AAROPAUR AASHCHARYA
( blame and surprise)
“So, what exactly are the pros and cons of our marriage?”asked Arnav mockingly.
“Let’s start with the cons. Why do you think I shouldn't have married you and vice versa?” he said sarcastically.
“Well, I think you should not have married me because you don’t know me and I don’t know you. I didn't get the right to choose my husband like every Kshatriya woman should get, according to our scriptures. Neither did my father arrange a Swayamvar for me nor was your father curt enough to do that for me. Where has the custom of Swayamvar vanished? Why are all marriages political alliances these days? Moreover putting it roughly your father forced me into this marriage.” she said, raising her tone in frustration.
“ Your tone, Rajkumari. Mind your tone. Nobody dares to talk to me like that especially about my father.” Arnav said in an angry tone. He wouldn’t tolerate anybody saying even the smallest phrase against his father.
" Well, when common women don't get the right to choose their husband, they don't complain. Why do you, Ms.High and Mighty, complain? You seem very proud of having a royal status!"
“ Listen, you are misinterpreting what I said. I believe every woman should have the right to choose their husband. So don’t you dare mock me! Let me enlist the pros of our marriage now. The pros of our marriage are that…” Tarinii was interrupted abruptly by Arnav.
“You will get to learn manners .My goodness! All this time I thought that Shashi had underestimated you but no, he had under – under estimated you.
Look at your guts. Even my elder sister doesn’t talk to me in a raised voice and you! Indeed you must be a spoiled bratty little princess. Nothing more than a show off...”He stopped on hearing small sobs of the girl standing in front of him.
“Even you think that I am a brat? Everybody thinks like that but I am not that bad...” Tarini sobbed.
“Hush! Stop crying; I was just pulling your legs. Isn't that what friends do half their life? I was just kidding, dear!” Arnav wiped the big tears that had found their way down her rosy chubby cheeks.
“So, you are my friend now?” Tarini looked towards his eyes with hopeful eyes.
“Just like you wish, Rajkumari.” Arnav smiled at her childishness.
“You shall help me attain what I want?” Tarini asked, warming up to him.
“I shall help you attain everything within my range that is right for you.What do you want?”
“ What do I want...” Tarinii turned in hesitation.
“Why are you crying again?"
“Huh?I am not crying!” Tarini turned back and made a confused face.
“ Am I hearing cries in my mind?”
Arnav looked towards her in confusion.
“I hear some commotion too. It is coming from outside the room.”
They both looked towards each other.
“Come with me, Rajkumari. I think we should see what has happened outside.”
As they rushed outside, they spotted a huge group of people encircling somebody in the palace gardens near Aaryamann’s room. Arnav wondered what might have happened. Tarini held her dupatta tightly over her head as she carefully tried to interpret her surroundings.
Arnav saw Mayuri crying hugging a body to her chest and approached her.
“Ma? What has happened Ma?”
Both Mayuri and Shyam were shocked to see Arnav alive.Yet they hid their expression of surprise so that he wouldn’t get suspicious of them. Mayuri started lamenting over her husband’s death even more loudly.
“Oh Arnav! See what has happened! Your father is not talking to me, I think he is angry with me once again. He gulped so much of that vicious liquid down his throat …Now what shall I do!” Mayuri sobbed and leant her head against Arnav who had slumped down beside her.
“Father…”Arnav started flowing some silent tears. Akash and Aman came and gave him some support while Sayantani cried on his shoulders.
Tarini felt extremely bad for Arnav, she knew what it felt to loose a loved one. She knew it shall be difficult for Arnav as she could console herself by thinking that Shashi never loved her but …Arnav?
From the court scene and what had just happened in the bedroom, she knew how fond her father in law and her husband were of each other.
In midst of all this mourning Tarini's sharp eyes didn't fail to notice one thing. Two people here looked indifferent of this death even though they tried their best to lament over it. They looked as if they were disappointed but not sad.
