Royal Palace of Matangpur :

Everyone was waiting at the entrance of the palace. The royal ladies were standing at the front to welcome the prince and the maids were standing beside them.

A maid named Pragati was talking to another maid. She said, "Kanta, I have heard that the prince is very handsome but I have never seen him. Do you know anything about him?"

Her friend said, "I saw him when he was about fifteen years old. He was very good-looking at that time."

"But not more than the crown prince," an older maid said and smiled at them. This angered Kanta.

She said, "Did I ask you? Rajkumar Vinayak was far more handsome the Yuvraj Rudradev."

The horns were blown. This was an indication for the arrival of the prince.

Vinayak walked towards the palace along with his friend Chitrasen. Chitrasen was the son of the Commander-in-chief of Matangpur's army and the childhood friend of Vinayak. They had studied together under Guru Chaitanya.

He reached the entrance of the palace. The queen was standing there. She performed the aarti and put a tilak on his forehead. Vinayak touched her feet and took her blessings. She said, "May you live long! "

Mandira came forward and Vinayak touched her feet. She embraced him and said, "May you have a long life, Putra! "

Ojaswini smiled at him but Vinayak pretended that he did not see her and walked forward. He walked towards Rudradev and they hugged each other. Vinayak looked at Rudradev and with a sly smile, he said, "It seems that my younger brother is not happy to see me."

Rudradev smiled broadly and said, "No Bhratashree, you are mistaken. You don't know how happy I am. It is such an emotional moment. You have returned to Matangpur after such a long time. I missed you a lot."

"Are you not interested in meeting us?" Jaydrath asked laughing. He was standing with Jayadev. Vinayak walked towards them and took their blessings.

Finally, Vinayak retired to his chamber which was decorated with fresh jasmines. He took off his angavastra and sat on a chair. A maid poured wine in his glass. He took a sip of wine.
Just then, he heard a voice. It was none other than Ojaswini. She entered the chamber and said, "Privacy" .

All the maids walked out of the chamber. She sat beside her brother. Vinayak smiled at her and said, "So, did the princess of Matangpur forget the way towards the chamber of the crown prince?"

Ojaswini also smiled at him. She said, "Ofcourse not. I have come to meet you because I am tensed. My only brother has decided to ignore me."

Vinayak took another sip of wine. He placed the glass on the table and filled it again. He said, "So you know that I had just ignored you. Your cleverness is indeed a danger for me. Now, I cannot even ignore someone without being noticed." Ojaswini continued to smile at him. He said, "I have something for you." He took out a box and gave it to her.

Ojaswini took the box and opened it. There were gold bangles studded with gem stones. She said, "They are beautiful."

Vinayak stood up and said, "I know. A goldsmith came to me and showed me these bangles. I thought of refusing him at first but then, I remembered that I have a sister."

Ojaswini thanked him.

Just then, a maid arrived. She said, "Hail the Prince and the Princess." Vinayak nodded his head.

The maid said, "Yuvraj Rudradev wishes to meet Rajkumari Ojaswini. He is waiting for her in his chamber."

Vinayak indicated her to leave. He said to Ojaswini, "Go, the crown prince is waiting for you." Ojaswini smiled at him once again and left the chamber.

Ojaswini went to Rudradev's chamber and saw him standing at the balcony. When she walked up to him, he said, "Did I disturb you and your brother?"

"Not at all," she replied.

Rudradev saw the box in her hand and said to her, "It is rather unusual for the Princess of Matangpur to walk around with a box in her hand."

She opened the box and showed the bangles to Rudradev. She said, "Have a look at these. My brother gifted them to me."

Rudradev took the bangles in his hand and said, "They are beautiful. Gold bangles studded with gemstones, that is a piece of intricate craftsmanship."

Ojaswini got closer and whispered, "A piece of intricate craftsmanship found only in Ajaynagar. This type of bangles are worn by the royal ladies of the kingdom. Perhaps, my brother had assumed that I did not know about this. He thought that I would believe his tale about a goldsmith who came to him to show these bangles."

Rudradev's eyes widened after listening to her. He said, "Do you want to say that he had visited Ajaynagar to strike an alliance and the king had gifted these to him?"

Ojaswini nodded her head. Rudradev took a deep breath.

He said, "Bhaskar, the crown prince of Ajaynagar, has always been a good friend to your brother."

Ojaswini said to him, "A friend to him, is an enemy to you. You need to clean your path and throw Bhaskar away."

Rudradev nodded his head in approval.

Rudradev said, "I know that the task will be quite easy as you are going to assist me."

Ojaswini smiled at him. A few moments later, she said, "Let us go to meet your father."

Both of them walked towards the king's chamber to find him sleeping. Rudradev sat at the edge of his bed and pressed his father's legs. Jayadev opened his eyes and saw Rudradev and Ojaswini standing near him. He said, "Why are you standing? Sit down."

Jayadev sat on the bed and said to them, "So tell me, what is the reason for your arrival?"

Ojaswini said, "There is nothing special. We just wanted to see you. Shall we stay here or would you like to sleep for some more time?"

The king started laughing. He said, "No, my dear child. I do not wish to sleep now. Sit here. It has been a long time since I talked to both of you properly."

Ojaswini said, "We know that."

Jayadev was staring at Ojaswini. He smiled and said, "I still remember the day when you were born. You were so little. I used to take you in my arms and roam around. Look how you have grown! Every other day, we are getting marriage proposals for you."

Rudradev said, "Pitashree, you look older than your age. What is the reason?"

Jayadev said to him, "I was worried about the upcoming war."

Then Rudradev said, "You do not need to worry when you have a grown up son. We will crush the enemies and show them the consequences of trying to attack Matangpur."

Ojaswini assured him too by saying, "Please do not worry. Everything will be fine."