''I am still the Sultana consort!"
"Do you not bear shame?"
A fallen woman claiming to be the mother of all nations. The Sultan's most beloved woman and flower, being deposed before the Kanun.
"Did you expect to win with your aborted plans, Arshi?"
Sultana mother asked while she was looking at her with a cross between wrath and scorn. The Sultan sat still in his chair with a composed expression on his face looking at how rumpled his Queen was.
"I do not deserve to be spoken to like that, Sultana mother!"
"Who do you think you are? An infidel woman such as yourself is still thinking of disgracing the Royal Sultan and refuses to admit it."
"Where did you get such lies? Who told you I was unfaithful?"
"Arshi, you are hereby stripped off from your title and will be divorced three times by the Sultan, ruler of the nation and the sun of the kingdom of Aleppo." The voice of a judge was heard from a distance.
There were no honorifics.
"You will also be arrested for misleading and embarrassing the Sultan by conceiving a child who is not of royal blood." Another judge went on.
"You shall receive one hundred lashes and be executed with your child for disrespecting the Sultan."
Arshi could not believe what she was hearing. She was held aggressively on both sides by two palace guards and also shackled.
"Hatim, are you not going to say anything? I am innocent and I will always be unequivocal as to the fact that Areeb is your child. He is the Vali Ahad (Heir apparent)!"
His forehead furrowed. He tried as much as possible to stay composed, but what Arshi said impacted him.
"That bastard cannot be my progeny." He responded in a contemptuous tone. "Whatever you're insinuating right now sounds too incredulous!", he screamed.
"Bastard?" Arshi exclaimed with disbelief.
There was something behind his scream, a feeling of pain and disgust. Arshi watched. She was looking through Hatim's eyes. Then she figured it out. Nothing, nobody would save her from that situation. Her words were meaningless and the one she had the most faith in, her husband, did not defend her at all. He deposed and divorced her instead.
"Why are you not willing to take my word, Hatim Sultan? Do I look like such a woman to you?"
"How do you expect me to believe you, while all the evidence is directed at you?"
All those present stared at the deposed Queen and nobody dared to defend her. Some nobles laughed and amused themselves discretely.
She was madly in love with him and knew when it started it would break her. She knew there were too many things to deal with for her opening her heart to the Sultan.
She had never been a vindictive person, instead of trying to understand someone else's motives. The image of the man who promised her the world shattered right before her eyes. Her surroundings became vague for a brief moment. She couldn't bear it any longer.
His jade green eyes, mid-brown hair and politely curved eyebrows were all similar to Areeb's. Arshi wondered why was her son being rejected by his own father? Her son was not even spared. Execution is what she got for conceiving an heir apparent who was not even welcomed by his father. What crime had she committed? She wondered.
"I will never forgive you. Allah will never forgive all of you! ", she lashed out.
"You're foolish. Can you not accept the outcome? This is my Kingdom and you are no longer the Queen. ", Hatim replied.