Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

Chapter 94: The Smoke Sunscreen? And Who's Stupid?

House of Prithvi, Chandragarh

That night, Suryakant and his team realize too late that they have been infiltrated. But before they could escape from that place, 'he' had arrived.

Bela had killed all his teammates after a brutal battle where he fought like a lonely warrior.

He hides upstairs, hoping he won't be found. Surviving the mission is paramount. But he was very firm and finally found it.

Had he left her alone that night, Suryakant wouldn't have hurt her either. But it was his persistence that eventually led to him and his downfall.

The events of the night exploded to such an extent that his homeland refused to acknowledge him as one of them afterwards.

He managed to escape that night but was forced to live in the shadows, escaping from those seeking his life, barely surviving behind enemy lines.

He has no proof of valid citizenship and consequently cannot have a decent job here. All in all, he had lived a miserable life. But staying in the shadows does have its advantages!

Putting aside the sharp weapon, Bela placed her hand on top of the dullest blade in the room.

After Prithvi's puzzled gaze, he smiled and said,

"I never showed you the masterpiece he gave me that night, did I? Never mind, you can see the one I gave him tonight."

Bela's back was covered in deep, ugly scars.

Had it not been for Raghu's unconditional and unwavering love, his confidence would have nosedived long ago.

Prithvi looked at her for a moment then grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room.

"You know this could be a trap, right?" he reminded her with an urgent whisper.

Time and coincidence are very convenient. Bela shook her head before she even finished speaking.

"Have you for how long I waited to become relevant enough for the enemy, for them to use it as bait for me? All this time, living a worldly life, I was resigned to the fact that I had to wait until another birth to settle the score with this bastard. But then, you came and rearranged my life back twenty years. A hope that had been abandoned, lit up again. Trap, you say? Well, I fell into this trap willingly The only difference was – that time I wasn't waiting for you to come, this time, I hope you support me," bela's unexpected words made Prithvi stagger backwards.

He suddenly felt like he could breathe again after a very long time. While his mortal enemy is a human, Prithvi's main enemy for all these years, is the fear of failure, stemming from his inability to protect his senior many years ago.

After regaining his composure, he cleared his throat and said,

"certain. You go and play. I'll arrange 'appropriate countermeasures'."

Seeing him go back in, he turned around and walked to the inside of his house. It's gonna be a long night.

.

eastern zila

In the days when Ramanujam was apprenticed as a spy, one of the first lessons he received was the ability to stay alert to the surrounding environment, especially when faced with unexpected situations. It was one of the most important life-saving hacks for spies.

Unfortunately Ramanujam forgot this lesson as he stood in shock by the bed right now.

"And we meet again. I saw that you not only recovered but also found my treasure," Sharada walked towards him without a sound.

He was so focused on what was in front of him that this fellow managed to sneak up and now held a sharp knife to his neck vein.

"After you ran away from that little cell, I was willing to let you go and not pursue you any further. But now... Don't you know what happens to those who know too much?" Sharada's frightening voice continued to whisper in his ear.

"No jerky movements, now. Let's do this peacefully, okay?" she seduced in a frightening combination of masculine and feminine voices.

Thinking fast, there are not many options available in front of Ramanujam at the moment. Slipping his hand into the pocket of the kurta, he quietly gripped the little khukri and waited.

Sharada escaped the fainting medicinal spell because she had been in the restroom for the past few minutes. Seeing Ramanujam standing in the room surprised him and at that moment, the fate of the spy was determined.

"I wish you a good afterlife" with that, he slipped a sharp knife into his neck.

As blood gushed out from his neck, he knew that he would be off guard now. He started sliding down, gripping Sharada's shoulder with one hand. Pulling a knife from his pocket, with his other hand, he used all his strength and thrust it into his stomach.

Before he could push it away, he twisted the khukri, making sure to cause fatal damage to his intestines.

"Thurghhhh!"

Surprise is seen in the eyes of the latter, but Ramanujam lacks the luxury to stay and watch. The rate at which blood spurted out, he knew that he did not have much time. When Sharada brought the knife to her neck, she moved unnoticed, changing the direction of the wound.

According to his estimation, he did not have more than five to ten minutes to live. Clutching his neck tightly, he staggered out of the building and took out another object from his pocket. It was a wooden whistle that produced a sound that was inaudible to the human ear.

But birds can hear it well and from a long distance. Pushing the air into the whistle with all his might, he slid down the stairs on the veranda and waited for the eagle.

He took out a pre-written message on the scroll and now added a line to it with his blood. It is very important that this message gets to Prithvi.

