Rashmi exclaimed in what could be mistaken to be a concerned voice but clearly in a fake tone, "Charu! Be careful!  How can you be so careless when there is another life inside you?".  The few other students present in the class were shocked hearing her words and looked at Charu for confirmation.  Charu tried to control the situation by saying, "Didi, don't joke in such matters".  Saying so, she moved past her sister and took her place.  She thought that the situation was under control but was it really?

-----------------------------------------------------------

When Charu went to have dinner with the fellow students near the temple where food is being served, she could hear some gossips around her where everyone was talking about her being pregnant and how she seduced Rajkumar Dakshesh to climb onto his bed.  Although no one had confronted her directly and gave a sweet fake smile in fear of offending the Royal family of Pranyakta, they didn't restrict themselves from talking behind her back.

Charu skipped her lunch and went back to the empty classroom and clenched her hands to control her anger, which was making her powers to go haywire.  As some black smoke arose behind her, she came back to reality with the sound of footsteps nearing the classroom. 

Dakshesh entered the classroom and came near Charu, who was seated on her designated stool with folded legs.  He knelt before her and cupped her which had tears in the eyes.  Charu, subdued her anger and let her previous weak self take control and showed tears in her eyes, instead of the anger which can cause disaster.

Dakshesh cupped her face in both his hands and asked, "I got to know from Jitendra about what happened during lunch hour.  But those are just gossips right.  You, as my future wife, shouldn't get affected by such small incidents.  You should be strong enough to tackle such situations".  Charu wiped her tears and said pitifully, "What would I achieve by being tough?  Anyways I'm not going to be your queen who will accompany you to any kind of formal meets or functions.  Neither would I be the one to manage your household finance or administration.  So what is the need anyway?".

Dakshesh sighed and then kissed her forehead and proceeded to say, "Do you think I will take your sister to all kind of places and lock you up inside the palace?  Then I assure you that it won't happen, rather it would be you who will always be there with me.  That's my promise, alright?".  She nodded at him and then he continued, "As far as Queen is concerned, you know that Agneya is the Yuvraj right.  So I have no chance over the throne.  Even if he wasn't there,  Bratashree Meghnath will be the one to ascend the throne and Bhabhi shree will be the Queen.  Don't think too much on that".

Charu smiled at him happily and hugged him.  He couldn't see her happy face changing into one of an evil behind his back.  Charu thought to herself, "Don't worry Rajkumar.  I will remove all the obstacles one by one.  Now that I have a helping hand, no one can stop me".  Dakshesh wanted to reprimand Rashmi for disturbing Sheela but he controlled himself as this could further escalate the situation when Samrat is trying to bring her to the palace.

Later in the night as Agneya was cuddling with Rashmi, he asked, "So why did you make the chaos regarding your sister, today?".   She replied, "You do remember the things I told you that day right.  Then why are you asking me this?".  He said, "I remember that.  I'm asking why you want to reveal everything before it actually gets revealed?  What is your intention?".  

Rashmi smiled and said, "If I don't mess with this issue, then what will happen?".  She sat up on the bed and Agni too followed and sat up.  Then she continued, "She will reveal her pregnancy to only the Royal family members and smoothly enters the palace.  If I were the old Rashmi, then I would be pressurized by my parents to get into the palace as soon as possible so that she won't get a bad name". 

Rashmi sighed and then continued, "But I'm not the same old Rashmi to bob my head to their whims.  And when I am sure that she is pregnant, why should I not make use of it to humiliate her before she could take any advantage?  Now even if your family rushed her entry to the palace, her reputation will be spoiled forever.  And her dream to be the Queen will never happen unless she captured it defeating everyone else". 

Rashmi thought back to today's incident when Charu was about to slip and how the latter has grabbed her stomach in fear of hurting her foetus, which confirmed Rashmi's thoughts.  She did expect that sooner or later her sister and Dakshesh couldn't keep up their control and end up like this.  And it happened eventually.

Agneya pulled her along with him and laid down on the bed in their previous position.  He asked, "Then what will you do after that?  Will you save her from those Asuras and make her life normal?".  She laid down her head on his chest and said, "What would you think of me if I say that I want to kill her after torturing her bit by bit?  I will kill only after the child is born.  I'm not that cruel but cruel enough to not forgive my sister".  She waited to hear if there is a change in his heartbeat but it was as normal as before she uttered those words.

Agni replied, "I should thank god that you are my soulmate.  Now I don't have any fear of introducing you to my parents.  They will be proud of you".  She looked up at him and he laughed at her shocked face and narrated many stories where his father and mother had dealt with their enemies in the most cruel ways.  She replied, "Now I can't wait to meet them too".  They slept off that night.

The next week, during the assembly of the academy, Acharyas had announced, "The founding day Anniversary of this Academy is coming up.  So the next Sarvayogita competition which is scheduled after two weeks will have some special changes in the rules owing to the celebration.  The one and only rule will be that no lives should be lost.  Which means anyone can challenge anybody, even if it is within the same class of power.  And the challenge can be between more than one opponent as well".