One was her husband’s elder brother. He was acting really unreaslistically to be sad but the others were too busy to observe his state. His face looked half joyful and half disappointed…but not in any aspect did he look as broken as Arnav.
He might have not been as attached to father in law, thought Tarini, yet he should at least be sad for his mother’s plight .
Coming to the mother, a very good actress I must say. Which layman could cast just one look and say that Mayuri wasn’t sad?
But Tarini could sense that Mayuri was not very sad as she had just recently seen a great number of women crying about the demise of their dear husbands.
Mayuri certainly didn’t seem to be in as much trauma as her words depicted her to be in.
Tarinii couldn’t quite understand what was going on, but she kept quiet she didn’t want another ruckus here.
Arnav, Shyam, Akash and Aman took Aaryaman’s dead body to arrange a funeral for it.
Meanwhile, all the ladies changed into fresh clothes. Anjali and her husband, Vikram arrived from their kingdom to mourn her father's death. She couldn't believe that her father had died so soon.
Tarini stayed with Anjali to console her. That was when a servant informed them that
Mayuri had requested Tarini's presence privately.
Tarini was astonished to see the state of her mother in law. She was yet decked head to toe in her heavy gold jewellery. Only the head jewellery was removed and there were less necklaces around her neck, more rudraksh malas.
Garima and the other queens of Padmadurg hadn’t wore any jewels for the whole week that Tarini had spent with them and here not even a day had completely passed. Mayuri's emotional state didn't seem half as pathetic as a recently widowed woman 's state might ever be.
“So dear daughter in law, I see you have failed yourself.” Mayuri smirked as her eyes brightened maliciously.
“ I didn’t quite understand what you mean by this sentence, Empress.” Tarini looked at her with a confused expression on her face.
“ I heard you wanted to kill Arnav?”
“No, no! How would I dare to…” Tarini gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
“Oh darling! Don’t lie, I know every thing …but you know one thing, you are a fool!” Mayuri looked accusingly towards her.
“Excuse me?” Tarini stared towards her with wide eyes.
“Yes, dear...You want to be an empress, right? So how exactly would you become an empress, if you kill Arnav...By the way it doesn’t matter if Arnav lives or dies. After all, my son, Shyam deserves to be the emperor. He deserves the mighty throne of Aaranya and like a righteous queen, I shall ensure he gets it!”
“My husband is also your son!” Tarini exclaimed.
“Uh, I think you are uninformed of some information here...step son. He is my step son. In fact, he is more like a doll for me.”
“So what? I know one thing and that is that my husband was promised the throne. He is the crown prince.”
“Promises are made to be broken, my girl. You have ruined my plan, my perfect plan! Sunayana dead, Aryamann dead, Arnav dead …That family would be happy together in heaven and me and my son here…but you spoiled my whole plan, huh?
Well how could I even expect you to have the guts to kill someone! You, a puny little girl, an insignificant little war compensation. Your kingdom didn't even hesitate to give you away.You are a useless blot in the name of a princess…” Mayuri vented all her frustration.
"But there is one thing I must accept. You are beautiful I must say. " Mayuri ran a hand through Tarini's tear stained cheeks.
"I have a deal for someone as beautiful as you. You shall kill Arnav within the next twenty four hours and I shall ensure you become Shyam’s second wife, his empress!”
“Not even in my worst dreams would I do something evil like killing a good person to achieve my aspirations! I am booked for my husband, Yuvraj Arnav Singh Raizada, for this life and the next seven lives.” Tarini spoke with an attitude.
“Think about my proposal! You have 24 whole hours ...” Mayuri held Tarinii's hand as she tried to leave the room.
“Trust me, I do not need these hours you have granted me. It is a challenge, mother in law I shall become the empress of Aaranya, my husband as the emperor by my side. You on the other hand, shall be the beggar on the street, who was once a queen who selfishly killed her good husband. You just wait and watch.” Tarini said with an attitude as she left the room.
Mayuri was enraged on hearing this. She realised she had to play her ploy sooner now.

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