By Zephyria 
In the year I turned seven, Mahir gifted me seven rainbow birds with feathers of seven different colors, and Khalifa bestowed upon me the obsidian castle, Talim, located at the seven o’clock direction in Sa Dillin.
Talim was a castle built with minerals that emitted light even in the dark. True to its name, the Obsidian Castle, it was as black as night, yet it was a beautiful castle that didn’t feel eerie or gloomy in the slightest.
Along with Sa Dillin, where the Emperor resided, and Jihad, Crown Prince Mahir’s castle, Talim was known as the most beautiful castle in Actan.
But my thoughts were a little different.
Sa Dillin was a castle where the madness of the first Emperor, Caliph, was etched intact, and Jihad was a castle bestowed upon the bravest warrior who would wage war for the sake of the Sun God.
Only the Crown Prince, who could become the next Emperor by killing the most people and subjugating the most countries, could obtain Jihad.
It was a relatively quiet period now, so there wasn’t much need for war, but ever since the first Emperor forcibly unified the land, Actan had never had a peaceful day due to foreign tribes and rebels.
Back then, only the most cruel person could become the next Emperor. And Jihad was what such a cruel Crown Prince received from the Emperor as a token of promise.
And what about Talim?
Over a hundred years ago, not content with unifying the continent, Actan set its sights on the western peninsula across the sea. When they invaded an unknown land with a large army, they finally devastated a kingdom and plundered the Taliel ore, which became the main material for building Talim.
Actan was a place where the history of invasion and massacre was alive and breathing everywhere. It was absurd to hide all that just because some time had passed and only call it a beautiful castle.
Just because past records are labeled as Forbidden books and the tongue of anyone who speaks of them is cut off, doesn’t mean that what happened never happened.
“I’m so disgusted.”
I was lying on the carpet, gazing at the chandelier made of crystals that shone with a transparent light, when I heard a voice filled with annoyance in my ear.
I slowly sat up with a dazed look. Could she have read my mind? I looked at Fatima, who was sitting on the bedside, with a surprised expression and asked.
“Can you read minds?”
“What are you talking about?”
“No… then what’s disgusting?”
I asked again with a flustered face, looking at Fatima, who was speaking venomously. She was usually a bit irritable, but she seemed particularly bad today.
“Have you ever been pregnant?”
“No?”
“They say you get morning sickness when you’re pregnant.”
I’m a man, what pregnancy? And why are you suddenly talking about pregnancy and morning sickness?
I stared blankly at Fatima with wide eyes, and the moment her brow furrowed, a hypothesis flashed through my mind. I jumped up in surprise and asked.
“Are you pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“What?!”
When I shouted in surprise, Fatima threw a cushion at me, telling me to be quiet. I lightly caught it and approached her in an instant, asking with wide eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t know. But for the past few days, I’ve been feeling nauseous whenever I see food… and I’m also feeling lethargic.”
If she was really pregnant, I should have congratulated her first, but I was worried. I looked at Fatima, who was frowning because she seemed uncomfortable, and opened my mouth.
“I think my brother noticed.”
When I said that with a gloomy face, a hint of disappointment flashed across her face for a brief moment. But it was so fleeting that I couldn’t tell if she was really disappointed or if I had just imagined it.
“I told you. I said he’d be suspicious if they died all at once like that.”
I closed my mouth, watching Fatima click her tongue, as if she knew this would happen. I thought I had spaced them out appropriately, except for the time of the plague, but I guess it was too rushed.
“Anyway, I think I’ve been caught, so I should be careful for the time being, but what should I do? It’s hard to kill you and send you out in this situation… Should I call a doctor for a checkup…”
I stopped talking mid-sentence.
It was just yesterday that I wrote sixteen apology letters and promised Mahir to behave for the time being. But if someone else died in the Harem today, I might have to write not sixteen, but one hundred and sixty apology letters this time.
The first priority was to call a doctor to confirm if she was really pregnant, but that was a dangerous move. It wasn’t unusual for a woman in the Harem to get pregnant, but it was common to get rid of the child.
As I fidgeted, Fatima sighed and said.
“I don’t care when I leave. I’ve lived here almost my whole life, do you think I can’t wait for just that? And as I’ve said many times, it’s not bad living in the Harem. They give you food when it’s time, let you sleep without any compensation, and no one tells you what to do. It’s paradise on earth.”
Looking at Fatima shrugging her shoulders, I felt strangely bitter. She might say that, but I knew how much she had been waiting for the day she could leave the castle, holding her pounding heart.
“So don’t push yourself too hard. It’ll be a big problem if you get caught by rushing. It could also affect the kids who have already left.”
“Well, that’s true… Anyway, don’t worry too much. It’s a promise, so I’ll get you out no matter what. Once the wedding is over…”
“Wedding?”
Fatima widened her eyes and asked back at my words. Oh, did I not tell you? I nodded and opened my mouth.
“I’m getting married.”
“What? Really? To whom? When?”
“A week… no, now it’s 6 days left. In 6 days, to someone I don’t even know.”
