The rays of the morning sun were glimmering over the water of Sarayu, where the prince of Shripuram, Mrunmaye had come to offer his prayers, along with Shaurya-shakti.

After he was done he came out of the river, water dripping from every limb of his, while he stroked back his wet hair. His eyes fell on some young ladies, dressed elegantly, who seemed to have been waiting for him only.

"Aap sab Rajkumariya yaha ?" Mrunmaye asked, knowing them to be princesses from their grace.

"Hum sab toh keval, aapse milne aaye the." One of them said.

"Koi vishesh karya ?" He asked.

At that the princesses looked at each other in apprehension, not wanting to confess their feelings just yet. They looked back at him, who was standing with a serious expression with his arms folded.

"Kya kisi karya ki awashyakta hai ?" Another princess asked.

"Mai ek mariyadit purush hu Rajkumariyo, kisi bhi vyakti se anawashyak samvaad nahi karta." Mrunmaye said humbly.

He joined his hands at them and began to leave with Shaurya-shakti following him behind. But the princesses weren't having it.

"Aap bade sanskari pratit hote hai, kintu kya yeh nahi jaante ki jab stree Sringaar karke aaye toh use prashansa karni chahiye." A princess said, which made Mrunmaye turn around and glance at her.

"Satyavachan, stree ko Sundar keh uski prashansa karna accha acharan hota." Another princess said.

"Kaha likha hai yeh ?" Shaurya-shakti asked.

"Yeh humara maanna hai." The princess said with smug smile.

Mrunmaye looked at them with a raised brow.

"Kshama kijiyega. Kintu Rajkumari Rameshwari ke hote, kisi anya vyakti ya kisi anya vastu ko Sundar kaise kaha jaa sakta hai ? Yeh mera maanna hai." He said.

"Atyant prem karte hai kya aap unse ?" Some other princess asked.

"Woh mera pratham aur antim prem hai." Mrunmaye said simply.

"Pratham toh samajh ata hai. Antim kaise keh sakte hai ?" She asked.

"Kyuki maine yeh nishchaye kiya hai." He said.

"Jis Rajkumari ki aap baat kar rahe hai, woh toh vyast hai anya purusho se upahaar lene mei." A princess said.

At that Mrunmaye frowned, Rameshwari was being presented with gifts by the guests and he wasn't informed about this ? But he instantly knew it was a petty trick to keep him away and get a chance to woo her.

"Shaurya ?" Mrunmaye looked at him.

"Ji Bhaiya ?" Shaurya-shakti looked at him.

"Chalo, Rajkumari Rameshwari ko hum bhi upahaar de." Mrunmaye said.

Bidding the princesses a final goodbye, Mrunmaye left with Shaurya-shakti. While the princesses sighed in defeat, realising he was too much in love with the Ram-suta.

On the otherside, Rameshwari was seated on a high seat beside Lakshman, who was told to stay with her when the guests present her with gifts, by Shri Ram.

Several of the princes, many of the crown-princes and few of kings had already gotten intimidated by the elder Soumitra, sharply looking at them. They felt as if their souls were being burnt by his gaze.

"Y-yeh ratno se j-jada huya kangan, keval Rajkumari ke liye." A prince stuttered under the gaze of Lakshman as he presented his gift to Rameshwari.

Ulka took the gift from him and showed it upclose to Rameshwari, who looked at with an unreadable expression and then forced a smile looking at the prince.

The Ram-suta was getting quite bored, as the gifts were already presented to her. The kings, crown-princes, princes and other noble men could see their efforts failing miserably.

"Yeh swarn ke abhushan aapke liye."

"Yeh ratno se susajjit darpan aapke liye."

"Yeh swarn ka singhasan aapke liye."

"Yeh sundar talwaar aapke liye."

And so on more and more expensive and expansive gifts were presented to her. There was nothing which she didn't have. Everything that was presented to her, she had a similar one only 10 times or 50 times, more grand.

This was causing great disappointment to Lakshman as well, to him it was laughable that these men were trying to woo the one who was blessed by Kuber to be surrounded by wealth, the one who was famous by the name of Dhanvi among people, the one who daughter of Chakravarti Samrat Ram Chandra himself.

For the same reason, even Ulka was internally sighing in annoyance while taking the gifts from the men and showing it to Rameshwari, who didn't even bother to hold it in her hand, or take a good look. She'd just gesture her to keep it aside.

Once all of them had presented their gifts, they stood with downcast faces.

"Kya kisi anya ko upahaar dena hai ? Koi shesh hai ?" Lakshman asked.

"Mera upahar shesh hai." A booming voice said.

Everyone looked at the door and saw Mrunmaye entering with long firm steps, with his head high. A smile appeared on the face of Rameshwari whereas Lakshman raised a brow.

"Rajkumar Lakshman, Rajkumari Rameshwari aur anya atithiyo ko Shripuram-kumar ka naman." He said, standing in front of Rameshwari and Lakshman.

"Kya upahaar doge tum ?" The soumitra asked.

At that Mrunmaye held his hand out which carried a veni of beautiful flowers, the men who had previously presented their gifts frowned, if their luxurious gifts didn't interest the princess, how can the flower do ?

But to their surprise, a beaming smile appeared on the face of Rameshwari, as she herself took the veni from his hands before Ulka could, like with previous gifts.

"Atyant Sundar." Rameshwari said admiring it.

"Sabhi logo ne Rajkumari ko ek se badh kar ek upahaar diye, kintu tumhe keval pushpo ki veni ?" Lakshman asked curiously.

"Mahoday, yeh baat toh aap bhi jaante hai ki Rajkumari ke paas swarn, ratna ityadi ki kami nahi. Woh sab de ke kya laabh ? Maine socha jo Rajkumari ke paas nahi hai woh dedu, pushpo ki veni. Iske bina Inka sringaar adhura tha." Mrunmaye said and the men lowered their gazes.

A smile appeared on the face of Lakshman as he shook his head, indeed among all these respected men, Mrunmaye had proven the superiority of his credibility and his thoughtful nature.

The smile of Rameshwari widenend as she very carefully puts that veni on the side of her head, and then looked at Mrunmaye, seeing the smile of whom, her cheeks heated up.

"Yadi aagya ho toh kya Rajkumari se ek maang kar sakta hu ?" Mrunmaye asked.

"Aap humare atithi hai, aapki iccha purn karna humara dharm hai." Rameshwari said.

"Yadi Rajkumari ko mera upahaar pasand aya ho, toh kya woh mere saath vihaar par chalna chaahengi ?" Mrunmaye asked.

At that the eyes of all men stared at him, in shock, for he directly asked for such a thing from the daughter of Chakravarti Samrat. They had to admit that this prince of Shripuram had a lot of courage.

"Yadi chaahe toh aap chaahe toh apni sakhiyo aur chachashree ko bhi saath laa sakti hai. Mujhe koi aapatti nahi." Mrunmaye said.

"Nahi tum dono jaa sakte ho." Lakshman said with a smile, "Mujhe Shripuram-kumar par vishwas hai." He said.

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A/N

Mrunmaye ne Lakshman ji ka dil jeet liya lagta hai.... Ya fir Lakshman ji ko upahaar dene ke session mei pata chal gaya ki Mrun se better koi na hai yaha 🤣🤣🤣

Waise Lakshman ji had already said 20 ke pehle kuch nahi.... Ab 20 ki age hai toh dekho how liberal he got 😂😂

Btw, do you remember this SriSri art ?

I made a Mruneshwari version of it ✨