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The Flames of Jealousy
271
Shridhama's joy knew no bounds. For the first time in her life, she had attained such success. She embraced Prabhavati. Her joy knew no bounds.
“We have achieved our objective. Our plan has succeeded'.'
"True. How plain-hearted Sita is !” said Prabhavati expressing her feelings.
"We played our dice intelligently and so we succeeded." Ratinibha said artfully.
"Now, we should play our dice against our lord together and then our lord's love for Sita will turn into hatred and abhorrence.”
"Shridhama! You are absolutely right”, said Prabhavati expressing her reaction.
Then having spent sometime in the discussion of the plan, they together met Shri Ram when he was alone.
"We desire to speak to you dear lord !”
"You are most welcome to say what you want to say. I am all ears."
“What we are going to say is a truth.” "But when did I say that your words are not true ?”
"Then it is all right. But it is certain that you have no love or affection for us.”
"No. No. You are wrong. I love you all greatly but how can I prove it to you ?”
"Dear lord ! It may be that you do not love us and it may be that we do not deserve your love but this is certain. You are the lord of our lives. You are the pillar of all our joys and hopes. We love you though you may not love us. We cannot bear to see something unpleasant happening to you. When we see you derived and beguiled, we feel extremely distressed.” At once Shridhama shed tears pretending to be sad. She pretended that her voice was choked and that she could say nothing more.
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