Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

0Rani Samyukta ran her gaze across the room and sought inspiration from the energy which shimmered in there. As it had been told to her and the queens before her, this was the very place where the blueprint of the current Chandragarh was developed by a visionary, charismatic woman.     0

Devyani bai was a legend who only lived in whispers and rumours. But those who knew the truth were aware of her unparalleled vision and wisdom. That was what Samyukta was seeking currently to deal with the matters at hand. She only hoped that she had it in her to be able to continue to steer the country forward till it was passed onto the successor.     

Northern zilla     

As per the new plan of action, Bela had taken up teaching Shaurya and Mriga apart from just the physical and mental training. They were spending the entire day with her now, and then some more.     

Prithvi had ensured that an obscure letter arrived that morning from the police headquarters in Northern zilla stating that Bela had been allowed to take a leave of absence in order to help her daughter prepare for the impending Queen's competition. Her junior had been asked to take over the responsibilities for the next couple of weeks.     

The same morning, Mriga had also been given a similar version by her mother. Bela took her aside and told her that she thought that Mriga did possess the traits for becoming a good queen and she should definitely fill in the application for the competition.     

To put it mildly, Mriga was taken aback at her mother's enthusiasm. On all previous occasions, including the time when she had suggested joining the Administrative department, Bela had never been so emphatic with her opinion. Even though she wasn't sure of whether she wanted to take part in the competition or not, Mriga believed her mother the most and didn't hesitate to nod her acquiesce to the suggestion.     

In truth, Bela was indifferent towards Mriga's participation in the competition. She believed that there were many ways to serve one's country and that was just one way to do so. In all fairness, this was something that should have been Mriga's solo decision but for the next ten days, Bela needed to teach Shaurya everything under the sun about their queendom and the regions surrounding them without drawing anyone's curiosity, including her own family's. It was going to be a crash course in geopolitics, economics and strategic warfare.     

For Bela, there was nothing abover her nation and hence she had no qualms in pushing her daughter in such a manner. She had also sensed that Mriga wasn't majorly affected by it, one way or another and also, it wasn't as if the education would harm her in anyway.     

The three of them were present in the living room of her house. Bela had drawn a crude map and was giving them an extensive lesson on the countries surrounding them.     

Chandragarh was surrounded by three major neighbouring countries. Two of them could be reached by land and the last one by sea.     

Saptsindhu was the biggest out of these and also the one with whom Chandragarh shared the worst diplomatic relations, not to mention that it was also the biggest and fiercest out of Chandragarh's neighbours. Unfortunately, geographically, it was the one closest to the Queendom.     

Despite the extensive trade, cultural and diplomatic relations between the two countries, there were enough spies and moles on each side to fill an entire army. Raja Amrendra was a ruthless ruler who believed that dictatorship was the best way to keep his subjects under control. Though their country followed the principles of communism, the rampant corruption had seeped in even at the molecular levels of the country, making it nothing less than a capitalist state.     

The king's son, Mahendra was a near clone of his father and his aspirations were in perfect tandem to his father's. The king had two daughters, Kritika and Avantika. The girls had taken after their mother and were beautiful but empty-headed and without any aspirations of their own. They had been trained since childhood to become the perfect exchange commodities through marriage as was the norm in the royal world.     

But Kritika fell in love with one of the groomsmen. The couple escaped before their affection could be discovered and punished by the king. Till date, they continued to be on the move, from one place to another. No one knew of their whereabouts. The king had almost disowned her and had pinned his hopes on his son and the remaining daughter.     

In a goodwill gesture on his part, he had sent the proposal on behalf of Mahendra for the next queen in waiting of Chandragarh, who would be selected in a few months. But, the current queen's shortsightedness left him disappointed yet again. Why couldn't the stupid woman see that an alliance between the two countries would make them the strongest in the region? It would also enable them to conquer other small nations. Raja Amrendra dreamt of ruling a consolidated, large kingdom in this lifetime!     

It was a dream shared by his ancestors. But the obstinate women who ruled Chandragarh were the roadblock for the past hundred years and had prevented the culmination of this long standing aspirating of Saptsindhu. But Amrendra was determined that he would not let a narrow visioned, foolish woman to stand in the way of glory.     

Unfortunately, Saptsindhu was largely dependent upon Chandragarh for commodities and services and had even managed to accumulate a trade deficit over the past few years. The fiscal policies of Chandragarh were definitely commendable and changed dynamically, suiting the needs of their businessmen and traders. Due to this, their export-import ratio was really healthy.     

"I have got to figure out a way to bring Chandragarh under my fold. It is the only obstacle on my path to writing a golden history!!" Raja Amrendra thought fervently.