Hey Guys!!!! 

The seventh chapter. 

I don't own Mahabharat. 

Happy Reading!! 

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 Third POV 

The court was in going on in full swing. Karn celebrating his fifth few days prior was seated beside his grandmother in the court. Not exactly beside her, he was sitting on the arm of the chair Raj Mata Satyavati sat on.

Bishma was horrified to see him sitting there but Raj Mata Satyavati just waved him off. And what could Bishma say to Raj Mata. He did not miss the wide grin on his sons' face. Shaking his head, he took his seat in the room.

Right now, one of the ministers was talking about a case.

"Maha Mahim, there has been a concerning thing going on. People who are going to the Shiva temple are asked to worship the Shivling with Milk else the Nag God would curse them, by the priests." The minister said.

"What? Why?" Maha Mahim Bishma asks, stunned as to what he was hearing.

"We do not know, Maha Mahim." The mister replied, his head bowed.

Aditya bend down and murmured something in his Dadi's ears. Surprising her.

"Minister Das, call for the priest of the main temple please." Raj Mata Satyavati orders. And the said man is sent in.

"Greetings to Raj Mata and Maha Mahim Bishma." The priest says and both the royals nod in reply.

"Why are you telling people to worship the Shivling with milk?" Raj Mata questions.

The man looked panicked for a minute before he said. "Pardon me, your highness, for what I am doing but aren't Shivling worshipped with milk?"

"Yes, they are." Maha Mahim says. "But there is no compulsion. And what is this Naga God thing?"

Again, there was panic in the man's eyes but neither of the elders' royals noticed it nor did anybody else. But one sharp eye caught it, Karn caught it.

"What I speak is nothing but truth, Maha Mahim." The Pandit says, finality in his tone was visible but you can never be sure.

Raj Mata Satyavati was observing her grand-son right now, instead of the Pandit. The things he had been saying could be true. Very true.

"Aditya." Raj Mata word, makes everyone to turn to her.

"Yes, Dadi?" Aditya, turned to look at her grandmother, who was just beside him. Why did she call for me, so loudly?

"Tell the court, what you told me." Raj Mata Satyavati says.

Aditya stares at his grandmother, his papa had told him to never say anything in the court, out loud. Only whisper talk to Bishma, himself and Raj Mata Satyavati if that does not disturb the court. So, what to do?

He turned to look at his father silently asking what to do, right now.

"Karn, follow your Dadi's orders." Maha Mahim Bishma, nods at his son. 

Karn nods back and turns to everybody else in the room, who were looking at the on going's with wide eyes. What was all this? 

"Greetings Pandit Ji! I have nothing against you, Pandit Ji. But I am against injustice." Karn begins. "What you are doing is unfair. And I say that because, you Pandit Ji were panicking while answering." 

"It is that either you have some other thing to do with that or there is somebody above you, who scares you." Karn concludes. "As far as I am aware, you have nobody above you. So, it must be something that you are hiding." 

He stops for a second, staring at the Pandit in front of him, who was clearly panicking. While the people in the court were watching the occurring's with astonishment.
How intelligent is the kid, really?

"Pandit Ji, you know the last Monday, that was a day before today, I was out with Adirath kaka in the village market." Karn once again began speaking slowly and confidently, "And you would be surprised to hear what I saw there, especially after all this. I saw a man in quite well of dress, delivering milk."

The Pandit now was practically sweating bullets. He could see where this was heading, and he was scared of what the outcome could be.

"Papa," Karn turns to his father, who was beaming in pride with Karn's talks. "the man you see was same as the man standing behind Pandit Ji and beside Minister Das. And happens to be a close associate with Pandit Ji, here."

Maha Mahim nodded at the soldiers who instantly were beside the said man.

"They Papa, are selling the collected milk back to the people. The Milk they ask the people for, by establishing in them the fear of Naga Raj." Karn concludes.

"We are sorry, Maha Mahim." The pandit falls on his knees. "But we had no other option. What could we do? They were threatening us."

"Who?" Maha Mahim asks, his voice was calm. Too calm. The one Karn always ran away from. The one which on hearing Karn hides behind his grand mom.

"We do not know Maha Mahim, we have not seen them." The Pandit Ji acts like he is crying. And, he was doing a very bad job at it.

"You are lying." Karn says.

"Raj kumar?" (Prince?) The Pandit looked surprised at his prince.

"You are lying. If you had anybody above you, you would have said that instantly. You would have said in the beginning only. But you did not which means that you were trying to make an escape plan, when you could not. You decided to blame it on somebody else." Karn says.
"If it would have been someone else, your companion would have said something too, but all this while he remained silent. Because that is what you instructed him. Also, he had no idea what you were talking about so how could he pitch in?"

"Am I wrong, Pandit Ji?" Karn asks. Even though Karn had just declared, the Pandit to be a traitor, he was giving the man the respect his post asked for. 

Everyone in the court was least to be said floored, the kid was a perfect definition of sharp wit and street smartness. He very easily git through the façade the pandit had developed when even elders could not do that. The kid was sure to be an excellent leader.

"Is my grandson correct, Pandit?" Mata Satyavati questions. There was two side of her mood right now, angry on the pandit and over- joyed at her grandson Aditya's intelligence.

"The faster you admit it, the better I will be for you, Pandit." Maha Mahim practically growls at the man in front of him. "And for the record, the title of Pandit and the post you have in the main temple is going to be taken away from you. Mister"

"But Maha Mahim, how will my family survive. Maha Mahim." The ex- pandit cries, in despair.

"So, you admit of your crimes?" Maha Mahim questions, once again.

The ex- pandit nods, crying in shame and grief.

"Well, for lying to people and trying to make them believe your lie, you mister will be under imprisonment for three years. And all this while, you have to be under supervision as you are going to be helping people around." Maha Mahim declares.

"And if there is any complain from the people of authorities above you, your imprisonment will be increased three months, per complain." Raj Mata adds on. "You, the helper of this acting pandit, are under imprisonment for one and half year, after which we expect that you will make better associates and not make same mistakes of bad friends again."

"Raj Mata Satyavati Ki Jai!"

"Raj Mata Satyavati Ki Jai!" (All Hail Queen Mother Satyavati)

"Maha Mahim Bishma Ki Jai!"

"Maha Mahim Bishma Ki Jai!" (All Hail His Excellency Bishma.)

"Raj Kumar Karn Ki Jai!"

"Raj Kumar Karn Ki Jai!" (All Hail Prince Karn)

All three joined their hands and bowed their head to show that they except the love being given to them.

"Today's court is dissolved here." Maha Mahim declared.

And as everybody left the cheers for prince Karn could be heard in the air. It was as if even the walls of the palace were cheering for the young prince. 

"Raj Kumar Karn Ki Jai!"

"Raj Kumar Karn Ki Jai!" (All Hail Prince Karn)

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"Raj Kumar Karn Ki Jai!" 

Our Karn is a smart boy. 

He will be a nice leader *cough* King *cough*  

(1410 words.)

--Sxxxxx