A Visit to the Bhagavanta Kingdom

"Dude, it means nothing." Chandra took a deep breath. She glanced at Kumara who was standing near her.

"What?" Kumara turned around. "You mean that we just did?" he asked.

Chandra nodded her head.

"Of course. It's green and amateur!" Kumara waved his hand as a gesture of underestimation of what they did.

"If you didn't challenge me…" Chandra protested again as he called her 'an amateur'. She sighed.

"You should control your anger." Kumara looked at her.

They were in silence for a couple of minutes.

"I'll show you something!" he grabbed Chandra's hand as he asked her to close her eyes. "We are going somewhere!" he whispered in her ear.

Within some counted seconds, Chandra opened her eyes slowly as her ears captured the sound of a crowd. She spanned her sight, 'Is it the central part of Bhagavanta Kingdom?'

She saw they were standing on the side street. The street was quite busy with many horse carts and carriages. She glanced at Kumara. Without saying any words, she grabbed Kumara's hand as the man had invited many intentions from people, mainly women. She found some people and women who were passing by and they were gazing at them as they rumoured something. The women giggled as they talked with their female friends behind their paper or feathered fan. 'Who wants not to turn their head twice to Kumara? He was very tall, charming, and nice dressed up man,' Chandra thought.

"Why?" Kumara protested as he tried to release her grip. She still gripped his hand tightly.

"You're an attention seeker!" she complained and ran into small alleys with many sellers along at the side. The alleys had many confusing turns.

Kumara sighed and followed Chandra's running steps. "It's more horrible than the labyrinth!" He complained.

Chandra stopped in front of the shop where it sold food and beverages. She knocked at the wooden door. They heard someone coughing from inside but he seemed hesitantly opened the door. "It's me. The three horses who running away!" Chandra said and whistled a song.

Soon the door was opened. A man with a white beard sneaked out behind the door. "You? Come in, please!" he pulled Chandra's hand after he investigated the surroundings.

"Princess Chandra," he gladly welcomed Chandra and asked her to sit on a big wooden chair where the guests usually sat to eat and drink at this place.

"Who's that man?" he asked Chandra inquisitively as his eyes were examining Kumara who was standing behind her.

"Prince Kumara!" Chandra sighed. Her elbow tried to push at Kumara. "You say that people can't see you!" she hissed at him.

Kumara cringed and took a seat behind her.

"Prince Kumara, this is Saphire! One of my men!" Chandra introduced the man to Kumara.

"Prince Kumara?" Saphire paused, looked at Kumara from toe to head and he seemed to think hard. "I think I've ever seen your face!" he murmured.

Chandra sighed, "With a mistress of Knight? Or any other noble women?". She glanced at Kumara who seemed that he ignored her questions to Saphire and pretended he didn't hear Chandra's cynical questions.

"No! He's a musician and poet. Yes, many women were talking about you, Prince Kumara!" Saphire giggled and put on a piece of paper with a pen and an ink bottle. "Give me your signature here!" he asked Kumara and smiled widely as Kumara gave what that man asked for him to do.

Chandra was rubbing her forehead and chin in barter.

Kumara glanced at her as he finished giving his signature on that piece of paper. Saphire put the piece of paper with Kumara's signature on the wall with the purpose of people could see it whenever they ate. "You know I am magnetic not only for women but also for men!" he whispered.

Chandra gave him a side-eye. She saw Saphire was preparing something for her and Kumara in the kitchen. "How is your business, Saphire?" she asked.

They could hear something sizzling and glasses were clinking. They could smell something delicious and the baked aroma of food out from the kitchen.

Kumara was reading a menu cart. "What is this?" he asked inquisitively. "Its name sounds beautiful!" he looked at Chandra and asked for an explanation.

Chandra sighed. She looked into Kumara's eyes. "Snake barbeque! Some people love to eat snake meat such as barbeque and steak. With some fruit dressings or peanuts with chilly sauces!" she explained clearly.