The students were surprised at the announcement and were excited to either participate or watch the fights on that day.  Still the rumours of Charusheela's supposed pregnancy is a hot topic but at the same time, it was not something which can be confirmed yet.  When the classes commenced, charu couldn't control herself from vomitting so she fled the classroom to an open area.  In the class, even the Acharya was confused at her condition.

Now the students started to contemplate once again whether she is pregnant.  And her health condition for the past few days were compelling enough to believe that she is pregnant.  The topic is connected to Rashmi as well but now everyone started to sympathize with her rather than despising her.  One of the students told the other, "May be Rajkumari Rashmi had seen them in a compromising position due to which she got fed up to the extent of removing the soulmate mark?  How can any primary wife digest such an action from her husband?  And her situation is even worser that it was her own sister who conspired against her".

Another student said, "I really thought that Rajkumari Rashmi was overreacting and that Rajkumar Dakshesh and Rajkumari Charusheela had pure love between them.  But if they cannot even wait till an official announcement of their relationship before doing such intimate acts then how can we call it as love? And what kind of teachings her parents have given her?".  While such talks were going on among the students, the Acharyas informed this issue to Samrat as well as the King of Akashpura, as the rumours are growing more and more.

In the palace, Samrat slapped Dakshesh after summoning him to the Palace.  Even Samragyi couldn't stop him and neither Dakshesh's parents could defend him, as had accepted his mistake.  Only the previous night, Charusheela informed him that she is pregnant as she had checked with a midwife(Doctor) secretly.

Samrat was furious with him as their reputation was at stake and moreover, it was very disrespectful towards their soulmate to have a child with secondary wife before the primary wife.  He knew very well that it is now impossible to bring Rashmi back to the palace.  He said after further contemplation, "Now we don't have the option to wait till the academic training ends.  Once the Anniversary ceremony is over then we will bring Charusheela into the palace". 

Dakshesh was happy that his love is coming to the palace but his happiness was short-lived as Samrat announced, "As a punishment to your mistake, I remove you from any kind of royal responsibilities bestowed upon you.  And the only way you could get those back is to bring Rashmi to the palace".  After that everyone dispersed from the place, leaving Dakshesh alone.  He groaned as he has to now convince Rashmi somehow and he thought, "Why does she have to show so much attitude?  She is not even close to Charu in beauty but has so much arrogance".  He then left for the academy to convey the good new to Sheela.

A week had passed by and now everyone was preparing for the upcoming Sarvayogita competition which is merged with the Anniversary ceremony.  Meanwhile Samrat has announced that Charu will be entering the palace as Dakshesh's secondary wife after the ceremony without letting it out that she is actually pregnant.  But others had deducted from this announcement that the rumours about her pregnancy could actually be true.

The group of friends from Royal families, which includes Jitendra from Agnipura, Vedanth from Vayupura, Leela from Jagathpura and Apoorva from Jalpura, didn't feel any disgust towards Dakshesh or Charusheela as their intentions were always getting favoured by the Royal family of Pranyakta.  If they had known that Rashmi still holds significant position in Samrat's eyes or that she is important for Dakshesh or Charusheela to get Royal positions then they would have switched sides by now.

While the group was discussing among them in the back garden of the academy, Jitendra said, "This time, we shouldn't let her win over us.  Previously it was only to defeat her to gain the favour of Rajkumar Dakshesh and Rajkumari Charusheela.  But now it's a matter of our pride, to win over the Royal successor of Akashpura.  It will be the biggest shame if we let her win again".  The others nodded agreeing with him.

Charu came near the group of friends and said, "I heard your plan to defeat Rashmi in the Sarvayogita competition.  But you will face the same defeat like the previous ones".  When they looked at her in anticipation for further steps, she told, "I have an idea to gift her a crushing defeat".  She smirked saying this and the others heard her plan and were elated to execute the same in the competition.

Glossary:
Samrat - Emperor
Samragyi - Empress
Rajkumar - Prince
Bratashree - Brother
Bhabhishree - sister-in-law
Acharya - Master/Teacher
Mamashree - Uncle (Mother's Brother)
Mamishree - Aunt (Mother's brother's wife)
Bade - elder or big
Chote - younger or small

-----------------------------------------------------------

Precap:

Rashmi fell down on her knees exhausted and the whole arena around her fell silent as her 5 opponents closed around her.  Agneya who was sitting in the grand tent for Royal family, clenched his first as he saw all five of them surrounding her exhausted form with their weapons.  Rashmi looked up at their raised hands and tried to lift up her hands to use her powers but her body felt weak to defend against them.  As their raised hands closed down towards her to tackle her to the ground, the most unexpected thing happened which saved Rashmi.  Agneya stood up from his position followed by all others present in the arena while a shocked Acharya announced that Rashmi has won the fight.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys,

Hope you like the chapter.  Do vote and comment.

Word count: 2100

Thanks,
SM.