Although Anais didn’t study Kamar language as diligently as before with Hashim, they still met frequently to talk. For Anais, Hashim was the only pillar of support in her harem life.
On days when she was exhausted from spending the night with the Sultan and her body ached too much to go out to the garden, Hashim would still faithfully come to visit her each time.
That day, the harem was in an uproar with news that the former Padisha was gravely ill. The main topic of interest was who would become the next Padisha.
“What’s going on, Hashim? Why are you so excited?”
Hashim was strangely elated that day. In response to Anais’s question, he took her hands first and shook them vigorously.
Given Hashim’s tall stature, Anais found herself being swung around, but what he said next was exciting enough to justify such enthusiasm.
“I’ve found a way for you to get out! Anais!”
“What?”
Unable to believe what she was hearing, Anais instinctively shrank back. Hashim, not noticing her reaction, continued excitedly.
“I overheard the ministers talking. They say Karim Sultan will be the next Padisha.”
“I’m sorry, Hashim. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Wouldn’t the harem’s security become even stricter if the Sultan became Padisha?
“According to the law, foreigners cannot be kept in the Padisha’s harem. If we can prove that you’re a foreigner, you might be able to leave the harem.”
“Really…?”
Anais’s face, which had momentarily lit up with hope, soon darkened.
“How can I prove I’m a foreigner while I’m in the harem?”
“Well…”
Anais, in particular, had no way to contact anyone outside the harem. Hashim’s face also darkened along with Anais’s.
“It would be best if the Padisha himself released you, but there is another way, though it’s not easy.”
“There’s a way?”
“Yes…”
Hashim’s expression as he spoke was darker than Anais had ever seen before. It was clear that the method would be as difficult as his facial expression suggested.
“We can file a lawsuit against the Padisha in court.”
****
After that, Hashim and Anais worked hard to prepare for the trial. Thanks to Hashim being a legal scholar, the trial preparation was challenging but not impossible.
Additionally, Hashim taught Anais how to speak in court to win over the audience and helped her refine what she would say.
“Even the guardians find it difficult to ignore the audience’s reactions. It’s important that the mood in the courtroom flows in your favor.”
“Without you, Hashim, I couldn’t have prepared this well.”
Anais grasped Hashim’s hand tightly, filled with gratitude. Hashim’s handsome face turned red.
“In Kamar, men and women who aren’t family or married don’t hold hands, Anais.”
“Sorry.”
Anais, her face also turning red like Hashim’s, let go of his hand in surprise. Hashim awkwardly scratched his cheek.
“Still, I’m really glad you’re here, Hashim. I wouldn’t have even known such a law existed, and I wouldn’t have known the Kamar language either.”
“I’m the one who’s glad to be of help. Oh, and this…”
Hashim handed Anais a small letter. It wasn’t the commonly used scroll in Kamar, but an Irene-style letter sealed with wax in an envelope.
Anais knew the wax seal’s pattern very well.
“This, this is…”
“It’s a letter from your father. He’s been looking for you all this time.”
“Oh my…!”
How could she forget the family crest? What Hashim handed her was indeed a letter from her father, Alexander. Anais carefully opened the letter. Alexander’s handwriting, neat yet powerful, trembled slightly in places.
[To my beloved daughter Anais,
To think that I can reach out to you like this.
I don’t know how to express this overwhelming feeling. Your brother Johan and I have searched every desert in Kamar looking for you. But we couldn’t find any trace of you.
And now to learn where you are. I must thank God for this miracle.
I want to hold you in my arms again soon.
I love you, my daughter.]
“Father….”
Tears flowed from Anais’s eyes. She wanted to go home and be embraced by her father. Even though she always detested her brother Johan for his annoying remarks, she felt that if she met him again, she could shower his cheeks with kisses.
Hashim patted Anais’s shoulder comfortingly.
“The complaint is prepared too, so we’re almost there now.”
“Thank you, really thank you, Hashim.”
Even as she said this, tears continued to fall from Anais’s eyes. Perhaps wanting to stop those tears somehow, Hashim said something silly.
“If you keep crying like that, you might forget to submit the complaint at the temple on the next prayer day.”
“How could I forget that?”
Understanding Hashim’s intentions, Anais smiled slightly at his words. She could see the end of the long, dark tunnel.
****
“As someone who serves the Padisha, I had no choice but to act, as the Padisha was made to break the law because of me.”
“I understand your intention well. It makes sense that you’re a foreigner and that you filed the complaint for the Padisha’s sake.”
Although the desired words came from the guardian’s mouth, Anais remained tense until the very end. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead.
“Then let me ask you this. Have you never seen the Padisha’s face?”
The guardian asked, as if sighing. Anais’s face was colored with undisguisable joy. This was the final procedure. For a woman of the harem to be freed from the harem.
