Page 12 of The Royal Beast & His Queen

Isha and Avyan diverted Amruta by talking about all the things here and there, after some time, Avyan retired to his room as he had some work and then went to bed. He wanted to ask his sister-in-law about Anshi's matter but couldn't bring himself to do so, he knew if his bhabhi ma promised she would do it but he was getting impatient, he didn't know whether it was guilt & regret or it was concern for Anshi. He decided to talk to Isha the next day about it.

"Ma... What happened ?", Isha asked holding Amruta's palm in hers after Avyan walked away.

"I remembered Advaita looking at the little baby today, my daughter... I miss everything about her, I don't know how I even survived these many years without my daughter and with my eldest son hating me...", Amruta sobbed and Isha consoled her.

"Ma... I want to hear your side of the truth", Isha asked after Amruta felt better.

Amruta asked for what Abhyansh told her, to gauge what she could reveal and what she shouldn't.

"I indeed loved Chirag and I was betrothed to him, then he chose to be a doctor instead of occupying the throne, so I got married to Abhyansh's father as per my father's wish. I wanted to tell everything to Pratap but my father made a promise on his deathbed not to reveal anything to them and I couldn't have broken my promise, I don't know how but he(Pratap) got to know about my betrothal and he started verbally abusing me... I bore everything because I knew somewhere I was the reason for the change in him(Pratap). Before that, he was a very lovinghusband, he took very good care of me when I was pregnant with Abhi, but everything changed from that day", Amruta said remembering how Pratap used to doubt her son's identity, pratap knew his wife didn't physically cheat on him but he was too hurt, the fact that she had Chirag in her heart when she conceived Abhyansh made him even more furious and Amruta knew that it was her fault but she could do nothing to change it now.

"That day, he saw me in the temple with Chirag, but I didn't even know Chirag was going to be there... I went to temple on my every birthday after marriage, to seek forgiveness from God, I never took Abhi with me because I don't want my sins to affect my son in any way", Amruta said

"What sins ma ?", Isha asked, Amruta hesitated at first but Isha assured that it was okay, Amruta told her about Pratap's verbal abuse on both her and her son, calling him names, she also told how she still had Chirag in her heart when she gave away herself to Pratap.

Isha is shocked to know that her mother-in-law actually cheated emotionally but she can't be blamed, she couldn't have control over her heart about whom she loved, and she was betrothed to Chirag, so it's obvious, and she couldn't even refuse her husband his rights on their wedding night as it was taught to be wrong and knowing Amruta's soft and timid nature, she could have never done that. It was not her fault.

"It was my first birthday after Advaita's death, I was not in the mood to celebrate, but Abhyansh came to me, he convinced me to go to the temple, he said that I can't lose my hope like that, I still had two more children to look after who needs my love, so I needed to be strong for them, I wore the saree he gave me and my Abhi got me ready and I went to the temple...", Amruta smiled remembering the beautiful memory, her elder son lovedher a lot but she destroyed it. She still lived in the hope that one day he would become the same Abhyansh to her, her Abhi. Isha smiled at how much her husband loved his mother, well it was evident in how gently he treated her(Isha), her mother used to say, that you can define how a man would treat his wife if you see how he treats his mother when she asked her mother(Pallavi Rajput) how she decided to marry her father(Amar Rajput) even without speaking to him.

"I went to the temple, I was crying for my dead daughter when Chirag came out of nowhere, I don't know what came into me, but hearing his gentle tone, I started letting out all the pain that's inside me, I had no one to talk to, I couldn't share with Ma sa, as she was very busy in handling her duties, and also she was in her own pain as her husband was murdered, it's been years but his culprits were roaming freely. I couldn't bother Abhi as he was already handling a lot more than anyone in his age would at the same time dealing with his pain, and your father-in-law... Huh I knew he wouldn't care, so when Chirag offered to listen, I let it out and he was consoling me when your father-in-law saw me, he imagined the worst and told the same to Abhyansh. He said I went to the temple alone on my every birthday to meet my lover whereas that was the first time I met him alone at the temple. My husband's accusations didn't hurt me as much as my son's silence did. He asked everyone not to talk about it ever again and left from there, he didn't even listen to my side of the story, I tried to tell him many times but he avoided me, he was hunting his sister's culprits then", Amruta said, she dreaded even remembering what all happened a few days later that her elder son started hating her.

