Chapter 31 : duryadhan
I came out of my tent and saw that it had become completely dark. Torches were lit at regular intervals along the palace walls, leaving no trace of darkness anywhere. The place was filled with light.
"Where is it, where is it?"
I started looking around the garden, searching for the place where food was being served.
But I couldn't find it, so I started moving forward.
I was walking along a stone-paved path, and after going some distance like this, I noticed a boy a little ahead of me, who looked to be around eighteen years old, walking in another direction.
I went up to him and stopped him. "Hey brother, you're also a charioteer, right? Can you tell me where dinner will be served tonight?"
I recognized him as a charioteer and asked my question.
The boy turned back and said, "I'm heading there to eat now. Not far from here, a feast has been arranged for the charioteers."
After saying this, he started moving forward again.
Knowing this, I began following him, sometimes veering to the right, sometimes to the left. After about ten minutes, I reached a place.
Here, on the grass field, mats were spread out on both sides. Some charioteers were sitting on them, and near them was a piece of banana leaf on which several maids were serving food, one by one.
The 18-year-old boy in front of me sat down on a mat and brought a piece of banana leaf, placing it in front of him.
I also sat on a mat like him and brought a piece of banana leaf as well.
A maid came to me and gave me a glass filled with water, then another maid came and gave me some sweets.
"Let's start eating."
I first picked up a laddu and took a bite—it was very delicious. Enjoying it, I finished all the sweets.
After that, rice was served, followed by lentils, and then some other items were given, which I ate in the same way.
A few minutes later, I finished my meal, picked up my banana leaf, and threw it into a nearby trash bin.
Next to me, there was a pot filled with water, and inside it was an earthen kalash.
I poured water from the pot, took out the kalash, and washed my hands with it.
After all this, I felt that staying here had no purpose, so I decided to leave.
I kept walking and decided to take a stroll in the garden.
Since I might not get another chance to come here, I started wandering around the garden, looking at everything and observing what was going on.
While wandering around, I reached a place where many weapons were kept, and a large number of targets were set up for aiming practice.
The ground below was raised with soil, giving it a training ground look.
I muttered to myself, "So this is why I came here."
Since it was nighttime, no one was in the field, so it was empty. The fact that these weapons were kept out in the open spoke volumes about their confidence.
This was inside the royal palace, who would be brave enough to come in and steal them?
Hmm, there's no one here, so why not go and try using the weapons? There's no one around, so I can practice using weapons like this for the first time, I thought.
I stepped into the field. Out of all the weapons here, I chose the bow, and to use any other weapon, I would need some kind of support or stand. That's why the bow was the best option.
I held the bow in my right hand and placed an arrow with my left hand.
Then I fitted the arrow on the bowstring, aimed at the target, focused on it, pulled the arrow back, and released it.
Suu!
With a whistling sound, the arrow flew straight and hit the center of the target.
Oh, the first perfect shot!
After saying this, I went to the target to examine the arrow.
I realized that my aim was accurate, but the arrow didn't go very deep, which made me understand that the aim was fine, but my arrow had no power.
Without anyone's guidance, it's very difficult to be perfect in archery, so I would need to learn from someone for proper training.
Now I realized my biggest mistake.
After realizing this, I was about to leave from here.
"Who's here?"
Duryodhan, who was strolling in the garden, heard some noise coming from the training ground, so he came here. Then he picked up a club and, shouting, came from behind me to strike me on the back.
As soon as I heard someone shouting from behind me, I was about to turn back instinctively.
But the mace had already come very close to my back, and in that moment I couldn't activate my physical power.
Slowly, a golden armor began to appear around me, and within moments it completely covered my back and upper body.
This sudden change left Duryodhan stunned; he didn't even have time to stop himself.
The armor and the mace collided, producing a thunderous, ear‑splitting sound.
I didn't move an inch from my spot, but Duryodhan, along with his mace, was flung straight into the wall.
Because of the collision with the wall, Duryodhan let out a scream of pain. He didn't suffer any internal injury, but the pain made him cry out for a while.
Oh, thanks to my armor, I wasn't hurt at all, and I almost forgot that I even had an armor.
The armor seemed to be made entirely of gold, with an engraving of the sun on the front side, shining brightly in the light.
This was the first time my armor had ever activated.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in my training ground? And what kind of strange armor is this?" Duryodhan asked, groaning in pain.
I approached him and realized that this was Prince Duryodhan, the same one I had seen in the competition.
I thought it was only right to apologize, because if the misunderstanding got any bigger, staying in Hastinapur would become difficult for me, and in the future, Duryodhan could even become my good friend if I handled things properly.
Prince Duryodhan, forgive me, I came here by mistake and caused you harm because of me. I apologized.
"Oh, you're the charioteer of those two princesses, aren't you?" Duryodhan recognized me, and for a moment, his pained expression vanished, and he looked at me with favor.
"You're very lucky, becoming the charioteer of two beautiful princesses. I'm glad about this, seeing Arjun look at you with jealous eyes."
I saw the expression on his face he is my enemy, and my enemy burns with jealousy because of you, so you have become my friend. Duryodhan looked at me with an admiring gaze.
Seeing this sudden change in Duryodhan, I was astonished.
I began to think that such a small incident could awaken so much anger toward his cousin. I realized that no one is inherently bad by birth; it is their circumstances that make them act poorly.
In reality, Duryodhan's name wasn't truly Duryodhan it was Suryadhan but people gave him the name Duryodhan.
Because when Duryodhan was born, Hastinapur was completely darkened; dark clouds gathered in the sky, and dark creatures cried out loudly.
Many astrologers had even declared that Duryodhan was inauspicious and would bring misfortune to the kingdom.
Up until now, Minister Vidur of the Hastinapur kingdom had already said that Duryodhan would bring disaster to Hastinapur and had even suggested killing him.
In my mind, this Minister Vidur was acting rashly recommending the killing of a newborn child who had done nothing wrong.
This was actually one of the main causes that eventually led to the great Mahabharata war, because predicting danger based on the unseen future is always uncertain.
Somehow, the news of Duryodhan being inauspicious had been pacified by the king and queen, but no one could ever read people's hearts.
In the hearts of the people, it was fixed that Duryodhan was inauspicious; therefore, they kept their distance from him and never considered him innocent.
If Duryodhan ever did something good, they would never notice it, and if he made a mistake unknowingly, they would exaggerate it to make it seem as if he had committed a sin.
Wasn't Duryodhan's fate already decided by others, with the mark of being "inauspicious" placed on him from birth?
I admit that when Duryodhan was born, many inauspicious events occurred and darkness spread.
But we cannot call darkness inauspicious by itself. It is not always true that darkness is bad and light is always good—there is no guarantee of that.
If one day light itself does something evil, then it should be accepted that light can be worse than darkness.
Darkness never claims that what it does is good. But when light does something bad, it will surely claim that whatever it is doing is for everyone's good.
To be continued...