As soon as she reached the bedroom she closed the door and sat on the bed,hot tears finally making their way down.

She didn't know why she was crying though,he was free to love anyone he wanted,it wasn't as if they had consensually agreed for this marriage !

But whatever the circumstances were if he had brought her here as his wife and was introducing her to thousands of people as the Queen,shouldn't he at least respect that!

On top of that he was introducing her to his girlfriend!!!

His bhua and Dadisa were very mean,she had expected them to be nice people by the way Shiv had behaved with her since the beginning.

Guess,she was wrong.

She felt bad.

The way they tried to demean her.

What was the point of coming here if her husband loved someone else?

No,she wasn't here for him,she wasn't here to become the queen,she was here because her family's reputation was at stake.

It was them whom she was protecting.

It was all for them.

She suddenly missed her family.

Her parents especially.

If her papa would have been here,those ladies wouldn't have even opened their mouth and even if they had,her papa knew well to shut their mouth.

Her father was a righteous man,he couldn't tolerate even the slightest bit of wrong deed,and according to him one isn't wrong if he is speaking for the right.

Alas,she wasn't like him.

She was a bit like her mother in this case,her mother too like her would not indulge in verbal arguments,or one can say that it wasn't in her nature.She would let go of things and hardly took stand for herself,not because she couldn't but because she found it a waste of her time and energy.

She wished she could have said something to them, anything would have been better than staying quiet.

Also now people would be talking about her anyway because she got out of the gathering so suddenly when all the people had come just to meet her.

Maybe she wasn't fit for it.

Anything would have been better than being a Queen!

Why wasn't she married to a simple common man?

Why did the King of Udaipur have to come rescue her from all the people in the whole world?

The door of the bedroom opened and Shiv entered.Iti immediately wiped her tears and got up from the bed.

She wouldn't let him see her like this.

She wouldn't show her vulnerability to him,of all the people!

She didn't say anything to him and instead made her way towards the closet to grab her nightwear and get changed into them from this heavy poshak and jewellery.

"Aap thik h ab?"Shiv asked as he saw her walking towards the closet.

Iti just nodded not at all looking at him.

She then made her way towards the bathroom but stopped as she heard his voice.

"Aap sach mein thik h na Iti??hum doctor ko bula lete h wrna,woh check kr lenge ek baar aur dawai de denge toh aapko better lagega"Shiv said as she saw her face which was a bit red,her eyes puffy and nose also red.

Was she crying?

Was she so sick that she was crying?

"Hum thik h"Iti said softly her voice barely audible if he wasn't paying all of his attention to her.

"Hamari taraf dekhiye jab aap humse baat kr rahi ho"Shiv said in a not so gentle voice,he wasn't used to people not giving him attention!

Iti immediately stared at his face out of fear.This was the first time he had spoken to her in that tone.

He had always been gentle and soft spoken what happened to him?

"Hamari taraf dekhiyega agli baar se jab aap hame kuch keh rahi ho,ya hum aapse kuch keh rahe ho"Shiv simply stated and she nodded her head at that.

"Jaiye change kr lijiye"Shiv said not pestering her anymore.

She was a shy and introverted girl that he had observed about her.She had hardly talked to him since she had arrived here.

Also it might have been overwhelming meeting so many people,plus she was suddenly married,then became a part of a royal family,the queen of Udaipur,she would take time adjusting,he should give her space.

But that doesn't means she could ignore him,she needs to give him attention when he talks to her!

Next morning,

Breakfast table,

There was complete silence on the breakfast table.

"Ab aapki tabiyat kesi h Iti?"Nanisa Hukum asked in a kind way.

"Ab hum thik h"Iti said softly just looking at Nanisa for a brief moment and then again staring at her plate,she wasn't in a mood to eat,but it wasn't her home where she would be excused,she was at her in law's place and so she had to behave like a daughter in law.

"Dhyan rakhiyega apna"Nanisa Hukum said as she got up from her chair and Iti immediately got up too.

"Hamara naashta ho gaya h,aap beth jaiye aur naashta khatam kijiye apna"Nanisa Hukum said and Iti nodded and sat down.

She left and Iti sighed.

"Itni buri bhi nhi h hamari Nanisa Hukum ki aap itna ghabra rahi h unse"Shiv said with a light smile trying to ease up the situation.

Iti didn't say anything to that,she just kept playing with her breakfast.

"Iti,aap yaha aaram se reh sakti h,aapko hrr waqt itna conscious hone ki zarurat nhi h"Shiv said and Iti just nodded at that still not looking at him.

And Shiv got irritated with that,why won't she look at him?

"Hamari taraf dek....

"Hamara naashta ho gaya h"Iti said and got up from the chair and left without listening to what he had to say.

What has gotten into her?

Iti was all alone in this huge palace, except for the numerous staff members and security.Nanisa Hukum had gone to one of her political meetings while Shiv had left for his office.

She on the other hand had nothing to do,so she decided to explore the palace.

If she was going to stay here for probably her whole life she must get familiar with the surroundings.

