Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

Chapter 89: Vinegar? Anybody?

East Zila

"Because I woke up at this hour, why would anyone else have to sleep so well? Dear snake, I hope you use your poison well now. What's the point of keeping it inside all the time, hmm?" muttering softly, Ramanujam sat on a chair and stuck his ear to the listening device connected to the ground floor lobby.

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Gouruk

Mriga woke up in shock. Because it was pitch-black in the dorm room, he thought it was still late at night. He did not know what had moved him but he sat down and put his knees together under his chin.

His mind immediately went to the scene he had witnessed at noon today. Maybe that was what played on his mind when he went to sleep.

He had gone to visit Ganga the previous day to talk about the next level, now that he had completed this round. Although the nomination stage has not yet been passed, Mriga wants to make sure that she has the support of the older girl as promised earlier.

To his surprise, Chiranjeev was the one who suggested that he reaffirm this with Ganga and even insisted on speaking up.

While he bid farewell to the senior immediately after a brief discussion, Chiranjeev seriously suggested that he hold a brainstorming session with Gangga about possible simulation exercises that might appear at a later stage.

Much to Mriga's surprise and relief, he had told her that he was not needed for this discussion.

So, he had left the confused-looking Ganga in the hands of his fierce friend. After leaving there, she experiences some guilt for letting her senior face the obnoxious man alone, but then comforts herself that Ganga is smart enough to handle him. It was then that he saw Vaishali in an intense conversation with Abhirath.

Even at this moment, sitting alone on her bed, Mriga could not describe the emotions she felt upon seeing the two of them together. Perhaps, it was the lingering effect of being tricked by Yash in the same way that made him feel extremely insecure at that moment.

He had turned around and was walking on a different street post looking at them. After a bit of calm, she thought about it calmly and asked herself – why is she so upset to see them together?

He is not officially dating Abhirath. Also, most likely, they were definitely discussing the matter about the students colluding together on the day of the physical exam. Then why...why is he still agitated?

Mriga has returned to the boarding post and spent a quiet evening, tidying up her clothes and books that have been falling apart over the past few weeks due to her busy schedule.

When someone came to tell him that Abhirath was waiting for him downstairs, he made an excuse to not feel well and told him to leave.

He did not want to face it with a messy emotion written on his face.

Now, while sleeping leaving her, Mriga wonders if she is avoiding her feelings for the man. Or is he so used to being completely loyal to her that he can't stand her interacting with others?

But this is not his nature. He was very relaxed in the past.

Is Abhirath's jealous nature contagious to him?

Sighing in frustration, he punched his pillow and lay down on the bed.

"He better have an explanation to meet with Vaishali alone, without telling me or asking me. Hmphh!" it was his last thought before he closed his eyes.

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Himprayag

As was his custom in Chandragarh, Shaurya wore layered makeup and different clothes to disguise himself. He stepped out at night, heading for the popular Himprayag trail. Many during the day, these places as elsewhere, change their nature as the moon rises.

A seemingly friendly and safe corner selling silly items in the morning can be where drug dealers go at night. He has stepped out tonight with no specific agenda in mind.

Now that his proposal was accepted, he wandered around the street, more out of habit than anything else. It was like an attempt to permeate the peculiarities of different places, just to satisfy his curiosity.

Although he was not as alert as ever, when on a mission, when he made a turn, his instincts made him stop without notice before returning to maintain his sluggish speed.

But his senses had switched to alert mode. Without turning around, he sharpened his ears and was almost certain that someone was following him.

With a soft sound of footsteps, he estimated that the person might be 30 to 40 steps behind him.

Shaurya quickly approached another bend in the road and slowly, he caught his breath. As soon as he took that turn, Shaurya sped off at an extremely fast speed. Without slowing down, he turned two more corners before reaching the same spot where a man was standing on the wall, as if waiting for him.

"Lumayan. Your running speed is good enough for you to try out for a career as an athlete" said a smiling Rudradev greeted with a frown from Shaurya who is now trying to catch his breath.

Although the minister was only a few years older than him, Shaurya always thought that the man was much sharper than he showed.

"Thank you, I'll think about it," with that Shaurya moved to pass it.

"There is a shop about 500 meters from here that serves the coldest rasgullas* in the whole of Himprayag. Having a cold dessert during the winter is the most amazing feeling. Have you tried it?" with that seemingly senseless remark, Rudradev pushed the wall to stand straight and started walking.

