Ojaswini knew what she had to do. She whispered something in Parnalekha's ear. Parnalekha bowed before her and left the chamber.

Parnalekha stood in front of Rudradev's chamber and said to a guard, "Tell Yuvraj that I wish to meet him." She waited outside for a while. The guard came out of the chamber and said, "You can enter."

Rudradev was sharping the egde of his mighty sword. Parnalekha bowed before him. Rudradev said without looking at her, "Why did she send you to me?"

Parnalekha said, "Yuvraj, she is going to the forest accompanied by me and will be spending the night there."

Rudradev stood up and kept his sword on the table. With slow steps, he approached Parnalekha and said, "Did she not tell you why the forest will be blessed with her presence all of a sudden?"

The prince was a heavily built man. His voice was deep and clear. Pranlekha was little nervous. But being a lady who was not fragile, she said calmly, "Rajkumari has decided to have some fun in the forest."

Rudradev smirked and said, "Well, I see. Tell her that I will take care of the situation in the palace. She can have 'fun' in the forest." Rudradev stressed the word 'fun'. However, he was wondering what that 'fun' was going to be. Parnalekha bowed before the prince and left the chamber.

It was noon. Ojaswini and Parnalekha left the palace on horseback. Ojaswini's black horse Vishwarath galloped as fast as the wind. They reached the middle of the forest and waited for the sunset.

After the sunset, they started their preparations. Ojaswini wore fully black clothes and painted herself black. She covered her head with a black turban and used a black cloth to cover her face. She took a dagger and hid it under her clothes. Parnalekha also wore black clothes but did not paint herself black. Then, the two maidens went to the river bank and waited there.

Several hours passed but they did not witness any suspicious activity. The boatmen also returned to their homes. After a while, Ojaswini could hear a person approaching. It was Janmejaya. He walked towards the river bank and stood there, waiting for someone. After sometime, a lady wearing gold jewellery and silk attire approached him. Her face was covered with a veil and she had extremely long hair.

The lady was talking to Janmejaya. Parnalekha could smell the fragrance of flowers which the lady had used for decorating her hair. She whispered to Ojaswini, "It seems that she is his paramour."

Ojaswini said, "All you see is not true. After they finish talking, follow the one in silk. Kill that person and collect information about this visit. I will take care of Janmejaya. Be careful! No one should know that we did this."

Parnalekha was confused but she did not question the princess. After some time, Janmejaya and the mysterious lady parted ways. Ojaswini followed him. She walked towards him and attacked him from behind. He was unprepared. Ojaswini broke his neck and killed him on the spot without even shedding a drop of blood. Then, she dragged his lifeless body and kept it under an old banyan tree. Then she went to the place in the forest where she had taken refuge along with Parnalekha. She washed herself and changed into plain clothes.

Parnalekha was following the lady quietly. She observed that the lady went to meet another man. Parnalekha's eyes widened on seeing him. It was the king of  Kuvelapur. She approached them and hid herself in order to listen to their conversation. The lady unveiled herself. It was another surprise for Parnalekha. The one behind the veil was not a woman but a man. He was a spy.

He said to the king, "Rajan, everything is happening as we had thought. Matangpur is preparing for a war. When they will be fighting in the battlefield, we will attack the palace. Mantri Janmejaya said that the preparations will start soon. However, he refused to tell me the date of the war and disclose further secrets. He says that he will give us more information only if he gets more gold."

The king smiled with satisfaction. "I will give him some more gold then. Very soon, Matangpur will be one of our subordinate kingdoms," saying this, the king left the place in his chariot.

The spy changed into men's clothes. As if talking to himself, he said, "The work of a spy is not a child's play. You have to follow everyone, keep a track of everything and also manage to hide yourself. A single mistake and you are dead. My mother never knew that I was so clever. Poor woman! She died thinking that she had given birth to a fool. What a misery."

He gathered some branches and fallen leaves to light fire. He continued talking to himself, "Anyone who would see a well dressed lady talking to a man at the river bank, in the midnight hour, would definitely think that he has encountered two lovers. Little will that person know that it was a meeting between the traitor of one kingdom and a patriot of the other. Patriot? Viraj, so now you are a patriot? What patriot? Which patriot? You do this just for your bread and nothing else. And then, you name it patriotism."

He could hear someone breathing just behind him. He tried to turn around to see who it was when suddenly, everything turned black. Parnalekha had stabbed him with her dagger. She then burned his corpse and his goods and cleaned the place to avoid all suspicions. Then, she returned to the forest.

The princess was laying on the ground with her eyes open. On seeing Parnalekha, she said in her usual calm tone, "Whom did that spy work for?" She was indeed an epitome of cleverness who could see through the spy's disguise.

Parnalekha bowed before her and said, "He worked for the king of Kuvelapur."

Ojaswini smiled faintly and said, "It is not very wise to forget that you are growing old."

As usual, Parnalekha could not understand the meaning of Ojaswini's words.

They slept for a while and woke up soon as they had to reach the palace before sunrise. The maidens reached the palace just before the dawn. Ojaswini went to her chamber and decided to take a bath. After the bath, she went to the prayer hall to offer her prayers to the Goddess.

When she came out of the prayer hall, she was approached by Rudradev. He said to her, "So, how was the trip to the forest? Did you have enough 'fun'?

She said, "The walls of the palace are not trustworthy."

Rudradev got the hint. They walked towards his chamber. On reaching there, Ojaswini said, "The king of Kuvelapur knows about our preparations for the war."