STORYMIRROR

Srinivas Cv

Comedy Drama Fantasy

4.0  

Srinivas Cv

Comedy Drama Fantasy

Queen's Secret

Queen's Secret

18 mins
241


The Duplicate


The weekly assembly was in progress, and the King was listening to his subjects with minister presiding. People had come to report their problems with family, friends, neighbours, and more importantly, the state. Rayanna had a complaint he was trying to get the King to resolve.


"I did not understand", said the minister.

"Which part?" asked Rayanna.

"Where is the sir?"

"Which sir?"

"Which part, sir?", trying to tell Rayanna to add sir at the end to give him respect.

"Which part?", asked clueless Rayanna.

"I give up. Tell me again what your issue was."

"He stole my girlfriend."

"But he says she is his wife."

"I don't care about that. She is my girlfriend."

"The girl is saying she does not know you."

"I don't care."

"Throw him in sugar syrup and leave near the anthill", ordered the minister. As was the usual practice of the kingdom, the complainant had to accept the judgement. In this case, the complainant was the one getting punishment. The whole house was waiting for his reaction.


"I don't care about that too," replied the stupid Rayanna.

"I too don't care," replied the minister and sent him to the anthill.


The strange cases were highly rare. The next set of complaints were all about the officers asking bribes. The last they had a strange one was a few months ago about an officer of the state. He was requesting bribe to accept a bribe. The guy was on holiday and did not want to come to the office. The client paid a bribe for him to arrive at the office and then accept the bribe to sign-on the work. But that day was a rare occasion where the assembly saw more than one strange case.


A man dressed in expensive clothing and a lot of jewellery came forward to the minister. He was hiding his face for some reason. The minister handling the proceedings could only see his eyes. The eyes felt familiar. Minister thought familiar should not cloud his judgement. He started to ask the man what his concern was. "Someone is trying to take over my place", said the man.


"Who is it? What is he trying to do? Who are you?"

"Before I answer any of your questions, you have to promise I will get justice."

"How dare you? You are in front of the King, and you doubt the crown and this august assembly?"

"Sorry to say, but this assembly is the main concern."

"Don't you dare to point fingers on anyone without having proof!"

"I have proof", said the man and removed the cloth covering his face revealing his face. Everyone in the assembly, including the King sitting on the throne were surprised seeing the man's face.

"Majesty, is that you?" asked the minister.


The King's Escapades


Jahandar's father, the King, passed away at an early age. Jahandar's father was fond of hunting. He never was good with arrows or hunting, but he was very fond of watching someone hunting. One of those times, a new employee in the process of kissing the backside handed the bow and arrow to the King. He said, "You are the ruler of this country. The men prostrate before you out of respect, this animal is nothing. Aim that arrow."


King felt a little shy and too much pride to say "No". He aimed the arrow and crazy enough the arrow hit the soldier who gave him the bow and ricocheted to hit the King. That was the last of his Jahandar's father. Jahandar took up the leadership and was anointed the King at the age of 15. Very soon the grandmother of Jahandar, his spiritual guru agreed to a strategic alliance with the next biggest kingdom. Soon Jahandar was married to the 16-year-old princess at the age of 18.


The mid-life crisis hit him not long later before Jahandar turned 30. He tried to find a solution to his mid-life crisis. It did not take long to reject the idea of another woman. The first day of marriage he taught one was too many. He thought to pick up hunting as a hobby. But he quickly rejected it once he remembered his father's hunting stories. That was when he read the story of King Vikramaditya. Vikramaditya went around the kingdom in disguise to understand the problems faced by his subjects. He liked the idea, only the disguise part not the part about understanding the problems of the state.


King decided he was to go in disguise every 6 months on that quest. He was faced with the next hurdle, how to protect his kingdom in his absence. He cannot trust his minister too, his wife being alone and all. So, he went to the next worst option, his father's sixth wife. She gave him two advice, advice one to send his wife to her mother's home for the duration. The second one to find a body double for the period he was not in the kingdom. The next part of the plan was crucial. No, not the finding of a body double. His father made sure he was covered in that area if you catch my drift. Convincing the wife to go to her mother's home for no reason without causing any suspicion. Here he used the Vikramaditya story for good measure and a blank scroll with King's signature. It was bigger than the mega-platinum zigantium gold silver credit card with zero maintenance fees.


