As he was looking around the room for his wife.
"ting ting ting"
He heard melodious and rhythmic bells that seemed to be coming from the garden.
Curious, he went to see what the sound was.
He then saw his wife, who was dressed in a gorgeous red silk saree, ringing a Ghanta (a small bell used to pray) in her left hand, and doing Pooja to the tulasi plant, while chanting the suprabhatham with incense sticks held in her right hand.
Seeing this scene, he was momentarily mesmerized. Watching his wife go on about her daily routine calmed his heart which was restless from all his sleep-deprived nights and put him at ease.
Kavya, who saw a glimpse of Vijay in the corner of her vision, came to him with a smile on her face after her puja.
Trying to give him the Harathi (fire blessings after prayer).
But as soon as she came closer to him, she scrunched her nose and waved her hand in front of her nose, as if shooing away a fly.
"Go take a bath, I will prepare the dinner for you," she said, as she ran away quickly as if whatever Vijay had on him would stick to her.
Vijay heard the words and was inexplicably confused, his face looked like a meme. He smelled himself, and his face quickly became distorted by the smell. He was embarrassed by his appearance. He hadn't noticed his smell and appearance before because he was in such a hurry to notice all the details, but now that he noticed it, he felt like a beggar on the street.
Vijay quickly ran to the bathhouse and poured a bucket of water on himself.
After an inhuman amount of time and water was used, he came out all freshened up.
Later, he went to the small temple in the palace and prayed to the gods as his new daily routine. After the prayer, he came to the dining table, starved, where his wife was waiting for him to sit down so that she could serve the food.
Vijay didn't talk any nonsense as he stared at the food like a hungry ghost. Kavya, who saw him like this, didn't say anything to tease him and served him the food. After praying to god for the food, he devoured the food that his wife had prepared for him like a starving lion, even licking the individual fingers.
Kavya, who watched Vijay like this, felt a warm sweetness in her heart. Vijay enjoying her food was the greatest recognition she could get.
Just as they were having this Lovey Dovey moment, there was a sudden shout from the outside.
"Assassins!"
Kavya, who was still a sheltered princess, was scared by the fighting noises that she heard. But Vijay, who was devouring the food, changed his expression to a serious one, unlike the playful expression when he was with his wife.
Vijay calmed Kavya down and sternly ordered her to stay in the room. Although she was worried about Vijay, she did as she was told.
Seeing that his wife was secure, he went to the balcony to see what was going on.
What he saw was multiple black-clothed men fighting with his men who wore normal palace servant attire.
Luckily, Vijay was already prepared for this possibility. After destroying the nobles' and zamindars' privileges, he was expecting retaliation.
Because of this, he had already changed all the palace personnel with trained army veterans overnight in secret, a fact known only to him and Vinod.
What he saw were dozens of black-clothed men trying to get to him at any cost, even disregarding their lives.
But in front of the trained army personnel he had disguised, they couldn't even move an inch.
The fight was quickly over, and General Ramaiah, son of the current Marshall, came to him wearing a cook's attire. He reported, "The assassins are all clear, your highness. There were a total of 40 members."
Vijay nodded. "Did you find any information on them?" he asked.
Ramaiah looked ashamed and said, "Unfortunately not, your highness. We tried to capture a few of them but, They took poison as soon as we got to them. We didn't have a chance."
Vijay looked non-committal and said, "It's okay. Don't be concerned. Don't we already know who the culprit is?"
He was not scared by the assassination attempt, as he already knew that something like this would happen after offending all the higher classes in the empire. He would be scared if nothing happened.
"What do you think is their next move, Ramaiah?" Vijay asked the general with great interest.
Ramaiah thought for a while and replied, "Since the assassination attempt failed, your Highness, they will likely launch an all-out raid on the palace."
As if on cue, an arrow with fire went up from somewhere outside the palace.
Vijay, knowing that the battle was starting, ordered, "Evacuate all the common people in the city to the back gate where the army is stationed, and leave a battalion to protect them. And get ready for war."
Vijay knew that there would be a lot of bloodshed and bones in his path, but he had mentally prepared for all of this since he embarked on the path to the highest crown.