Iti fidgeted with the pallu of her saree,she was extremely nervous of what lay ahead of her.

And why not?

She was going to be the daughter in law of a royal family,the wife of a king,the queen.....nothing of which she had ever even thought of.

She didn't even know what kind of family he had,how many people were there,how she was supposed to act,nothing!

She has been this way since she left Mumbai,she knew her parents weren't too pleased with her decision,but she didn't have any other choice,this was the only way!

She heard a throat clearing sound and knew who it was so she looked up at him.

"You don't have to be nervous at all, everything is going to be fine"He said in his ever calm tone and she took a deep breath and nodded at that.

She had made a decision but was having second thoughts now,but she knew nothing could be done now,she couldn't back out at the last moment,they were officially married now!

They both had signed the marriage certificate and now nothing could be undone.

She walked by her husband's side till they hadn't reached the car,she could see many cars which wasn't odd for her because she had seen this at her place as well.

He,like a gentleman,opened the door for her and she sat inside the car followed by him.

"Mahal chaliye Kaka"She heard him say and the driver ignited the car and drove away.

The whole way,she just stared outside the car window,watching the streets of Udaipur,which would be her home from now.

The door of the car opened and she saw Shiv standing infront of her holding a hand for her,it was then she realised that they had reached because the whole ride she was busy in her own thoughts to notice anything.

She hesistantly placed held his hand and got out of the car.

As she looked ahead she could see a lot of people dressed in the same attire,the househelp,she noted.

Her gaze then went further and she saw an elderly lady standing in between just at the entrance of the palace wearing an elegant saree.

They walked towards the lady,side by side and stopped as they reached near her.

"Yeh h hamari Nanisa kukum aur Udaipur ki Ranima Padmini Devi"Shiv said introducing the elderly lady to Iti.

Iti immediately bowed down along with Shiv to touch her feet.

"Khush rahiye"Padmini Devi said looking at the couple.

A househelp passed her the aarti thal with which she did their tilak followed by rotating it clockwise infront of them.

"Iss kalash ko girakr ander pair rakhiye,aasha krte h aap maa lakshmi ki tarah iss mahal mein aakr aur kushalta layengi yaha"She said and Iti nodded and did as said.

"Aapne apna naam nhi bataya hame?"She said looking at Iti,finally giving her whole attention.

And that is what Iti dreaded,she didn't liked attention on herself and when it came from a stranger it becomes more awkward for her.Iti took a deep breath before introducing herself.

"Myself Iti Sehgal ma'am"She said a bit formally because she thought Shiv's Nanisa would get offended if she would address her as anything else,plus she didn't knew how to greet royal family members,she hadn't had any encounter with them ever.

"Nanisa Hukum....aapke pati bhi yahi bulate h hame,aap bhi yahi kahiyega"She said and Iti again nodded at that.

"Aap thak gayi hongi,Pratap inhe apne kamre mein le jaiye aur aaram krne dijiye,sham ke liye kapde bhijwa denge hum aapke liye,taiyaar ho jaiyega aap dono waqt se"She said the first part to her grandson and the second to Iti.

Shiv nodded and gestured Iti to follow him,together they walked towards his chamber which was on the second floor.There was only one huge chamber on the second floor,it was for the King and Queen and so Shiv had shifted here after his mother passed away because he became the crown King after her.

"Yeh hamara kamra h"Shiv said and Iti walked inside as he gestured for her to go first.

She looked around and was mesmerized by the room,it was screaming extravagance and royalty.From the antique chandelier to the big king sized,ancient designed bed,along with the huge rug with unique design,the small antique wooden tables set beside the bed.The huge 219 inch flat TV attached on the wall infront of the bed,along with a door which probably was the bathroom,the room was beautiful.

She had a huge room too back at her home but this was way bigger than her's,it was really big for a bedroom but it wasn't bare.It had been nicely decorated with the perfect things placed which matched the theme of the room.

It was really beautiful.

"Aap chahe toh apne hisab se isse badal sakti h"She heard him say from behind her and she shook her head immediately at that.

But when he still didn't look away she spoke,probably for the first time with him since they arrived in Udaipur.

"It's perfect"She said and Shiv nodded.

"Aapka saaman aa chuka h,mahal ke sevak baadmein aapke kapde sahi se rakh denge"He said and she nodded because she wasn't too good at arranging her clothes,back at her home her mother used to do that for her.

"Aap aaram kijiye,phir shaam ke liye taiyaar bhi hona h aapko"He said and she gave him a confused look at that.

What were they supposed to do in the evening?even his grandmother said she will send clothes for the evening for her.

