Chapter 13

After lunch, Edward asked Krishna to meet his son. So, the Indian king took him to his room. However, they didn't find him.

"Where's George?" Ed wondered, lightly worried.

"I thought him in his room…" Krishna answered, more worried than him.

Luckily, Milady passed by them. Once she saw Edward, she stopped and looked at him, kind of shocked: she – as Ann – didn't trust in Edward. As she remembered her days in Great Britain, all what she could remember was days of poverty and corruption.

Bai interrupted her shock by interrogating her: "Milady, have you seen Prince George?"

"Yes…" Cook answered, still raving. "He's still fighting with Sundarta, I mean her majesty Sundarta."

"Fighting?" The British king wondered.

"They exercise swords every day." Milady explained, finally got herself up.

"Oh…" Ed expressed his understanding.

"Your majesty, do you want me to take both of you to the princes?" She suggested to Bai.

"That'll be great!" The latter agreed. "Let's go."

The two kings followed Milady who took them to the celebration courtyard. Three of them found indeed Sundarta fighting swords with George with all their effort.

So, they chose not to interrupt them as one of them may get hurt. Meanwhile, Edward realized how strong Sundarta was even militarily.

Of course, a few seconds later, the latter hit George's sword and threw it away. He fell down and she put the sword's peek next to his neck.

Finally, she noticed her father, Cook and a stranger's presence. She helped George standing then she did the Pranama (getting bless for elders' feet) with Bai and Milady.

After, she stood up and saw Edward. She bended and then waited for him to respond. However, he was moved by her beauty, that he got her hand and tried to kiss it but she fast pulled it. And the brunet king tried to keep his calm, as it was completely forbidden to touch the female members of the royal family.

Sundarta explained this to Edward, in English: "I'm sorry, your majesty: No stranger is allowed to touch women of the royal family."

Sundarta recognized Edward after she saw George's reaction of happiness of finding him. Also, that was terribly clear from his clothes, age and the time he came in.

"No… I apologize…" Ed apologized. "But, allow me to tell you how beautiful you are."

Samantha smiled just as a reply for his compliment. However, George discovered that his father too liked his love, which could facilitate his declaration for his crush on Sundarta.

The British father looked at his son, smiled to him and extended his arms to hold him: "George… come here…"

The latter hugged him, truly missing him. Whereas the Indian father explained to his rival: "Your majesty… here's my daughter: the best counselor in kingdom of Michor…" Then, he turned to Sundarta, and spoke in Hindi: "Sundarta my daughter, he's yours. The contract's future depends on you. Did you set up on an opinion or not yet?"

She answered him in English, still looking at Ed: "I need to talk to him, alone. That'll be better for both of us."

Krishna and Milady got surprised: why would a princess sit alone with a stranger king? Anyway, Bai never doubted in his daughter's wisdom; he allowed her to have a drink with Ed in the celebration courtyard, at evening…

***

So, Milady took Ed to his bedroom in the middle courtyard while his son was following him. Then, she left them and went to hers.

Once George closed the door, his father revealed while he was taking off his wig: "God didn't bless Michor with a rare palace… but with also such a strong, beautiful and warrior princess… I must truly beware of her…"

"Did you like her, father?" George asked, looking for his father's opinion about his love.

"She's fine…" Ed indifferently answered.

"If the Michorian king accepts to sign, will we stay more here?" The prince asked again with the same tune.

"No… Why? I can't leave Great Britain alone…" Ed refused.

"I don't know…" He hinted.

Ed stopped what he was doing and interrogated him: "What do you mean, George?"

George was still murmuring, unable of declaring his love to his father. But the latter discovered his reason of this muttering; he got worried and asked: "It's Sundarta… right?"

The prince stared at him for seconds then he nodded.

Edward got angry: he didn't want his son getting stuck by one of the other side of contracts' daughter: that may harm his interests.

He sat on his bed. He started thinking about what it might happen. But suddenly, he smiled: in case if his son married the princess, this might make the Indian family trusting him more, especially after that this kingdom precisely chose to meet him in person.

Thus, he grinned to his son, stood up and caught his shoulders. Then he asked him desirously: "Does she love you?"

"She didn't confirm it, but I feel it..." George doubted.

"Why didn't you marry her before I come?" Ed blamed.

"Father, how you want me to marry someone without your permission or even your presence with me?!" He wondered.

"Oh… you're right…" He restored his calm.

"Father, I'm not going to marry Sundarta for commercial desires… I want to marry her because I love her…" George explained.

"I know! I know!" His father lied. "But I'm going to tell you something: if they accepted to sign, I can purpose Sundarta to you. If they refused, it's going to be hard…" He hinted

"I know…" the son interrupted him sadly.

Edward dabbed his son's shoulder, to reassure him: "Don't worry… I'll try my best with this contract…"

George smiled and hugged his father, who wanted signing the contract and son's marriage for his best much more for George's.

***

A few hours before the sunset, Sundarta and Edward took their places – sitting on the floor - in the celebration courtyard as it was planned.

They were drinking tea and eating traditional Indian sweets.

After minutes of silence, Edward opined that he must talk first. So, he put his cup of tea on the table and talked: "So… you wanted to know why did I want to sign this contract with Michor?"

"Yes." Sundarta confirmed.

"Well, I assure you, your highness, that this contract will get lots and lots of benefits for both of kingdoms." He explained.

"I know." She interrupted him. "What I meant, for you, what is the economical future of kingdoms of Michor and Great Britain."

Ed kept silent: he was shocked; he felt that Sundarta was challenging him. Thus, he restored his composure and answered: "It'll be successful… Europe is lacking spices for example, in exchange, India needs our rarities, the technology we have…"

"What made you think that we need your rarities?" Samantha foxily interrogated.

"Um… well… there's something that the whole Asia is looking for…" Ed, full of self-confidence, responded.

"What is it?" She wondered and was about to get sip from her high-quality tea (India was known also for its perfect tea)

"… Silver…" He replied with a seduction tune, as it was known that the Indian subcontinent was deeply in need of silver, as much extent that Sundarta herself stopped taking the sip, and her hand got frozen.

She looked at him while the cup was still hiding her mouth. Then, she got her composure also and put the cup down on the table, while the British king kept "seducing": "I know how much you, the Indian subcontinent need silver. Bah! We may exchange with you too the rarities we're getting from Americas; such as sugar, tobacco etc…"

Sundarta took her cup again while thinking. Later, she asked after finishing of thinking: "And what do you need from Michor?"

"Spices, cloth… tea!" He answered, taking his cup as he pointed it out.

"Then, what do you need to do here in case if we signed the contract with you?"

"Fine… we need to build some British stations and factories on the Michorian land…" He explained.

Sundarta stared at him, just because she was thinking, as she was looking for his intention beyond this contract.

Finally, she informed: "That's it, you can go."

"That's it?" He got surprised.

"Yes, I got what I wanted."

She stood up and fixed her ghoonghat. But before she left the courtyard toward her bedroom, she turned to Ed and announced: "By the way, I love your son."

And she got out, leaving Edward happier to find out that this contract's chance of getting signed was increasing…

***