Katha sat near Mrityunjay the entire night taking care of him. Her heart was continuously thumping loudly in her chest seeing Mrityunjay’s condition.
She called the attendees the next morning, “Bring warm water and a clean cloth.”
The attendees nodded and, after some time, brought the contents they were asked to. Katha asked them to leave and, dipping the cloth in the water, started cleaning Mrityunjay.
After she was done, she asked the attendees to call the physicians who came and examined Mrityunjay. They cleaned the wound precisely and told Katha,
“The wound has already started to heal, Maharani-sa. We think Maharaj might be healthy soon.”
A part of Katha was happy that Mrityunjay was getting better but still, she was hurt seeing his condition. She fed him the soup the physicians prepared with the healing herbs.
At noon, Ratan came to meet Katha after Abhay left. He sat on the chair near the bed and asked, “How’s Bhai-sa’s condition now?”
“He is healing. The physicians said that his wound has already started healing and he may be healthy soon.”
Ratan nodded, and Katha asked, “How’s Maa-sa now?”
Ratan smiled a little, seeing that even after Rajmata scolded Katha, she still cared about her.
“She is fine, Bhabhi-sa. She is just a little broken knowing that her son is in such a condition. How are you?”
Katha nodded at Ratan but didn’t know how to answer the last part. She was fine physically, but emotionally, she wasn’t. She was scared for Mrityunjay, and her heart pained every second because she just wanted one thing… to hear Mrityunjay’s voice.
She came out of her trance when Ratan said, “I know now is not the time for such discussions, but Bhabhi-sa, some political matters need to be solved right now as any delay would cause great loss to our Kingdom.”
Katha nodded and asked, “What matters exactly?”
“Well, firstly, last month, Bhai-sa captured a kingdom, Neelgarh. The kingdom, being under our rule now, needs to have some changes in its rules and regulations. Most rules are the same, but a few need to be changed, and to amend those changes, we first need Bhai-sa to go through them once, and then we need his stamp to amend the changes. But, since Bhai-sa is not in the condition right now, we might need your help. Can you help?”
Katha was aware of the capture of the kingdom; she knew that with Mrityunjay’s bad health, many things would go pending which no kingdom could afford, and since he had captured a new kingdom, if the changes weren’t made soon, there would be chaos in Neelgarh.
She said, “Yes, I can help. Since you need my stamp on the rules, I would prefer to read them first.”
Ratan nodded and asked one of the soldiers to bring the documented scrolls on which the rules were written. The soldier brought the scroll and, after checking the rules written on it, he gave it to Katha. She read the rules and nodded, saying,
“These rules are okay, we can amend these, but since Neelgarh has recently been captured, and as per I know, the previous King levied a huge amount of tax on the people. I suggest that Vajrajanapur should help them a bit. Provide a small amount of gold coins to every family in Neelgarh in the name of Maharaj Mrityunjay. This will help them financially and also raise his reputation more in the eyes of the people there.”
Ratan nodded at the suggestion as no one ever thought of doing this. Katha bought her stamp and did the procedure. He took the scroll with him, gave it to the messenger, and told him to take it to Neelgarh and give it to the minister present there.
Katha, on the other hand, sat near Mrityunjay, taking care of him, cleaning him, feeding him, and giving him medicines.
Six days passed like this and nothing changed. Katha took care of Mrityunjay and all the political matters in the court. She worked day and night to look after Mrityunjay and form a task force for the pest issues.
Abhay left on the third day of the accident because the matters in Kundangarh needed their King’s presence as well. The other royal guests slowly left, too. Although Mrityunjay’s uncle wanted to stay, so did his cousins, but they couldn’t as they needed to look after their kingdom’s political affairs.
Katha started feeling lonely day by day. She missed Mrityunjay’s voice, his loving gestures, and his teasing. Mrityunjay’s wound was healing properly, but there were no changes in him. He wasn’t waking up, and it hurt everyone.
Every matter in the court was given proper attention by Katha. Her decisions were really helpful for the kingdom because it was benefiting everyone. Many profits were made without any issues for anyone and the ministers who didn’t want to be ruled by a queen started respecting Katha’s decisions as they understood that she was a ‘no-nonsense’ queen who took decisions after a lot of thinking on the particular matter.
She went to the prayer room every day to pray to God for Mrityunjay and everyone’s health.
She was sat near Mrityunjay feeding him soup, the physicians came inside, and asked Katha, “May we analyze Maharaj’s wound and his health.”
She nodded and stood up to let the physicians examine Mrityunjay. They checked his wound and his heart rate.
“Maharani-sa, the wound is about to heal, it might take only about two to three days for the wound to heal completely. His fever is completely gone. But, we can’t say when Maharaj will wake up.”
Katha gulped the lump that formed in her throat. She nodded, and the physicians left. She called a soldier and said, “Until I allow, no one should come in. I repeat, no one.”
She sat near Mrityunjay after the soldier left. She held his hand in hers, brought it near her lips, and left a peck at the back of his hand
“I miss you doing this. It’s been long enough now Hukum, wake up, please.”
Tears formed in her eyes, and her voice broke at last. She kept her head on his chest and said,
“Wake up, Hukum, please. Think about me, it has been six days since you’ve been like this. You said that you love me, is this how you show me your love? If you don’t wake up soon, I will hate you forever, I promise that to you, and mind you, I don’t break the promises I make.”
She said so and cried herself to sleep that night. She woke when she heard the sound of birds chirping, indicating that it was morning. Katha stood up from the bed and went to take a bath.
After getting ready Katha came out and asked the attendees to bring warm water and a clean cloth. After cleaning Mrityunjay, she fed him the soup as a sort of breakfast and asked the attendees to tell the physicians to come and check Mrityunjay’s health. She left to go to the prayer room as soon as the physicians came and started to examine Mrityunjay.
Katha sat in front of God’s idol and prayed for Mrityunjay’s health. After an hour of praying and doing the aarti, she stood up, and when she was about to leave, a soldier came in a hurry and said,
“Maharani-sa, Maharaj is awake.”
