Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

A civil war was becoming imminent as the Emperor lay down in a coma. The emperor was the glue that held the factions together, vying for control of the throne. Krishnadeva Raya's influence was a major factor in the empire's prosperity and influence on the subcontinent.

When the young emperor had taken the throne. Vijayanagara Empire was simply a declining empire being eaten by its neighbors, Hoysala and Bahmani sultanates. Krishnadeva Raya, to protect his empire, fought several wars against them.

He eventually made the Empire from a declining empire to a rising empire and annexed all of Bahmani and Hoysala, also getting the kingdom of Cochin, effectively tripling his empire's land in a mere span of well over two decades of his reign.

Although the Krishnadeva Raya reign had a major flaw, which was the number of concubines he took,. He had three concubines apart from the Empress, resulting in the inevitable split of power in the throne's race.

This flaw would be catastrophic if two candidates for the throne were equally matched and refused to cede their right to the throne; that was what had happened. Chandra's faction, with a handful of wealthy merchants, and Bhairava's faction, along with Alfonso, were quite equally matched.

Bhairava had returned to Cochin, planning on the way. He had already informed Arjun, his trusted aide.

"Take care of the task right now. That would be the spark that ignites the Empire."

"Yes, Your Highness. We were waiting for your orders."

Arjun glanced up nervously and added.

"It seems the assassin sent after the youngest failed; we couldn't find the body of the youngest at the ambush point. The current prince is a disguise set up by Rahul Shetty and is indefinitely staying at Bidar."

"So he has grown stronger; just search for him."

'The throne is mine and mine alone. Just you bastards, wait.'

"Also, your highness. We have received reports of preparations being almost finished. We can proceed with it in two days."

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"That's great. Begin," Bhairava commanded.

Meanwhile, at the palace, the nobles supporting the first prince were gathered for a meeting about the current situation. Bhairava had already left for Cochin.

"Your Highness. We have been preparing for the worst possible scenario," said Govinda Rao with a frustrated expression.

"The weapons have been procured from the merchants with connections in the sultanates at cheap prices," added Gopala Shastri.

"We will not be engaging first. I do not wish for a war between us. We will move if he makes his move first."

"But taking precautions is good. Also, where is Harsha? Is he not returning from Bidar yet?"

Neelakanta, putting down a report on the table, said.

"Our spies in Bidar said that the prince is holed up in the inn in Bidar, and no one has seen him since he has reached the town."

"Quite odd. He was training with no end daily for the past year. He can't just go and hole up in a room. Something must have happened."

"Like what? Your Highness."

"Harsha is dead, and the one in the bidar is the decoy."

The nobles let out a collective gasp at the preposterous statement mentioned by the first prince.

Anand Jadhav narrowed his eyes in curiosity.

"Umm. Your Highness. But how can you be so sure? He isn't just being lazy. We all know his past behavior."

"Don't be delusional, Lord Anand. Harsha has just trained and read books for the past few months. Habits, once made, are not easy to let go of. Everyone in the palace knows how obsessed he is with training."

"But still, Your Highness."

"He took his training equipment to Bidar. If he had been training even one day since he had reached Bidar, our spies would have noticed."

Chandra skimmed through the report while talking to Anand Jadhav.

"This is a grave issue."

"What do we do, Your Highness? We should take initiative soon."

"Don't worry, Lord Govinda, I have a Trump card for the throne."

"That is?"

Chandra lightly chuckled for a moment.

"You will get to know it soon."

Raghav Reddy, who had been sitting silent the whole meeting, glanced up with his disheveled hair falling onto his sleepless and exhausted face. He was in quite a pinch; unbeknownst to him, Raghav had fallen into a trap, a debt trap.

"Where is Balaji gone? He has yet to come to the meeting."

"Lord Balaji is presumed to be here quite late, Lord Raghav."

"What happened to that old man?"

"He did inform us he would stop for a visit just on the outskirts of the capital for someone."

Govinda Rao looked over at Raghav.

"Why are you so curious about the old man?"

"It's none of your business, Govinda."

"Come on, something must be up for you to be in your current state."

"Nothing; I just didn't have enough sleep!. Shut your trap now!" Raghav spat with a furious look.

Raghav had borrowed money for a business from an independent merchant group. The business, which was going well, suddenly failed one day, and they first took some of his land, which was put in as collateral to pay the debt.

Raghav business had been slowing considerably. To pay some debts, he had to take out another loan from another lender. With the war closing in, he was left with little to no wealth to function.

He had no choice but to borrow more in the name of war from someone wealthy enough to throw wealth at everything; that person was Balaji Mudaliar.

Ram, the guard of the first prince, barged into the room suddenly, breathing heavily.

The prince looked over to the huffing guard.

"What happened? What is the meaning of this, Ram?"

"Your Highness, Lord Balaji has been assassinated on the outskirts of the capital."

"WHAT? HOW?"

"His entourage was wiped out. There were no traces of hiding, as if they were declaring openly. That they assassinated Balaji."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "THEY"?" Raghav's furious voice echoed through the chamber.

"The second prince has assassinated Lord Balaji. He has openly declared war on us."