Chapter 1
She smelled like sunshine. She can’t remember how long it’s been since she last smelled it. She liked the whiff of it emanating from the soft pillow. Her body felt stiff as if she’d been beaten all over. When she stretched out her hand to pull the blanket up, she felt a sharp pain. She felt wide awake in an instant.
The first thing Saye saw after she opened her eyes was the ray of light which illuminated the bed warmly.
Saye’s room was in the farthest corner of the harem, where the sunlight can’t reach. This wasn’t her room as it was ten times bigger than hers. She looked around but she was alone.
“Ugh…”
She felt another sharp pain from her palm. When she looked down, she saw that both her hands were wrapped in bandages.
She tried to recall what happened last night. After she vomited on Prince Kainer’s shoulder, she lost consciousness. That was her last memory.
What happened after that and why the harem which was usually noisy at this time was deathly quiet, she didn’t know.
A little bird was singing on the railing. Because of that, she broke out of her reverie and stood up.
When she stepped on the cushy carpet, she felt a piercing pain from her right sole. As a matter of fact, there was no part of her body that did not ache – her shoulders, both her feet – she was sore all over. Then, she remembered how the Sultan desired her …
Last night was like a nightmare.
She opened the door and went outside, but there was no one there. The place which was usually full of dressed-up women laughing was now empty.
Saye was alone.
She stood still and looked around the spacious bedroom with regret in her eyes. To be precise, she felt wistful about being in the warm sunlight.
“Bye,” she whispered to the bird on the railing as she closed the door.
As she got accustomed to the pain in her body, she felt hunger. Usually, she’d forage for leftovers in the sitting room at night.
She went to the sitting room but there was no person or food there. Clutching her stomach, she headed to her room.
Opening the ancient door, she saw the familiar dark void waiting for her.
It was the only place that let her sink into the comfortable darkness. She hadn’t used the bed in a long time.
The bed felt cold and she was frightened because it seemed she into the dark too well. She scampered to the corner of the room and curled up.
“I don’t want to open my eyes again,” she prayed everyday.
She closed her eyes and wished to fall asleep and never wake up. If she couldn’t escape from this place, she’d rather die instead.
⧫⧫⧫
Kainer’s gaze was as sharp as a blade. In his chilled glance, the servants fell flat on the floor and begged for his forgiveness.
“W-We were just gone for a bit, but – ”
“You mean to say you left this room together?”
Three days had passed. Since she’d been unconscious all that time, the four maids who were watching her left to get a light snack. When they returned, the room was empty. Before the Sultan found out, they searched for Saye but he’d arrived before they could find her.
“Y-Your highness…”
“Behead all of them.”
The maids begged before those merciless words came out from his lips.
“Please, please give us mercy once more! Sultan!”
“We will find her. We will find her and…”
“I will find her by myself, just pay your sins with death.”
Leaving those ominous words behind, Kainer turned around. The guards on his side pulled the howling maids out of the harem.
“Hassan.”
“Yes, Sultan.”
Kainer’s friend that was always beside him, Hassan, the commander of the guards, knelt and waited for his command.
“If no one came out of the Harem, that means she’s still here. Find her.”
“Yes.”
As they speak, his men were combing through the Harem which had about 150 rooms in it.
“Is the person in charge of Harem not here yet?”
It had been three days since Kainer became the Sultan. Everytime a new Sultan ascends, all the chiefs in charge of various departments get replaced.
As soon as he got wind of Saye’s disappearance, he ordered the person in charge of the Harem who was in the underground jail to be brought to him.
“He’s here, Your Highness!” said the servant who hurriedly knelt down.
“I have a question.”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Where is the room that Saye used?”
The kneeling servant fervently tried to remember who Saye was. The Sultan ordered the guard to call him, the person in charge of the Harem, to find a woman. It seemed like the new Sultan was interested in someone in the Harem. It was not unheard of for a son to take his father’s woman.
The servant that knelt down in the flowers tried to remember who Saye. It’s no fault for a son to take his father’s woman. The sultan ordered the guard to call him, who was in charge of the harem, to find a woman. It seemed there’s a woman that he liked.
She saw the possibility to save her life. She thought about each and every woman who was loved by the Sultan, but she didn’t remember the girl named Saye. and Harem was also rather quiet in her view.
“Do I need to cut one of your hands to help you remember?”
Kainer spat out irritably.
“N-No Sultan. I remembered now!”
Only then did he remember. A girl who is always veiled to the tips of her head, and no one can tell where she is hiding during the day. He has seen her sneak out at night and eat some leftover food a few times.
“T-The room in the north, the room in the far north.”
He praised himself in the heart after remembering that and hastily answered to the Sultan. Passing the servant Kainer headed to the room in the far north.
After he reached the far corner of the room after passing by so damn many rooms, the handle of the old door caught his eye. Slowly, he opened the door, which was covered in darkness and made it hard for him to tell what was inside the room.
“We will bring the candle, Your Highness.”
Before he knew it, Hassan, who was approaching Kainer, was about to order the servant, but Kainer raised one hand to stop him. He opened the door wide and the light from outside came into the palm-sized room. Kainer slowly approaches the old bed in the middle of the room. He looked down at the bed full of dust, revealing it’s been a long time since someone used the bed.