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Himprayag

Shaurya waited for a moment hesitantly, but then he shrugged and followed the man. Rudradev did not turn his head to check if Shaurya was coming behind him or not. Shaurya gritted his teeth and wondered why he decided to follow the man.

After about fifteen minutes of silent sightseeing, the two of them arrived at a seedy but well-lit hut that had customer queues waiting outside to order even at hours like this.

Rudradev went straight to the counter where someone processed the order. Rudradev nodded at the man and passed him to enter the area behind the counter.

Shaurya follows and soon they find themselves at a single table that has been placed inside.

"What do you want?" Shaurya asked as soon as they were alone.

Rudradev leaned back in his uncomfortable chair and looked at Shaurya. Half of his face was hidden under the shadows emitted by the lights nearby. The expression in his eyes was invisible but he seemed to be thinking of something.

After a while, he said,

"Make the princess fall in love with you."

His statement left Shaurya stunned. At a glance, he thought that it was a good thing that he did not drink or eat anything, he would definitely embarrass himself.

Shaurya recovered from his shock and replied flatly,

"I think the minister likes to make jokes. Unfortunately, my sense of humor was not developed enough to enjoy it. Excuse me now. Please enjoy the dessert. G'night ."

Rudradev did not try and stop him. In fact, he sounded indifferent as he spoke to Shaurya who was now getting up from his seat.

"Good luck," with that, Rudradev closed his eyes, signaling the end of the conversation.

Shaurya paused for a moment, his body frozen in the air but then he stood up straight and bowed before leaving the place. This guy is really weird.

Rudradev opened his eyes as soon as the younger man left from there. Veer is a smart guy. Unfortunately, he seemed to lack vision. Apart from the suspicious thoughts of the younger man written clearly on his face, this was not a planned meeting.

Rudradev was really on his way to this sweet shop when he recognized the young spy from Chandragarh who was roaming the Himprayag trail. It was easy to recognize him because of the way he walked.

Very different from the fast and straight steps commonly followed by the people of Himprayag because they often wade through slippery snow, making them careful.

Veer, on the other hand, has a relaxed and wavy style as it passes through the crowd which makes it stand out in this place.

This was Rudradev's impression of the man when he personally tailed him at first when Veer arrived at Himprayag. He was curious about the mysterious visitor, Bela who was suddenly favored by the young princess. Overshadowing Bela has led her to Veer's discovery.

Since he was impressed by Veer's skill at finding tails, Rudradev invited him to share desserts with him as a way to acknowledge his prowess.

Those who knew Rudradev would definitely be surprised by this gesture. He rarely invited anyone to eat with him.

As his mood was being kind, Rudradev instinctively gave advice to the young man, only to be rejected without hesitation.

Come to think of it, he shouldn't have said anything. It is not his nature to try and help others. Shrugging, he took out a bowl of cold rasgullas from the shopkeeper and forgot all about that brat.

Shaurya rubbed his hands together to create warmth between them. He felt extremely sad at this moment and lost a pair of eyes that were sparkling in despair.

Never had he felt this way in the middle of a mission.

His years of growth have been spent enjoying the highest achievements he has achieved while facing dangers and challenges on a task.

But this time, he felt an urgency to return once he started this journey.

He knew that his duty at Sapsindhu was dangerous.

In fact, if Prithvi guruji does not change his mission, who knows what the situation is. His initial task was to cause as much damage as possible to the military base as well as to the largest military spy Sapsindhu stationed near the mountains next to Chandragarh.

Since he knew that his identity in that place would not be long hidden, he had devised a plan to be 'killed' and then put on a new identity to stay in Sapsindhu for a while before gaining access to the military facilities. To cause maximum damage, it needs to be done from within the premise.

Who knows what would cause that?

The plan changed due to Guruji's instructions for him to join Bela Guruji in Himprayag. Not that he came empty-handed from Sapsindhu.

First, he died from the enemy's point of view and that gave him the leeway to return at any time and complete the unfinished mission. Second, he had gained knowledge of the secret passage to Sapsindhu and also help from the natives of the area. He had a feeling that they might be useful in the future.

He can't wait to come back and tell Prithvi guruji about them.

Overall, she had controlled herself well, but this entire episode with Princess Ahilya made her feel bad. More than Bela Guruji reprimanding him for that, he himself was very upset by it. He wished that he could turn back time.

While Shaurya was immersed in grim thoughts, the shadow around him extended!