The Journey to the Dark Side

 

Jahandar packed his bags and was ready to leave the kingdom. On a normal day, there would be a queue of people and chariots waiting. That day he had to go unnoticed, so he picked his favourite horse and headed out. He had no company but his close friend Malik. Malik was known for his adventures across the kingdom. He knows the kingdom and beyond as the back of his hand. The kingdom knows what the front of his hand meant to the king, wink, wink. Before the sun emerged out of the ocean they were far away from the eyes of the capital. Malik asked what the King was planning to see. The king had no clue what he wanted, he simply replied something completely out of this world. Malik was not sure whether the King meant it.


"Are you ready for a different world?"

"Yes", replied the King.

"Even if it is dark?"

The king thought they were going to the other side of the world with long periods without any sun and said, "Yes". But he had no clue what he got himself into.


Malik looked at the King with a naughty smile and winked. Before King could understand what, it meant Malik took a sharp right turn into the forests and started riding his horse between trees. King was surprised by the move but followed him without any questions. 20 minutes of riding very fast and getting highly exhausted King wanted to slow down. Before King could say anything, Malik brought his horse to a sudden halt. King, surprised by the move, tried to stop before crashing onto Malik and barely survived thanks to the horse. King after gaining composure asked Malik, "What are we doing here? Why the hurry and now the wait?"


"Wait for the surprise," said Malik with a same naughty smile as before.


A few hours have gone by before the surprise really came through. A big whirling sound almost tearing off the eardrums was heard first. A few minutes later, the King noticed a gigantic black metal thing coming towards them. It stopped after seeing Malik. The man with a black coloured dress top to bottom and big belly got down to greet Malik. The king was awed by the metal thing and went closer to it to look. He doesn't have a clue what the thing was and what it will do. But just kept walking around it, with his mouth open. Like a man staring at the girl in the crowded local train, what does he expect in return? He took time trying to read what was written on the metal thing. Xlimate Xiller 3500, which did not make any sense to him. Which later the king learns was a joke on all the climate activists who were fighting for fuel-efficiency. Who cares for fuel-efficiency, all we want was speed and adrenaline said the man with his fat belly and oversized shirt at some point during their journey?


Malik called on King to bring his attention. Malik introduced the potbelly man to the king. The man was known as Dumbu. The king called the man Dumb when the man reminded him to add the "oo" sound. So, the king started to call him Dumboooo. Dumbu asked to wait for a little for his friends to join and they can go. King asked Malik who was this and where were they going.

"These guys are known as motoro cyclo entuhsiasto", said Malik trying his best to repeat what Dumbu told him the last time.


"What does that mean?" asked the King.

"It means they are bachelors with a midlife crisis and too much time and money to spend."

"How do did they get here?"

"To run away from responsibility, they will find some stupid adventure. This was one of it."


The friends came with a similar sounding metal with wheels. Xlimate Xiller 4500, Xlimate Zuxer 6000 and many more. Malik hopped on one of them, King was asked to hop on behind Dumbu. The ride had started, and King started to get a little comfortable with the metal thing. Whatever someone had to say, comfort was a lot to look forward to. Let us not forget, King drove almost a day on the back of the horse. After riding a few hours, they stopped at a place for having something Dumbu called "Chai". King did not notice anything that went into it. He had a few sips and immensely liked it. He cannot believe the drink can be tasty despite an unwashed glass. Dumbu tells the King the unwashed glass adds to the experience, not exactly in those words. But King inferred that way and he got what Malik meant by the dark world.


King wanted to have a conversation with Dumbu out of excitement. But Dumbu was busy watching something very keenly on his hand. King tried to look at his hand and felt bored. Dumbu noticed and asked him to look at his hand. King said he cannot get into Dumbu's personal space. Dumbu laughed out loud.


"Nothing here is personal. I am looking at Kilogram, all public."


King got excited and tentatively glanced the hand of Dumbu. His handsome device with moving things and drawings. Which king gets to learn later were known as photos and videos. King was flabbergasted seeing the first video. He could not believe a woman can do this in public.


"No, no. This is not a woman."

"What?" asked the king.

"Well, this is a man dressed as a woman."