"Shaam ko kya h?"She asked.

"Shaam ko Udaipur ke log apni Rani sa ko dekhne aayenge,aapko aur hame saath mein unse milna h"He said and she got nervous instantly.

"Do I have to talk to them??"She asked and the nervousness was quite evident on her face.

"No,you don't have to,it's just an appearance,your first public appearance as the Queen of Udaipur,our first appearance as a couple that's it,we don't have to personally interact with each person"He said and she sighed in relief hearing that.

But still the fact that thousands of people would have an eye on her was not very relieving either.But it was better than talking to them,talking to strangers always makes her anxious and awkward.

"Make yourself comfortable,I will ask the kitchen staff to send something for you to eat"He said and she nodded and sighed in relief as he left.

Finally she was alone.

She pulled down the pallu of her saree and felt good,she wasn't used to wearing saree's at all,she doesn't even remember if she has ever worn one with her own wish,it was always because everyone else in the house was wearing it,or she had to attend some event which required for her to wear a saree.It was difficult to manage a saree for her,but guess she will have to wear it from now onwards,she can't be roaming in her comfy shorts and Tshirt in this palace now,she was the queen she should act like one.

There was a knock on the door and she immediately pulled her pallu back around her shoulder but relaxed when she saw it was a house help with food for her.

"Ranisa,Rana sa ne aapke liye bhojan bhejne ke liye kaha tha"The house help said and Iti nodded at that.

"Yaha rakh dijiye,thank you"She said and the househelp smiled at her and left.

She decided to eat because she was starving now and she wished to sleep after that because she knew if she was awake she would just be anxious and over think about what was going to happen in the evening.

She was just having her lunch when her phone rang and she smiled seeing the caller.

"Ji mumma"She said as soon as she received the call.

"Khana khaa rahe h hum"She answered.

"Papa kaha h?"Iti asked and received a reply for it.

"Thik h,usne baadmein baat kr lenge hum"She said.

"Nhi abhi tak toh sirf unki Nanisa se mile h hum,baaki toh koi dikha nhi hame ghar pr"She said.

"Mumma,aaj sham ko appearance dena h unke saath hame!"She shared her fear and listened to how her mother calmed her down as she always did.

Her mother was the best.

"Ji"She said.

"Thik h"She again said and then ended the call.

As soon as her lunch was done she went towards the closet and thought of checking everything afterwards and changing into her comfy pyjamas for now as she was about to sleep.

__________________________

"Pratap taiyaar ho jaiye aap bhi,1 ghante mein aapko aur Iti ko sabhi logo se milna h"Nanisa Hukum said and Shiv nodded hearing that.

"Hum kamre mein hi jaa rahe h taiyaar hone ke liye"He said.

"Thik h,toh isse bhi saath lekr jaiye,yeh kapde aur gehne Iti ke liye h"She said and he nodded and took the things which were kept on the table and left towards his room.

As he entered his room he kept the dress and jewellery on the side table and walked further towards the bed,on which he found his new wife,sleeping, without the care of any world.

Her hair were scattered, covering half of her face,her body covered by the duvet upto her neck,she had literally cocooned herself in the blanket as she enjoyed a nice slumber,only her face was visible.

He decided to wake her up because they had exactly an hour to go out and make the appearance and knowing she was a girl,he better wake her up quickly because she would take much more time then he would.

"Iti"He called out as he stood beside the bed.

She groaned.

She is a light sleeper,he noted.

"Iti uth jaiye,aapko taiyaar hona h sham ke liye"He said and she opened her eyes and for a moment tried to register the surrounding she was in.

Then she realised where she was,she looked up and saw Shiv standing beside the bed looking at her.

She immediately got up in a sitting position,trying to correct her hair which was a mess because she leaves them open when she sleeps.

"Aap taiyaar ho jaiye,aapke kapde humne waha rakhe h"He said pointing towards the table.

She immediately got out of the bed and regretted it at once.She was wearing her comfy silk shorts and Tshirt.She looked at Shiv who did stared at her at first but immediately looked away.

She grabbed the clothes and jewellery and dashed towards the bathroom but she swear she heard a chuckle behind her as she closed the door.

Ways to embarrass yourself Iti!

She firstly washed her face to get the sleepiness away and then wiped her face dry with the towel.

She decided to atleast wear the ghaghra first and then tried to figure out how the blouse kind of thing placed inside it worked.After a lot of confusion she was finally able to understand how the dress worked,but needed help in tying the laces at her back.

There was a knock on the door and she answered from inside.

"Iti aap ready ho gayi?"Shiv asked and she sighed.

