The moment translater converted the words of King Atticus, swords were drawn out. Rudraksh and Shauryaveer were like a raging bull ready to kill. They said in unison, "our Rithambara won't marry your son".Vikram Singh was astonished. He would have gladly given his head but king Atticus asked for his heart. He was in no position to speak. Rukmini started crying. She didn't know how to react to such a situation.
If looks could kill then King Atticus would have died instantly. Rithambara was beyond furious. Her whole body started shaking with rage.
Before Vikram Singh Rajput could utter anything Rukmini said, "No! I wont let my daughter marry your son. Your kingdom is in completely other part of world. I will not know about her whereabouts . Our faiths are completely different, she will not be able to cope up with the differences. Ask for anything, we will happily give it to you. Take all the jewels, silk for free, we don't need anything in exchange. You can take even this kingdom but not my daughter. Not possible ."King Atticus said, " see, I told you my friend , you won't be able to fulfil your promise but let me assure one thing to you that if she marries my son,she will be future queen of Florence and my son will take care of her like no one could ever take. She will be my daughter. She will get all the respect she deserves but it's alright if you want to step down from your pro... "
Before he could complete his sentence Rithambara interrupted him in angry and firm tone, " we are Rajputs, betraying someone and backing down from our promise is something which we are not taught. Cheating on someone do not runs in our blood and breaking a promise is considered cheating. My father made promise to you and if you want me to marry your son to fulfill that promise so let it be. I will marry your son." King Atticus had a secretive smile on his face.
Loud gasps were heard around . Rukmini was crying uncontrollably . Shauryaveer said, "you don't have to do this Ritha, we will find a way out of this but Rithambara said, "no Bhaiya, our image is at stake. If today I would decline , wrong message would go amongst the people and neighbouring kingdoms. I can even die happily for our holy land ,marrying someone is still nothing ."
Rudraksh said, "but how will you cope up with completely different culture and that also which so far away from our land. In future who knows if we will meet also or not. You are my only sister. You are a gem and life of this palace. I won't let this happen to you. "
Suddenly, Vikram Singh left his throne and stormed away angrily. Rukmini was going behind her husband but Rithambara stopped her and told her that she would talk to her father.
Rithambara followed her father who was standing in balcony. Rithambara went close to him and said, "Pita shree (respected father) what happened? " Vikram Singh had tears in his eyes and turned towards her and spoke, "forgive me, my daughter. I didn't know that you will have to pay such a heavy price for my one promise ."
It was for the first time Rithambara
saw tears in her father's eyes. She wiped them using back of her hands and said, "pita shree, nothing in this world makes me more proud and happy than the fact that I'm your daughter, great Maharaj Vikram Singh Rajput's daughter . You did nothing wrong. I never want to see tears in your eyes because of me. Don't be worried about me. I'm not a coward who will run away from problems . You have always taught me to look directly in the eyes of problem and challenge it. You have made me rough and tough. My life ahead could be full of challenges but don't worry, I will directly glare in eyes of the problem and challenge it. I'm daughter of this soil and I will never back down. I will always make you proud. "Vikram Singh was proud seeing his daughter's courage. He said, "you have always made me proud. I always feel proud to introduce you as my daughter. May you get all the happiness of this world. I love you my heart". He kissed her forehead.
Here Augustus was beyond furious. He questioned his father, "how could you do this to me father? How can you decide this for me? Why always me? It was your decision to make Valentina my bride. See what happened? Our relationship with Sicily has even worsened. My son is motherless. Do you know the pain I go through everyday ? I will not marry her. " He suddenly developed hate towards Rithambara because he couldn't accept anyone taking Valentina's place in his life .
King Atticus said, " I know everything and that's why I've taken
this decision. If you deny from this marriage, you will be disowned from being the next king of Florence. " Augustus couldn't believe his father. His hate multiplied ten times for Rithambara and king Atticus .Meanwhile, Maharaj came back alongwith Rithambara and said, "let the preparations for marriage start from today itself. "
Hurt. Pain. Anger. Betrayal. All these emotions were swirling in his head. Being the eldest son of king Atticus came with a price. Even a single flaw in him raised questions directly on his father and his upbringing . He was supposed to be well composed even if a storm of emotions was destroying his heart. He was supposed to be caring towards people even if there was no one to take care of him. He was supposed to be strong and firm even if loneliness inside him was scratching him. On top of it, he was legally the heir of throne of Florence which made his own blood brothers hate him. He could have happily given the throne to his brothers but none of them were worthy enough. They all were selfish and to think about the kingdom was last thing on their mind. Well, Marcus was different a different case. He was more prone towards arts and music and had no interest in ruling and becoming a king.
