Chapter XLVIII
Befallen
How much pain and sadness can you endure for someone you love?
To me, love didn't work that way. With the love and care that Grandma showered to us, I viewed love in a different light.
The love I've known is a love that is gentle and easy. Like coming home with the thought that you'll be greeted with their smiling faces and be embraced with their warm hugs and kisses.
I grew up to a kind of love, knowing that it isn't supposed to make you question whether it's still worth it or not.
But witnessing a mere portion of Habibah's life… I've realized how difficult it had been for her to throw herself in thorns just to receive that kind of love in this lifetime. It made me realize how lucky I was.
That same day, Abayomi and Habibah reached the palace of Babylon. Abayomi wanted to stay and wait for her but Habibah insisted him to leave and just come back the next day, before sunrise.
She went inside the palace. One of the head servants assisted her until they reached the private tower of Sargon, where his selected people conducted weird experiments. That included the creation of an antidote that could make her fertile.
“King Sargon…” Habibah greeted the moment she entered.
A few people greeted her back and then went back on their tasks… while Sargon approached her.
“Habibah! You're here,” he said as he gripped her wrist, “let's go somewhere. Shall we?”
“Oh… okay.”
She didn't do much every time she visited Babylon. Aside from sitting and displaying her presence and allowing his people to examine her, Sargon also kept her some company.
Like this time too.
He brought her to the grand library inside his palace. As soon as they stepped in, Habibah was amazed as her eyes wandered across the vast room housed with thousands of clay tablets engraved with texts and symbols.
She occupied her mind looking at the shelves. From the looks of her, she didn't understand any of the texts written but that didn't stop her from looking.
Sargon followed her from behind and eventually spoke, breaking the silence. “Has your husband not been looking for you these days?”
Her body stilled. Her fingers, tracing every tablet that passed by, settled on a tablet in front of her. “No… His Majesty is busy with some matters.”
“Matters that aren't about you?” He moved to peek at her face.
“Yes. Things that are unrelated to me.” She then faced him and forced a smile. “His life doesn't revolve around us anymore,” she added as a matter-of-factly. “Cheops… has his royal duties now.” She trailed off. “And I'm here to do my part as well.”
“Habibah.”
“H-Hmm?” Her eyes returned to him.
“Why aren't you giving up on him yet?”
“Giving up is out of the options. I’m his Queen,” she answered dryly. “And… I have already come this far. I want to see how this ends if I don't give up on him.”
His face became serious, yet it had a glint of peril. He moved closer, causing her to step back once. “Aren't you fed up with that Pharaoh? Am I not better than him, huh?”
“What are you talking about?” Confusion was evident in her voice.
He unknowingly grabbed her wrist.
She tried to withdraw but his hold was far too strong for her. She grumbled. “Sargon… m-my hand.”
Yet he still didn't let her go. Instead, he squeezed it a bit more, making her gaze at him with a trace of fear. I also felt alarmed from his sudden change of mood.
Why did his genetic madness have to act up now?
He eyed her directly. “Divorce him, Habibah.”
“What?”
“I can treat you better. Babylon can treat you way better.”
She stared at him, utterly confused and frightened. Her lips paled. Despite his kind words, the aura that exuded around him made her knees tremble. Plus the fact, his hand around her wrist as becoming too tight, probably leaving a mark in her.
“Sargon… please let me go.”
She shook her hand to get away but he just pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her waist possessively.
Their faces became inches away from each other. He then whispered. “You're a nice girl, aren't you, Habibah? Be my Queen.”
He leaned down.
But before he could even press his lips to hers, she found the strength to push him away.
“I… I need to go.” She hurriedly passed by him and marched through the aisle of shelves, planning to leave.
“Habibah!” he shouted across the room. “You're coming back, right?”
She halted; she was already a few meters away from him.
“I haven't fulfilled my promise yet,” he continued, smirk creeping his lips. “The antidote is almost finished,” he sang that statement as if teasing her.
She shut her eyes and clasped her chest. “I,” she said loudy, “I no longer need it.”
With that, she continued walking and left the library completely. But it didn't escape from me the smug smile plastered on Sargon's face while staring at the aisle where she dashed off.
He pulled out a stick of cigarette and put it in his lips as he smirked. “You'll come back, you'll see,” he mumbled. He sounded so sure, it made me annoyed.
Yet dang him, he was right.
Queen Meritites I, the first royal wife, eventually gave birth to a boy. Then it followed the marriage of King Khufu and Queen Henutsen who was later hailed as the third queen. With everything that had been happening, it seemed that nothing went according to Habibah's plan; those days turned into a living hell for her.
The series of events were as if a painful slap to her face that: with her infertile body, she can never belong to the palace, to the royal family… or even to him.
Queen Henutsen was also very well aware of that.
In front of Queen Habibah stood the other queen who seemed to be the same person who'd slowly take away everything she worked hard for.
She leaned down her body toward her, a mocking smirk creeping in her lips. Her gaze was as if she was looking down at a mere slave.
