"Ira...please don't hate your grandmother.." Viraaj requested, while lying on his death bed.
Ira looked at him, helpless as he wiped the tears from her eyes. "She gave up on everything for us....after her death, I didn't wished for anything....I didn't hoped for anything....I was just living for my son....but the day you was born....I felt a hope growing up in my heart....I felt alive.....for the first time I felt alive.....you brought the hope in my life again....to live a life with purpose and happiness." He said to his granddaughter who was sitting beside him, crying and questioning her fate that why she have to bear all this.
Why someone else's past is controlling her present?
******
"King Dhishva!! If anything happened to my husband, I won't let you live in peace! Pray that either my husband should be safe or I won't come back. Because if I come back, you will regret it. You will regret it for rest of your life!"
Dhishva felt a shiver running down his spine after seeing the anger in Ira's eyes. The daughter that never even dared to look at him in eyes is now threatening him with all her courage and hatred.
*******
"Look! who is here! Princess Ira!" The manly voice of the crown prince of the kingdom spoke, coming towards Ira who was doing horse riding in the yard of the palace.
"Watch out! don't fall. Because no one is here for you....to save you." He said in sarcastic tone and a slight smirk on his lips. By his attitude and the way he spoke to Ira, it's clear that there is no place for Ira in his heart. No love, no sympathy and no affection for his younger sister.
Princess Ira, the granddaughter of the king Viraaj and daughter of king of one of the powerful kingdoms in Dhrattak empire, 'Aaro kingdom'. king Dhishva.
Ira have such a beautiful looks that no one can compete with. Her long silvery hair and eyes makes her stand out.
She is the youngest princess and the youngest child of the chakravarthi family. She is the favourite grandkid of her grandfather. But for her parents and kingdom.....she is different. Even Ira herself questions about her existence sometimes but the answer is so complicated and hard to accept.
Hearing Veer's taunt, Ira stopped her horse and jumped down. She sighed deeply and walked towards Veer. Standing infront of him, with a straight face.
She looked straight in his eyes while removing her gloves "I don't need anyone to be here for me....to save me. I can protect myself."
Veer chuckled as if Ira said a joke "Huh, really?"
"Yes, Do you want to test my strength, brother?" She said in a sweet challenging tone that only made Veer laugh.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?.....But not today. I have other works to do. I can't waste my precious time on you!"
"Then why you came here to taunt me, When you love your precious time so much? Or...." She took a step forward and whispered "Do you find me so much interesting that you just can't stop yourself from talking to me?" She asked teasingly.
"Interesting? And you?.....In your dreams!" Veer replied with a disgusted look and walked away from there.
Ira chuckled on Veer's behaviour. She is so sick of her brother's childish behaviour, even when he is older than her. May be he just don't know how to act mature.
She turned around and looked at Vaayu, her horse, who was watching her since the beginning. He was waiting for Veer to do something stupid so that he can show him with whom he was messing.
Ira walked towards Vaayu "Take him to the horse barn and feed him. I will come to check on him in the evening." She said to the care taker of Vaayu and he slightly nod his head as yes.
She caressed Vaayu's forehead and back before she left from there and went inside the palace.
Princess Ira is like a secret for the kingdom and the empire. No one in the kingdom know about her existence much. They just know that their king have three children and two of them are girls. They have a slight memory about her when her parents used to allow her to come infront of the people at least for short time. But as she grew up, she is completely forbidden to show herself in public.
Ira entered in her chamber and went towards bathroom to take a bath after spending such a long time doing horse riding in dust and sweat.
Her two maids helped her take bath and change her clothes. One maid helped Ira to wear a beautiful sky blue gown with some jewellery. The other maid combed her hair and tied them up in a bun with some hair pins. After hairs, the same maid did some makeup on Ira's face. The natural makeup.
Ira is so beautiful that she don't need to do any makeup but according to her mother 'being bare face is not good for a princess.'
After getting ready, Ira left her chamber and went towards her grandfather's chamber to meet him. In her family, she is close to her grandfather and her grandfather loves her the most. More than anything, more than his life. Their bond is unbreakable. In this dark world, he is the only light she have that protects her, comfort her and never leaves her alone.
