Chapter 1

“Characters, events and some places in this novel are fictitious.

Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental”

The author.

They say that people living in countries and kingdoms around the kingdom of "Michor" had never seen such a huge dark smoke spreading out of its royal palace…

That smoke… when the Michorians saw it, they cried, they wailed, they lamented… But they knew that the queen who ruled them for only a week… was a legend…a legend who sacrificed herself and her life for her people… a legend who burned herself to protect her honor… And despite losing her, they were proud of having such a queen like her…

It’s the legend… of Rani (Queen) Sundarta…

***

In the beginning of the first half of the 18^th century, there was a strong kingdom in northern-India called Michor. A kingdom was situated between Rajputana (State of Rajasthan now) and Gujarat in the Indian subcontinent. And that’s why Michorian culture was a mixture of the Rajput and Gujarati ones. This kingdom was peaceful and away from the rule of Moguls and Marathas.

Among these Michorians, there was a Hindu woman, in her 20s, called Chandramukhi Singh. She was an Indian classic dance professor. She was a bit brunette, beautiful, medium eyes and full-lipped. Her name meant "Beautiful as moon" or "Her face is beautiful as moon."

Secretly, Chandramukhi had a migratory British friend called Ann Worthington. She was a traveler and was brown-haired and blue eyed.

They met each other accidentally in Michor few years ago when Ann was visiting the kingdom. She spent few days at Chandramukhi’s. And then, they’ve never seen each other.

One day, like 2 years later, someone knocked the door of Chandramukhi’s humble house at late night. She opened the door and she got surprised: Ann was the visitor, with a sleepy baby between her hands and another young British woman.

Singh welcomed her friend warmly after years of absence. And she gave her and her accompanying friend some food to eat, as they looked really hungry and exhausted.

After she finished eating and resting, Ann introduced that woman to Chandramukhi; she was Milady Cook, Ann’s maid. And then, she told her friend that she had to leave and she asked her to take care of her baby for 6 months – the duration of her absence. If she passed these months, Chandramukhi must adopt the baby, and to be officially hers. Besides, Milady will live with her to help her taking care of Samantha.

Ann added nothing. She gathered her belongings fast, said goodbye to Singh, to Milady and to her baby. Then, she left few minutes before the sunrise…

Milady was a pessimistic 20-aged woman. She was brown-haired, black-eyed and she had a specific beauty.

Completely confused, Chandramukhi just sat next to the baby, trying to understand every word Ann said. And when she did, she looked at the baby and studied her: she was brown-haired and brown-eyed, with a large smile and a bright skin like her mother’s. Chandramukhi loved her once she looked at her, and she promised her, Milady and herself that she would take care of her, until Ann would come, or forever…

6 months passed, there was no sign for Ann. Singh waited for another week, no vain.

Then, she finally decided to adopt the girl. And she named her "Sundarta", means “beauty” in Hindi…

***

Two years later, Chandramukhi got married to the young king of Michor, Krishna Bai (He was named after the Hindu God Krishna). And in Kingdom of Great Britain, the young king Edward III married princess Lilly Fredric, duchess of Richmond, a close friend of Ann. Which means; Chandramukhi became the Queen of Michor, and Milady became one of special maids in the castle and the closest to the royal couple.

When Chandramukhi told Krishna about Sundarta, the king announced then that the child was the new and only princess of Michor – because a huge war happened between the kingdom and Moguls which killed all the royal family but Krishna – and thus, Sundarta was called “The Adopted Princess”.

The latter learned from her adoptive mother and Milady a lot of things: classic dances like Kathak, many languages like British, Arabic, Hindi etc, and Hinduism…

While in Kingdom of Great Britain, King Edward III became the worst king that Great Britain had ever known; he was a true dictator, every single person in the kingdom hated him. He was very selfish and greedy that all what he dreamt of was collecting fortune, never caring about his responsibilities toward his own public. Things weren’t going well in Kingdom of Great Britain…

Besides, after about a year of marriage, Lilly gave birth to Prince George. But she died few minutes after George’s birth.

As her best friend and the godmother of the baby, Ann took the responsibility of taking care of George as her own son, and maybe also to replace her daughter with her godson. And so, Ann moved on to the royal palace (Kensington palace).

***

After more than 2 decades, Sundarta grew up and became the most beautiful, the smartest, the best dancer and wisest woman in Michor.

In another side, the Queen was still giving dance courses to odalisques in the palace.

Sometimes, The Adopted Princess was helping her father choosing the right decisions for the kingdom, and her mother teaching the women.

In Great Britain, George grew up also and became a charming and good prince who always was thinking about the best for his public. He had wide green eyes and an attractive smile. However, he was against his father in politics: Edward was still greedy and irresponsible which made the future of the British public going worse, and so his son was always asking him and “waking him up” to look after his public. And that was bothering Ed a lot…

However, the worst was that King Edward III was the owner of East India Company (EICo)…

***

Chapter 2

In 1600, the East India Company was officially founded. And since then, EICo became super powerful and wealthy in trade. And with wealth, comes power.

Ed began already sending his son George, as a representative of Great Britain, to convince kings of multiple kingdoms in India to sign commercial contracts; building factories and trade centers and in return, the Indian king would obtain goods and rarities of the European market, such as silver…

***

In December, and at the end of the first half of the 18^th century, George came back to London after trading with one of the Indian kingdoms.

Once he arrived in the morning of a cold day, he went to Kensington Palace.

Edward was an old man, in his sixties. He was dark brown-eyed, “aggressive” and ugly-faced. His eyes were lit with hatred and greediness…

The prince went to the throne room. He found his father busy dealing with some papers with his personal over-loyal bodyguard Leroy. The latter was a tall large muscled bald man in his 50s. No one had ever seen him smiling…

To attract his attention, George stood in front of Edward, and greeted him:

"Good morning, dear father".

"Good morning, George." The father answered, smiling at his son and then coming back to his papers.

"I already finished signing contracts with the last kingdom, father. The king is so happy to collaborate with us." George announced proudly.

"Well done, my son." The father approved, but still indifferent.

"But father, why are we exchanging our merchandise with India while our public needs them more?" The prince questioned.

Ed suddenly stopped the business with his guard, stood up, and walked until he stopped in front of his son. He kept silent for a while then he answered him with his “evil” voice:

"First, Europe is selling horrible and expensive spices, while we can conquer them by buying perfect and cheap spices from “Spiceland”; India, and then selling them around the world, we’ll become rich! Second, mind your business, my son; you’re not ready yet to be the king of Great Britain."

"Yes, father…" George sadly replied.

The latter smiled at his son. Then he walked few steps toward his throne, stopped, and announced: