25 years ago.
Before the birth of Aditya and Meenakshi.
Raja Harshavardhan and Raja Chandra Verma were best friends, and their bond was more powerful than any siblings could share. They ruled different kingdoms and had their own ways of being a King and leading a kingship, but they met every month under the pretense of hunting, royal meetings, rituals and every other excuse under the sun. Raja Chandra Verma was in love with Harshavardhan's sister Chitra and Harshavardhan was more than happy with their relationship. Chandra Verma wanted at least one of his three sisters to marry Harshavardhan so that they would have the perfect excuse to stay together. He even once had a talk of merging the kingdoms and making it one powerful city altogether.
After a lot of convincing, Chandra Verma's youngest sister, Meera agreed to marry Harshavardhan, unable to deny her brother's requests. Both the friends decided to get married together on the same day at the same place. Since the palace of Krishnapura was vast and lavish, the marriage was to be held there.
But unlucky to them, Meera had ran away on the day of her wedding. Upon further investigations it was found out that she had fallen in love with a merchant who traded pearls to the princesses and ran away with him. Heartbroken by his own sister's betrayal, and as a punishment on himself, Harshavardhan had denied marrying Chandra Verma's sister as he felt unworthy of standing in front of his friend. He had asked for forgiveness in front of the sabha and bent his head in shame. He claimed that he didn't deserve the love and affection that the siblings had showered on him and walked away from his own marriage.
Harshavardhan and Chitra were humiliated in the worst way. One was left stranded on the mandap while the other was ditched by her lover. Word spread across the kingdoms like a wildfire that a mere merchant was more worthy than the great king and his sister was as useless as him. The siblings had managed to gather themselves together and return to their palace the following night, trying to preserve the dignity and self respect left in them.
Raja Chandra Verma had returned to Vidhyanagara the very next day, realizing that he couldn't live without Chitra. He went back to ask Harshavardhan's forgiveness and Chitra's hand in marriage. But little did he know that he was too late. Chitra had poisoned herself to sleep permanently that night, unable to bear the pain of suffering and humiliation.
The next morning brought more doom than peace as Harshavardhan lost his dear sister, his best friend and his respect. That severed their relationships as Harshavardhan banished Chandra Verma from his kingdom and his palace, preventing him from stepping onto his land. He had changed trade rules and policies that made Chandra Verma's administration even more difficult. Chandra Verma bore every punishment silently. A year later he got married to a princess from the vassal kingdom and led a silent life with her. The guilt of spoiling Chitra's life always gnawed on his heart. He wished to have a daughter, someone who would be suitable to marry Harshavardhan's son because he knew well that only his daughter could help him redeem his sins. But karma was a bitch to him. It had stolen away his wife and a few hours old daughter as a reminder that he didn't deserve love or a woman in his life. Chandra Verma had silently accepted his fate and did everything possible to be a better person. He became a more gentle and wise ruler rather than a tyrant he was. He spread love, compassion and peace as wide as possible. He brought up his son in the right way, teaching him to care for people and treat them well without emotions clouding his decisions. Of course, the fear of losing his son made him keep Aditya close to him under his vigilant eyes, but he made sure that his son grew up right. He never wanted his son to go through what he went through and he definitely didn't want Aditya to bear the burden of his mistakes.
Little did he know that another life, far away from him, had borne the pain and sufferings he had left unintentionally. A little life was already dead before it was born and probably will die again too.
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Men will be men. ð
Love you all so much for the love and attention on this book.