Once upon a time,

There was a beautiful kingdom, Khwahish.

Khwahish was known for its beauty. This kingdom was blessed by Mother Nature. It had icy mountains, unending rainforests, cool beaches and hot deserts. A beautiful kingdom of beautiful people filled with beautiful wonders.

This kingdom witnessed a beautiful love story. The love story of the Crown Prince, Rajvir.

Rajvir was an excellent warrior, genius mathematician and a handsome young man, who soon turned into a ruler, who ruled over his people's hearts.

His father, the King, died in a battle, after which Rajvir was crowned as the King of Khwahish.

And soon he got married to the two daughters of the ruler of an ally kingdom.

Devika & Shivika

Devika and Shivika were sisters. The only difference was that their mothers were different, not one. They were stepsisters. But both the sisters loved each other.

Devika was a very beautiful young lady. She was blessed by the Goddess of Youth. She was the most beautiful lady alive at that time. But she was a beauty without brain. She was so proud of her beauty that she always ignored studies, home science and martial arts. Because she used to think, she is born perfect. But she was not.

Shivika was an ordinary looking girl. A girl who cannot be called beautiful. She was a brown-skinned girl, who had dark circles beneath her eyes and had wrinkles and dark spots on her skin. But she had a beautiful soul. She was really well in studies, home science and martial arts. Because she knew, Beauty gets the attention, Personality gets the heart.

Rajvir was totally smitten by Devika's beauty. He felt really lucky to get such a beautiful wife. When it comes to Shivika, he was not so impressed, or I say, happy. The reason, she was not beautiful.

He would spend his whole time with Devika, totally ignoring his second wife. But Shivika had no problem with it. Since childhood she was facing such ignorance.

She had seen her mother finding different-different ways to make her daughter look beautiful. But nothing worked.

Shivika never had any problem with her looks. However when she would find others making fun of her by calling her ugly princess, it hurt a lot.

What is her fault in it that she is not beautiful?

She learnt to ignore the negativity around her and created a positive personality of herself. She was beautiful by heart.

The Queen Mother was not happy with Rajvir for discriminating between his wives. She was not fond of any of her daughter-in-law. But she believed, Rajvir should treat his wives equally.

Her elder sister suicide, because her husband insulted her for not being beautiful. And she could never forgot her sister's death.

That is why she always taught her son to not judge others by their outer beauty. But perhaps Rajvir forgot those teachings with the passing time while being surrounded by beauty.

On his mother's insistence Rajvir decided that he will spend one night in Devika's chamber and the next night in Shivika's chamber. After the marriage he had rarely met Shivika. He was too busy with Devika to notice her presence in his life.

Shivika was not at all effected by her husband's ignorance. She was really happy with her books. Books were her first love and she had no mood to have any second love.

A full-moon night, Rajvir silently entered Shivika's chamber. He did not let the lady standing outside announce his arrival. He wanted to know what his not-so-beautiful wife was doing.

The same he did with Devika. He found her smoking from a Hukkah. It was common among royal ladies to smoke. But he never liked it. Still he forgave his beautiful wife.

When he entered in her chamber, he found Shivika sitting on the floor and books scattered all around her. She was deeply lost in reading the book that she did not even felt his presence in her room.

Rajvir coughed to gain her attention. But all he received was, "Shhhh......"

He again coughed, but a little louder. "Quiet!" She commanded without looking at the source of noise.

Now he coughed even louder, like he is about to vomit.
"What is it?" Shivika shouted in irritation but got quiet and stood up after seeing Rajvir standing in front of her.

"You... here?" She asked with nervousness.

"Am I not allowed to enter my wife's chamber?"

"It is not like that... I.. I did not expected you... to be.. be here.. that too at night."

Rajvir was now more attracted towards Shivika. She had an amazing personality.

When Devika would be taking her beauty sleep, she would read books. When Devika would avoid eating oily food, she would never do injustice with her tastebuds. When Devika would spend lots of money on dresses, jewellery and other luxuries, she would donate the money among poors. When Devika would be gossiping about here and there, she would discuss about politics.

Rajvir was now getting bored and frustrated with Devika's dumbness. Now spending time with her was more like a torture. Because the magic of her beauty was over. Rajvir had realised that she is the dumbest woman alive on this earth.

He would like to spend more time with Shivika. Actually he was glad that she is not beautiful. Because no man will ever look at her with lustful eyes. No man will ever think to snatch her away from him. She would always remain his. He considered her, his best friend.

Rajvir had only one complaint with her. Shivika had never made any public appearance. And he was really upset for that. Devika would only embarrass him with her silly talks. While he was confident that Shivika will charm everyone with her intelligence, but only if she agrees to face the outer world.

One day finally he asked her,
"Shivika, why are you so afraid of the outer world?"

