Arta - the last princess

Chapter-25

"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.