"I can understand men wearing a woman's dress for a dance performance. Why does he do these things so suggestively? Can't he wear a little more dress? Does he not have enough money?"

"He does all this to get people to watch. He makes a lot of money from this. This is called thuk," Said Dumbu.


The king gave an expression of disgust in reply and said, "How can one see a man like

this?"

"Don't worry. If you like women, we have a long line of them waiting for you in their space."

Dumbu saw more disgust in King's eyes. To get some amount of respect to his world, Dumbu showed him some other photos.


"We have nature lovers' space. I follow many of them." King was staring at the black brick in the hand browsing through the photos of trees and mountains.


King was particularly excited about seeing one of the pictures. It looked exactly like the picturesque location from his kingdom. A view was common for the king from his bedroom. He stopped at the picture and asked.


"Where is this picture from?"

"Not sure. Let us find out", said Dumbu and started getting more info about the picture. That was uploaded by Begum Musafa.

"This lady I follow. She has wonderful nature pics and some very naughty naturals of hers", said Dumbu and opens the picture of the Begum. It was none other than the King's wife.


King was surprised to see her in here. He turned to Malik to understand and Malik turned his head away to hide from the king. King felt to stop watching her. But he cannot tell to Dumbu that his wife was doing this and get laughed at. So, he kept his shame to himself. A little more down the profile the king noticed a red mark on the wife's profile and asked Dumbu what was that.


"Well, it says here there was a copyright mark on the picture. Means she copied a photo of someone and published as her own."

King was surprised to see a copyright on a picture from his backyard, that too done by his wife. He enquires who claimed the copyright to Dumbu.

"Well, here it says Rajamouli. Now, I can see this was in the big movie recently done. I thought she was naughty in other ways not this", said Dumbu.

Malik was nowhere to be found. King quickly understood how the pictures ended in the movie.


The ride was restarted but going slightly slower in pace this time. King got hold of the ways of the ride. He also noticed people chatting, bending over closer to the ears of the driver to talk. Initially, he was scared as this could distract the driver and bending over that speeds could be risky. He could not control his confusions and started to talk to Dumbu.


"You say you like nature, right?"

"Yes. Why else would I ride all the way here? Especially in scary places."

"Then how can you ride a bike which could be damaging to nature?"

"What are you talking? A day and you already believe the propaganda."

"I don't know. But there could not be smoke without fire."

"There is some problem with smaller bikes which gave out bad emission. My bike has so much emission control it almost gives out oxygen", replied Dumbu.


King wanted to test. But it was not his kingdom, otherwise, he would have asked Dumbu to put his money where his mouth is i.e. put his mouth where the exhaust pipe is to confirm his theory.


Next stop was even darker with louder sounds. Written on all the walls was Awake bar. Well, the lighting only hints at sleeping rather than being awake, thought the king. One lady came to the king and asked him to buy her a drink. She seemed poor, her hair unkempt, the dress was torn and barely there, King immediately ordered her a drink. Dumbu was laughing seeing this.


King asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"She came for a drink and was ready to give anything. You have not asked her anything in return."

"She looked poor, what she had to."

"She is not poor. See her table, she had two big expensive scotch."

"What does that mean?"

"She wants more than a drink. She likes you."

"She looks not in a position to make any decisions. Let alone like me."

"That does not matter man. She gives you the advantage, you take it."

"Even if it means she might regret later?"

"You just chill bro. Why are you worried about her regret", asked Dumbu?


King had no answer for Dumbu. What was eating away King, however, was how can someone be like this. That was when he remembered his father's eighteenth wife. She too regretted the relationship with his father. But his father was the king and she could not do anything but accept his proposal. "Why does anyone get into these relations? Is this really worth it?" The king was thinking.


As if Dumbu read the king's mind, he said to King, "Life is tough man. Drinks kill the part of the brain which makes us responsible. We do whatever we like after drinking."

"What happens after the drink wanes off?"

"Well, that was why we drink so much that we wake up only after mid-afternoon. The bars are open post that."


A few drinks and his father's genes woke up in the King. The reasoning part was completely dead. The next month of days was spent on the floor of Dumbu's apartment and the nights in bars with not so discreet shenanigans. King could not believe all it took was a message on kilogram agreeing to pay. Whatever King laid his eye on he got them, used them, discarded them to move on to the next peak. He went to the ends of the dark world and woke up after a month out of its trance to go back to his kingdom. When leaving, he remembered how the dark world killed his original self. But only he knew he was coming back soon.


