44 You cannot be very smart if you have never done anything foolish

Flashback continued

"On the surface, things became normal and there was peace and harmony amongst the family members after that incident. Rudradev became attentive and loving towards his wife yet again. But it seems that Elder Miss thought otherwise else she would not have asked you to guard against your own family," Mandodari finished on a heavy note.

Katyayani felt her head reeling with the implications. She found herself going through a complex set of emotions.

Katyayani tried to put herself in the shoes of Dharitri.

As the daughter of the woman whose husband had played with his marriage and the health of his unborn child, hatred was a justifiable emotion for her against the offspring of the woman who must have seemed like a temptress to her and her mother!

But sympathising with Dharitri didn't make Katyayani forgive her despite the fact that this elder cousin of hers was a little tame. Had the situation been reversed, Katyayani would have straight sent someone to destroy the other party's reputation and that too publicly. But more importantly, she would have made sure to punish the main culprit in the whole case - the man who strayed from his marriage vows!

'A secret heartbreak? What a timid revenge! There was not even a single wound on the enemy to show, for all the efforts that Dharitri put in.' Katyayani was full of scorn for her elder cousin.

Maybe this was the difference between a genteel girl raised in a boudoir versus an orphan growing up in the wilderness.

Katyayani had nothing except for her experiences to guide her!

Katyayani got up at dawn the next morning and slipped out of the residence to go to the Bali Mansion. Since Trini was still wounded and under the influence of medicine, Katyayani took this chance to start clearing up the mess caused by her.

Though her reconnaissance skills weren't as good as her teacher's yet, she managed to smoothly enter the servants' quarters behind the stables where Ganak resided with the other male staff.

She tiptoed to the corner which belonged to the bast@rd and tried to discern the situation in the semi-dark room. Though the lamps had run out during the night, a soft glow was permeating in the room from the bonfire which some people had lit during the night in the courtyard behind the servant quarters. This courtyard was used to keep the cleaning supplies of the mansion.

She had visited his dingy living space secretly in the past when they were 'in love' and hence she could recognise it in the current dark environment.

His bed was next to the window and that obviously made things easier for her to discern. Subconsciously, avoiding looking at his face, she shifted closer to his bed.

The loud snores of the tired servants helped cover the noise of her actions as she slipped her hand stealthily through his burlap sack, kept next to the bed. She was hoping that he was the one who held the letters written by her instead of having handed them over to Dharitri.

If he had indeed given the 'evidence' to her cousin, it would be tough to retrieve them since she wouldn't even know where to begin the search in that huge chamber of the eldest miss.

A tied bundle fell into her rummaging hands and she quickly pulled it out. Feeling the thickness of the pile, she was almost sure that this was what she was looking for. Just about to move away, she had a thought and her feet paused.

Katyayani stealthily walked to the opposite corner where a stout man was fast asleep. Ignoring the stench emanating from his dirty feet, her nimble fingers went through a similar bag as that of Ganak.

'Ah! Found it.'

Katyayani smiled, standing in the dark room. She went back to Ganak's side and quickly put the object, which she had pulled out of the guy's bag, into Ganak's.

Like a cat, she surreptitiously slipped out of the place and headed back to the music hall. On the way, she stopped at a corner where a torch was burning for the convenience of the passersby.

Extending the bundle towards it, she waited for it to catch fire and saw the letters turn into ashes, nearly burning her fingers holding them.

Later that morning, she told Dai Maa that she wanted to cultivate a pair of ears in the Bali Mansion.

At the surprised look in the older woman's eyes, she said, "I think it is better to be better aware of the people around us. Extra caution never hurts anyone. I am also a little curious to know who caused my mother to be so wary in the Bali mansion."

Mandodari smiled and replied. "Our little miss has grown up overnight. I have a couple of people in the mansion who keep me abreast of the happenings in there. If you like, I can share the news with you when something happens."

Katyayani was shaking her head even before Mandodari finished speaking. "No, I want to know everything that is happening in ALL the chambers in that house. Please choose a few resources from the Dharamshala and have them enter the mansion. Tell them to report to me directly."

End of flashback

Bali Mansion

By the time Katyayani emerged from her thoughts, the night seemed to have slipped away, leaving the pale sunrays streaming in through the window. She found herself lying on the floor, haphazardly dressed, limbs frozen.

With a sigh, she got up and stretched her stiff body. Her limbs moved instinctively towards the window which displayed the view of the lotus pond.

She thought about the scene which she stumbled upon last night. Seeing her dear cousin turn pale under the threats of that schemer, Ganak, made Katyayani's lips turn up.

"I never realised that 'boiling a frog'* is an extremely pleasurable exercise," she murmured to herself.

It had not taken too long for Katyayani to emerge from her grief in the matters related to Ganak.

She had tried to fill the emotional void with a newly developed dislike for the untrustable gender!

In the past couple of years years, she had developed a thick, cold shield around her stupid and frivolous heart.

She never went back to meet Ganak after stumbling upon the conversation between him and her eldest cousin.

The next time that she entered the mansion, it had already been many months since he was thrown out on the charges of stealing not just from fellow employees but also from the young masters, whom he was in charge of training horse riding.

This was, of course, arranged by her through her 'efficient new resources' which had been cultivated in the Bali Mansion after that night.

*Boiling the frog - referring to a situation gradually becoming worse, without those involved realizing the peril affecting them until it's too late. In this situation, Ganak is the frog.