The Compensation.
"Rajkumari, go and sit beside Maharajah.." King Shashi gestured the princess. The princess was hesitant to move even a finger ahead towards the Maharaja, lest he touched her again with his dirty hands.
Suddenly the court echoed with a messenger's cry.
" Long live our emperor!
King, the Emperor of the prestigious throne of Aaranya has sent this message for you."
The messenger forwarded a scroll to the minister who read it with tensed expressions.
" Minister sir, you look very tense. Please tell us what the Emperor wants to convey." The princess rose from her seat and asked, much to her family's dislike.
"Princess, we are in a crisis. The emperor has declared a war against us due to our trial of becoming a non subsidiary state. The declaration of Padmadurg as an independent kingdom has been ruled out by them. The Emperor seems very enraged in this letter."
The whole court gasped aloud and the queens started mourning - war meant the highest probability of them becoming widows.
"Stop the mourns! You people have nothing to worry! We have the support of ten kingdoms and Maharaj Bahadraketu. Aaranya 's army shall be outnumbered in front of us." King Shashi barked.
The princess looked at Shashi with utmost confidence, completely believing in what he said.
" Yes, maharaj and I shall also take part in the war. We shall surely win with our goddess' blessings!" The princess gleamed from within her veil.
The whole court burst into a huge laud of laughter.
********
"RajMata! I do not want to surrender to the enemy kingdom. I do not want to become the war compensation...I want to rule..." her sentence was stopped by the abrupt clash of the queen's hand against her cheek.
“YOU and only you are the cause of all the destruction and devastation Padmadurg has been put to suffer. I am a widow today, my children are orphaned due to your cursed existence. My will is final, you shall also have to surrender yourself as war compensation! Stop whining and get dressed proper and fast!” ………………………………………………
“Your fate now lies in the hands of my son, the Yuvraj (crown prince) and you dare not revolt, O princess of the fallen Padmadurg like your father revolted against us. You have already seen the consequences your family faced due to the mindless deeds of your father. Your non allegiance to us could cause worst consequences. Such consequences about which you can’t even think of in your nightmares", the emperor said, anger brewing in his mind.
The Rajkumari sighed as a lonely tear went down her cheek. There was no other way to save her kingdom's existence and the welfare of her people except abandoning her self respect.
……………………………………………...
“I don’t care what your aspirations were, dreamy girl! Your ungrateful father and your venomous mother for whom you fought so bravely have given you away as a war compensation. Yes, you are nothing but a commodity now. Stop glaring and be grateful to our prince that he chose to marry you and not just make you a keep.” the royal nanny rudely said to the Rajkumari as she hesitated to dress up for her wedding night.
…………………………………………...........
“Don’t worry, I shall not let any harm reach you."
Said Prince Arnav Singh Raizada, crown prince of Aaranya, the only ray of hope in the darkened life of the youngest princess of Padmadurg.
Rajkumari Tarini, the youngest princess of Padmadurg is the rightful heir to the throne of Padmadurg. But fate played it's game and ruthlessly reduced her to the war compensation offered to Aaranya as a bride.
As per tradition, she was given a new title, Khushi, a word which described happiness, something which she was miles away from.
Khushi looked up tearfully towards the only person who had called out to her with love.
Would she ever get what she deserves?
Would her story get a justified ending?
CHARACTERS:
YUVRAJ ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA - Barun Sobti
RAJKUMARI TARINI aka KHUSHI - Sanaya Irani
EMPEROR AARYAMANN SINGH RAIZADA - Arav Chowdhary
EMPRESS MAYURI- Anita Hassanandani
PRINCE AAKASH - Akshay Dogra
EMPRESS ANJALI - Daljeet ( deepa) kaur
PRINCE AMAN- Karan wahi
SHYAAM SINGH RAIZADA Abhaas Mehta
PRINCESS SAYANTANI Saantani ghosh
EMPEROR VIKRAM OF RAIGAD -Avinash Sachdev
Princess Chandni- Shrenu Parikh
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