"Where is your wife?" Sultan asked.

"She wasn't feeling well, so she apologized for not being able to be here."

Sultan laughed "Oh, I see!" he came closer to Osman and put a hand on his shoulder "I'll leave you in charge of Persia. Kabir will stay and help you, you can trust him with anything."

Osman nodded.

"Hopefully, you'll hear good news when I reach Arabia."

Osman did not quite get what Sultan was saying, he just nodded "Inshallah".

"Well, it's time to leave! Farewell, my son. May God be with you." then they hugged, and Sultan hopped on his fine Arabian stallion.

Osman kissed his father's hand "Fi Amanillah father! Have a safe trip."

Sultan left the palace with hundreds of men to return to Arabia.

"Well, now Persia is all yours, my prince." Said Kabir.

"It's a huge responsibility."

"It's nothing that you cannot handle, I'll be by your side as well as other generals."

"Thanks Kabir!"

"you are newlywed. You should be with your bride. I'll take care of things and inform you if anything happened that we needed you."

Osman really needed to fix things with Arta first, so he agreed and went back to the east palace.

***

Since Sultan had gone back to Arabia and Osman was now the ruler of Persia, he instructed Khadijeh and other maids to relocate to the main palace where the king's chambers were.

He went to inform Arta as well.

"Do you feel better?" Osman slowly approached Arta who was sitting in the balcony.

She did not reply and continued staring at the mountains in front of her.

"I've instructed the maids to move to the main palace now that Sultan has left."

Arta was still silent.

"We are going to sleep in the royal chambers tonight, isn't that exciting?"

Arta turned her head "I grew up here and those chambers are nothing new to me."

"Oh right! I forgot. Now let's go there, the maids will transfer all our belongings"

They walked to the main palace and went straight to the royal chambers.

It was the first time that Arta was there after the war. Nothing was the same as before. The furniture had changed even the curtains that had royal symbols had changed. She felt sad seeing all those dramatic changes.

She could still see herself as the only princess walking in the palace when her father was the king.

Osman sensed her sadness "We can go back to the west palace if you don't want to live here. I really don't care as long as I'm with you." he said taking her hand in his.

She pulled back her hand "I don't care either."

The maids rushed in and out, moving stuff and placing Arta's and Osman's belonging on the shelves of the royal dressing room.

It was a huge room, more than double the size of Arta's room. the ceiling was high and was held by several pillars. The bed was the biggest Osman had ever seen in his life with high frames on four edges of the bed and white silk curtains hanging from its frames. The room was full of Arabian cushions and Persian rugs. A dining table was on the other side of the room and a grand working table was in front of the huge window.

The huge balcony was facing a beautiful garden with lots of fountains. The same as west palace the stairs led to the bathing pool from the dressing room attached to the main bedroom.

The bath pool hall was double the size of the west palace path pool with shiny tiles and walls decorated with pieces of gold and precious stones.

It was noon and Osman left to attend the noon prayer. The praying hall was full, and people were waiting for him to start the prayer. He stood ahead of everyone and the prayer began.

After the prayer, Samir and Ahmad came to him.

"Hello brother. You left hastily last night. What happened?" Ahmad asked.

"It was nothing special." To change the subject he asked, "Did you enjoyed the feast?"

"Yes very much." Samir said.

"Of course you did, after eating all the food on the table." Ahmad said jokingly.

"It's not my fault that I become hungry sooner than you." he said with arching his eyebrows.

"No brother, you are always hungry." Ahmad said and laughed, Osman also smiled and said "Yeah that's true."

"OK enough talking about me and my hunger. How is the married life?" Samir asked waiting eagerly for Osman's reply.

"eeer it's alright." Osman said looking uncomfortable.

"Is there something wrong?" Ahmad asked.

"No nothing serious, I guess. I hope. I don't know what has happened to her last night, she has changed a lot."

"Maybe you have done something wrong?" Samir said.

"No that's the problem, I have not done anything to make her upset. And she won't clearly tell me what is wrong with her."

"Could that be something related to Azim? Maybe he had said something to her last night." Ahmad said.

"No, I was watching Azim all night. He was so occupied with the dancers that he never had time to talk with the princess. Besides he never left the feast till the end." Samir said.

"Anyway, don't bother yourselves with this. It's my problem and I'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later."

Samir nodded while Ahmad was deep in his thoughts.

Osman said goodbye to them and went to have lunch with Arta.

***

Arta was looking at the garden from the dining room's window when Osman arrived there for lunch. The table was set and ready.

