Arya was not just Simran’s childhood friend, she was also Simran’s sister in law. Arya and Anurag were dating ever since they were teenagers, they never told Simran about their relation, but she found out about them when she saw them holding hands on the lakeside on a summer evening. Arya and Anurag were so scared when Simran found out, Simran was only 13 years old then and they feared that she would tell the queen, but instead, Simran made fun of them and always asked for favors in return. She always blackmailed them for favors, but she never told anyone about the two love birds, because she couldn’t she had promised her bigger brother not to. The same night when Simran found about Arya and Anurag, Anurag came to Simran and asked her to keep it a secret because Arya was not a Royal, she was the daughter of Bhawan’s head chef, she was brought to the Bhawan 10 years ago to play with Simran, but slowly everybody started liking her and Simran and Arya became good friends. So, she was accepted as a Royal friend, but never a Royal herself, and the queen couldn’t know about the affair.
Simran finished her tea and visited her elder brother in his room, where she saw him looking outside the window, he was looking at the lake.
‘Anurag’ Simran whispered as she entered the room, Anurag started walking towards Simran and hugged her. She knew how he felt, or maybe she didn’t but she knew he was hurt, and she was not ready to leave him in this situation but most importantly she was going to find out who did it. They both sat in his room for about half an hour and discussed their sweet childhood memories while looking at the pictures, which seemed bitter at that time and then popped up the image of Arya and Simran sitting on the bed, Arya had a plaster on her Right Arm. This reminded Simran of how she pushed Arya on the frozen lake 14 years ago and Arya never mentioned this to anyone, to save Simran from the punishment. And then Simran knew what she had to do, she put the pictures back and stood up, Anurag stood with her, she hugged her brother and whispered in his ear ‘I will not let Arya down’.
Simran asked one of the staff girls about the house lady, a woman who managed the Bhawan from food to cleaning to maintenance, even the inventory, and financial affairs too. Her name was Sashi Devi, she was a native of Mcleod Ganj and a very old friend of the queen, she was as dear to the queen as Arya was to Simran. Sashi was not a royal, she was brought to the Bhawan for queen and she remained a loyal friend to the Bhawan and everybody knew Arya followed her steps, but she took a step ahead. She was loyal to Bhawan and Arya, but she also became loyal to Anurag, which was not accepted by the other servants.
‘Good Evening Princess’ Simran looked up from her desk and saw Sashi Devi was standing in front of her, she was a tall lady, around 5’10’’ and she never wore flats in her life, and on that day she was wearing a cream color saree, with her jet black hair tied back in a bun, her skin didn’t look as flawless as it was when Simran last saw her, but she still didn’t look a day elder than 40.
‘Good Evening Sashi Ji and you can call me Simran’
‘For me, you will always be a Princess’
Simran blushed and noticed that Sashi Devi was wearing the same watch still, that brown thin watch, which her husband gifted her on their first anniversary and died after five years of that. And ever since then she wore that watch every day.
‘Sashi Ji, you know what happened at the Bhawan last night’ Shahi nodded and sighed. ‘And I have a plan to interrogate all the staff people, but first I want to talk to you. You are the house lady; you know a lot of inside things about each and every one of them which can help me solve the case.’
Sashi nodded again and after 3 seconds she said, ‘I want to help you. Let me know how?’
‘Sashi Ji tell me if there was anyone who was particularly not happy about Anurag and Arya’s marriage?’
‘Do you know the boy who takes care of the cars?’ Simran nodded and lifted her chest up and her mouth closer to Sashi. ‘He wanted to marry Arya. Although he was younger than Arya, everybody said that they looked good together and….’ Simran interrupted; ‘looked good together? Arya and that boy? They were dating?’
‘Yes, that’s what I heard people saw them spending time together in the garage and on the lake and they looked happy together.’ Simran couldn’t digest it. ‘but then one day they stopped being together and the boy started looking upset and he just wanted to leave the work but his father needed the money so he stayed’ Sashi Devi stopped for a moment and continued; ‘Then after two months we heard that Anurag and Arya were getting married. That was a shock for everyone and then that boy even came to Anurag to warn him, but the queen didn’t punish him. They all let it go.’
Simran started making points in her notebook with a shocked state of mind.
‘Then everybody was jealous, all the staff girls wanted to know what was so special about her, why was she given the position of the duchess, why she was marrying a prince and most importantly how could queen agree to it?’
‘They all hated her but specifically the one girl, Misha Verma. She liked Anurag and she was a dear friend to him. After you left the Bhawan, Anurag started spending more time at the swimming pool and there he met Misha she was the caretaker of the pool. They became good friends and his engagement with Arya was a shock to her. She never wanted them to get married. She even bad-mouthed Arya and her mother, the head chef of the Bhawan. But queen never took any action on her as well……. After you I guess nothing else mattered to the queen, she was okay with everything around her.’
Simran nodded and kept on writing something in her notebook while Sashi Devi sat quietly for 15 mins, Simran said; ‘Okay, thank you Sashi Ji it was a great help. I think I am ready for the rest of the staff.’
She handed over a list of people to Sashi and asked her to send them in the same order.
1. Rakshak – the su-chef
2. Lila – staff girl appointed only for Arya
3. Khusboo – staff girl who welcomed guests
4. Ram lal – the night guard
5. Priya – Arya's cousin who was working for her mother in the Bhawan kitchen.
‘They all don’t live inside the Bhawan’
‘I know’
‘You also missed the two I mentioned’
‘You have told me enough about them I don’t need more but first send in Anurag.’
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