Deep beneath the surface of the Junagadh Royal Palace lay that dark, damp dungeon. The surroundings were thick with the smoky glow of torches dangling from stone walls. The moment those arrogant and scornful words left Sushila's lips, the blood in the veins of Arohi and Snigdha, standing outside, boiled instantly. A fire of uncontrollable rage ignited through every pore of their bodies!
Arohi and Snigdha—both lunged like maniacs directly at the iron bars of the dungeon. Disregarding their royal attire, the two of them grabbed those heavy bars and began shaking them viciously. Clattering and smashing, the entire dark dungeon shook!
Roaring furiously, Arohi said, "How dare you possess such audacity, Sushila? You said my daughter will become the wife of a minor zamindar, living as an ordinary housewife? How could you bring yourself to utter such a thing, you witch? You have no education or refinement of your own! You yourself are rotting in this dark room as a massive disgraced wretch, yet you dare speak of my daughter's future?"
Right at that moment, Snigdha raised her hand and shoved Arohi aside forcefully. Gripping the pleats of her silver-threaded silk saree tightly with one hand, Snigdha distorted her face and sneered.
"Agh, Mother! Will you just be quiet! You have no sense of where to say what, or in what language to speak to whom! Don't babble absolute nonsense! Move aside from here!"—waving her hand dismissively at her mother, Snigdha shoved her face right through the gaps in the iron bars.
With a toxic smile, Snigdha said, "Listen, Mother Sushila... open your rotten ears wide and hear this well! You don't know a thing, sitting like an absolute ox in this dungeon! Not only will I marry that Jishnu and become the lady of the Junagadh zamindar household, but I will simultaneously become the supreme ruling Queen of this distant Rupnagar Empire as well! Did you grasp that in your rotten brain? What will you and your evil plotting do now, I wonder? I am going to seize the property, kingdom, and all the royal luxuries of both places! And that stepmother's daughter Prabha of yours? She will remain stuck as a mere queen in just a single place!"
Sitting in the corner of the dungeon floor, Sushila widened her eyes in shock as she watched Snigdha's bizarre transformation through the bars.
Panting, Sushila said, "What! Is... is this true, what you're saying, Snigdha?"
Snigdha let out a spine-chilling, grotesque, loud laugh—"Yes, you disgraced witch! One hundred percent true! Your daughter Prabha will sit like an owl, ruling a mere single kingdom, while I will rule as queen on one side and live like a zamindar's wife looting all the wealth on the other! What will you do now? Can you see how many thousand times smarter and more cunning I am than your daughter?"
Standing up on the dungeon floor, Sushila raised both her hands and burst into a toxic, scornful laugh—"Ha ha ha! Bravo Arohi, bravo! You truly deserve a supreme prize, co-wife! Magnificent is your grand Queen's tutoring! Look what infinite education you've given your own flesh and blood, Snigdha! Didn't you always say your daughter is extremely smart while my daughter is a brainless bug? Ha! My daughter Prabha truly remained an absolute fool and donkey, because she is content sitting as queen of just one realm! And your daughter Snigdha has turned out to be supremely clever! You see, she inherited my exact hideous virtues!"
Hearing Sushila's words, Snigdha cracked her knuckles and snarled, "Shut up, you rotten prisoner! Don't babble absolute nonsense! I don't follow anyone else's virtues or intellect! I operate entirely on my own wisdom and supreme cunning intellect, understood?"
Queen Arohi now burst out in extreme humiliation and rage. Pointing her hand toward Sushila's bars, she roared, "Someone ought to grab you right now, Sushila, and smash both your legs with a couple of whip-blows! How dare you possess the audacity to say I am teaching my daughter wrong, hideous values? And with what face do you claim this Prabhasa as your own daughter today, you unchaste wretch? Prabhasa is my daughter! I raised Prabhasa, feeding her milk from my own breast; she is entirely my daughter!"
Resting her chin against the iron bars of the dungeon, Sushila narrowed her eyes. Her face filled with an ugly grin, Sushila said, "Good lord! Look at how wonderfully your deeply cherished child... your very own flesh and blood daughter is honoring you, Arohi! You are talking about Prabha's upbringing, while your own flesh and blood daughter Snigdha stands right here at the dungeon door, addressing her younger mother with disrespectful vulgarity! Earlier she used to show respect with polite forms of address, and today she calls you a 'devil witch', tearing the mask right off your so-called sacred tutoring! What a splendid education you have given, Arohi! I feel like bowing down to you a thousand times!"
Hearing such bitter taunts from Sushila, Prince Prafulla, standing nearby, could no longer hold his ground. Stepping forward to the front of Sushila's cell, he roared in a stern voice.
Prafulla said, "Mother Sushila! Shut your mouth right now! Snigdha has gone completely mad, blinded by arrogance and jealousy! She is speaking disrespectfully and hurling rubbish at elders, her mother, and father alike! I don't know which wire in her head has snapped! But me and Prabhasa have been raised as entirely honest, virtuous, and good people! Therefore, you cannot belittle our mother like this! You cannot say that our mother failed to give us a good upbringing! Stop speaking such trash and uncouth nonsense, or else do not forget that you are rotting here in this dark dungeon today as a prisoner, paying the price for your own wickedness and evil deeds!"
Hearing Prafulla's harsh words, Sushila rushed toward the door with a violent jerk and screamed, "Shut up, all of you! Just close your filthy mouths and get out of here! Get away from the front of my dungeon! Have you all come here to put on a drama? Acting like pure, chaste saints! Whenever the naked truth is spoken, it always blisters your skin and feels ugly to you, doesn't it?"
Hearing this hideous brawling and aggressive screaming from the royal family inside the prison, the evil tantrik standing nearby finally reached the end of his patience!
Lifting his splendid silk ghaghra slightly with both hands, the tantrik roared in a fierce voice, "Agh! Be quiet, all of you! What kind of manic screaming have you started here? Is this a circus or a movie running? Can't I even enjoy a little peace of mind and romance anywhere? I was having a sweet conversation with my supreme, handsome groom-guard here, and you lot came barging in and started yowling like rotten dogs! Go on... get out of here, every last one of you! Shoo!"
The moment the zamindar's son Jishnu heard that romantic tone from the tantrik's lips and his talk of 'romance' with the guard, he could no longer hold himself back!