Capítulo 61: A pavilion in the air

As soon as the two of them went towards the cooking area, Laasya made a beeline for the cleaner who was wiping the windowsill in the food hall.

"Big brother, may I ask you for a huge favour?" Laasya's eyes turned watery and she displayed a timid, helpless expression in front of him.

The old man was taken aback and nodded almost subconsciously.

One hour later

"Many thanks to you for escorting us to this place. We will just collect some samples of the flora here. If you like, you can rest under a tree till then," Laasya addressed the two poker-faced lieutenants who had accompanied them at the behest of General Agastya.

These two men had escorted them from the foodhall to this place after a light meal. The men remained stationary and expressionless, almost as if they hadn't heard her words.

Princess Anara lowered her head and bit her lip in consternation. 'Damn! Nothing seems to be going right.'

Had it not been for the sake of keeping her presence hidden here, she would have pulled the skin off these two impudent men for showing such blatant disregard for her.

Was she supposed to go back to the palace like this? No, she wasn't reconciled.

Princess Anara was well aware of her mother's temperament. All these days she thought that she had managed to beat the empress's minions and escaped. But earlier today when the shadow guards materialised next to her, she realised the futility of her actions and thoughts.

It was then that she knew her marriage into the Northern army was a foregone conclusion. But she could at least fight for which brother to get married to, right???

Suddenly, a cold voice spoke from behind the two men. "I will be taking it forward from here. Both of you can stand back."

"Greetings, General!"

Princess Anara's face bloomed in an instant and broke into a brilliant smile. He had come to see her after getting her message.

Did that mean…

The two men were the direct subordinates of General Agastya and didn't belong to the common cadre of soldiers. But no one in the Northern army could afford to refuse General Slayer's command.

With a respectful bow, they stepped back a few steps but didn't go too far.

After all, the command given to them had been - not to let the two 'guests' out of their sights at all times.

"Speak! It must be really important and urgent for you to send me such a message, putting on line your virtue in this manner," Dushyant's blunt words caused Laasya to blush deeply.

In order to draw him to this place, Laasya had lied to the cleaner in the food hall, claiming that she was the concubine whom he was raising outside secretly and that she had managed to reach this place with a lot of difficulty. Moreover, she was pregnant. Hence it was a request which the nonplussed man couldn't refuse!

"It wasn't her. I am the one who wanted to meet you. Hello, General! I am Princess Anara, the youngest child of Maharani Vaijayanti," she stepped in front of her maid and announced calmly in front of Dushyant.

In return, Dushyant didn't look surprised.

He merely raised an eyebrow and said, "Aren't you too far from the royal palace, Princess? At this time, you should be busy preparing for your wedding. Are you here to learn some surviving skills from the Northern army prior to your marriage?"

He deliberately goaded her, knowing fully well that her maternal side was the illustrious Southern military family.

As expected, her temper arose but then she suppressed it to stare at him unabashedly. "I am here to meet my chosen groom."

It was Dushyant's turn to be stunned into silence.

'Chosen groom?'

Whose groom? Who was supposed to be doing the choosing?

Ever since Dushyant had ascertained her destination to be the Northern army camp, he had thought of multiple possibilities for her trip to this remote place.

But none of the options included this possibility.

Not because he didn't think the Sirsa clan to be unworthy of being included in the swayamvar list of prospective men but because the Southern army and Northern army had always been at odds with each other.

The royal family of Bharani had produced impeccable queens and empresses for the kingdom of Mandhaar over the past many generations. It was a case of maintaining checks and balances and had helped keep the peace between the two kingdoms for the longest period of time.

But it also meant that the interests of the Southern army were tied with the empress and her descendants, and not the emperor.

On the other hand, the Northern army and the Sirsa clan were solely devoted to the throne and the monarch of Mandhaar. Never had they ever participated in any political or faction battle.

That's why, there were no females from the Sirsa clan who were ever sent to be married into the Royal Chandravanshi Family of Mandhaar.

"Surely, you jest, Princess! Who amongst the coarse men in this near inhabitable place can be worthy of you? Moreover, wouldn't you be committing a crime against your maternal family by aligning yourself with us?" said Dushyant in a biting tone.

He didn't feel the need to hold back his real words.

But Princess Anara seemed to have expected such a reaction. She didn't rise to the bait and instead, said in a calm voice, "Originally, it was someone else. Now, it is you. Since this princess has decided upon you, I have a few conditions to put forth. Don't worry, if you have something to ask for, we can discuss that as well."

Her heart was hammering for being in such close proximity to the guy but she was proud of herself for putting out a mature facade, just like her mother. Under no circumstances, could she let him see that she had fallen for him.

That was a weakness that she didn't want to expose in front of a cold, indifferent guy like him. She could only use her position to suppress him into agreeing to her.

Dushyant snickered rudely. "Princess, you seem to have taken the wrong medicine today. I don't know what game you are trying to play here, pardon me for not being a part of it."

With that, he made a move to walk away.

"STOP!"

Today's idiom's meaning - A fanciful and impossible scheme. An impractical idea with a streak of vanity.

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