“…”
Fatima made a dumbfounded expression. I was just as dumbfounded. Saying it out loud made it even more absurd than I had imagined.
“It was decided so suddenly, so it’s a mess right now. I have to wake up at the crack of dawn and get dragged around, and do some rituals and stuff…”
“Well… congratulations on your wedding.”
Looking at Fatima, who was speaking with a lukewarm expression, I also said with a lukewarm expression.
“Yeah… congratulations on your pregnancy too.”
“…”
“…”
It was too strange to call it a situation where we exchanged well wishes. We looked at each other with bitter eyes before sighing, without either of us starting first.
“But who’s the father? Ali?”
“It’s been ages since I broke up with him.”
“…”
Wasn’t it just a few months ago that you said you were dating? I was taken aback by Fatima, who spoke as if it were something from years ago, and shook my head.
“Anyway, you know it’s a capital crime if this gets found out, right?”
“I know, I know. But I have years of experience living in the Harem.”
“Yeah, I’m glad you know…”
Once you enter the Harem, you can’t leave until you die. You have to live as the master’s servant for life, and if you are caught having a relationship with someone other than the master, you will be subjected to heinous torture that I don’t even want to mention, and eventually executed.
If it was found out that I was secretly smuggling people out of the Harem, I, as a Prince, might be safe, but it would be hard for them to be safe.
Especially if Khalifa found out, it would be the end.
“Anyway, it’s hard to send a doctor right away, so just wait a little. Once the wedding is over, my brother will be very busy, so it’ll be hard for him to take care of my Harem.”
“It doesn’t matter if I find out a little late whether I’m pregnant or not, so don’t worry. I’ll be thinking about how I’m going to die in the meantime.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at those words.
“Exclude the plague and burning at the stake. And also falling to your death while drinking on the terrace. You’ve used that too much.”
“It’s not easy to die either. How about poison?”
“I’m getting married soon, that’s too much.”
A groom who poisons a woman in his Harem just a few days after getting married, the thought alone was horrifying. Fatima laughed at my disgusted expression.
“Anyway, that’s that, what happened to the kid who came yesterday?”
“The one who got stabbed? The wound is deep, but it’s not life-threatening.”
The unidentified boy who was stabbed with a knife in Khalifa’s bedchamber yesterday was thrown out of the castle as if he was being abandoned. It was obvious that he would die if left alone, so I brought him in and had him treated, and I was relieved that it wasn’t life-threatening.
“Give him some money when he’s all healed and send him out.”
“Won’t you get in trouble if you get caught smuggling him out?”
“How many people has that man thrown away? Anyway, I’m going to be busy, so I don’t think I’ll be able to come for a while, so be careful too.”
At my words, Fatima waved her hand and opened her mouth as if telling me not to worry.
“Don’t worry about me, you be careful. Congratulations on your wedding.”
Hearing the words congratulations on your wedding made me feel uneasy again. How did this happen?
Sigh, what a fate.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
The wedding was two days away.
In the meantime, I had clothes made, performed purification rituals three times a day, and ate only fruits and vegetables to calm my mind and body.
While I was on a vegetarian diet that I wasn’t supposed to be on, Mahir met Khalifa and talked about various things, but his mind was firm.
In the end, I was in a situation where I had to marry someone I didn’t even know because of the crazy Khalifa’s whims.
“So, she’s a princess from the Western Continent?”
“…”
“He took a hostage because the atmosphere seems uneasy these days?”
“Not a hostage…”
“He’s bringing her as a pawn and marrying her to me to strengthen our friendship?”
“Uhm.”
Mahir’s expression darkened as he looked at me, who was dumbfounded. But no matter how dark his expression was, could it compare to my heart? I calmed my boiling stomach and said as calmly as possible.
“He drinks every day and only does drugs, so his head is…”
“Kyle!”
Before I could finish my sentence, Mahir raised his voice. He couldn’t bear to watch his beloved brother’s impiety. But I had already abandoned humanity a long time ago and decided to become an impious person.
“Isn’t he really out of his mind?”
“Please watch your mouth.”
“What kind of friendship are you trying to build by forcibly taking someone’s daughter and marrying her off? Would you be okay with that if you were him? That’s just a hostage.”
“…”
Mahir was about to say something but closed his mouth. That’s right. He wouldn’t have anything to say. This really doesn’t make any sense.
While I was dumbfounded, a passage I saw in the Forbidden book suddenly came to mind.
‘The weak exist to be plundered by the strong.’
“Crazy…”
“Kyle, please watch your mouth…”
That was Caliph’s creed. And it was also the creed of the drug-addicted, crazy dictator Khalifa.
What kind of wedding is this? This is just a pillage marriage…
Why me… No, what did that princess do wrong?
“I, I…”
“Kyle?”
“I’m going to run away from home now, so don’t look for me.”
“Kyle, no!”
I left Mahir’s cry behind and threw myself out the window. Even as I landed lightly and ran away through the secret passage that only I knew, I knew. It was only a matter of time before I was caught.
And eventually, the morning of the wedding, no. The morning of the pillage marriage dawned.