Mumtaz Mahal

Chapter 4: Lady Arjumand

Chapter 4: Lady Arjumand

Three days passed before Arjumand and her family came in to the palace and the Prince could not wait any longer to have a glance with his bride-to-be.

The Prince chose to wear his most fanciful clothes which had worth a million rupees. Of course, he wanted to be pleasing in front of Arjumand.

When the Prince steps in the hall of Hall of His Majesty, the first one that his eyes darted was the lady in a white and gold dress, Arjumand. Her eyes were brown, lips were thin, and the nose is on point. He could tell that the lady was the most beautiful being he ever saw other than his own.

As Lady Arjumand lays her eyes to Prince she could not hold a stare any much longer. The memories of their first meeting were flashing on her mind. They way her palm landed on the prince's face and the way she threw such words to him. She feels so ashamed and embarrassed.

"I hope you could spare me, Prince Khurram," lady Arjumand says as she walks through the garden together with the Prince.

The marriage has been already talked about, however, even though Arjumand was betrothed to the Prince, her family wished to have the wedding five years later since the lady was still young and so Prince is, and the Prince had nothing to do but to agree. Therefore, it would be a long engagement.

"If you knew that I was the Prince, would you do the same?" the Prince asks her.

Arjumand's cheeks went red out of embarrassment and did not dare to look at the Prince face as she said that if she had known that he was the prince, she could not possibly do such actions.

"So a person really treats the royal family different from the commoners," the Prince said as he bobbed his head.

The lady was silent and just stared the flower that almost died.

"Do you think it's unfair?" the Prince's suddenly ask.

"Does it?" Arjumand.

"I don't think it is," as Khurram says.

"If you say so."

The two talked casually, though the lady had remained her distance from the Prince. She heard a lot about him, about his temper and the incident on his room three days, had passed.

What happened to the poor child had reached to His Majesty's ears and he summoned the Prince to hear his reasoning. But when the Emperor says that the poor child had provoked the Prince and insulted him, the Emperor pardoned the Prince.

"Would you all please leave us for a moment?" the Prince said to all the servants that have been following them.

The lady lays her eyes to some of the servants and she has this soft look that asking those servants to stay and not to leave her alone with the Prince.

"Are you afraid of me?" the Prince asks the lady when he noticed that she's keeping their distance as soon as the servants left them.

The lady swallowed and awkwardly smiles to Prince before shaking her head as an answer.

"You're lying; you're terrified by my presence. Why is that? What have you heard about me?" the Prince ask with furrowed brows.

The lady did not answer so the Prince took a deep sigh and smiles to her.

"I won't hurt you, Arjumand," the Prince said.

Arjumand.

The lady had wondered about why did her name sound so good when the Prince uttered it. His voice was soft, and she found her name so sweet as it came out from his mouth.

"Why choose me as your bride, Prince Khurram? Is this the consequence of my actions?" the lady asks him, now facing him as she succeeds in pulling the dying flower.

"I don't know. All I know was that the moment I saw you, I already know that you belong to me," he said out of honesty.

The lady let soft chuckles, covering her mouth as she did it. Cheeks were so red and heart is being flattered.

"You, Arjumand, why would you want me to wait for years before marrying me?"

"As per the Astronomers mentioned, it is the best date of having a prosperous marriage. I am not actually asking you to wait for me; I will be the one, who will wait for you, Prince Khurram," the lady said politely.

"You're going to wait for me?"

"Yes, for that's a lady supposed to do, to wait for her man. I will not ask you to wait for me, if you're persistent to marry another woman, then I am letting you," the lady spoke so nicely.

The prince just nodded and stared the lady. Judging her words, it is quite obvious that the lady does not want to marry the Prince and he is wondering if what's stopping the lady in submitting herself. Marrying a prince is such an honor, yet the lady does not feel even a little honor about the idea.

Something must be holding her to feel it, or worst, her heart already belongs to someone else.

The prince thought.

To be continued...

As I've said, this is historically based on Shah Jahan's love story but most of the events in this story were products of my imagination.

Thank you.