Yuki opened the door to the next room and frowned. The room was noisy, but no sound could be heard from outside. She looked at the walls. They must have been made of sound-insulating material.
While a children's song was playing in the background, several children were running around. In the center, a table had been improvised and on it were soft drinks, snacks, sweets and a cake with the words "Happy Birthday Selytha" and four pink candles. The whole room was decorated with balloons of various colors that were hung in bunches in the corners and on the floor. The children were playing absent-mindedly.
While staring at all this in amazement, Yuki felt someone touch her hand and, looking up, saw Selytha smiling with a joy and excitement that Yuki had never seen before.
"Mom! I'm so glad you came!"
Yuki knelt down to her size and hugged her.
"My sweet girl! Who prepared all this for you?"
"Uncle Sean." She said, shaking her shoulders.
Yuki let go of her and looked at all the children. She was thrilled. Selytha had never had a birthday party.
"Who are these children?"
"They're my friends from school."
"I'm glad Sean prepared this party for you."
Selytha smiled.
"Me too, Mom. I was happy and surprised."
Yuki stood up.
"Well, now it's time to break out the cake and send your friends back to their homes. It's already late."
"Let us stay a little longer, Mom."
Yuki, who had been waiting for that request, smiled.
"All right."
Selytha's party was livelier than Attila's, and Yuki enjoyed herself with the children. The party only ended when the children's parents came to collect them.
Yuki slept in Selytha's room that night.
...
Sean turned at the end of the corridor to start down the stairs when he was violently grabbed by the collar of his shirt and when he saw his assailant, he smiled debauchedly.
"Are you going to kill your Pharaoh, Attila?"
"I wish to, you coward!"
Sean let go and stared at Attila as he smoothed his shirt.
"I've wanted to do that too. I bet many more times than you."
"You should have done it and saved us the trouble." Atila said angrily.
"What do you want, Atila? I was just going down to the library for a drink before bed, will you join me?"
"What did you do to Yuki?"
"Do you want to know the details, Atila? This is very intimate. I don't think you have the patience to listen. You know how children are raised."
"You hurt her, Sean. And one day I'll get back at you, for her."
"Did she complain to you?"
"I'm not blind. I can tell by the look on her face that she's in pain."
"Then I advise you to ask her first if I'm responsible for her suffering."
"Ah, Sean. I know you. Whatever you've done to her, you must have made sure that no one ever knows."
Sean shook his shoulders.
"So you're going to take revenge for something you'll never know actually happened."
Attila looked at him with a different glint in her eye.
"You already know about Selytha." He concluded.
"Yes. I know."
"And if Yuki and Selytha are still breathing, it must be because you've forgiven them or... because the girl is your daughter and you're protecting them because of your blood."
"I'm protecting my blood, when I stay silent about them, but not for them. For you. You care so much about our laws and you don't know that violating Pharaoh's offering is redeemed by death?" He asked and went downstairs.
...
Attila stood watching the empty staircase for a while after Sean had finished coming down, before deciding to go to his room.
His fury was so great that he had completely forgotten about Helena, until he opened the door and saw her standing next to an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne in her hand.
He smiled and approached her.
"I confess I never imagined I'd find you in my room like this." He said and took another bottle of champagne from the ice, opened it and poured his glass.
"And how did you expect me to look? Naked and with an apple in my mouth?"
"Naked, yes. I've seen you naked in my teenage fantasies. And I did things with you in those fantasies, as I remembered the description of the man who lay with you. He was very detailed."
Helena blushed.
"He didn't talk about the two of us..."
"Yes, he did. All the soldiers in this palace, who are over twenty years old, will remember that."
"Is that why you didn't consider making me your wife? For it was with that promise that my brother persuaded me to come here tonight."
"Your brother? Kurtin is your lover. And it worries me that Sean has chosen someone like him to be his confidence man. As for marriage... I wouldn't mind marrying you, in fact, I'd feel honored, if my heart didn't have someone else in it."
