Yuvraj just went from there to the prison to get the truth about his unborn child. Whereas Ranisa looked at Saudamini's lifeless body and cried for her fate. Ranisa thought that may be all this chaos started from herself.

Flashback continues

Yuvraj reached the prison cell where Mala was kept. Mala was surprised to see yuvraj there. She don't know the reason for his visit. But looking at his appearance, she could guess that the news is nothing good and also it's not good for her.

The soldiers opened the cell and placed a stool inside for yuvraj to sit. Even after the soldier went away, yuvraj didn't look at her. Mala was tensed but still have no clue about what is happening outside the prison. Yuvraj looked up and asked the one question that he desperately wanted to know. The one question that will let him know how much of a failure he is, even after winning over entire Hindustan. The one question that made Mala's breath hitch. "How did you kill my child?". There is no time to beat around the bush, since fifteen years is already a long time to get this answer.

Yuvraj was looking in her eyes and watched her every reaction with a blank face. Mala knew what he is talking about. Last time when she confessed about giving herbs to avoid Anamika's pregnancy, she was worried but had a hope that Anamika will forgive her. But now, she definitely knew that no one can help her and that created the one thing which she didn't feel till now, FEAR. Now all she wishes for is death as that would be the easiest punishment for her.

"Yuvraj, I will tell everything but please don't mistake Choti bahuranisa for my deeds. She was not responsible-", Mala was cutoff by yuvraj, "Saudamini is no more. She confessed this on her death bed". Hearing this, Mala was shocked and she stayed like a statue without even blinking. Yuvraj snapped his fingers in front of her to bring her out of her thoughts. "I don't have time to wait till you grieve. I want my answers right now", yuvraj asked her impatiently.

Mala tried to speak but still the shock didn't wear out. She finally gulped her tears and took a deep breath and said, "Yuvraj, it was three months into your marriage with badi bahuranisa. And Kamala, head maid of badi bahuranisa had to go into isolation due to her menstruation as per the maid disciplines. So I, being head maid of Ranisa, have to take care of all her necessities along with supervising the other maids. At that time, badi bahuranisa was having weird cravings for food and also her menstruation had not happened. But she didn't think much of that since she used to have irregular dates. I got a doubt due to other symptoms like cravings and cramps. I was instructed to inform everything about badi bahuranisa to Ranisa, that is choti bahuranisa's mother. She had informers outside the palace who can reach their kingdom quickly. So I sent a message stating my doubts, though it is not confirmed. And then only I received that herbs which will avoid pregnancy as well as abort a baby if already pregnant. If the baby is aborted, badi bahuranisa will be in great pain in the abdomen and when daima will check her, they will find that out. So Saudamini's mother faked an emergency and asked our Ranisa to send our Daima to their place. And then a fake daima was sent by her to fill the position temporarily. And all these had to be done within a span of 7 days, before Mala could come back from her isolation. So we did it promptly without giving doubts to anyone". Mala finished, all the while looking down.

Yuvraj remembered about Anamika's cravings at that time and how he cooked for her. Remembering this, a few tears escaped his eyes without his knowledge. As a yuvraj, he has strict rules and regulations to be followed, one among which is to never show your weakness in front of anyone. Right now, nothing matters to yuvraj except the thought of feeding his child unknowingly and losing him/her without cherishing the feel.

He was the one who should have protected his child. He was the one who should have kept Anamika shielded from evil eyes. And he failed at that for which he is paying a huge price along with Anamika. He left the prison without a second look. Though he didn't say anything else to Mala, she knew that she will not be spared.

Now, Yuvraj is standing in front of Anamika's chamber without any guts to enter the chamber. After gaining some courage, he entered the chamber and the sight infront of him was worse than the ones he encountered during the initial years of his marriage, awaiting a 'good news' which infact they had lost.

"Anamika", Yuvraj called her although he was afraid of how he is going to face her. Anamika was thinking about her mother's words and was trying to control her tears and that's when she heard his voice. She stood up from her bed and looked at him in the eyes. But he was not looking at her.

