RXN 16

Chapter 16

Besides, in one way or another, Aisha was Aslan’s first love and the highest-ranking woman among the consorts. She was a long-established member of the harem who could not even be compared to Roxanne, who had suddenly appeared from nowhere. But Roxanne had no intention of being frightened and backing down either. She had nothing more to lose anyway, so she was not afraid.

“Ruby is my birthstone…”

Roxanne muttered to herself with an innocent face, pretending that she knew nothing, but her actions were carefully calculated.

“Your birthstone?”

“Yes, because I was born in summer. Come to think of it, I had forgotten, but my birthday is only a few days away. Every year, I used to happily spend my birthday with my family, but I suppose I can never do that again.”

Roxanne’s eyes looked sad as she thought about the days she could never return to. She looked at him with her moist eyes and eventually began to shed tears. Aslan wiped away the tears running down Roxanne’s pale cheeks and pulled her into his arms. When Roxanne wrapped both arms around his neck and clung to him as if she had been waiting for this, Aslan gently kissed both her cheeks and lips, as though comforting a child.

The gentle kisses of comfort soon became filled with desire, and the two of them quickly grew passionate.

“No jewel is as beautiful as you.”

Aslan murmured while holding Roxanne carefully, as though she were a beautiful piece of porcelain, and then kissed her. Roxanne slipped both hands into Aslan’s hair and whispered.

“Please become my family. And promise me that you will always stay by my side.”

“Yes, I promise.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then give me that ruby as a sign of this promise.”

“If you want it.”

Aslan, who was lost in enjoying Roxanne like a butterfly drinking honey, nodded without hesitation. Finally getting the answer she wanted, Roxanne pulled him closer and smiled broadly.

In truth, Roxanne’s birthday was not in summer, and ruby was not her birthstone either. Everything was a lie meant to take the ruby away from Aisha—or, more accurately, to make Aslan her man alone.

In the end, after getting the ruby just as she wanted, Roxanne appeared at the imperial family’s dinner celebrating Aisha’s birthday, proudly wearing the ruby necklace.

Roxanne appeared wearing a simple black dress with a deep décolleté, which made the blood-red gemstone around her neck stand out even more. Aisha’s face turned cold when she saw her, but Roxanne smiled naturally with an innocent expression, as though she knew nothing.

Even though Roxanne knew Aisha’s anger would be directed at her, she deliberately wore the ruby necklace. It was a kind of declaration of war.

Roxanne had no intention of sharing Aslan, or the power she would gain through him, with anyone else.

Every year, when summer began and the green grapes started to ripen, Aisha eagerly looked forward to her birthday. This was because, ever since the two of them had first met, Aslan had personally given her jewelry he had made himself every year on her birthday.

Cutting and shaping gemstones was one of Aslan’s old hobbies, and he was quite skilled at it. Although she had pretended not to notice, Aisha had recently seen the large red ruby inside the box on his desk, so she had been secretly looking forward to her birthday.

The ruby, which resembled the red sun of the summer when she was born, was also her favorite gemstone.

As expected, when her birthday came, Aslan personally visited Aisha’s chambers with a luxurious jewelry box in his hand. Although she tried hard to look calm, Aisha could not completely hide the corners of her lips rising with happiness.

After sending everyone else away, Aslan smiled and kissed her cheek.

“Aisha! Happy birthday.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Aisha’s cheeks turned red like an excited young girl filled with anticipation. But when Aslan opened the jewelry box, she could not hide her disappointment.

Instead of the red ruby she had been expecting, there was a necklace with a blue sapphire set into it.

Only after putting the necklace around her neck did Aslan notice that the smile had disappeared from her face. He asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you making that face? Do you not like my gift?”

“N-no, of course not! I like it.”

She forced a smile and slightly lifted the hem of her dress with both hands. Then she bent her knees slightly and lowered her head in thanks.

“It was sent as tribute from the East. I am glad you like it. Then I should go. I still have some work to finish. We will have dinner together with the rest of the imperial family.”

Even after he left the room, Aisha remained with her head lowered, her mind completely confused.

‘Then who was that ruby I saw meant for?’

She found the answer clearly when she saw the red gemstone hanging around Roxanne’s white neck at the dinner where the entire imperial family had gathered.

‘This can’t be!’

Aisha clenched her fists so tightly that she did not even notice her nails digging into her palms. She trembled with rage.

“Happy birthday, Aisha.”

Roxanne offered her birthday wishes, but Aisha did not answer. She could not take her eyes off the bright red ruby hanging around Roxanne’s white neck.

“The sapphire suits Aisha’s blue eyes very well.”

Aisha gritted her teeth as she looked at Roxanne, who praised the necklace with an innocent face as if she knew nothing.

She barely finished the meal, unable to tell whether the food was going into her mouth or her nose, and then quickly left the table, using her poor health as an excuse.

Ignoring the worries expressed by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, Aisha returned to her chambers and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

She tore off the sapphire necklace Aslan had given her and threw it with all her strength.