"Shiv,can you please call someone to help me with this dress?"She asked from inside and didn't hear anything from him for a second.

"Hum Anu Kakisa ko bhej rahe h,woh aapki madad kr dengi"She heard and she could only nod.

After a few mins,

"Aap bht sundar lag rahi h Rani sa"Anu Kakisa,who was kind enough to help her wear the poshak commented after she even helped her in wearing all the jewellery.

Iti gave her a smile.

The door of the room opened and Shiv entered inside, wearing a pure white sherwani with no design,yet he looked extremely attractive with his medium sized perfectly shaped beard along with a magenta color safa(turban)on his dress which matched the color of her poshak,he also carried a sword in his left hand which gave him an intimidating and powerful aura.

He looked at her and she looked away immediately.

"Aap taiyaar h?"He asked and she nodded her head at that.

"Chaliye chalte h phir,Nanisa Hukum intezar kr rahi h"He said and she nodded and walked with him.

They reached outside their chamber and Nanisa Hukum was waiting for them there.

"Hum taiyaar h Nanisa Hukum"Shiv said.

Padmini Devi stared at Iti from top to bottom as if trying to find any flaw in her attire or her,she didn't wanted the people to find a single mistake in their queen afterall.

"Iti,aapne sindoor kyu nhi lagaya h?shadi shuda h ab aap,yeh toh suhaag ki nishani hoti h,bina sindoor lagaye sabke saamne jayengi toh log baatein karenge"She said as she saw that Iti hadn't applied vermilion in her hair partition.

"Maaf kr dijiye....hum...hum bhul gaye the"Iti said getting scared that she would get scolded now.

"Yaad rakhna seekh lijiye kyuki log baatein krna nhi bhulenge"Nanisa Hukum said and Iti nodded.

"Hum abhi lagakr aate h sindoor"Iti said but Padmini Devi stopped her and instead asked a househelp to get the kumkum from the mandir of the palace.

"Pratap,aap hi maang bhar dijiye apni patni ki"Padmini Devi said and Shiv nodded and took the kumkum from the househelp and looked at Iti.

Shiv stared at Iti,her eyes staring right at him before she looked away not being able to stare into his intense gaze.

He walked a lil towards her and filled her hair partition with it,a lil bit of the sindoor fell on her nose,which he very sneakily wiped off with his little finger without letting anyone see it.

"Ab chale Nanisa Hukum?"Shiv asked as both of them were ready now.

"Rukiye toh,hame nazar toh utaarne dijiye aap dono ki"Padmini Devi said and both Iti and Shiv were confused now.

"Nazar?"Shiv asked.

"Haa nazar,aap bht logo se milenge bhi,bht saare log aapko dekhenge bhi,kya pata kiski nazar lag jaye aap dono ko,lag bhi toh kitne pyaare h aap dono....thu thu thu kahi hamari hi nazar na lag jaye"She said as she rolled both of her palms towards both of them and then rolled then around the side of her head to take the evil eyes.

Shiv just smiled at his Nanisa's antics,she can be really scary at times but at time she was the sweetest,cutest person ever.

Iti too smiled a lil at her antics,as she reminded her of her own dadi who would surely do the same things if she were here.

"Ab ho gaya"Shiv asked.

"Nhi,chup chap se Iti ke paas aakr khade ho jaiye!"She said and Shiv obliged and stood beside Iti.



(Guys just imagine Iti's dress and jewellery to be more heavy and that they have worn a color coordinated outfit)

She went and put a dot of kajal behind both of their ears to protect them from evil eyes.

"Ab chaliye aap dono"She said and both nodded and followed her towards the terrace from which they could see the people who had gathered outside the palace just to get a glimps of their king and new queen,a lot of media houses has also sent their reporters to capture the entire scene, everyone of them willing to be the first one to broadcast the first appearance of the King and Queen of Udaipur.

Iti took a deep breath because from the entrance of the terrace itself she could hear the shouts of the people,it was a crowd and she was supposed to go infront of them,she just hopes she doesn't messes this up in any way.

A hand was offered to her again and she knew it's owner this time so without hesitating she held it this time.

"Udaipur ke Rana sa Shiv Pratap Singh Rathod aur unki dharm patni Rani sa Iti Shiv Pratap Singh Rathod padhar rahe h"An announcement was made and the crowd cheered loudly hearing that.

Together they walked towards the edge of the terrace and Iti gulped as she saw the crowd of people standing at the palace entrance.There were literally too many people,they had jammed the road,there was a traffic,police was stationed there to make sure the crowd does not tries to enter the palace,the palace security was also trying to calm down the crowd of people.