"Sorry, the prayer took a bit longer than expected."

Arta said nothing still staring at the window. After a few seconds, she said "You know, my father, my brother and I had our last dinner together before the war here."

Osman did not expect that "Um, I'm sorry!" he said looking sincerely sorry for her. "We can have lunch somewhere else."

Arta turned and looked at Osman, her eyes void of any emotions "No, It's alright. We cannot change or erase the bitter truth by changing the room." she went and sat behind the table and started to eat silently.

It was a very uncomfortable situation for Osman. He was almost feeling guilty and responsible.

They ate lunch in silence.

After lunch, Arta left Osman in the dining room and went to their room and asked Nahla to prepare the bath pool.

She sat in the room for a few minutes and then went downstairs to the bath pool. The water was warm enough and Nahla was nowhere to be seen.

She took off her clothes and went inside the pool which was filled with aromatic flowers. She went under the water and stayed there for a couple of seconds. The warm water made her relax a bit and ease her tensions.

She leaned her back to the edge of the pool and sat on the pool's platform with her body still inside the pool.

She suddenly broke from all the pressure and sadness and started to cry, a very sad and heartbroken cry. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She thought it belonged to Nahla, so she rested her head on it and continued crying.

Then another hand touched her hair and patted her head. She suddenly realized that those hands did not belong to Nahla, those were big strong hands.

With a faint scream, she threw herself into the pool and looked back. She saw Osman sitting on the edge of the pool.

"What are you doing here?"

"I asked Nahla to leave me alone here with you. Why were you crying like that my love? What is bothering you? Talk to me."

"I have nothing to tell you!"

"Please Arta! I'm your husband."

"pfff yeah, right! A husband that wants to get rid of me as soon as possible."

"What are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean."

Arta laughed which made Osman angry. He honestly did not know what is going on and what she meant by that, which made him even angrier.

Osman jumped in the pool and walked toward Arta. He grabbed her shoulders before she could run away and shook her angrily "Tell me, what you mean." He was shouting. His voice echoing in the bath.

"How dare you touch me!" Arta pushed his hands away from her and turned to leave the pool.

Osman grabbed her again "I touch you because you are my wife. You are mine! I can and I do."

"I don't belong to anyone!" she shouted back.

"Yes you do, you are mine." He kissed her hungrily. She pushed him away again and slapped him. The sound of the slap echoed in the hall.

Osman stood motionlessly watching her leaving the pool.

Arta covered herself in a cloth and rushed upstairs. She was shaking out of anger. She quickly wore a simple dress and was about to leave the room when Osman put her hand on the door and prevent her from going out.

"Get out of my way before I slap you again."

"You made a mistake princess." His voice was cold and he looked dangerous. He still had his wet clothes on.

She looked him in the eyes, his cold usual eyes. There was no love in them anymore. She felt danger and walked away from him.

Osman slowly turned and said "You have to pay for what you did. I was nothing but kind and understanding toward your childish and stupid behavior, and you repay my kindness and love with a slap?" he was slowly approaching Arta like a lion focusing on a prey.

Arta turned and faced the window focusing on the garden outside.

"I told you I love you for the rest of my life, I told you, you are mine, I told you I'll respect your choices, I told you we will rule together, I told you I won't touch you unless you want me to. And you repay me with a slap?" his voice getting louder and louder as he approached the end of it. Arta did not pay any attention to him, she continued looking outside.

"Look at me!" Osman roared and grabbed Arta's arm and forced her to look at him.

Then with a calmer but heartbroken husky voice, he continued "I love you Arta, why can't you understand. I respected all your wishes and requests. I did everything for you." he cupped her face into his hands and stared into her eyes "Talk to me Arta, what is bothering you? have I done something wrong?"

Arta pushed his hand away "I'm not going to fall for your dirty tricks again. Stop playing with me!"

"Tricks? I'm your husband and you are my wife. We married in front of everyone. I've told you a thousand times that I love you. what is the trick here?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I was so naïve to marry you, to change my religion for you."

"Have you regretted marrying me?"

"Of course, I have. Even Azim would be a better husband than you. At least he had never tried to deceive me, he is always his evil self. But you.. you say something in my face and you do something different behind me."

"AZIM? AZIM HA??? Do you want a husband like him? I'll be a husband like him for you!"

Osman could not be angrier. Arta had crossed the line. This was not acceptable, comparing him with Azim? How Stupid she was.

********

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