"Who dares to do that?" Rishi roared.
After meeting Ashmita, Rishi received another message from his loyal Minister Raj. It said that the King is in danger and someone tried to poison him. That message disturbed him a lot. He wants to inform Ashmita but he doesn't get the chance. He waited for at least a send off from her. He thought, just even her presence may give him some hope and calm his heart from the turmoil. But it didn't happen. The most important people in his life are hurt and just the thought of it is making his heart bleed.
"Pri.. Prince Rishi. From the investigation we found that King's personal guard tried to poison him and we are not still sure whether he is the culprit or .." before Raj completes his sentence, Rishi interrupted.
"What do you mean by that? Is this how the system in this Kingdom works? It's already been more than 6 days that they tried to poison our King and you're still not sure about your investigation??" Rishi snapped at Raj.
Raj who is at the verge of crying prayed to all the Gods he knew to save him from the wrath of the prince. "Apologies Prince. But we are sure the culprit is just a pawn of somebody else," Raj managed to get a few words out.
"Bring that culprit here. Now!" Rishi ordered immediately.
The King and Queen are shocked by seeing their son's aura. He is always obedient and follows everything according to the rules but today he doesn't care for anything. He is totally a different person now but they seem to have no complaints about that.
The culprit is chained and presented in the court, followed by the guards.
"I will ask you one time. Tell me the truth. Who ordered you to poison the King?" Rishi asked calmly but his eyes were thundering with anger.
The culprit who didn't notice the Prince's warning said, "I didn't poison the King. Please believe me Prince Rishi."
"Woosh..."
Before anyone knew what happened, Prince Rishi placed a knife against his throat and pressed it lightly making the blood ooze slowly.
Everyone held their breath and couldn't dare to say a word. The King and the Queen are also dumbfounded by seeing the things that just unfolded before them.
"TELL. ME." Rishi stressed each word, applying the pressure on the knife.
The culprit looking directly into the Prince's eyes shuddered with fear. His throat went dry by looking at the bloodlust in Rishi's eyes.
"Su.. Su.. Sumanth.. Minister Sumanth," the culprit uttered the name.
Before anybody noticed, Prince Rishi was in his seat sitting like before like nothing happened. Everyone turned towards Minister Sumanth, the King's cousin.
"What nonsense? How can you blame it on me? Don't listen to him, Your Majesty. You know how loyal I am to you from my birth," Sumanth defended himself. Minister Sumanth is Rishi's uncle who has been very loyal to the King. He is also the most respected person in the entire court. No one belives that he is the one who attempted to murder..
Before the King said anything, "What if the culprit said the truth, Minister Sumanth?" Rishi asked by looking at Sumanth.
"On what basis are you accusing me Prince? Is there any evidence? How can you accuse me on what a low life speaks? What if it's just a trap?" Sumanth lost it.
"I asked, what if it is true?" Rishi again asked calmly but the intensity in his aura didn't change.
"If anyone proves that I am the criminal, I will accept any kind of punishment," Sumanth said with a smug smile. Sumanth never wants to be loyal to the king. Only the situations demanded him to be and after gaining the trust from the King, he planned to wipe out the King' family for the throne. He just waited for the opportunity when Rishi was not around.
"Since Minister Sumanth agreed to that, I will prove it right now. Minister Raj, please take Minister Sumanth into custody," Rishi said calmly.
Sumanth smirked and said, "So you accused me based on this evidence. Indeed a great logic but not suits that prince. You are the next King to this kingdom but your thoughts and your way of accusing innocents will not at all be praised."
Everyone started murmuring among themselves after listening to Sumanth's words. The King and the queen's expressions also changed. But Sumanth inwardly felt very happy for the turn of events. He actually planned to get rid of Rishi in another way. But now he only gave a chance to get criticised, so Sumanth thought to utilize the opportunity.
Rishi thought for some time and raised his head. He looked at everyone and a smile came on his lips. He replied, "So our great Minister is saying that I don't have any rights nor authority to interrogate the suspect?"
King frowned and snapped, "Minister Sumanth it seems you are forgetting who you are answering to! Ok. If you think he doesn't have authority, now listen".
"From now on, Our Minister Sumanth is retired from his job and Minister Raj, please settle this matter today itself," King declared.
"As you order, Your Majesty" Raj said politely.
"But Your majesty, we haven't found the guilty yet and I am just a suspect. How can you do this to me?" Sumantha asked while folding his fists tightly.
"You don't need to worry about it. Prince Rishi will surely find the culprit and we will punish him accordingly. Now you can step down and take rest," King said.
"I want everyone to keep in mind that Prince Rishi is your next King. We will make him the King on an auspicious day and the time is near," the King declared.
Rishi was shocked by the sudden turn of events. He remained silent and thought about the reasons behind the incident.
At King's Chamber
The King and the Queen were waiting for Rishi before he entered the room along with Raj.
"Father. Mother." Rishi greeted with a smile.
"Father. Your health is good now?" Rishi asked worriedly.
"Yes Rishi. I am fine. These kinds of incidents are quite common for us. So don't worry," the King said.
"How can he not worry about you? He is our son. He worries about us and won't take such an incident lightly. If not for my quick reflexes, I don't know what would have happened," Queens Sumithra said with tears.
Rishi frowned after listening to his mother's words. "Mother, what happened? How did dad get poisoned with you beside him?" Rishi asked.
Queen Sumithra has a unique quality from her birth. She can detect the poison and other toxic smells easily. She can detect it with her eyes closed. But no one knows about this except the King, Rishi and their most royal minister Raj.
"This time they used an odourless poison and mixed it in the water Rishi," Minister Raj explained. Rishi and Raj are childhood friends and they grew together like brothers.
"Then how did mother find out about it?" Rishi asked with confusion.
"I didn't find it at first. But this time I realized one thing. I don't know why but I keenly observed that glass of water. After observing for quite some time, mild fumes were visible to my eyes," the queen started explaining.
"Fumes?"
"Yes, violet color fumes. It seemed like some spell was used on that poison which made my reflexes dull," Queen said with a sigh.
"Do you find out how it happened?" Rishi asked Raj.
"Yes Rishi. When you started doubting minister Sumanth I assigned some members to follow him and recently he went into the forest in search of someone," Raj said.
"Who?" Rishi asked.
"A.. A Witch..." Raj said hesitatingly.