In fact, she was obsessed with appearances. Possessing a decent mien, Indumati was not satisfied with it and wanted to become the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. To achieve that, she depended upon the best clothes, exotic concoctions to drink, and various prescriptions to apply on her body.
The result was satisfactory to her but as she grew older, so did her obsession.
Ever since she turned thirty, five years ago, she started funding a few medicinal halls which were solely responsible for the care and nourishment of her body, from the top of her head to the toenail.
Good looks was her topmost priority and nothing was too expensive when it came to preserving them.
Eternal beauty was priceless!
It was said that due to the trend started by Rani Indumati, the cosmetic industry had increasingly become prosperous, influencing even the women across other kingdoms to follow suit. There was no one in Mandhaar who didn't know that the kingdom's flourishing cosmetic industry owed its fortune to Rani Indumati.
As a result, she had been recognised as one of the trustees of the Imperial Merchant Association, the first woman to be rewarded so, solely on her merit!
During all this period, the emperor had been fairly indulgent and never refused her requests. Of course, she made sure that she didn't abuse his doting and walked the fine line of coquettishness.
Rani Indumati was well aware of the dislike that the emperor held for Maharani Vaijayanti, that rigid, ugly woman.
As a result, she made sure that her image in front of her husband was that of an artless, harmless woman. She was fairly successful in fooling everyone and all was perfect but life gave her the biggest jolt when it was diagnosed that she was incapable of conceiving!
Whether or not it was due to her indiscriminate pursuit of beauty which caused this, nobody would ever dare say it!
Seeing all the calculations of the father-daughter duo go out of the window, a back-up plan was suggested by Prime Minister Vasumant.
After scrutinizing the entire harem, they zeroed upon the most suited candidate. It was decided that Rani Indumati would 'magnanimously' adopt the male child born to a lowly nauch girl who had managed to get pregnant after spending just one night with Raja Indraneel.
Prince Suketu was that child!
Once everyone left the chambers as per the queen's order, Prince Suketu's trusted servant, Hanuram closed the door with a decisive click.
"What is the progress with the eldest son of Bali?" asked Rani Indumati with a scowl.
"I will be attending the party at the Bali mansion today. If things proceed as per the plan, the result would be well within our calculations," replied Prince Suketu in a calm but deferential manner.
Now that no one was present in the room, the fake masks had come off from both their faces. Gone was the pretty, delicate flower and her noble, genteel son.
Rani Indumati took the seat next to the wall which was fully covered with precious scrolls and heavily bound tomes. It was a wall befitting the image of the third prince.
"We are afraid just having the Bali clan's support behind us may not be enough anymore," Rani Indumati's annoyed tone echoed across the unadorned room.
Prince Suketu raised one eyebrow at his adopted mother's unexpected words.
He couldn't help but ask her. "What has happened to make Queen Mother so flustered?"
Rani Indumati gritted her teeth hatefully.
Usually she liked dressing up and behaved in a youthful manner, completely opposite the empress's austere bearing.
After her consistent performance over the years, her image in the emperor's mind was finally preserved as a warm, naive woman.
Hence, he was less guarded in front of her. Last night, he had visited her chamber unexpectedly and shared his troubles with her, like always. That was when she came to know about Maharani Vaijayanti's scheme to 'sell' her second daughter in order to buy the support of the Northern Army.
That hateful woman!
This time the empress had really played a deceitful hand. Usually she was the arrogant woman who used her domineering position to make a move, but this strike was so subtle that it was missed by everyone including the eyeliner whom she had placed in the empress's camp.
It was a move unlike the Maharani Vaijayanti camp. Both Prime Minister Vasumant and Rani Indumati had wondered if the other side found themselves a new strategist during this time.
Even though Prime Minister Vasumant held a stronghold over the ministers in the royal court, he had always remained humble and low-key, both in the royal court and his personal life.
That is how he had survived under the previous emperor's reign. In fact, until he placed his precious eldest daughter in the harem, he had not shown any leanings towards any faction. It was only when his daughter was chosen to be a queen and she found favour with the emperor, that he started dreaming of the future - a future of being the next emperor's maternal grandfather.
In fact, apart from Kirtidev, who had retired from active political arena, and a couple of other ministers, Prime Minister Vasumant was the only person to have served two emperors and remained powerful in the royal court.
It spoke a lot about the man's ability, especially his skill to show forbearance.
He had passed on his knowledge to his favoured daughter and that's how she had managed to keep her sharp claws hidden from almost everyone in the royal palace during all these years.
When Prince Suketu heard about Maharani Vaijayanti's move, his lips curved up in admiration towards the woman. No more what, the woman was worthy of her position as the empress of Mandhaar.
"Calm down, Queen Mother. It's a good thing that we know about the empress's strategy in advance. Maybe we can do something to thwart her plans," his genial voice contained a hint of lazy laughter, as if he was discussing the next meal with her and not matters related to the throne.