"Anamika, I.. I ", Yuvraj started to say but words got stuck in his throat when he heard what she said. "It's my fault, Yuvraj", Anamika said looking at him. Though she was determined not to let her tears out, looking at his bloodshot eyes, even she couldn't control herself and tears came out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry yuvraj. I should have known about the changes in my body. I was so irresponsible and let them succeed. I'm sor-", Yuvraj cut off her rant by keeping fingers on her lips. Looking at her state, Yuvraj's eyes filled with tears once again and he hugged her and cried along with her. Anamika just holded his dress in a tight fist and bite her lips to not let out any noise. Both were crying silently for sometime and then yuvraj broke the hug and made her sit on the bed. He kneeled infront of her and wiped her tears while she looked at him. Both remembered the same thing happening in their past but now the circumstances are different.

Taking a deep breath and removing his tears, yuvraj said, "It is not your fault Anamika. You, yourself were just a young girl back then. So please don't blame yourself which will make you a fool. I came here to apologize to you for our loss. Though I didn't know about any of that happened, all this conspiracies has been done with only one target. And that is me. So if anybody is to be blamed here, then that is me". Anamika just looked at him, not knowing what to say. He continued, "But now it's not the time for blame game because we have already lost what we could have had. Now the only thing pending is punishment for the murderers. I just wanted to say whatever Mala has confessed."

Yuvraj told her about Mala's confession and how they executed the crime right under their nose. "I know that you already knew about Saudamini's mother under my custody. I will continue her punishment with her added list of crimes. I wanted to let you know that I will never leave her free, under any circumstances. I hope you will be sensible enough to not forgive her unlike the previous incident of herbs", yuvraj finished. Anamika nodded at him and said, "I will not ask for that yuvraj. I was a fool to sympathize with her, whom I can't even call a woman. But I have one request yuvraj, I want to meet her".

Yuvraj looked at her after hearing her request and agreed to that since she is the one who not only emotional pain due to loss of their child but also had to go through physical pain as well. He stood up and said, "I will take you there when you are physically fit to travel, so now take rest". Anamika nodded at him and stood up as well. She said, "Yuvraj! You gave me a blank promise and I said that I will ask for my wish when required. Do you remember? ". He nodded at her curiously and she continued, "I thought about my wish. I want you to implement a law stating Polygamy as illegal in our kingdom. A man can marry again only if his wife is dead. I know that our court is male dominated and they wouldn't allow such a law normally. That's why I wanted to use this promise".

Anamika was grieving her child and that's when she thought about the root cause of the murder. It was someone's greed to the throne and someone's obsession over yuvraj. And this could be avoided to some extent if there is only one wife and all the kids are from same mother.

Yuvraj don't know what to say. He just said, "Ok". He knew that he had hurt her deeply by marrying again but he had no options that time. He also knew that she didn't hold any anger for his decision to marry but the way he had treated her afterwards.

Yuvraj thinks that he had hurt her for ten years. But little did he knows how she felt during his wedding rituals with another woman, how she felt throwing flowers on them while he was giving the same vows as her to another woman, how she felt while taking aarthi of them both as a couple to welcome them. And thereafter she can't even call that lady as 'another woman' because she has become a wife. Though yuvraj married unwillingly and tried to keep this marriage a quiet affair, Anamika was neither spared by her mother-in-law nor her responsibilities as badi bahuranisa.

Before going more into the Memory Lane, Yuvraj asked her to take rest and turned to leave the chamber, to take a look at his new born, once before immersing himself in the grief, inside his chamber.

But Anamika's question stopped him in his tracks. He felt like, today is the judgement day where he had to face every questions aimed at him and also all the answers to the unknown questions were revealed.

"Would you have looked at me again if not for the heir?"

Flashback To be ..

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Precap : Saudamini's last rites. Ranasa's verdict. Ranisa's redemption.

Sorry guys for the delay. I was not well and posted the same in message board. This is the first chapter which I have not written in a single go.

Thanks,

SM.