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Himprayag

Had Shaurya known the identity of the woman or even had the slightest inkling of her nature, he would have never behaved the way he did and called attention to himself in such a manner.

He had no illusions about the reason for the princess' behavior.

If he was submissive and passive, he would not give him a second glance. But now he was like a shiny toy that was beyond his reach and he was being grumpy just because he wanted to have one.

How stupid!

He was worried about Himprayag's fate with him at the helm of affairs here. But that's none of his business. Her Mriga may be younger and incompetent, but she is much more mature and not as small as Princess Ahilya.

Thinking of his sunlight, his lips formed a silly smile automatically.

It was his last coherent thought before something hard hit his head from behind and the darkness swallowed him. Unlike in the case of Rudradev, he could not hear any footsteps until it was too late.

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Gurukull, Chandragarh

Prithvi frowned as he received the latest news about Ramanujam still missing. It seems the enemy has been resuscitated or alert enough to move Ramanujam elsewhere before he is rescued.

On the other hand, he imagined a scenario where the body of his mentee cum friend was thrown into the sea piece by piece.

If that's the case, he swore to himself that once the QIT was over, he would, he would personally go and wreak havoc on the Eastern zilla and ensure that everyone involved in Ramanujam's death met the same fate.

He was waiting for his men to send him a message from the Western zilla as well, with updates on the interrogation of his 'lover'. Sitting in the middle of these black thoughts, she is interrupted by Saraswati who comes to tell her that Abhirath is looking for a meeting with her along with other students.

With a nod, he let the two of them in and closed the door before going to his own table.

This was the first time she had seen Abhirath with a girl other than Mriga. The two who had just walked inside, looked a little awkward towards each other.

His sixth sense tingled, telling him that there was some gossip to be found between the two.

But he did not let these thoughts appear on his face and calmly sort out the correspondence that was waiting for him.

"Huh! I wish Ramanujam was here to help me speculate on this. How slowly he took so long in his duty! Should I also go and rub her face as she comes to show off at South Zilla to me? " summed slowly.

"Pranam* Guruji. I'm Vaishali. I was one of the contestants that followed QIT this year," she folded her hands and greeted the professor in front of her.

Yesterday, he met Abhirath by chance at night and they ended up talking about the need to arrest the girls behind the braking incident before it was too late and the problem became irrelevant.

Abhirath had suggested to him that he should inform the event's head organiser about the whole incident. He, in turn, had asked her to come to present her case better and that was how they found themselves in front of Prithvi now.

Prithvi kept quiet and listened to what the girl said. He recalled a complaint from Abhirath having passed his desk a few days ago about the attempts of some girls to use underhanded methods that could lead to disqualification, if proven. But in the report, he did not name.

"So you mean the girl, Vindhya is the center of all this?" Prithvi asked them, with his thick eyelashes covering his eyes.

It gave the impression to others that he was almost asleep. But Prithvi used this simple trick several times to hide the expression in his eyes.

It helped him hide his thoughts effectively from his interlocutors.

Vaishali nodded vigorously but Abhirath was slow to react. He believes that Vindhya is the biggest competitor for everyone in this competition. If accusations like this come out without any real evidence, it seems like they are deliberately trying to target him.

During this time, he tried to find some kind of eyewitness or testimony that could prove that Vindhya was involved in the process. But until now, he had nothing on his hands.

Had it not been for Vaishali's insistence, he would have let this matter go for now and just concentrated on the next round on Mriga's behalf.

Since he did not want the girl to continue approaching him for this again and again, he brought her to Prithvi. But looking at his teacher's face, he regretted it now. It seems that he is impulsive in his behavior and Prithvi's subsequent words justify it.

"Do you have any evidence to back up your claim?" he asked seriously.

Both Abhirath and Vaishali shook their heads in disapproval.

Prithvi looked at them through the narrow slit of his eyes and said in a calm voice,

"What if I tell you that Vindhya has filed a written complaint to my office claiming exactly the same incident? The only difference was that he caught the girl who was the mastermind behind this and brought evidence in terms of the testimony of many girls about the same thing. The girl has been interrogated and she claims to have done so. He has been disqualified from QIT. This was not disclosed to the public because Gurukul did not I do not want the girl's reputation to be completely ruined because of this. So this problem has been addressed. If nothing else, you two are forgiven."

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

*Rasgullas - a sweet treat made from condensed milk, a syrupy roll.

*Pranam - Greetings