Offended and hurt, Habibah bit her lip, tilting her head to avoid her eyes.
She then whispered. “You can never bear a child, Habibah.” Her voice was filled with grit as though trying to engrave such words to her mind.
People like her… really have the hobby of pointing out things that someone already knows.
This memory seemed familiar to me.
To add more salt, she caressed her stomach. Habibah noticed this gesture and a flicker of pain again crossed her face. They already did it? She wanted to be in denial but Henutsen continued.
“It will be my daughter who’ll become the future Queen.” She stepped back and a smirk escaped her lips.
A trace of pain and rage sprouted in her system, she felt betrayed and fooled. But those emotions were immediately replaced by an overwhelming determination.
She balled her fists. “I will bear a child, Queen Henutsen.” After everything she did, she refused to give up any of it. Maybe… she still had one thing up under her sleeves.
Someday, she will surely bear a child with Khufu.
She laughed. “You cannot fix what's already broken…” She crossed her arms. “For the rest of your life, you’ll remain as the useless Queen, Habibah.”
Those words haunted her more than I'd thought.
I didn't know how long she stopped visiting Sargon but the next day after that, she came dashing back to Babylon, determined once again.
“It took you a while to visit me again, huh?” Sargon said as soon as she appeared right in front of his throne.
Habibah shrugged everything and asked. “Is the antidote completed?”
He scoffed. “Ha! Is that how you greet someone you'd ask for help? Habibah?”
She pursed her lips.
He stood up, walking down the throne until he stopped in front of her. He placed his hand on his side and ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. His unwavering gaze settled to her, waiting for her next move.
“I'm sorry, Sargon…” She looked down. She hoped a simple sorry could soften this mad king's heart.
Yet he just scoffed again. “Sorry? Ha!” His voice thundered across the vast room as he looked down at her, veins popping out of his forehead. “You need to try harder than that, Habibah…”
He grabbed her neck, but with moderate force to not strangle her completely. His eyes dilated as he let out a wide grin. “I want to see you beg. Desperately.”
He tossed her. She collapsed on her knees as she coughed hard, clasping her neck, gasping for air.
“Well?”
Trembling, she approached him on bended knees. Her lips twitched into a frown. She reached his hands and sobbed. “P-Please,” she pleaded. “Please help me, Sargon. I beg of you…”
“Ahh,” He laughed, “I like it when you beg like that, Habibah! What took you so long to do that?”
She sniffed.
He stepped away from her and turned his back. “Hah. Stop crying... I will give you the antidote.”
In between her sobs, Sargon slid his hand behind and took out a small glass bottle with a red velvet liquid inside. The color gave off a rose-tinted color that could strangle her throat by thorns once she drink it.
He handed it to her. “Drink it.”
She eyed the bottle with anticipation as she stood up. She wiped her tears and calmed down. Without further ado, she removed the cork and hurriedly chugged down the entire contents.
He watched her swallow every drop until she emptied it. His smirk grew wider. “Well?”
She glanced at him, uncertain. “Did it… work?”
“It sure is.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because it's made from Babylon.” He gripped her wrist, pulling her closer to him, catching her unguarded. “If you don't believe me, let’s see it then.”
“No need.” She avoided his gaze. “There's no time for that.”
She tried to remove his hand but he gripped her wrist tighter. His eyes shot her with a sharp gaze.
“Are you leaving again just like that?!” His voice raised, making her flinch in fear.
From her wrist, he clutched her upper arm, pressing it firmly, and leaned close to her ear. “You actually think I'd let you out of the hook for the second time?”
“S-Sargon… It's hurting me.” She was pertaining to his hand that was so tightly clasped around her arm, she couldn't help but wince. “L-Let me go.”
“No, Habibah.” That same hand immediately snaked around her waist, immobilizing her. He pulled her body up and placed her over his shoulder. She gasped. She struggled to jump off him, but he carried her body like she was a mere sack of rice.
“This time, I'd fulfill your condition.”
No matter how much she tried to shout along the silent hallways, no one came to save her. And the more time passed by, she became even more nervous.
They reached his room.
He tossed her in the bed and instantly crawled on top of her. She pressed her palms against his chest to stop him.
“Sargon!” she cried. “This—This isn't part of our deal!” she shouted, hoping that would knock him to his senses.
But all she received was a menacing smirk that brought chills to her spine. “What do you mean?!”
He pinned her wrist against the bed, bending closer to her, causing her body to be paralyzed. Habibah could already feel his burning warmth weighing over her small body.
Anger took over me. But all I could do was watch. Fuck this mad king.
“You're a product of my hard work!” he exclaimed. “It's right for me to own you, aren't I?”
“No, no, please…”
“Be my Queen,” he murmured. He kissed her neck. His tongue and lips traveled everywhere her skin was exposed. She sobbed harder. Her attempts to push him away was of no use.
He reached the strap of her dress and ripped them off, throwing the tattered clothing across the room.
He nibbled her ear as he whispered slowly. “You'll be my queen.”