Ira came infront of her grandfather's chamber. She went inside but no one was there.
"Grandfather!" She called but no one responded. She knocked on the bathroom door, thinking may be her grandfather is inside but no one responded. She opened the door and looked inside but the bathroom was empty. She closed the door and came out from the chamber.
When she was wondering where her grandfather could be, She saw a soldier coming towards her.
The Soldier stopped infront of Ira and greeted her
"Where is grandfather?" She asked.
"His majesty is in the meeting hall. The majesty of Jwalana Kingdom has come here to meet his majesty." The soldier informed.
"Hm? ok. you can go." She said.
The Soldier left from there. The servants and soldiers respect her because of her grandfather. If her grandfather wasn't there to protect her and her dignity, Ira would have been living a miserable life with no respect and hope to live.
'Jwalana Kingdom?' She thought and went towards the meeting hall, thinking may be the meeting is over by now.
She came to the meeting hall but the door was closed and two soldiers were standing there guard.
She wanted to go inside but seeing the door closed, she hesitated.
"Is his majesty is still inside?" Ira asked to one of the soldier standing near the door.
"Yes princess. His majesty is inside. He is with the majesty of Jwalana Kingdom." The soldier replied.
"Oh....ok. when he come out, tell him that i came to meet him. And if he asks where I am, tell him that i am in the garden." She said to the soldier and walked away from there.
"Jwalana Kingdom? Where is it?" She thought as she don't know much about the surroundings kingdoms. Her father never allowed her to learn about it and her grandfather didn't payed much attention to this matter because he thought he will always stay by her side so she don't need to learn about it. But now, he is regretting it.
After a while, Ira's grandfather 'Viraaj Chakravarthy' and the majesty of Jwalana Kingdom 'Abhiveera Kumar' came out of the meeting hall.
"It was so nice to meet you, your majesty." Abhiveera said.
"Yes. It was really a nice meeting. We were discussing our political matter from a long time through our messengers but didn't met before. Finally we got to meet each other. Thank you very much for coming here. I am looking forward to strengthen the alliance with Jwalana." Viraaj replied.
"Yes. Me too."
They both were about to leave from there but a soldier spoke.
"Your majesty, sorry to disturbe you but princess Ira came to see you. The door was closed so she left."
Viraaj's expressions suddenly turned mysterious when the soldier mentioned Ira. He glared at him in anger that how can this soldier mention Ira infront of any outsider.
But the other guard quickly came forward to save the first one and whispered to Viraaj "Sorry your majesty. He is new. He don't know all the rules yet. I will teach him."
"You better teach him soon!" Viraaj replied in low voice, trying to calm down. "Where is she right now?"
"She is in the garden." The soldier replied.
"Ok."
Viraaj never introduced Ira to any outsider. He always think that everyone is trying to hurt his granddaughter but today, don't know why he want Abhiveera to meet Ira. Abhiveera have already heard about Ira now, so there is no use of hiding her. He felt Abhiveera is not harmful for Ira after spending some time with him. And they have already promised to keep the secrets of each other's kingdoms between them. It's not like Jwalana don't have any secret.
He turned towards Abhiveera and asked "Your majesty, would you like to meet my granddaughter, Ira?"
"Yes, of course. I would be glad to meet her. As much as I heard about your kingdom and family, i didn't heard about princess Ira. I thought you have only two grandkids. I would love to meet her." Abhiveera said with the curiosity and a little confusion that why no one know that Aaro have one more princess.
After hearing this, Viraaj got a bit tensed but he managed to smile. He gestured Abhiveera to come with him and led the way towards the garden where Ira was waiting for him.
In the garden full of colourful flowers and a water fountain in the middle, Ira was sitting on the white swing and swinging slowly while making the flower necklace.
"Ira..." Viraaj called, coming towards Ira with Abhiveera.
Ira looked up from the necklace to her grandfather. As soon as she saw him, a bright smile appeared on her face.
While on the other hand, As soon as Abhiveera saw Ira, he stopped on his place. His legs trembled and his hands started to shake. his eyebrows were curled in confusion as well as in shock. His feelings suddenly changed from curiosity to dilemma.
'Ir....ya?' was the only thing he could think at that moment as his eyes were stucked on Ira without blinking for once.