In the previously described situation, pretty much only one thing could go wrong... and so it did. Mehrnaz seemed to have "forgotten" about Shirazad's request.
"Your Highness, have you got any news from Mehrnaz?" Anuvaniya asked. She was Shirazad's hand-maiden; normally she was the one who first received news and informed the Queen. But she was still unable to believe that Mehrnaz would act in such a way. So, she asked Shirazad a few times to check if the Queen had received news from some other source.
"Oh, I just truly can't understand," Anuvaniya said. "What is she thinking? Why would she act like you did not ask anything, Your Highness? There are still two weeks... maybe she's going to ask later. She is trying to make you feel anxious."
Shirazad thought and stated, "...She wants me to complain to the Chief Supervisor again. To make it look as if I do not know my place in this project and I skip her on purpose... Then if the Chief Supervisor questioned her, she could say she was too busy and 'forgot' to inform her about my request. It would seem like she was just a little bit forgetful, but I am holding a grudge against her. ...Or, if I don't complain to the Chief Supervisor, she wants to at least make me beg her for those two days off."
"Oh? So, you can't complain to our supervisors. What are you going to do then?" Anuvaniya still could not believe that Mehrnaz would be so ill-intentioned.
Definitely, there was no correct solution. If Shirazad went to the supervisor above Mehrnaz again, it would look like she was complaining too much. But if she went to Mehrnaz again... that was really unpleasant... after all Mehrnaz had done against Shirazad, to have to beg her for two days to pay respects to her ancestors seemed too much.
"Nothing," Shirazad answered.
"You mean, on those two days, you're just going to take a leave?... Without permission?"
"Yes, I am going to do what I am going to do. ...Anyway, it's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission... And I already asked for permission, actually. It shouldn't be my fault that I did not receive an answer. One day before the event, if Mehrnaz still hasn't given me an answer, I will send personal messages to my students - who are all teachers - to let them know I am not going to be there, so they should not trouble themselves to come."
"Ah... yes, I see. It seems to be the best solution, as they say, 'never interrupt an enemy while they're making a mistake'... But still, it's a little bit dangerous. You can still get punished..." Anuvaniya was a little bit worried. "I hope that Mehrnaz will go and ask for permission in a few days... Maybe she's just making you wait to cause trouble."
If Mehrnaz would ask for permission, Shirazad thought, it wouldn't be "in a few days" ; it would rather be "one day" before the two days off Shirazad asked for.
And indeed, that was what happened. Mehrnaz was too suspicious because she never heard from Shirazad again, nor the Supervisor summoned her.
So, she waited for two weeks to hear from Shirazad... but since she didn't... she thought that Shirazad must have something up her sleeve and on the last day she informed the Supervisor about Shirazad's request.
Still, she did not contact Shirazad to give her an answer. Shirazad understood about it almost accidentally after talking to one of her students, one of the teachers, who told her that the meetings on those days were cancelled.
Shirazad was the lecturer on those meetings and she had to explain to the teachers what kind of texts are included in the new students' books and what kind of exercises. Needless to say, she was one of the main figures there and it was awkward that Mehrnaz did not give her a direct answer.
The two days passed and on the next day Shirazad attended a meeting of teachers, and something interesting happened.
Mehrnaz appeared and interrupted the meeting with an announcement - "if somebody was sick or was unable to come for some reason, they had to inform her at least three days in advance" - as all teachers had to attend all of the meetings to make sure that enough people were well-acquainted with the new books.
"If you have to be absent, please tell me at least three days in advance. Our Chief Supervisor works alone now and she is very busy. It's very difficult for her to change plans in the last minute. Let's work together and think about our Chief Supervisor."
Then she politely left the meeting.
Shirazad did not actually know when exactly Mehrnaz had asked the Chief Supervisor for the permission for her two days of absence, because Mehrnaz never gave her an answer in person. But she could guess it was on the last day. Perhaps Mehrnaz had hoped the Supervisor would refuse the request, but she hadn't. It seemed the Supervisor had just warned her this shouldn't happen again.
But... in that case... now it appeared that Shirazad had been careless, thinking only about herself and her own needs, regardless of the fact that other people might be too busy to immediately satisfy them.
This was wrong. She did not care about Mehrnaz, but she didn't want to give a wrong impression to people that she was abusing her power as a queen. If she did not do something, and this continued, people's opinion of her could be influenced, rumors would keep spreading and completely destroy her reputation.
Shirazad was really sorry that she had to deal with such things when it was one year since the demise of her father.
"Whoa! She's so vicious!" Anuvaniya still couldn't believe. "And there is still no way to prove it."
"Don't be so sure," Shirazad said.
"Why, Your Highness?"
"Two days after I asked Mehrnaz about it, I realized she was not going to give me an answer. I wanted to have a way to prove that I've asked her about it in advance. So I came up with this... Do you remember, I've been visiting the library with you every day?"
"Yes, of course. I came with you."
"One of my students is the librarian of the castle's library. Our classes are in the morning, but these two weeks I immediately went to the library together with her and stayed up there until late every day. Many people saw me, and the librarian was amazed and asked me if I was doing research."
"How is this related to Mehrnaz?"
"...So these two weeks, I've been so busy it would have been impossible to go and ask Mehrnaz for permission. And many people could confirm it. ...Moreover, the previous time I asked Mehrnaz for a day off, she scolded you in front of everyone, saying anyone could pretend to be sick and that I have to ask for permission personally. Therefore, now people know that I can't ask her through a servant. If someone investigates, they will certainly discover it was impossible for me to meet her at the time she says."
"Ah," Anuvaniya exclaimed. "Yes, Your Highness! Let's go and complain to the Chief Supervisor."
"Indeed, I want to clear my name and I don't want her to believe I don't 'think about her,'" Shirazad said.
***
So Shirazad visited the Chief Supervisor again because she had to make this one thing clear. But the Supervisor said that though she understood Shirazad's point of view, Mehrnaz's family was very powerful and they did not want to confront her. Shirazad did not care so much about this as long as it was clear that the situation wasn't her fault. The Supervisor might be higher in administrative position compared to Mehrnaz, but her family was not superior than Mehrnaz's.