Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Hampi, Royal Palace

The empress study room was in a very gloomy state. The empress was seated on the chair. The dark circles and the bloodshot eyes of the sleepless nights were evident. Since the war had started, she had no choice but to work overtime.

First was securing the border from incursions of the other powers in the region, like the Sultanates, Portuguese, and Dutch. Managing the palace alone wasn't enough; her mind was filled with many things of importance. Her son was fighting a life-or-death situation, and her daughter was the death's door from the assassin ambush a week or two ago.

The emperor, her husband, was also in a coma. She was bearing quite a lot of burden from people to quell the civil war. Any messages or negotiations sent to the Cochin nobles failed since they wanted an all-or-nothing situation.

Rani Jyothi Lakshmi, who had returned to Cochin to help her son, was also an issue as the only channel of negotiations in the Royal Palace was gone. All of this had taken a major toll on the Empress's mental health. She barely functioned with the help of the butler and other staff working overtime along with her.

The security in the Royal Palace was heightened, and the Army was stationed at the Borders for any incursion. Since the royal army wasn't involved in any faction, they could be moved around freely.

The royal army couldn't move to quell the civil war. The reason being that the commanders of the royal army refused, due to the army potentially splitting due to the difference in opinion of the commanders and soldiers, which was not a favorable situation for the Empire during this time.

Harsha not returning to the capital upon sending messages to Bidar was also a suspicious thing for the Empress.

'Did that boy also get tangled up in this mess and get killed?' she thought.

She knew that especially Bhairava, compared to her own son, wasn't soft when it came to the elimination of his immediate threats. In this situation, all the empress could do was powerlessly watch the war unfold, trying to make her son win by helping him however possible.

A man suddenly appeared in the room, startling the Empress. It was as if he had teleported into the room. The man was dressed in normal servant attire, but his face was covered from the mouth up till the nose. His distinct heterochormic eyes were gazing around the room.

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The distinct red symbol with a crown on it indicated that the person in front of the Empress was the leader of the Yamaduts, Rakhtasura.

He looked at the empress, his grin visible through the mask.

"Your Majesty. I have completed the mission." His voice was hoarse and deep.

The Empress jolted up like a stiff spring from her chair.

"Really? Who did it?"

"Calm down, Your Majesty. We have captured the perpetrator. We can meet them right now.

"Lead the way." Her bloodshot eyes trembling, and her fist clenched in fury.

Rakthasura led the Empress through the hallway to a chamber in the palace, where the perpetrator was being kept by Yamaduts. As they approached the chamber, the security was tight. There were many men walking around with weapons around the chamber.

The door was opened, and the Empress looked at the person in the room. Her expression turned into one of horror.

"You-"

Meanwhile, at the Portuguese camp in Daman, António de Castro, the general of the Daman base, General Barnabas, and the young vice general, David Costa, stood beside him.

The Portuguese were having a discussion about the current situation of the civil war ongoing in the Vijayanagara Empire. António was a staunch supporter of Alfonso, his nephew. He also lent his nephew cannons for the conquest of the throne.

General Barnabas called in António to discuss their course of action for the situation. The general didn't really get along with the arrogant and high-noble António de Castro. He had no choice but to schedule a meeting because he wasn't close to the third prince.

"Vossa Graça, so what will be done to support the third prince in this situation?"

António sipped his tea slowly, savoring the taste, before responding with a wry smile.

"What do you want to do? General Barnabas? Don't tell me you want to send mercenaries to the Empire."

"If it helps Senhor Alfonso, I will."

António lightly chuckled at the remark and put down his teacup on the wooden table.

"You don't have to worry about the support. Castro's have already sent the support months prior to this conflict."

"WHAT?" the general let out a gasp, arching his brows in confusion.

António began boasting of how he was able to send the latest cannons made by the Portuguese to his nephew using the port of Cochin discreetly. Almost 40 cannons were sent to the third prince.

"But Vossa Graça. We cannot do this."

"Silence, General. We can afford to do that; we are the Castro family. Who are you going to complain to?"

The general fell silent at the statement. He knew the power of the Castro family; he could not speak ill of them and just survive; it was not in his best interest to question their intention. He had no power to stop António.

'This dumb ass gave the latest technology away without a second thought to a potential enemy in the future. How can someone so dumb be in the Castro family?' He thought.

Unbeknownst to António, his shipment of cannons was in the hands of the second prince rather than being used by Alfonso. This decision of António would come back to bite him later on.

Meanwhile, at Anantapur in the Vijayanagara Empire,. The second battle was underway between the factions. The army from the Cochin faction, headed by Vijayarama Panicker, and from the imperials was the bodyguard of the first prince, Ram, leading an army raised up by the merchant union support of the first prince.