Tiredness was a trifle word to describe bone crushing pain which they were feeling. A journey of months on ship is a draining process. Fighting against the various odds of salty water and gliding through it demands patience, but finally, a full stop had been put to the sea journey.
Noblemen of Florence expected cool land breeze to pacify their heart but alas! They were now subjected to harsh climate of India! It appeared as if hot blazing sun was sucking their sweat but amidst of it, curtsy of people who came to receive them warned their hearts. Now, after another tiring land journey, they were standing few metres away from their destination, Palace Of Chittaurgarh.
Many curious eyes were bloated with awe and faces held stupendous expressions. People of different land were in different land under the leadership of King Atticus.
King Atticus along with his elder son Augustus, was in India to do some trade as India's silk, jewels and spices were highly appreciated back in Florence . Though the trade was very limited due to long distance but King Atticus shared a very cordial bond with Maharaj Vikram Singh Rajput. They knew each other since Arab introduced them.
Despite being in his late sixties, King Atticus had an aura which screamed power and royalty. In the morning, when Ritha was doing her practice, he was watching it from afar. He was highly impressed after seeing the girl's fighting skills specially the way she flawlessly moved heavy sword.
Now, his son Prince Augustus! A gentleman with acute looks and obtuse feeling. A prince whose head was supposed to wear the crown making it heavier instead, it made his heart immobile with sorrows. A prince who was supposed to wear the necklace of power being the eldest son instead, that necklace was choking him. To sum up, he was a troubled serenity. Heavily troubled one!
Right now, his retina was absorbing and forming images of the beautiful artistic palace but larger fraction of his mind was not addressing them, rather, they were forming images of his son.
Sunrays were glorifying his magnificent blue eyes while his chiseled jaw was locked, not tightly but firmly. Brunette hair was being swooshed around randomly with warm, more like hot breeze. His physical features were intense and immensely beautiful but his heart was marred badly which wasn't very pretty to look at.
With the death of his wife, Prince Augustus formed a cocoon around himself which was tough to break. He was a focused and man of very less words but after his beloved Valentina's death, it was pretty hard to get any emotions out of him. Emotions? Those words were very foreign to him. His body drowned in numbness often compelling him to become one of the stars beside his beloved but one flashing image of his giggling son was more that enough to bring him back to harsh reality.
Soldiers used to shiver in their training under him. He was a very good leader but army wasn't a slap on the wrist for him. One mistake lead to straight four more hours of intense training.
Nobody could look into the Prince's eyes and deny him. It was like signing the death wish and he was very particular about his army. He himself was a master of each form of fighting , be it sword fighting, archery or defence technique . People who had witnessed him in war just shuddered at his image. Once he was in the battlefield, it was like beast has unleashed himself . Riding horse with the speed of wind, his spontaneity was his key factor. Using his mind according to the situation was a bonus added in it.
While his father was busy admiring the girl's strength, he was busy thinking about Rome.Seeing the weak governance of old King Victor, king of Rome, surrounding kingdoms found it a perfect opportunity to win Rome and mark it as their own territory. Main fight was in between kingdom of Sicily and Florence. Both had important place in the history of Italia.Well, there was something else which connected them. It was small Justus , son of Augustus and Valentina. Everyone's heart used to squeeze in pain by seeing the poor boy of two years old who never got to see the face of his mother. Augustus desperately wanted to go back to Florence and hold his son in his arms .
Anyone could see Prince Augustus was a very loving father, an obedient son, responsible brother and most importantly cared for his people. Legally, he was the next heir of the throne of Florence but his brothers were not ready to accept it but they needed to find a permanent solution to this problem because winning Rome was way more important. Their relationship with Sicily came to standstill and the solution which they thought could help them actually added more to the bitterness in already ruined relations.King Atticus of Florence thought that it was a wise decision to marry his eldest son Augustus to Princess of Sicily ,Princess Valentina but it went futile. With death of his beloved daughter, king of Sicily ,Cassius cut all the ties with Florence. He blamed Augustus for his daughter's death.Internal fights, losing his love and seeing his son without a mother was taking a toil over Augustus's mental health. He couldn't find anyone trustworthy enough to share his feelings. His brothers Felix, Linus and Magnus used to hate him with the depth of their heart. It was just his younger brother, Marcus who wasn't hostile towards him. In fact, he loved and considered Augustus's words way more important than his father. But now something was going in his father's mind which could change his life drastically.Palace Of Chittaurgarh, IndiaIn evening -Every nook and corner of the palace was decorated like a bride. Impressive white marbles on the floors looked marvellous and were in contrast to the dark walls.Expensive chandeliers were illuminating the palace and were like cluster of stars tied together to enlighten the sky. Aristocratic paintings enhanced the beauty of the walls. After all it was the first time for the palace to host their guests from Florence and in Indian culture guests are considered as God. A look of awe was graced on the faces of noblemen of Florence and they were in complete daze. Though their palace back in Florence was epitome of perfection but Indian art was totally new for them as more vibrant colours were used in decoration. Their was a very homely and welcoming vibe around the palace which embraced them. Everyone was welcomed with 'teeka' on their forehead
After savouring the authentic Indian food, it was time for guests to rest. When everyone retired to their room,a calm serenity took over palace after day full of hubbub. But Augustus was not able to find his peace of mind. Looking at the stars above in the sky, he wished his beloved Valentina was one amongst them. He silently asked her to forgive him and bless their son. He knew, it was his fault. She told him, she was not ready for the responsibility of being a mother but he was eager to take next step in their relationship. A tear trickled down his eyes when he remembered her last words. His Valentina was such a selfless lady, she always thought about his happiness before her. Even being in immense and unbearable pain, she thought about their son. She told him to take care of his son . Not once did she complain about her pain and misery. He never knew the day when their sunshine was born would turn out into dark and
City of Chittaurgarh was now covered in a veil of sunlight. It was time for the noble men of Florence to take a tour around the city. Firstly they visited to Chittaurgarh's army training place. The army and fighting skills were completely different from the army of Florence. In Maharaj's army there were even elephants which was not the case with army of Florence. Romans were not very fond of elephants in the battle. They were mainly kept as spectacles but in India, elephants played important roles in battles. Augustus was observing everything with keen interest. Suddenly he heard melodious laugh of a woman. It was music to his ears. He recognised that voice. The same voice who welcomed him in the palace. The voice belonged to the one who dared to glare at him and clench her jaws.Back in Florence even warriors with skills, rough and tough body didn't even dare to look in his eyes. Somehow, after listening to her laughter , a wave of emotion ran through his body which he did
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 tak
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