“She is not her. Let’s find it in another place…..”
It’s not a place for a human to live in. A place without even a single ray of light like this does not suit her. As soon as he was about to turn his steps from the room that smelled old and musty, Kainer’s gaze caught the corner of the room.
A small body that crouched like a sleeping doll.
“Your highness, I will do it.”
Hasan meddles when Kainer wanted to carefully hug and lift the doll.
“Shhh. Can’t you see she is sleeping?”
Hassan quickly stepped back because of Sultan’s attitude, as if he was worried that the girl in his arm would wake up.
“Uhm…..”
When Kainer came out of the room with Saye, she opened her eyes with a light groan when the sun touched her face, revealing her dark gray eyes through her sparkling silver eyelashes. For a moment, Kainer swallowed a smile as she looked at him with a pale face as if she didn’t understand the situation.
“…… Your Highness, the Imperial Prince?”
“Now, I am an Emperor.”
He corrected Saye’s words and opened the door to the room where she was supposed to be. Then he put Saye down on the bed and knelt before her.
“Your highness, how can-!”
“Everyone get out from here and close the door.”
People who were confused by Kainer’s behavior soon left the room after being driven out by Hassan. Saye grabbed the blanket and pulled it all the way to her neck, looking at the tightly closed door.
“Why did you kneel…..”
“This way I can be on the same level as your vision.”
As if it were natural, Kainer leaned a little more towards Saye and faced her.
“Your highness…….”
At that moment, Kainer frowned. Feeling as if she had made some mistake, Saye looked down, avoiding Kainer’s eyes.
“The wound that almost healed broke open again.”
She held the blanket so tightly that the wound opened and the tip of the blanked was dyed red. Only when Kainer pointed at the bandage that was wet with blood, she realized it.
“Ah……..”
“Now you feel the pain?”
She didn’t understand. Why is the Kainer in front of her treating her so well? Why does he talk so sweetly towards her?
“Hassan!”
When Kainer shouted to the outside of the door, Hassan, who was waiting in front of the door, came in.
“Bring me some clean cloth.”
Hassan, who received the order while he saw the Sultan grab Saye’s hand and was opening the red-dyed cloth, answered.
“I will call the healer.”
“Just bring me some clean cloth. I will do it.”
Hassan’s face hardened. He is no longer the prince. He is the emperor who rules this empire. Such a person took care of a girl’s wound by his hand. But Hassan quietly retreated. He returned soon and handed the white cloth to Kainer.
“Does it hurt?”
“Not at all.”
Saye shakes her head while answering. Now, she didn’t feel any pain. Kainer, who took the blood-stained cloth himself and wrapped the wound with a clean cloth, never let Saye’s hand go when she tried to get her hand out of his hand.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Saye asked, without further thought. She would die anyway. Whether she died days ago or now, her death will not change. She didn’t know what or why Kainer chose to keep her alive, but everything was just too much and she was tired.
“I’m not sure.”
He is looking at her, gently bending his black eyes.
When she realized that he was smiling, Saye turned her head away, no longer facing his gaze.
Her heart thumped like crazy. Everyone in this harem knows about this handsome prince. A son that resembles a lot with the Sultan. Some said that he would be the next sultan because of his nature that resembles the Sultan. However, on the other hand, he reversed the principle of succession and said there was no chance that he would become a sultan.
When she saw the rumored prince in the library, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. It was only then could she understand the meaning of the word “ a man who makes a woman’s heart beat fast.”
As much as she wanted to reach out her hand and see sides of him that had never seen before………. If the black eyes that she stared at seriously on the book looked at her……. She was once thinking of such thoughts.
Like now.
“If I hold you, wouldn’t I be able to answer your question?”
Kainer grabbed Saye’s chin, turned his head, faced her, and said that. Saye smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
He was Sultan. There’s nothing that he wanted that can’t be realized in his Empire.
Again, she would have to lie with her legs spread out on the bed and wait for the long night to pass. What will happen to her after that night? Could she get out of here like any other woman who’s already out of the harem?
“What is the meaning of that smile?”
“As you wish, Sultan.”
Saye bowed her head gently.
Kainer looked down at the girl who said she would hold him. Kainer can’t guess what she’s thinking in her little head. Kainer slowly raised his hand and stroked her silver hair.
“…… Your Highness?”
“It’s soft.”
The silver hair runs down between his fingers.
He rose to the bed. Instinctively, Saye curled up and closed her eyes tightly. The sun had just set. The moment she was ready for the long night, she was dragged into his arm.
“Let’s just rest for today.”
“Pardon?”
“The last three days have been tough for me, too. Even for one night, we need to rest, right?”
His neck is in front of her eyes. The tanned, milky skin moved dynamically whenever he breathed. Saye swallowed her dry saliva. With the nervous Saye in his arm, he put his lips down on her forehead. Feeling the warm sensation in her forehead, Saye exhaled a little bit of her breath that she had held back.
A little later, the sound of even breathing spread through the room. Saye, who was rigidly held in his arm, looked up at Kainer, who was asleep.
………Why didn’t he hold her?
***