✔️The Sultan's harem (Completed)

Chapter 33: The snoring

Sultan's POV

"Seriously? I never knew anything about bees when I was 5 years old!" she laughed with amusement as I told her about my fear of bees in childhood.

I was glad that Serena agreed to accompany me to further investigate the villages. No one had doubted our identities yet. She could have demanded to go back and enjoy her newfound power (since only a few days are left).

But no. All she wanted was people's happiness. She agreed to come with me.

That night we both simply talked. As we both managed to sleep throughout the whole noon in the garden, none of us wanted to sleep till late at night.

We talked about our childhoods, our dreams, our wishes etc. It helped me to know her more as a person. She was this plain-looking, fiercely independent women with more education than usually provided to any women. Though her mannerisms weren't refined, she possessed a warmth and genuineness that could be used to win anyone's trust. Her intellect had provided her with a rebellious streak and her father had a big hand behind providing her unorthodox mindset. I was glad to have her in my life. If not as a life partner then as a friend.

Before we fell into sleep, we drafted a scroll having rules for the better treatment of labourers and small peasants. Which involved standardization of wage rates. Some rules were created for the farmers in another scroll about sharing of water from the common water bodies like rivers or ponds etc so that all the farmers can gain equal irrigation advantage. I went to Mehmed and asked him to get it delivered to Ali. I knew he would function the court perfectly in my absence.

Before going to sleep, I had a small doubt. Should I switch off all the candles? Or keep them all switched off? We spent yesterday night under the same roof but we were awake the whole night in the presence of Mehmed and Suraiya. Now we both were alone and I did not want her to feel unsafe.

I was wondering when I saw her switching off all the candles one by one. Perhaps she trusted me. It gladdened my heart.

"Hey, you can put on the lights of the common room. That way you can roam around the house in the middle of the night." I offered. She did the same and went to her room. I fell asleep.

It must be at the later part of the night when I heard a scream. It came from her chamber. I was naked so I grabbed my garments and started dressing. During that moment I was surrounded by unpleasant thoughts. Did someone attack her? Did she fell? If anything happened to her, I won't be able to forgive myself! Did she fell?

I rushed towards her chamber only to find her meeting me halfway in the common room. Thankfully it was well lit. I could see her emotions. She was scared. I had always seen her as a strong fearless person. Something big must have happened that shooked her to the core.

"What happened?" I almost shouted.

"The room... The room..." she gasped.

"What happened to the room?" I asked impatiently.

I was ready to get inside the room and slash the intruder's head. Suddenly she spoke up!

"There is a lizard on my bed!" She shouted. And shut up. Instantly realising how bad that sounded.

I couldn't help myself and started laughing.

"I am not scared of death! I am scared of humiliation!" I quoted her dialogue and laughed at her. It was so unlike her! A girl who is not scared of a sword is scared of a mere lizard!

"Wait till I tell about this to Ali. He will die laughing." I Couldn't stop snickering seeing her annoyed expression.

"Okay. Tell him." She suddenly became quiet. I sensed something wrong.

"I will tell everyone that the Kingdom's Supreme sultan is scared of bees." and there came the catch! she gave me a devil smile.

"Let's have a deal." I tried to sound as honourable as possible.

"That this thing will never be discussed. And will accompany us till our deathbed," she spoke up.

I nodded. Such embarrassing details must be skipped out.

I ended up finding out more embarrassing details about her as I stayed with her for the whole two days. One of them was that she snores like a man. Literally. Perhaps that's why I am awake right now while she is sleeping peacefully in the common room.

I wonder why I fell for this women. I mentally decided that I wanted to leave that village the next day and go somewhere else. But I didn't know where. It took me some hours before I fell asleep.