A loud fist of laughter echoed in the room. Aurelius wasn't able to contain his laughter when Augustus told him about the morning incident. Augustus was giving death glares to Aurelius but he ignored them."I'm going break all your teeth . Here I'm discussing something serious with you and you are laughing. "Aurelius controlled his laughter with much difficulty and said, "your highness, I forgot to add adjective strong in the description of the beautiful lady Ri,Rit..." He was not able to pronounce her name properly." it's Rithambara " said Augustus in his thick Roman accent. Aurelius looked at him with wide eyes. He was thinking how did he pronounce such a foreign name and that also with accuracy. Though Augustus was his best friend, he didn't dare to tease him anymore because he was already in horrible mood.Augustus's voice broke his reverie when he asked what is he thinking. Now, talking about the se
Every head turned in the direction of the voice which belonged to none other than Aditya Singh. A huge smile broke on Rukmini's face after seeing her brother, Aditya Singh Rajput, king of Udaipur. It was not everyday when her brother visited.It was once in a while because being a king himself it was not easy to take out time to visit his sister. Shauryaveer, Rudraksh and Rithambara were so excited after seeing their uncle but Maharaj knew his brother in law's anger .He was prepared for the worst.Aditya Singh said, " what is this Rukmini? First invitation is given to maternal uncle and here you didn't tell me that Rithambara is getting married? I came to know about the marriage through other sources? "Hearing this, Rukmini burst into tears. Her helplessness got the worst out of her. She told the whole story to her brother. Fury was dancing in Aditya Singh's eyes. His hands turned into fist and jaws were tightly clenched. He glared very hard
Everyone's emotions were high and there was not even a single eye which was void of tears. Rithambara tried her best to not cry because her parents needed strength in this time. She couldn't afford to cry or else her mother's state would worsen and her father's guilt will increase to infinity. She hugged her mother who was not letting her go . Rukmini just wanted to hide her precious daughter, her state was so worse that she couldn't even speak. In most of the cases, it's the family members who console the daughter and assure her but here it was exactly opposite. Shauryaveer and Rudransh were so dissapointed at their father that they were not even talking to him because their baby sister had to pay such a big price for his promise. They hugged their sister and prince Rudransh said, "Ritha, you could be in a different land but if you ever need any sort of help, tell Khalifa Umar Osmain, we will know about that problem through him. ". &nbs
Little Justus was waiting for his father since morning as Marcus already informed him about his father's arrival. It was almost nine months since Justus last saw his father but everyday Marcus used to take him near Augustus's portrait so he remembered his father's face. Now he was two and half years and was able to speak properly. Marcus went away to do his music practice promising Justus to return as soon as possible.While Justus was looking at the entrance of the palace from his room, his cousins Romeo (six years old, son of Felix and Olivia), Lorenzo, Leonardo, ( five years old twins of Linus and Tatiana) and Francessco (four years old son of Magnus and Flavia) came and started teasing him."Is little Justus waiting for his father?" teased Romeo. All of them burst out laughing. Justus glared at them with his angry eyes. He hated his cousin brothers and was really irritated with their behavior but he didn't say anything to them because
All colours drained from king Atticus's face. He didn't want Ritha to know about Justus in such a way. He wanted to have a conversation with her and make her understand but now the truth was unveiled in most brutal way.Rithambara was yet to process this information in her head. His husband has a son? He was married before ? She's his second wife? She left her land with her husband and her father in law and as soon as she put her first step in the palace, she received the biggest shock of her life. She wanted to yell at all of them for betraying her and most importantly her father's trust but she thought it is better to behave maturely because decisions taken in hurry can change lives. She just looked at the child in her hand. For a moment she felt that twinkle in his eyes could guide her through the secrets of this unknown land but that didn't stop her from glaring at Augustus. She wanted answers and she knew she will have it.On the othe
King Atticus came near Rithambara and said, " I want to have a word with you, my daughter. " Though Rithambara was deeply hurt with his betrayal , she didn't utter anything and nodded her head. Justus was still in Rithambara's arm and was clinging to her like second skin.King Atticus looked lovingly at Justus and said, " dear Justus, will you allow your mother to have a talk with me. " Justus felt so nice in Ritha's warm embrace that he didn't want to leave her. His mother also held him in his arms just the way his aunts do to his cousins. He just nodded his head sideways to give his denial .Augustus hands were itching to hold his son in his arms but at the same time he didn't want his son to turn into brats like his nephews so he said, "Justus! This is not the way to behave with your grandfather. Come here! " he extended his arms at Justus but Justus's eyes immediately wailed up with tears at his father's harsh tone which broke Ritha's
After the little encounter with her sister- in- laws , Ritha came back to feed Justus and the scene ahead caused a grin to spread on her lips. Her husband was trying to make Justus eat but the little boy was adamant to wait for Ritha. 'Her husband' this adjective sounded so foreign to Ritha because till now, they didn't even have a civil conversation so friendship or some sort of cordial bond was out of question.Undeniably, he was a very attractive man but his attitude was something which Ritha could not stand . She pondered over the promise which she made to her father in law which was to support her husband and she was determined to fulfil it keeping aside their differences. When Augustus saw Ritha standing and thinking about something, he could not stop admiring her beauty and maturity. He was amazed to see her acceptane to be Justus's mother instantly without asking even a single question . He saw the loving look in her eyes for Justus and was p