Aditya folded his hands humbly and said, "Yes, yes, of course, Your Majesty! Please commence your royal ceremony! We are all waiting with bated breath to behold the face of that great personality."
Looking at Prafulla and Arohi with deep satisfaction, the Emperor walked toward the stage. Approaching the beautifully decorated platform, he was just about to reach out his hand to draw aside the golden curtain—when suddenly, Snigdha lunged onto the stage like a rabid tigress!
Without a second thought, she forcefully snatched and shoved the Emperor's hand away!
Screeching at the top of her lungs, Snigdha yelled, "Emperor! Have you gone completely mad? Didn't I warn you repeatedly? I will announce my groom and my proposal first, and only then will you display the face of your useless minister! Now move out of the way!"
Saying this, Snigdha acted like a woman possessed, using both her hands to deal a massive, violent shove to the elderly Emperor!
The Emperor was standing near the edge of Rupnagar's elevated royal platform. Caught completely off guard by Snigdha's sudden and violent push, he lost his footing and plunged straight down from the high stage, crashing hard onto the stone floor of the court!
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"—within a split second, gasps of horror and cries of outrage echoed across the entire royal assembly!
The villagers and common subjects rushed forward in violent outrage. King Aditya, Empress Arohi, Prafulla, and Prabhasa—all rushed in absolute terror, carefully taking the fallen Emperor by his arms to help him stand up from the floor.
Deeply anxious and frantic, Aditya asked, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, are you alright? You aren't severely injured, are you?"
Though groaning in pain, the Emperor composed himself. Dusting off his royal robes, he stood tall and let out a strangely sad, knowing laugh.
Looking at King Aditya and Arohi, the Emperor said, "Yes Aditya, I am fine. But truth be told... I am utterly astonished again and again by your daughter's antics! I simply cannot fathom how she could be born of your blood or be your child! Forgive me—as a dear friend, I perhaps shouldn't say such things, yet I am compelled to speak. As a father, it is a devastating blow to your honor that you could not raise your child properly! But that is the stark truth! Look at Snigdha's behavior... just to announce her marriage proposal, she shoves me down? Ugh! Is her arrogance so vast that she couldn't display a grain of patience? She is so frantically desperate to flaunt her insolence before I even show my Prime Minister's face! She has no idea what she is about to face today! Fine, since she insists on showing such obstinacy and pride, let her make her announcement first! I shall not take it to heart."
Seeing such magnanimity from the Emperor in the face of Snigdha's extreme insolence, Arohi hung her head in deep shame.
Tearfully, Arohi said in mortification, "Your Majesty, please do not feel aggrieved! I feel pure self-loathing for having borne and raised such a child! Painful as it is to admit, this is the truth—I cannot recognize this Snigdha today! My Snigdha was never like this, Your Majesty! Who knows what black venom has entered her mind! Where she learned such pride, malice, vulgarity, and utter disrespect—I cannot comprehend at all! But yes, until I left for my trade journey, the girl was fine. Yet bad company... truly, I have seen proof today of how vile a person can become through ill association! Never mind, Your Majesty, let her do what she wishes. I shall say nothing now; I will take ultimate measures once we return home to Junagarh!"
Waving her hand from afar, Snigdha mocked, "Hmph! What measures will you take after returning home, huh? You'll be leaving for trade again by today! It's better this way—I won't have to look at your cursed face anymore!"
Hearing this, Prafulla gnashed his teeth and snapped, "Shut up, Snigdha! Have some shame! What disgusting things are you saying to Mother? Go ahead, do all the vulgar and filthy things you want today!"
Wasting not a single moment longer, Snigdha forcefully dragged the cunning landlord's son Jishnu—who was standing like a shadow on the stage—to stand before the entire crowded court.
Swishing the hem of her silk gown, Snigdha began shouting with supreme arrogance, "Listen carefully, everyone! Look closely at this Jishnu! Look at this handsome man! What I am trying to tell you is that Prince Jishnu is extremely handsome and immensely wealthy..."
Before Snigdha could even finish her sentence, hundreds of subjects and villagers in the royal court erupted in furious condemnation!
Roaring in unison, they yelled, "We won't listen to any of your trash! You shoved our deeply revered Emperor! We will behold the face of our new Prime Minister first, and only then will we hear your nonsense!"
Hearing the subjects' outrage, Snigdha went completely wild with rage! Raising both her hands from the stage, she screamed, "I will slap every single one of you across the face! Have you all lost your minds? You have to listen to whatever I say! If that old Emperor could quietly agree, why shouldn't you low-caste common subjects agree? No matter how useless or trashy my words are, you are bound to open your ears and listen!"
Seeing the situation spiral out of control, the elderly Emperor raised a reassuring hand and spoke to the villagers, "My beloved subjects! Calm down. Listen to whatever proposal she wishes to utter. Immediately after that, I shall fulfill my grand auspicious duty."
Fuming with fury, the subjects grumbled, "Your Majesty! Why are you tolerating the words of this ill-mannered girl?"
The Emperor smiled softly and spoke in a mysterious tone, "Be calm, my people! Listen to what I say. The moment her announcement ends, you shall experience pure joy and witness an ultimate dramatic spectacle!"
Hearing the Emperor's words, Snigdha declared with supreme pride, "There! Finally that old King got some real sense into his head!"
Saying this, Snigdha gathered the skirt of her expensive dress in both hands. Then, with utter shamelessness, she began twirling and dancing around that devil Jishnu right in front of hundreds of people in the royal assembly!
All the invited guests, royal families from neighboring kingdoms, and common subjects present in the court began expressing absolute disgust at Snigdha's unrestrained vulgarity, shameless dance, and arrogance! Murmurs echoed from every direction—"Shame, shame, shame! What a shameless princess!", "She dragged the honor of the Junagarh lineage through the mud!"
Stopping her dance, Snigdha placed her hands on her hips, twisted her mouth, and barked, "No matter how much you utter shame, you have to open your eyes and watch the beauty and dance of this supreme princess! Now listen everyone, to my ultimate true announcement!"
Behind the curtain, Rupanjan sat waiting, while everyone on the balcony behind prepared silently for an unprecedented, historic storm!