It was a huge palace,the real kind of palace she had only seen in movies or on her many visits to historical places,but this one wasn't for a visit,a royal family resided in it.

It had many galleries,stairs,huge rooms all well maintained,the whole palace was so clean Iti couldn't find a single spot of dirt,the cleaning staff really did a good job with it.

It had a different kind of aura,the walls were so tall and the doors so huge she for a moment felt she was back in the ancient times.

There were statues of soldiers holding huge spears all around the palace,when she reached the terrace she gasped.

A bright smile came to her lips as she saw the view it provided,one could see the whole Udaipur from here,plus the small plants placed at the edge,along with the cute sitting setting which was done,it would be so good to have a cup of hot chocolate while sitting here during chilling winter nights.

She was sure this was her favourite part of the palace so far.She sat there for some time,just looking around.

After that she went downstairs and went to explore the other part of the palace.She opened one of the doors and the reaction she had watching the room was priceless.



It was a library.

A huge and beautiful one.

She couldn't help herself as her fingers brushed the spine of all the books which were arranged properly on the shelves,it was so cosy.

She quickly picked one book from the historical section and perched herself on the couch placed there.

Evening,

Shiv had arrived back from his office,he straight away made his way towards his bedroom to get changed and to freshen up.

He came downstairs and the staff had already kept a cup of tea for him in the living room.He took one sip of tea and released a sigh of relief.

This is what one needed after a hectic day at office.

Peace and a cup of tea.

As he finished his tea he frowned as he didn't see Iti,she wasn't in the bedroom as well when he had gone there,neither was she in the living room.

He thought she must be in one of the rooms so he didn't bothered her.

But once the staff had said the dinner was ready,he frowned deeper,he had arrived 3 hours ago and hadn't seen a glimpse of her.

"Rani sa kaha h?"Shiv asked to the staff.

"Rana sa,Rani sa toh subah se library mein h"The staff said and Shiv nodded and dismissed him.

He decided to go and see what she was doing since morning in the library.

As he entered the library he saw her,leaning onto the sofa handle as her legs were folded and a book was laying against it.Her eyes moving so quickly along the pages of the book,her face filled with concentration,she was completely immersed in reading the book.

He cleared his throat to grab her attention but she didn't even looked up from the book.

He again cleared his throat but got no reaction from her.

He walked towards her still she was focused on the book hardly noticing him.

Was he too quiet??

Or she was just not observant enough.

"Kya padh rahi h aap?"He asked as he stood infront of her and when she looked up a small gasp left her mouth.

She got scared for a moment because she was all alone in the library since morning and hadn't expected him to sneak upon her.

She sighed in relief when she realised it was just him.

His eyes went to the table beside the couch and he saw the untouched plate of food,had she skipped her lunch?

Was she reading since morning?

"Aap subah se yahi thi?"He asked and she nodded her head.

What was with her always nodding her head at any question?

He sighed.

"Chaliye khana taiyaar h"Shiv said and her eyes widened hearing that.

It was dinner time, already?

How??

It had felt as if she had just entered the library.How can it be night so soon?

She checked her mobile and sighed seeing so many missed calls from her family.She hadn't paid attention to it because her phone was on silent.

She knew she was in for a lot of scoldings from them.

She silently walked beside him as they made their way towards the dining hall.

It was a huge table but only the two of them were sitting here.

Nanisa Hukum had already informed him that she would be a lil late as she had a dinner meeting with some members of their party.

"Toh aap pure din library mein hi thi?"Shiv asked and Iti just nodded her head at that.

He sighed.

They completed their dinner in silence then and retired in their bedroom.

Iti immediately called her parents and talked to them,though they were in the same room he couldn't make out what she was saying because of how softly she was speaking.

"Yaha bht badi library h mumma"Iti said excitedly.

"Iti beta kitabo se kabhi bahar bhi aaiye"Aayat said not at all surprised that the first thing her daughter said to her was about a library.

Iti had always loved reading, because of her reserved nature she didn't had any friends and even if she had any she wasn't into hanging out with them because according to her she would rather read a good book them create nuisance with her friends.

"Aap thik h na waha??aapko koi takleef toh nhi h na beta??wrna hum abhi aa jayenge aapko lene ke liye"Her papa said and Iti smiled hearing that.

Her papa was the best,she was still his lil princess when in reality she was 23 years old now and married too.

"Hum thik h papa,hame koi problem nhi h yaha,aap chinta mat kijiye"Iti said assuring her father that she was okay.

And in a way she was,if she avoided her husband then she was fine because talking to him makes her feel angry and sad at the same time.He had lied to her after all!

He should have told her before only if he had someone else in his life,what was the need to bring her here and humiliate her like this?

She decided to not think much about it and sleep for now.

She slept on the left side of the bed while he slept on the right side,they had decided this yesterday itself to avoid any person from being uncomfortable because of sleeping on the couch.

She too

k a deep breath and released a sigh once she ended the phone call and turned towards him,his back facing her.

She covered herself with the blanket and snuggled into the warm sheets because it was quiet cold in Udaipur as it was winter season.