Next day,
Viraaj was sitting in meeting hall with Dhishva. They were talking about something when a soldier knocked on the door.
They stopped discussing and both of them looked at the door and Dhishva said "Come in."
The soldier stepped in the hall and informed "Your majesty, a messenger from Jwalana Kingdom has come. He want to meet you."
Viraaj and Dhishva looked at each other and then at soldier.
"Send him inside." Viraaj ordered.
The soldier nod and went out.
Shortly after, the messenger stepped in the hall and greeted them.
"Greetings your majesty."
Viraaj and Dhishva stood up and greeted him.
"Greetings. Please come and sit." Dhishva said politely and gestured the messanger to sit.
"Thank you so much your highness." The messenger said and sat down on the chair next to Viraaj.
"My name is Shirish, i am the messenger of Jwalana Kingdom." The messenger introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you Shirish." Viraaj and Dhishva said. They sat down and Viraaj asked...
"So what message do you have for us?"
"Let me give you the letter from his majesty Abhiveera." Shirish said and took out the letter from his hand bag. He then gave the letter to Viraaj "Here."
Viraaj took the letter from Shirish and opened it. He started reading it.
"What is the letter about?" Dhishva asked to Shirish.
Shirish smiled and replied "It's about marriage proposal of our crown prince, Prince Raksheet Kumar for your younger daughter, princess Ira chakravarthy."
"What?!" Dhishva's eyes widened in shock. He looked at his father who was reading the letter carefully. Without getting distracted by anything, with all focus and not getting bothered by his son's reaction.
Dhishva removed his gaze from his father and looked down while thinking seriously. His eyebrows were curled and there was a tension seen on his face. He clenched his fist tightly to suppress his uneasiness and control his emotions, at least until Shirish is there, watching them.
When Viraaj was done reading the letter, he closed it and sighed deeply. He put the letter away.
Seeing their reactions, Shirish felt uncomfortable. He thought may be they didn't liked this proposal so he asked.
"What happened your majesty? Didn't you liked the proposal?" Shirish was hoping the answer to be opposite than their reactions.
Viraaj looked at Shirish and faked a smile "No no. It's not like that. We weren't expecting this so we are just a bit surprised."
"Oh, ok." Shirish said, feeling a bit relieved but he can still feel the tension in the room.
"Yes. And about the marriage, we need some time to think about it. We have to discuss it with Ira and her mother and other family members. But we are grateful that his majesty Abhiveera sent this proposal. We are grateful that his majesty considered us worthy to make relationship with us. We will think about it and then we will inform you. Till then, you can stay in our palace. We will prepare a guest chamber for you to stay." Viraaj said. He looked at the door and called the soldier "Soldier!"
The soldier entered in the hall immediately and asked. "Yes your majesty?"
"Prepare the guest chamber for Mr. Shirish. Make arrangements for his food and drink. He should not lack of anything." Viraaj ordered.
"Ok, your majesty?" The soldier replied.
Viraaj then turned his gaze towards Shirish. "If you need anything, please tell us without hesitation."
"Sure." Shirish replied and stood up to leave. He greeted them and went out of the hall with soldier.
As soon as Shirish left the hall, Dhishva burst out with questions.
"Father, what is this? Marriage? I told you not to let her come infront of anyone. How can we let Ira marry prince Raksheet? It won't be good for us! There will be a big fuss! We can't let this happen!" Dhishva was so worried about it. He was trying to control himself but he can't. He can imagine all the disastrous things that can happen with this marriage.
"I know, i know. Calm down. I am more worried than you. Not only for us but it won't be good with Jwalana Kingdom. We can't let Ira marry prince Raksheet, without letting them know the truth. But...." Viraaj suddenly stopped talking, making Dhishva more curious and worried.
"But what?" Dhishva asked with a straight face.
"How long we will avoid Ira's marriage proposals. Last month, the king of Bayar kingdom sent the marriage proposal of his son for Ira. We didn't accepted it because..... because our relations are not so good with them.
Because we are enemies and I am sure he know everything about Ira. We can't trust them, So we avoided it. And because of that, I think slowly everyone will get to know about her soon. But how can we avoid Jwalana's proposal? Our relations are good. We are looking forward to strengthen the alliance. And this marriage will help us for it. May be that's why his majesty Abhiveera sent this proposal. If we reject it, it will tie a knot in our relationship and the other kingdoms will ask about it too. What will we answer them?
One day, Ira have to get married. What will we do then? And Ira is not a kid. She know how to take care of herself. I think, She will manage."
"But what about his majesty Abhiveera and his family? We can't lie to them. It's betrayal!" Dhishva protests.
"I know. But i have told his majesty that Ira often fall sick and have some health issues. If he know it and still he sent this marriage proposal, then how can we reject it? People will question about Ira's health and if she is fit to marry anyone.
And if this rumour spread in the kingdom and outside, then no one will marry Ira. And i can't afford that." Viraaj Sighed. He can't afford to see Ira living her life alone, without any support, getting humiliated by her family and people of her own Kingdom and others. Her life will turn into a living hell if people find out her truth.
