"But I had never sent any assassin or even thought of sending any assassin for the assassination of the Prince Shantanu."
"..."
"Wha..."
"But..."
"Your Majesty, how can this be?"
"Your Majesty, what do you mean?"
"Your Majesty, if not you then who?"
"Then the Prince is spreading lies?"
Those words brought out a silencing atmosphere in the throne room for few seconds. But soon the throne room was filled with so voices of doubts and questions. There were even also doubts that their king just wanted to throw off the responsibility and blame of what he has done but no one wanted to voice that doubts. The previous dissatisfied voices now turned in murmurs.
"Then Your Majesty the Kashyapa Prince is spreading lies of him being attacked?"
"How shameless of him to spread lies."
"Cheh… and here I had heard he wanted to be a righteous king."
"Heh….seems like soon the Kashyapa Clan will fall into the hands of a wicked king."
"Your Majesty if he had really spread lies just to shame our kingdom then in that case we can't bowed down and surrender before that wicked brat on any condition till we are alive."
The previous atmosphere of the throne had changed completely. The anger, the dissatisfaction which was previously directed at the Prayag King was know directed towards the Prince Shantanu and some didn't even hesitate to label him as 'wicked prince'.
Even if the prince had surrounded their kingdom and want them to surrender before him, they still had a respectful attitude toward Prince Shantanu but after thinking that he had spread lies to shame and drop the morals of their soldiers, they previous respectfulness turned into mocking and grudge.
"Then Your Majesty, he killed his own soldier just to shame us?"
"If that's how it is then we can declare that we never attempted any assassin attempt on that wicked prince."
"Yes Your Majesty let's announce this and then the whole world will know how wicked this ancient clan prince is."
Many advisers and ministers of the Prayag King starting giving advise and suggestion they think were fit for the situation. When suddenly Prayag King told them one more thing.
"The man they had killed is sent by us."
"..."
Once again the throne room fall into silence but this time silence was just a momentary pause before once again the throne room fall into chaos with everyone confused on what their king just said.
"What?"
"Your Majesty?"
This time the ministers were filled with confusions. First they heard that their king had sent some assassin to assassinate the crown prince which the king refused he had done so then but once again he had just said that he had indeed sent some people in the prince's camp. They were confused on what was going on and they don't know to how to react this time. They were thrown again and again in confusion.
"Vanagupta, tell them." Amidst of that confusion and murmurs filled atmosphere the Prayag King once again spoke and asked the kingdom's highest intelligence officer to explain the ministers about the situation.
"Yes Your Majesty."
A tall figure stood up. He was dressed all in black, his skin was brownish in color and his face giving a cold aura filled with loneliness. He bowed his head towards the king and spoke up while standing from his seat.
"According to the intelligence I have received from the Prince's Camp, the so called assassin is one of my underling. That is to say he was a spy sent in the Prince's Camp to provide us valuable information."
He paused there seeing that many people sitting there have faces filled with questions.
"So, you were the one who ordered him to do that?" Someone asked while his face was pretty calm seeing on the surface but his voice contained slight anger in it. He looks like he just need a confirmation and he'll attack the Intelligence officer Vanagupta.
"No. The spies sent in Prince's camp has just one task in their hand and that is to collect valuable strategic information and sent it to us. Before they were sent on this mission they were clearly told not to kill anyone unless it is necessary and will sabotage the mission. But in any case they are not allowed to kill or even attack the prince or any high level soldier as doing that would jeopardize the mission." He paused again.
"Then you're saying that he did it on his own? How many other spies are still there in the Kashyapa Prince's camp?" Someone again asked.
"All who were sent are highly trained spies of our kingdom so there is almost no possibility that he had done that on impulse but there is still a slight possibility that he had done that seeing his kingdom surrounded like a caged animal after all even if he was a spy he was still a human being with loved ones in the kingdom."
"Didn't the other spies stopped him from doing this? They should have eliminated him when they saw he's acting rogue."
"They could not do that as even they are unaware of the presence of the other spies. We had done so to leak information about others in case one of them are captured and tortured or mystified by some equipment for giving information of others."
"So how many spies you have sent in the prince's camp?" Someone again asked the same question intelligence officer Vanagupta decided to ignore previously but just as he asked he felt a killing intent locked on to him for a moment and he shuddered but nothing happened. He looked around to verify from where that killing intent came from but didn't find anyone or anything unusual.
Sigh….
A sigh was heard in the throne room, Intelligence Officer Vanagupta closed his eyes for few seconds and after few moments he slowly opened his eyes and looked towards the Prayag King as if asking the previously calm eyes were still calm but deep inside it was filled with a strange light. They were looking towards Prayag King as if asking a permission of something.
"That's all. Vanagupta, take your seat." The king ordered while waving his hand in air. "Now you know it was not this king's order on which that man tried to assassinate the prince."
"Now relating to this issue there's another information we have received from the Kashyapa Prince's camp and I'm sure most of you heard of it already that their Forefather is coming to help them."
After that confirmation, once again the throne room fall into silence, the silence cause of fear or imagination of what was going to come to their kingdom.
...…..
In the Kashyapa Prince's Camp two man were sitting in a majestic camp one of them look older than the other.
"So do you think that plan was successful?" The younger one asked. He was the Prince of an ancient clan, he was Prince Shantanu.
"Your Highness, what do you think? If my calculations are correct then the forefather will be here if not in two the three days at most." Said the older man, there was a slight smile on his milky face. Even if he was older than the Prince Shantanu, he was still one of the youngest vice-commander in the main Kashyapa Army. He was the vice-commander of the Ratharohi Regiment.
"Are you sure brother Medhavat?" Asked Prince Shantanu with a smile as if he was just testing or playing with the man in front of him. He himself was sure about the success of this plan. The plan to bring forefather from the Kashyapa Palace to the camp. By the accuracy the plan had gone smoothly he himself was more sure than vice-commander Medhavat about the success of the plan.