And her reply puzzled him.
"I was never afraid of the outer world, but one day someone showed me the mirror."

"What does it mean? Someone showed you the mirror?"

He could see sadness clouding her. So he did not push it further. But still he believed that some day he will make her enough brave to face the world.

Soon Devika got pregnant and gave birth to a son, Ranvir. Rajvir was happy, but he wanted his first child from Shivika. He wanted his first child to have the wisdom like hers. The tragedy was, they had not consummated their marriage yet. Shivika was not ready for it.

But a night came when Rajvir lost his patience and entered her room. Shivika was shocked and scared after seeing him like this.

"Shivika...." he cupped her face "I love you."
After hearing these three words from her husband's mouth, she began crying.

"Why are you crying?" Rajvir asked her.

She dragged him to the mirror and stood beside him.

"Are you sure, you love this girl?"
She pointed towards her reflection in the mirror. He nodded in agreement.

"Really?...... How can you love an ugly princess?"
Her words stabbed his heart.

"Who said I love an ugly princess? I love the princess, who have a heart of gold."

"You cannot..... Don't humiliate yourself."

"Shivika, for me you are the world's most beautiful girl. Trust me."

"But for world, I am not beautiful. "

"You are beautiful. And one day the whole world will say it."

With that he left. He was hurt, he never expected Shivika to think so low of herself.

That night Shivika could not sleep.

"Why he thinks I am beautiful? I doubt if my own mother would have ever thought of me as beautiful. He loves me? Why?"

Her looks never mattered to her, but it mattered to others. Her mother once told her to not stay with Devika. Because Devika's beauty always overshadowed her.

But her father never asked for Devika's help. He always asked for Shivika's help. Her brothers never adored Devika, the way they adored her. Even the servants never gave that respect to Devika, which they showed towards Shivika. Then how Devika could overshadow her?

But the mirror never lies. When she faced the mirror, she only found an ugly girl in front of her. It made her believe that she is not beautiful.

"Someone tried to assassinate the king"
These words destroyed the peace of the kingdom.

The assassin, sent by an enemy kingdom, attempted to kill Rajvir, when he was alone in the stable. But fortunately, he failed. However, Rajvir had a major injury. Because of which, he went into coma.

In just a few hours the kingdom lost the shelter of it's king. But it led to the happening of something which created a new history. The Queen Mother declared Shivika as the ruler of Khwahish. She knew only Shivika has the ability to save the kingdom from enemies.

In the history of Khwahish, first time a lady sat on the throne.

In the beginning everyone underestimated her, because she was just a woman, that too an ugly woman. But she proved everyone wrong. With her excellent strategy she joined hands with few powerful kingdoms and attacked the enemy kingdom. The way she fought on the battlefield, every soldier felt ashamed of his martial arts training. By planning a master plan she arrested all the spies of enemies hiding in the kingdom. No kingdom could ever succeed in it. She saved the kingdom with her excellence.

Under her rule no one slept hungry. The kingdom was happier than ever. The ugly princess was now a great-hearted Queen, who ruled on hearts, not on a piece of land.

On the other hand, Devika was unable to take care of her son. Enemies even tried to poison him. Shivika knew Devika was not capable of protecting Ranvir. So she took the responsibility of Ranvir in her hands.

Everyone was happy, except her. Her happiness ended the moment her Rajvir slept an unending sleep. She was waiting for the day when he will wake up and her happiness will come back.

Like this, four years passed away.

"You are beautiful. And one day the whole world will say it."

His words every night echoed in her mind.

He was right. She was beautiful. And the whole world said that. But once, she wanted to hear it from Rajvir. She was waiting to hear it from him.

And finally her wait ended. Rajvir opened his eyes. His first word was, "Shivika...."

Her happiness returned. Her Rajvir returned.

Rajvir's love for her had increased million times after his long sleep. He would always keep her beside him. He was on cloud nine, when Shivika confessed her love for him.

Devika divorced Rajvir, saying that she has fallen for someone else. Rajvir was worried about Ranvir that how he will live without his mother. But Ranvir was least effected by it. For him Shivika was his mother, who took care of him all this time.

"Shivika, I want a child...... our child."
Shivika could not describe what she felt after listening to his words. But she too wanted this to happen.

After a year, they were blessed with a daughter, Shivya.

Shivika got everything in her life. Her looks now did not mattered to anyone. Because they understood that she has world's most beautiful heart. She was a wife, a mother and a queen, who was loved by everyone.

"Now you believe, you are beautiful?" Rajvir asked her.

"I am beautiful." Shivika replied with a beautiful smile.

The End.

"YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, in your own way."

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I wrote this short story on Dec 15, 2020. Exactly a year ago.

It was short, but was appreciated by readers.

I hope it was worth reading.