"My brother is loyal. And we're not lovers. That's a dirty lie!"
"It's not a lie, Helena. I was the man most in love with you inside this palace. There's nothing about you that I don't know. Jurtin talked about your body... He made it sound like his supposed lover, the duke, shared these details with him, but I knew that he talked about his own experience all the time."
"So that's why Kurtin told me you'd marry me. Because you once loved me?"
"Yes. He may have come to that conclusion. But there's a reason for this plot that bothers me. I don't like being manipulated and I have the impression that they threw this party to get me away from Farida." Atila said, looking into Helena's eyes. "From your expression, I assumed right."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't show surprise, Helena. You know how I feel about Farida."
"The whole kingdom knows." She said with undisguised pleasure.
Attila looked back at her.
"I want to know if everything I assume is true. Remove your clothes."
Her eyes turned dark and debauched, but she obeyed. Attila stood silently watching the dress slide down her body and concentrated on the curves and details of her body for some time. He poured himself some more champagne and walked over to the intercom and looked at her after picking up the handset.
"Your body doesn't match what I've always imagined, so now I want to see something. I want to watch the way you have sex, and I'm going to let you choose with whom."
She stared at him in surprise and bent down to put on her clothes.
"You're not going to humiliate me like this, Atila. There's nothing you can do against me that will convince me to allow this to continue."
Atila returned the intercom and smiled.
"Yes, you will, Helena. And I won't even have to ask. You'll beg me to humiliate you, and since you haven't chosen, I'll choose for you. Now, go and leave me alone."
She walked past him with her head held high and left, slamming the door.
...
At breakfast the next morning, Yuki went down to the dining room and found Atila, Celesty and Sean drinking coffee in silence. She sat down and none of them looked at her.
The silence bothered Yuki, who couldn't help herself. She waited.
Sean finished and stood up.
"Wait, Pharaoh." Yuki said and he looked at her curiously and sat down again.
Everyone stood at attention.
"I'm Farida."
Celesty laughed.
"Ah, dear. If you don't say that constantly, I think it's really going to be difficult for anyone to remember." She said and put her hand to her belly provocatively.
Yuki turned to her with a happy smile.
"I'm glad I reminded you of that, Celesty. Now that you don't have to think about it, I'll remind you of something else. All my wishes must be fulfilled, remember? And my will is that you return to live with the women of the harem, so that your Farida doesn't have to keep reminding you of your position in this palace. And you'll never leave. Your whole life will be in that place. When your daughter is born and is destined to serve me, washing my toilet, you will remain in the harem, as a servant to the younger women of the Pharaohs who will reign after Sean."
Celesty looked indignantly at Sean.
"Are you going to allow that? She is Farida and her every will must be just."
Sean looked amused at Celesty.
"I need to abide by our laws. That's what you've been tormenting me for days to do, interested in bearing my child. You've achieved both. Reminding me of my obligations as Pharaoh and bearing a child of my own, and now I think you've realized that both the things you've so longed for and conquered, haven't guaranteed you any advantage."
"Are you really going to throw me out of our room?"
"No. But Farida's wish has already done that."
Celesty stood up and looked coldly at Yuki.
"I know dark magic. And I will never allow you to bear a child for Pharaoh." She said and left angrily.
Yuki looked amused at Sean and Atila, but they were staring at each other in puzzlement.
"What happened? You didn't believe what she said, did you?"
"Do you know Celesty's origin?" Atila asked, standing up.
"No. But I think I'm going to find out something I'm not going to like."
"Celesty is the heir to the family that created the dark spells in the three dungeons of this palace."
"What does that mean?"
"Just as Pharaoh's magic is passed down from father to son, we assume that her family's curse is also passed down in this way. If there's anyone in this palace capable of invoking that curse, it's Celesty."
"I'm not afraid of her."
"No one told you to fear her, Yuki. But be careful what you drink from now on." Atila said and left.