For a moment she felt as if she was watching Shah Rukh Khan waving at his fans from Mannat.

Shiv left her hand and joined them in front of the crowd and the crowd at once quietened.

Suddenly there was silence.

As if it wasn't a chaos a few mins earlier.

Shiv gestured Iti to walk further so that the crowd could have a clear glimpse of her as she was standing a lil behind him,with shaky steps and sweaty palms Iti walked forward and stood beside her husband.

As soon as the crowd got her glimpse they again cheered and shouted like they did a few moments ago,it was hard to make out what they were saying because there were multiple voices at the same time,plus she was so worked up because of being the centre of attraction that she could hardly make out what they said.

She too just like him joined her hands infront of the crowd, showing respect for them.

The crowd cheered louder.

"Rana sa ki.....Jay"

"Rani sa ki....Jay"

Soon enough they started chanting this out loudly and Shiv smiled,the people had accepted her as Udaipur's queen,his queen.

What happened after that was quite of a blurr for Iti actually,she was still trying to calm herself down after meeting the whole crowd.

You see she's a very introverted person,the chances of her meeting a huge crowd and surviving it without making a fool out of herself were zero to nothing....but here we are!

She did it and so she couldn't help but feel proud of herself, nobody would call this an achievement but personally she thought she did the most difficult tasks of her life.

It was as big for her as destroying horcruxes had been for Harry.

"Iti yaha aaiye"Shiv called her out and she came out of her thoughts.

Right more people left to meet,she can do it.

She just had to meet them,greet them and this time talk to them too.

She took a deep breath and walked towards her husband who was standing with some people whom she had obviously never seen.

She smiled and joined her hands in greetings,in return she received smiles.

"Yeh hamare papa h,aur yeh hamari dadisa h,aur yeh hamari bhua sa h"Shiv said introducing Iti to the three people standing with him.

Odd.

Wasn't it?

She had met his Nanisa Hukum before meeting her paternal family,also she hadn't seen them in the palace today,it was as if they had also arrived with the guests.

But how can a father be a guest in the son's house?

She immediately stopped her thoughts which always arrived at the wrong moment and bent down to touch their feets,they were her in law's after all.

The three of them blessed her and she gave them a small smile.

Shiv and his father moved towards a man who was standing a lil far from them,leaving the ladies to chat.

"Aapka naam kya h?"His dadisa asked in a mocking way.

Or did she misunderstood her tone?

"Iti Sehgal"Iti said immediately and chewed the insides of her mouth silently,her surname wasn't Sehgal anymore after all.

"Ab aap Rathod parivaar ki bahu h,ab naya naam aur nayi pechan h aapki"His bhua sa(paternal aunt) said.

"Ji"Iti said softly.

"Kaha se h aap?kaha ki Rajkumari h?"His dadisa asked and Iti was speechless for now.

She was no princess.

She was a normal person like everyone.

She was no royalty,neither was her family,but she was the part of a reputed family.

"Hamare Pratap ke liye bht saari Rajkumariya bethi thi,pata nhi unhone aap mein kya dekha, Raj gharane se bhi nhi h aap toh"His bhua sa said glaring at her.

It would be a lie if she would say she didn't cared what people cared.

Because she very much did!

She didn't knew what she should say to her,she wasn't the one who argued or gave it back to someone.It wasn't in her nature.

But she felt bad hearing it,really bad,what if she isn't from a royal family?her family is quite respected in Mumbai,not only Mumbai but the whole country,they had the leading airlines business!

But why would she demean her in this way when it was her first day here??

Why this sudden dislike when they were meeting for the first time?

"Yeh mat samajhiyega ki aap unki patni h!Pratap aapko yaha sirf apni izzat bachane ke liye lekr aaye h,jese hi yeh news hatt jayegi aap bhi wapas apne ghar chali jaiyega,Pratap wese bhi aapko apni patni nhi maan sakte!woh pehle se hi kisi se pyaar krte h"Dadisa said this time and Iti was stunned hearing that.

Her eyes darted towards Shiv who was talking to a man.

Did he really had someone in his life??

If yes,then why the hell did he agreed when they both mutually agreed to go on with this marriage to save the reputation of both the families?

Was marriage a joke to him?

If he was going to break it at the end why did he even accepted it at the first place?

"Rajkumari Aradhya,woh aur Pratap bachpan se saath h,sab saath hi kiya tha unhone,aur jald hi shadi bhi krnewale the agar aap achanak se bin bulaye unki zindagi mein na aayi hoti toh!"His bhua sa said.

She didn't had anything to say now.

Why would his own grandmother and bhua lie to her?

Obvious