"I went to Abhi's study to talk to him but there I heard him talking to Bhairav and Bhuvan about killing Chirag as he doubted him to be involved in Advaita's death, I know Chiragcan never do that, I wanted to stop my son but I know he wouldn't listen, so I did the one thing I thought the best for that situation, I went out of the house to meet Chirag and told him everything about Abhi's plan and asked him to run away soon. I didn't want my son to kill an innocent. Not only Abhyansh, but even ma sa didn't forgive me for that day till now", Amruta said and Isha raised her brows in confusion at where Rajmata came from..."Abhyansh asked everyone to stay at home, no one should leave the house without his knowledge, only Rajmata had the power to allow anyone out, when I begged ma sa that I really needed to go out that day, she trusted me and let me go, she didn't even ask me where I am going as I requested her not to ask, Chirag escaped from there, after a few days, Abhyansh went to handle some very important things and that's when Chirag reached out to me to help him, he said Abhi's men were trying to kill him, and he needed a safe place where no one could dare to reach him, I didn't know there were many people that wanted to kill us are using Chirag as a pawn, I genuinely wanted to save him, so, I helped him hide in the back palace, the next day, the whole palace was attacked and we quickly moved to the back palace through a secret passage, but the assailants reached there too, but luckily Bhuvan reached there on time and saved us, he locked us in the basement of the back palace and fought the enemies all by himself. He was killed brutally... It's all because of me, I killed him, and to date, I couldn't look into Bhairav's eye, I regret it badly, I know there is no use but I wanted to ask forgiveness from him, he lost his brother and my son lost his best friend because of my stupidity", Amruta cried and Isha's eyes too teared up imagining her husband's pain seeing his best friend's body filled with cuts and lying lifelessly, and knowing his own mother caused this blood bath, imagining Bhairav's pain of seeing his younger brother in blood, dead. She must say, Bhairav is really strong to encounter the woman who was the reason forhis brother's death every day yet remain calm and respectful. Isha also felt bad for her mother-in-law, she could see how she was dying of guilt every day, and over that, she had to deal with the pain of losing her daughter, her son's hatred, and her husband's disgust every minute.

"Ma, how did you even allow someone else to the back palace even after knowing it was the family's safe haven at the time of danger", Isha asked that one question that's bugging her head. Her mother-in-law can't be that stupid to trust anyone to give the back palace blueprint.

"Because I trusted Chirag Isha, I know he could never think of harming me Or my family", Amruta said confidently

"Ma... If Rana sa doubted him, there must be some base right ? Then why did you trust him so much, he might be a culprit ma", Isha asked not liking how Amruta was still talking like he was innocent.

"He wasn't Isha...", Amruta argued

"How can you be so sure ma", Isha asked

"Because He was the one who gave all the information to Abhi regarding the culprits of my daughter, he helped Abhi in catching many of them, in fact, testified against his best friend who he thought was trying to kill my family", Amruta said shocking Isha...

"What ?", Isha is surprised... Her husband didn't mention about this to her ?

"We'll talk about this later, now it's late, let's retire to beds", Amrura said and quickly left to her chamber all the way cursing herself for revealing something that she wasn't supposed to.

Isha shook her confusing thoughts wandering her mother-in-law's statement and went to her chamber.

She frowned on not seeing her husband in the room, she walked to his study where she saw him working.

"It's late, come let's sleep, I am tired", she said.

"Go and change till then, I'll be there soon", he said and she nodded walking away. She frowned when he asked her to change but didn't protest as he looked very serious and working on something very important.

She settled on their bed after changing, and he lay on the bed pulling her to him.

"Isha...", he called her softly, ruffling her hair with his fingers...

"Hm... What do you want ?", she asked in return, with his tone modulation and the way he takes her name she could guess what he wants to say or ask.

"Children, it's high time we plan our family, after seeing you with the baby today, I badly wanted to see you as the mother of my children", he said and she turned in his arms to face him.

"We'll surely have, but not now, I want to first resolve all the issues hanging around us, until then it feels like we are walking on eggshells and I don't want to bring my children into a world like that", she said and he sighed... "When will you tell me the truthAbhi", she said the name purposely, she picked it from her mother-in-law's words that she used to call her son Abhi and if she knew her husband correctly, he would definitely get mad and he did.

"I am your Ansh, you can call me any name if not Ansh, but not that", he said and she nodded with a smile.

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