“According to the rules, women of the harem cannot see the Sultan’s face unless they are official wives. I always served the Padisha with my eyes covered.”
If she had seen the Sultan’s face, she wouldn’t have been able to leave the harem. The three guardians nodded at Anais’s answer. It’s done. It’s done. Anais wanted to run out and shout right away. But then one of the guardians pointed at someone and said,
“Do you know that person?”
“That person is…”
Anais flinched for a moment as she confirmed where the guardian was pointing.
“He is…”
“It seems you know who he is.”
The crowd froze at those words. The one who spoke was the Padisha, who had been strangely silent until now. Anais looked at the man the guardian had pointed to, Hashim. Seeing Anais’s anxious eyes, Hashim nodded to reassure her.
Anais took a deep breath and said,
“He, he is Hashim, a legal scholar.”
“Wrong.”
With those words, the curtain surrounding the Padisha was lifted. Anais instinctively squeezed her eyes shut. The Padisha passed by Anais and approached Hashim.
“I bow before the Padisha.”
The Padisha knelt. As the Padisha knelt, everyone in the courtroom followed suit and prostrated themselves.
The only ones left standing were Hashim and Anais.
“No, it can’t be, it can’t be…”
Hashim’s face was one Anais had never seen before. The gentle and kind smile was gone, replaced by a cold and intense expression. Anais repeated the same words like a broken machine. Hashim slowly approached and embraced Anais’s waist. It was a chillingly familiar arm.
“You… deceived me?”
Anais forced herself to steady her trembling voice. The man who had been sitting behind the curtain until just now, disguised as the Padisha, raised his voice to her.
“Show respect before the Padisha!”
“That’s enough.”
Hashim, no, Karim, raised his hand to stop them. Then, as if handling something precious, he caressed Anais’s face.
“In the harem, only the Haseki Sultan can see the Padisha’s face. This is the law set by the goddess Kamar when Kamar was created. It’s above the law set by the Padisha.”
His hand, which had only felt warm when it occasionally touched her before, now just gave her goosebumps.
“You will become the new Haseki Sultan.”
****
And soon after, a grand wedding ceremony was held for the new Padisha and his consort, the Haseki Sultan.
There were those who opposed a foreigner becoming empress, but the story of the Padisha loving her enough to show his face to her quelled people’s resistance.
More than the Padisha, people were hushing it up because they didn’t know what punishment they might face for breaking the law set by the goddess Kamar. But on the surface, it became a beautiful story of all the people being moved by a fairytale-like love story.
“What a beautiful story, isn’t it?”
“Coward…”
In the room prepared for the newlyweds’ first night, Karim smiled as he embraced Anais. It was a seductive smile.
Anais panted under him, even as tears fell from her eyes. Her white body was covered in marks left by Karim.
“Coward, you say? I wish you knew how much I wanted you.”
“Ahh…!”
Anais’s upper body fell forward at Karim’s thrust. Even so, Anais’s waist was rotating to keep Karim’s manhood from slipping out. Karim felt a stiffness in the back of his neck as he watched his dark red manhood going in and out between the round, white buttocks that extended from her slim waist.
“With a body so perfectly fitted to me, you were going to go to another man?”
“No, ah, aah, ah!”
Karim turned Anais’s body around. Her emerald eyes, heated with passion, were shining transparently. It was what Karim had been longing to see all this time.
“Such pretty eyes, Anais.”
“Pretending to be Hashim, hic, deceiving me…”
The trial had ultimately been a farce for Karim’s benefit. How much must he have enjoyed deceiving Anais for a whole year for this farce?
“It was the only way to keep you by my side.”
Saying this, Karim continued to push into Anais. Anais kept crying from pleasure but couldn’t push Karim away.
“Ahhh!”
Anais reached climax first, her insides trembling and squeezing Karim’s manhood. Anais seemed to have fainted right then. It was understandable, as this was their third lovemaking since entering the room for their first night.
Karim twirled Anais’s platinum blonde hair, sprawled on the bed, around his finger.
He couldn’t forget the day he first saw Anais in Amani.
She looked as beautiful as if Kamar, the goddess of the night, had descended to this world.
Anais resented Karim for deceiving her, but if he hadn’t done so, Anais would have eventually escaped from the Padisha’s harem. Karim was quite surprised when Anais made plans to escape the harem.
Not only was she capable, but if Karim hadn’t known in advance and appeared, she would have already escaped the harem.
That’s why he felt more anxious.
He had to make a perfect plan that would make her let her guard down.
So that this beautiful moon couldn’t escape anywhere.
“Kamar made it so that other concubines couldn’t see the Padisha’s face.”
In the past, he couldn’t understand Kamar’s demand. But now, he fully empathized with her feelings. That blood was definitely flowing in Karim as well.
“I’ll build a very comfortable and beautiful palace just for you, my Haseki.”
A palace from which she could never escape.
~Fin~