Kumara lifted his eyebrows and swallowed his saliva as he closed the menu cart slowly. He put it away from him. "He didn't serve us that menu, did he?" he asked in a nosy sight.

Chandra shook her head. "Nope. I don't like to consume something extreme like that!" she drank an herbal juice that Saphire served to both of them.

Kumara nodded. "Good. Glad to find it out!" he sighed.

Saphire came out from the kitchen and brought them a plate of soup with some pieces of cheese bread.

"What time will your place open?" Chandra asked as she split the bread and munched the bread after dipping it in the soup.

"Just a couple of hours later!"

"Wow! You're an incredible cook, Saphire!" Kumara opened his eyes widely as the bread and the soup melted into one in his mouth.

"How is the business so far, Saphire?" Chandra asked as she spooned the soup. It was a soup made from crumbled eggs, green vegetables, mushrooms, and chicken broth with some slices of chicken meat.

Saphire leaned his chin with his fingers as he observed Kumara eat the meals. "Good. Some people said that there's decreasing point in their business. Thank you for my business, it looks so stable enough!"

Chandra stopped eating the meal. "Good! I'm glad to find it out. If anything happens, you can visit the man that I told you before! You can ask his help!"

"You mean Baron from Anatolia Island?" Saphire asked and whistled to a young boy who passed by in front of the shop. "That's Ali!" Saphire introduced the young boy to Chandra and Kumara as he sneaked to come into the shop from the back door. "Ali, tell the two men and the Mustache. Inform them that a horse who running away is visiting!" Saphire said to the young boy. He was about fourteen years old with wavy short brown hair and a pair of light blue eyes. He was quite tall and looked so energetic and also smart. Chandra looked at him with her big smile as the boy nodded and ran to do what Saphire had asked him.

"He looks smart!" Chandra commented and continued to finish eating the meal.

Kumara leaned his back on the chair's shoulder as he felt full.

"I want to know about Magic and my father, Saphire!" Chandra gazed at Saphire.

The man was striking his beard with his hand. "Not good! I just heard from the informant; King Antasena is going to be exiled!"

"Exiled?" Chandra stopped eating the meal. Her fingers were clenching. She felt her heart rate beat slowly faster. "I never imagined he would do that to his stepbrother!" she hissed. "Is he okay?" Chandra looked so anxious to find out her father's condition.

"He's been isolated! For almost seven years, he's been like a bird living in a small cage! He's depressed as King Brutus had tricked him in a such way." Saphire inhaled heavily.

"Where is my father's isolation place?" Chandra felt that her appetite had been lost. She drank the herbal juice to calm her down.

"We don't know about it! King Brutus hid your father in the most unthinkable and unpredictable place for us to trace!"

Chandra clenched her fingers. She put her fist on the table as she felt so angry with all she heard. She tried to regulate her breathing and control her emotion.

"King Brutus has allied with King Dragon. He sold some land in the Bhagavanta Kingdom to King Dragon. He also bought some areas of sacred land. King Dragon decided to build a consortium for the Triangulum Anatolia Empire members of royal families!" Saphire took a deep breath and stopped talking. "For that purpose, King Brutus shorted the budget in giving the subsidiary amount of money in the health sector and for poor families! He's trying to turn in the budget for himself and his clans to get access to the consortium!" Saphire continued his explanation.

"What's the purpose of the consortium?" Chandra inhaled. 'The sacred land can't be touched with non-allied communal members outside the Bhagavanta Kingdom alliances. The land has a big secret that the Bhagavanta Kingdom's ancestors buried their wisdom and many treasures that we haven't known buried in that sacred land! Many successors of the Bhagavanta Kingdom were born in that land and they were baptized and purified before going to their throne in that land, under the sacred fountain!' Chandra thought and reflected. 'Unless King Brutus! He hasn't done that ritual to get the blessings from the Bhagavanta Kingdom's previous kings, ancestors, and the nature of the Bhagavanta Kingdom including all the celestial creatures who are living under the Bhagavanta Kingdom area and protection!'