The news of people looking to rebel had reached the Queen. She was very intelligent and ruthless. She assassinated the minister who was responsible for getting Vaidehi out from the brothel. She then publicly announced that indeed the new princess had returned to the kingdom. She had lies announced all around the kingdom to the people how the prince always wanted to be a girl and had run away to become one. She even told she had pardoned the princess and requested Vaidehi to come back to the palace where she would be welcomed back wholeheartedly. The announcements worked like a charm and Vaidehi began to lose support as people began to ask her to return to the palace if she desired the throne and fight for it with diplomacy rather than bloodshed as majority people supporting her were commoners not soldiers.
Vaidehi finally returned to the palace where she was given a royal welcome in front of the public. She was named princess of the kingdom (not a prince) and given a seat in the royal court. She only had the position but not the power that came with it. All the ministers had been changed over time. All those loyal to the old king had been removed while those loyal to the queen had been given the positions. That was one of the reasons not much was asked about the lost prince. The queen still took all the decisions of the crown while Princess Vaidehi was just supposed to sit there and watch. She was not allowed to speak by the queen.
The queen had given the princess Vaidehi a room in the palace but it was the smallest one and more like a old storage room. She did not have any maids working for her unlike the queen who had plenty of them. Nobody in the palace dared to talk to Vaidehi as they feared the queen who had instructed nobody to talk to the princess as she still feared about a mutiny. The princess was asked to get her portraits done to be sent all over the country to possible suitors. This was the reason she was named as a princess not a prince. The queen planned to marry her off to another kingdom. This way Queen would continue to have the crown while the people would no longer care for the princess as she would be married away. The Queen had hit two targets with a single arrow.
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