wished he could go with her. She was better at speaking politely than this girl, but there was a high chance that her presence there would even be detrimental to her candidacy.
North zilla's head and Yash's mother are not in the best condition and he doesn't want to risk putting his candidacy in jeopardy.
Instead, she planned to go to her mother tonight and ask again if she was willing to sponsor Mriga's name from the end. He should keep trying, even if he gives a non-committal answer.
Mriga has performed very well and would be almost perfect if she gets her support from the two zillas, reducing the number of final contestants to three out of four.
Busy weaving his plans, Yash did not focus too much on his surroundings until he heard a short cry.
The library is located some distance from the main courtyard of the campus which consists of lecture halls, foodhall and dormitories. To save a few minutes, he chose to use a shortcut through the Gurukul park rather than through the official pathway leading to the library.
The park has lush vegetation all around it that serves as a high border fence, but Yash is quite adept at climbing it to reach the side door of the library and has done so easily several times in the past.
Because the park was filled with tall trees and dense bushes, it eventually attracted many novice lovers. In fact, Yash has suggested dating Mriga several times in the past, but the girl has always been too shy!
Maybe someone was busy being naughty at the moment, but for them to enjoy it in broad daylight, it was very bold…
"I won't do it, I won't do it" a girl's sobbing voice rang out clearly now and the ambiguous words made Yash stop and hesitate.
Even though it was a person's personal matter but if a girl was bullied, she would not allow it to happen. But if the girl was timid, then she did not want to barge in, only considered as a spy.
Yash decided to wait a little while and get some clarity about the situation. He walked closer to the direction the sound was coming from. During school hours, the park was bound to be empty, except for those who dared to sleep in class.
As he approached the tree from which he heard the voices, his feet froze on the next set of words, saying,
"This choice is very easy to make. Either you finish this round and hope someone will go to great lengths to nominate someone like you in the next round or you resign now, by reason of acute illness and I will ensure that your father's failing business gets a much-needed boost, which will be enough to ensure that your next few generations will not lack anything. The choice is in your hands. Be smart . You only have two hours to decide. If I hadn't heard from you until then." The voices stopped after that.