Immediately, the eagle landed, right next to it. After tying the message, Ramanujam stroked it with his bloodless hands and silently said goodbye.

As he watched the bird fly away, his heart was flooded with regrets about the various unfinished things he had left behind. Dear…

.

Himprayag

Shaurya was frustrated as he left the princess' room.

In the end, he had told her firmly that she was not sent here to be a pimper to get a deal. Whether he wanted to continue and break off the alliance or not, it was none of his business.

She did so with the thought that the princess was only half serious about her situation, instead, she was stubborn to get the cake and 'cherries on it'.

"The strategic minister invited you to lunch in his room" an officer came and told him

Shaurya, when he was about to leave the royal palace.

"Ah this terrible day gets better by the minute," she swore as she followed the officer.

Rudradev looked at Shaurya's new appearance and laughed out loud, making Shaurya frown even deeper.

"Rethinking your violent reaction last night, I don't imagine that the situation will change so drastically this soon. But I have to say. silk seems to suit you. This, ahem, adds to your masculine aura," he giggled.

Shaurya clenched his fists and held them tightly lest they act on their own and smashed into the hateful man's face, causing a diplomatic mishap.

"I'm sure you're looking for me?" Shaurya reminded him of clenched teeth.

Although the minister is pulling his leg at the moment, Shaurya's understanding of the man tells him that the man did not call him here just for fun.

Rudradev nodded his head and said,

"Yes. Is correct. Soon a situation will arise where you will need the help of Princess Ahilya. I'm suggesting that you don't isolate it to the extent that it can't be changed. Rest, I leave it to you to find out."

Even if he had not completely decoded the man in front of him, he knew that the minister was very cunning and hid many faces behind this relaxed facade.

For him to talk about a seemingly irrelevant topic like this, was beyond his character.

"Thank you for the advice. But I wonder what I've done to get the minister's favor? Also, why did the busiest royal minister in Himprayag suddenly play cupid? I wonder if my relationship with the princess will bring some sort of advantage to you" Shaurya's attitude suddenly became much more relaxed.

He deliberately said these words to see if Rudradev reacted to it. Unfortunately, the latter was the perfect card player and even his eyelids did not twitch while listening to Shaurya.

"If I were you, I wouldn't worry about what other people's plans are but try and make one of my own. After all, we live in a world of imperfect knowledge and information. I hope you have a good day. I'm afraid it's time I went to the palace. Thank you for stopping by," with that the young minister disbanded Shaurya.

It had been a long time since Shaurya had returned to the inn. Ever since Bela left, she had been stationed at one of the military barracks near the palace. He went to the cottage today because he wanted to check if there was any news from Chandragarh. It had been decided that they would continue to communicate through this place rather than through the palace.

The old man was happy to see her back and told her to sit down while she went to take a message for him.

"I wonder if I should trudge to the royal courtyard to send this to you. For days, there were no messages and suddenly, in a day, I received some of them," he said and gave Shaurya a letter seal before moving from the room.

Shaurya unseals her and sees that the first message came from Bela Guruji who had told her that he will arrive tonight. He breathed a sigh of relief at that moment. The next one is from Prithvi guruji. Shaurya does not expect one from him and takes the time to decode it.

"Snooze at the end of this. Maintain a low profile. Authority is full until the bear arrives" it reads.

Shaurya frowned at the time of the message.

Does that mean Bela Guruji won't arrive tonight?

Since Bear was the code name for her, that was what the message implied. And since he had mentioned the 'low profile', it should mean that Shaurya should be on guard now.

Is this related to what Rudradev implied? He debated whether to write back to Guruji or not. Although the words spoken by the minister seemed random, coupled with this new development, he felt the urgency to send it to Prithvi.

After sending out his eagle, Shaurya made a deep contemplation. This is a technique that Prithvi taught only to a few of his chosen people, Ramanujam and he is a few of them. The idea is to focus on the starting line of the mission and run each incident consecutively in the head.

One must keep repeating this until they see a hidden pattern emerge or discover an event that stands out now and may seem insignificant at the time of its appearance.

After about an hour, he found two observations. One, Rudradev seems to have incorporated himself into their lives, with no clear agenda. This is a point that always offends him. Second, things were going well for him and Bela in Himprayag, a bit too smoothly.

For them to get help from the princess was one thing, but not receiving any resistance or fight from the other party, somewhat too convenient. Apart from the incident with the queen last night, it was a very easy journey for this mission!

Was it Rudradev who was behind this or someone else?