With a sharp cracking sound, the mirror split with cracks like a spiderweb. Aisha’s reflection in the broken mirror seemed to shatter into pieces as well.

She glared at the broken mirror as though Roxanne herself were inside it. Clenching her fists and trembling, Aisha finally exploded in anger.

“How dare she insult me!”

She picked up and threw whatever objects she could reach, but she could not control her anger.

The attendants, who knew Aisha’s short temper well, turned pale with fear. They cautiously watched her while quickly picking up the necklace from the floor and cleaning up the broken pieces of the mirror.

“Deniz!”

Aisha’s voice was hysterical as she called the name of her personal maid.

Deniz was the personal maid Aisha had brought with her from her family home when she entered the palace.

“Yes, my lady.”

“I will write a letter. Go to the family home and deliver it to my elder brother.”

“Yes.”

Aisha decided to use the power of her family, the Chandar family, and her elder brother Yusuf, who held a position among the highest-ranking officials, to push the irritating Roxanne away from the Emperor.

Even though Aslan was the Emperor, the most noble person in the Rune Empire, he could never rule the empire alone. Powerful noble families supported the Emperor.

Among them, the Chandar family was a powerful house with enormous wealth and influence that even the imperial family could not ignore.

Without the influence of her family, Aisha would never have been able to become Kadin as soon as she entered the harem.

Aisha wrote a long letter describing how the Emperor had lost his heart to a newly arrived slave girl, how the slave girl was acting arrogantly because she had gained the Emperor’s favor, and how Aisha herself was being mistreated because of them.

Deniz delivered Aisha’s letter to Yusuf that very night.

After reading his sister’s letter, Yusuf became furious.

Sending his sister into the Emperor’s harem had been something Aisha herself wanted, but it had also been for the sake of the Chandar family and Yusuf himself.

If Aisha gave birth to a son who later succeeded Aslan as Emperor, Yusuf would become the Emperor’s maternal uncle.

And if the Emperor died young, Yusuf could gain the power to control the empire through the young Emperor.

For that to happen, Aisha had to give birth to a prince. Therefore, Yusuf could not possibly be pleased with the Emperor for neglecting his sister because he had fallen for a slave girl.

The current Emperor, Aslan, was the former Emperor’s only son. Because of that, he did not have to go through the tragedy of staining his hands with the blood of his brothers in order to take the throne.

But the previous Emperor had been in a completely different situation.

He had entered the Emperor’s bedroom for only one night and become pregnant, giving birth to a prince and receiving the title of Kadin. However, his mother had not been the former Emperor’s beloved consort.

Moreover, he had not been the only son. He had as many as nine brothers, and his father, the former Emperor, wanted the son of the woman he loved most to succeed him.

If the former Emperor had not suddenly died in battle, he might have been killed by one of his brothers.

But perhaps heaven was on his side.

Before Yusuf and Aisha’s father sent a letter to the imperial palace announcing the former Emperor’s death, which had occurred during an eastern campaign, they informed him first.

Yusuf and Aisha’s father believed that he was the best choice to succeed to the throne for the sake of the Rune Empire.

With the support of the Chandar family, he entered the palace first, declared himself Emperor, and ordered all nine of his brothers to be executed.

Keeping princes who had a legitimate claim to the throne alive would have been a source of instability for the empire.

Although he did not want to kill his own brothers, even if they were his half-brothers, he ultimately had no choice but to kill them all according to the law.

After becoming Emperor in this way, he did not want his own son to suffer the tragedy of brothers killing one another.

Therefore, among the countless women in the harem, he loved only one woman.

The former Emperor had a son and a daughter with her. As a result, he had the fewest children among all the Emperors of the Rune Empire.

And Aslan, who succeeded him, became the only Emperor to take the throne without shedding the blood of his own brothers.

During the reign of the former Emperor, the Chandar family became the Emperor’s closest supporters and enjoyed enormous power, second only to the Emperor himself.

After the former Emperor died and Aslan took the throne, he also favored the Chandar family and accepted Aisha into the harem as a Kadin.

If the Chandar family had not stood by the former Emperor, he would never have escaped death, and Aslan would not only have failed to become Emperor—he would never even have been born.

Aslan knew this just as well as Yusuf did.

Aslan was still young, but he was not foolish.

He knew very well that he could not rule the empire alone without the help of the nobles. He would not foolishly fall for a slave girl and turn the Chandar family into an enemy.

However, if the Chandar family interfered in the harem, which was the Emperor’s private matter, it could cause an even stronger backlash.

After thinking carefully, Yusuf decided to use the Empress Dowager.

“Go back to Kadin Aisha and tell her that her elder brother will take care of everything. Tell her not to worry too much.”

“I will.”

After hearing Yusuf’s answer, Deniz turned around with a happy expression.

The carriage carrying her traveled through the quiet night streets of Kordia toward the palace.