He thought for a while and then spoke. "Anyways, Prince Raksheet is a good man. King Abhiveera is also fond of Ira. He like her and if he is ready to get her married to his grandson, who is a crown prince, we should not reject this proposal. Anyways, Ira don't know much about her own identity. Then how others will know?"
Finally, Dhishva looked a little calm. If their truth will not come out, then he don't have any problem with this marriage. He want to put away the burden of Ira's responsibility from his shoulder and if this is the safest way, he will go with it.
"If you think this marriage will not create any problems, then i don't have any problem."
"Hm....we have to talk to Ira and her mother about it. Their opinion is also important." Viraaj said.
In evening,
Everyone was having dinner. Viraaj and Dhishva were thinking about the proposal from Jwalana Kingdom.
Viraaj looked at his son and at the same moment he was also looking at him. They signalled each other that they should tell everyone about the marriage proposal. Everyone is there and they have to answer Shirish about proposal soon so they should not waste their time.
Viraaj turned his gaze from his son to Ira, who was sitting next to her mother and having her dinner quietly. Viraaj was thinking, how his princess will go away from him. How his princess bears all the pain and loneliness of her life. Without any fault, she had to suffer so much. Now finally, there is a hope that everything will change for her. The pain she bear till now, will turn into happiness and love. Hope that prince Raksheet and his family will give the love and respect that Ira didn't got from her own family. The respect, the care, the love that she deserve.
Viraaj closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Pushing all the thoughts back, he then opened his eyes and spoke "Everyone, i have something to tell you."
Everyone stopped eating and looked at Viraaj as soon as his voice fell on their ears.
"What you want to tell us?" Veer asked.
"The majesty of Jwalana Kingdom has sent a marriage proposal of his grandson, prince Raksheet, for Ira." He announced.
Ira looked at her grandfather with shock and disbelief. She can't believe what she heard right now.
Others also had the same expression as Ira but there was one person who was shocked as well as jealous. Veera.
"What? Marriage proposal? For Ira?" Ira's mother asked anxiously.
"Yes. When last time his majesty Abhiveera came to meet father, he saw Ira and may be he liked her. And he chose her for his grandson." Dhishva explained to everyone.
Ira was just looking at her grandfather, with worried and confused look. Her eyebrows curled and so many questions in her eyes. She don't know what is happening. Her marriage? How is it possible? She can't believe it. She never thought that there will be a day when she will get married. She will have someone beside her. To protect her, to understand her feelings and to love her. She thought that her life will end just how it started, with hate, loneliness, hurt and with pain. But after hearing this, Ira is more worried. Her family members didn't accepted her then how others will accept her?
"But father, i am elder than Ira! How can you let her marry before me?! And more importantly, how can she get married? She can't! Prince Raksheet will be a king of Jwalana Kingdom, how can he marry her? Do they know who she is? I am sure if they found out, they won't even look at her." Veera said with disgust and haterade in her tone. The jealousy was seen on her face and in her tone. She can't bear if Ira got something good or more than her.
"Do you wanna die?" Dhishva asked in a cold tone. There was a stern look on his face.
Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. What he just said? Is he protecting Ira?
"W-What?" Veera asked in fear. Why her father is asking such a question out of nowhere.
"Do. You. Wanna. Die? If no, then stay quiet. They want Ira to marry prince Raksheet. If we reject the proposal or send your marriage proposal for prince Raksheet, they might rage war against us. Do you want that?" Dhishva asked.
After hearing Dhishva's answer, it got cleared that he is not protecting Ira, he never did and may be he will never.
"N-No father." Veera replied, looking down at the table.
"Good. Anyways, finally Ira got an opportunity to help her family and kingdom. Marrying prince Raksheet will be good to make our relationship strong with Jwalana kingdom." Dhishva looked at Ira who was looking down at her hands with eyes filled with tears. "You can at least do this much for us. Don't be useless as always. Do something which is good for others. I didn't feed you so that you will be a waste, do something which will give benefit to us. You should be grateful that someone is ready to marry you."
"Stop it Dhishva! Stop saying nonsense!" Viraaj yelled, while boiling in anger after hearing Dhishva's nonsense.
"What he said wrong?" Ira's grandmother, Queen Sadhya asked. "She is a waste for our kingdom and family. She can't do anything. If she got this opportunity to help us, then she should do it-"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, RIGHT NOW!!!" Viraaj again yelled at his wife and banged the table, making her flinch on her seat and shut her mouth tightly.
Ira closed her eyes tightly to control her tears but it fell down from the corner of her eyes. And that's the moment when she burst into tears and ran away from there.
"Ira!" Viraaj shouted but she didn't stopped.
She straight went to her chamber and closed the door.
"Can't you all shut your mouth for a while?! Huh?!!" Viraaj again yelled and everyone was scared to see him so much angry.
"Ira again didn't ate her food because of you all! If my granddaughter can't have her food peacefully because of you, then you don't have rights to have yours too! No one can have dinner tonight! Maids! take the food away!" He ordered to the maids and one by one the maids took all the food away.
Veer and Veera were looking at the food getting away from their sight and cursing Ira in their mind but didn't dare to protest.
"Go to your chambers, right now!" Viraaj said and everyone started to leave except for Daksha. She went to Viraaj.