Darker World

 

Even though the queen agreed to stay away from the kingdom for a while she came back soon. The kilogram profile needed good photos. With her mother always around, she could not take enough photos. She was hoping king to be not around, and she can adventure with a new set of videos and risky videos. But the body double broke all her plans. Otherwise, the minister would have taken upon himself to fill up the king's absence. The body double was trained for all the eventualities but the queen being back that soon. What to do, the king himself does not know how to handle himself with the queen how can he train someone else. The first night was tough with all the queries of the travel and all. The body double mostly kept quiet. When he realized queen was looking for something more, he acted some urgent duty and ran away. From that day, he kept busy with the business of the state. He suddenly becomes more and more attracted to the kingship. The only tough thing was the queen. She was the only one who the king feared, in turn, the double to fear. But he decided to adjust that one shortcoming to be a royal.


The king came back and sent multiple messages to the body double. But he ignored all the messages. King was at Malik's and wanted his help. But Malik cannot come openly to support the king. He cannot say to the kingdom and people that King and he went away for a month, wink, wink. So, after a lot of deliberation King presented himself as one of the subjects of the state and asked for justice.


The Secret

 

Minister was confused seeing the two kings. The man who was seeking judgement told the full story to the minister. The body double did not even blink his eye. The body double told the minister to kill the king by beheading. After all the kingdom currently believes him as the king. But as was the case with the judgements the complainant did not agree. They called on the queen, to identify who her husband was. She was asked to see them both closely and identify. However, the practices of the day did not allow the queen to be present in the open. She had to identify them from behind the curtain. She conveyed the message to the minister the hindrance she was facing. Minister had no clue how to find a solution. The minister asked for time; till that point, the man will be kept in protective custody. Queen started thinking what to do, she like all other on her "Kilogram" updated a status explaining her problem, hoping someone to give a solution.


"Kiss the man. If not familiar, tell him he is the king. How long will you have the same husband? LOLLLLL," wrote Angel Raveena.


"Ask him to answer any of your secrets. If he tells any, he is your husband", wrote Savitha.

Replying to her Anonymous wrote, "You share your secrets to your husband?"

"Why not? What could be the reason not to share?", replied Savitha

"I have many reasons Vijay, Ravi, Tej, Raghu, Abdul, John being some. Sowmya being the biggest,", added the anonymous in reply.


After reading a hundred more such comments Queen was more clueless than when she started. Then she read one comment which gave the queen a brilliant idea.


"There is one thing about your husband only you know. You can find it when you feel it."


She sent the messenger immediately to minister with a plan to identify the king. As per the plan, both King and the body-double dressed in the king's attire and stood in two separate rooms. Minister explained to the assembly what the plan was.


"The queen will now visit both the rooms and tell us who the real king was."

Hearing this there was a big noise in the assembly.

"I know your concerns. How can the queen enter a man's room who was not her husband? We are going to blindfold both men. They cannot come close to the queen. Queen will keep her distance. She and one of her court ladies can only enter the room", said the minister.


The assembly now calmed down from the gossip; minister took their silence as an agreement. Queen entered the first room. She carefully saw the man for a long time. Her hand was itching to touch the man, but she cannot take a risk. If she touches the man and he is not the king, she must leave the kingdom. She can never be queen again. She steps into the other room and she had the same itch. But she was not sure. After a long time, she goes back to the first room. This time she decides she wants to touch it. She drags her hand closer and closer to the man. After a lot of hesitation, she puts her hand on his head. She shrieks in delight, this is my husband. Immediately the minister orders to behead the impostor.


The man does not go down easy. He started shouting his lungs out, "The queen is lying. She touched and found he was not the king. Agreeing to that means she must let go of her queenship. I am your king. Please don't do this."

No one took any ear to his words. He was dragged out. The other man and the queen held hands and walked into their quarters.


P.S: In their private room Queen in a taunting tone asked, "Do you know how I know it was you?" King knows very well but does not want to answer. He was not happy of all the swellings on the head from the hands of Queen. He wanted her to touch the other guy that way he would have got rid of her. But fate has something else in store for him.


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