.

Himprayag

Wasn't Rudradev mentioned as a son of Prince Mithilesh?

Then, why had he not acted on behalf of the prince until now?

From day one, he had reached out to help Bela and him, who were in the enemy camp. If nothing else, he should at least ask the prince to immediately return to Himprayag instead of wasting his time in Chandragarh.

Is he a reclusive patriot of Chandragarh?

Are things that simple?

Shaurya realizes that all his doubts begin and end with the same person. By accident?

With a muddled mind, he decided to spend the night at the inn instead of returning to the palace.

.

House of Prithvi, Chandragarh

It has been more than sixty minutes since Bela started her 'job' at Suryakant.

Initially, the man managed to endure the pain boldly, but Bela continued to slice the flesh from her stomach, methodically, centimeter by centimeter, with a dull blade, which was now covered in thick blood. Since it originally had a thick edge and now had an extra layer on it, it was getting harder to remove its skin.

As a result, each place needed to be cut down more than once.

After a while, Suryakant's blood-curdling screams began to challenge the soundproofing of the warehouse. It's not that it makes a difference for Bela. He was also not bothered by his screams or his ridicule.

Resting after a while, Bela stood up and stretched her muscles, looking at the ongoing masterpiece. Suryakant was in the position of a stretched eagle and his limbs were tightly tied at all four corners. There wasn't much blood on the floor yet because Bela had just sliced the first layer of her skin. Suddenly, the man who groaned in pain, started laughing.

There was a frightening quality to his laughter, making him seem like a madman.

"You made me lose a bet, ma'am. I'm very disappointed in you" Suryakant said after a while.

Bela gave him a cursory glance before grabbing the various jars and vessels stored on the shelves in the room. He had never been to Prithvi's house before and was very curious to explore every inch of the place. Unfortunately, he was short on time.

Suryakant waited for a while to ask him about his cryptic remarks, but he did not seem interested. Had it not been for the total silence in the room, he would have assumed that he had not heard it.

"You can try and stay high and mighty for a little longer. Once, the poison begins to spread throughout your limbs, you won't even be able to lift your finger, forget about trying to torture me. I didn't expect it to happen this easily to trick you, on the second round. Did you really not learn anything for the past twenty years," after dropping the bomb, he continued to mock her.

Seeing Bela still not responding, he frowned and said,

"What's? Do you think I'm lying? Let me tell you - I was the one who planned the fight. My people have been watching you and your movements all this time. While you were busy 'saving me', I managed to stab you with a special poison. In fact, I'm surprised that you've managed to stay upright until now. I guess the dose given was a little less. Guess it's my stupid one. I've bet you don't fall into my trap like a ripe apple but you're not only unaware of the trap, you're also taking me to..."

The two turned their eyes towards the door as there was the sound of the door opening. Prithvi entered in a hasty step and looked at his senior critically.

"How are you feeling?" she sounded like a worried hen, scrawling her chicks.

He was soaking wet even in this cold weather, but Bela calmed down and nodded her head to reassure him.

"Did you manage to get it?" he asked her at last.

Prithvi is already moving towards the mortar and pestle which are stored on the right shelf. He took out a package wrapped from his kurta pocket and started grinding it.

His actions give him an answer but Suryakant's face loses its previous courage. Before he could ask, Bela finally turned to look at him.

"Congratulations, you won the bet! And for the record, you didn't cheat on me that night. It's just easier to kill a snake than a cowardly rat! As for tonight, I may not feel the truth at the beginning of the charade you prepared for me by the roadside, but I noticed it when you fell comfortably on my shoulder and put poison into my body," he said with a lazy voice.

Although he showed a relaxed demeanor in front of him, his body had already started to feel the effects of the poison some time ago. He continued to distract her by peeling off her skin all this while waiting for Prithvi to find the antidote.

When he slipped out of the room to talk to Prithvi, he sliced the skin along with a little bit of his blood from the area where he was stabbed. Finding a cure for the situation was one of the countermeasures that Prithvi referred. Also, he could not let the official documents he had brought, fall into the wrong hands, and had to hand them over to his current superiors, if something happened to him.

Prithvi smirked at Suryakant's confused expression and gave the crushed potion to Bela, who was,

"Just because of you, I was scolded by Vaidya. He was very unhappy being woken up at this hour. After all, he has sent a message that you will wake up and feel better in a day or so. He sounds pretty confident. You're good at sending a sample of your toxic blood, didi."

Suryakant's gaze oscillated between the two of them with increasing horror.