"The taste of your lips is true satisfaction and pleasure. Hence your name is Zevki"
ꜰʀᴀɴᴄᴇꜱᴄᴀ ꜰᴏʀᴛᴜɴᴀ is the unlucky sister of Isabella Fortuna, princess of Spain. Francesca is condemned to a marriage she doesn't want, and the only way out of it is...
"Zevki Hatun, you have been overdue for your checkup. Are you sure you want to skip it again today?" Ayla Hatun asks me worriedly. She has been my closest companion these past couple of months as I've been pregnant.
I have mostly remained in the shadows, except for Sultan Süleyman calling on my every week to talk, though unfortunately it has been mostly about the baby. I have tried to engage him in talking about politics and foreign affairs, and he also showed me this beautiful new emerald ring he is carving, though he didn't say whom it would be for, so I was a little disappointed.
"Ayla, mind your business. I will go when I feel like it is appropriate to."
"But it isn't for giving birth, it's for ensuring the health of-"
"Ayla Hatun. Leave now before I get mad." I growled. My maid quickly scurried away.
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I was feeling a little more grouchy lately because of the baby eating all my food and not letting me nor my stomach enjoy anything, so one shouldn't blame me if I get angry over anything that has to do with the child.
"Perhaps I shall read a book or something." I leaned a little to my left since I didn't really want to get up and do anything, and picked a random one off of my shelf. It was a book of poetry, and I couldn't really read much of the writing, or actually any of it. In fact, I don't think it's Arabic at all.
"Ayla Hatun, can you summon Nigar Kalfa?"
My maid, who was standing outside of my room, peeked in and nodded before disappearing again. Moments later, Nigar Kalfa was back here.
"So how is the mother of an heir doing?" Nigar laughed, sitting down on my couch.
"Nobody told me it would be this boring and tiring."
Nigar smirked at me. "Well, you could've asked too. But anyways, what is wrong? What do you need?"
I put the book beside Nigar and patted it's cover. "Can you read this?"
Nigar looked the book up and down, then opened it up. "Hmm... I believe it is in Russian. So then it must be thrown out. You won't need it anyhow, Zevki."
"What, why?"
"Because we try to encourage everyone to speak Turkish and Arabic, or even Persian, instead of other, old languages around here. You should know too- we wouldn't allow Spanish or Italian books here."
Nigar sighed. "I'll take the book away. But you? You should focus on your baby."
"Whatever..." I shrug. "Can I go take a bath? Or is that not considerate enough of the baby?"
"Do what you want, okay?" Nigar rolled her eyes before leaving.
I called in Ayla.
"Prepare me some fresh clothes, and towels too. I will take a hot bath in the hammam."
