Empire of the Ring

“Oh! I remember my first visit to Zeynep Farm in Baku.”

When the villa, which had yet to be completed, caught her eye, Zeynep exclaimed, saying that it reminded her of the old days.

Next to the villa’s stone wall was a long, narrow path, where a short vine was planted at a distance of two to three meters. Although it was a warm island, it was still winter, and the bare branches reminded them of the earlier days of the Baku farm.

At that time, Zeynep liked the farm and nagged to stay the night, so Youngho had to buy several mattresses as temporary beds for the Fatima siblings to stay. This became an opportunity for them to settle in Baku later. It was a long time ago, but for Youngho and the siblings, it remained clear like it just happened yesterday. It was great that they had memories to share.

When Zeynep talked about the farm, Fatima and Jelyan seemed to be reminiscing about it as they both had memories of the farm, too.

“I’m sure we’ll have mattresses ready here today.”

“Oppa, do wolves and other animals live here too?”

The memory of that first day was long-lasting.

When they first slept on the Baku farm, Youngho shot his gun to scare the thieves who came into the farm. He lied to the siblings that it had been wolves because he did not want to scare them.

“There are no wolves, but instead there are sharks in the sea, so stop thinking of going into the sea.”

“What? There’s a shark? Oppa, catch me one. Let me tame it.”

“Oh, silly. What kind of pet is a shark?”

“What are you talking about? I saw a movie, and people even ride on sharks.”

Youngho was dumbfounded by Zeynep’s silly idea, who was already an adult. Even the young Leon would not think of taming sharks. His anxiety about Zeynep bringing her boyfriend one day and marrying him was gone in an instance.

Youngho looked puzzled, and Fatima laughs at his face. She had read many thoughts crossing in his mind through his expression.

“Hahaha... What’s that look on your face?”

“Phew, I think I had enough silliness for today. Let’s unpack our luggage and take a look at the relics we found.”

“You won’t have anything left if you take them along.”

“They won’t be able to take so many gold coins because they are heavy.”

“Wait! Oppa, you don’t mean me when you say ‘they,’ did you? I deserve to have some because it’s the gold coin of the Serbian kingdom.”

“Oh, we just said so because it will be a problem if we said we found the relics out of the sea of Greece.”

“It will cost you some to stop my mouth.”

“Oh, Zeynep, don’t you belong to the royal family, too?”

“I heard you’re an outsider when you get married.”

“The Kazakh royal family is an exception. From now on, every son-in-law of the royal family should move to the royal territory once you get married, alright?”

Youngho suggested an idea as a joke, but after spitting it out, he thought it would be okay to adopt that system. If a smart man joined the royal family as Zeynep’s groom, it would be a big boost to the royal family.

When Fatima heard that, her eyes twinkled. This look was a habit of her’s when she liked something.

“Oh, my word! Are you serious? Are you saying that Zeynep doesn’t have to leave the royal family when she gets married?”

“Well, I guess we can make a royal law that says so. We’re accepting refugees to increase our population, so shouldn’t we increase our royal members as well?”

“Wow, Zeynep. You should make it clear when you have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t care. There will be guys from great families lining up to join our royal family, don’t you think, oppa?”

“Well, Zeynep, it doesn’t matter who you choose. Just choose the one you like.”

“Really?”

Youngho spoke words that were not true to his heart, but it was Zeynep’s life. He wanted to at least try to let her go.

***

The pier construction on the island had only progressed by fifty percent. It was because there was not enough space for a transport ship carrying the construction materials.

The barge floating near the beach was acting as a temporary dock, so the workers could make this much progress.

Oil storage and seawater desalination equipment had already been transported to the island, and installation work was in full swing. They had been brought in as completed products, so they only needed to be connected to the pipes.

The reason for such a grand construction was to ensure the safety of the Arirang shipping line that ran between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

The Arirang Island was home to the Mediterranean mobile fleet, which had one Aegis destroyer, three frigates, and one supply ship on standby all the time.

The Greek government had agreed with the royal family to have such ships since it thought the Kazakh royal family’s Arirang Island would be a buffer zone between Greece and Turkey.

In the sea to be used as a port, however, there were old wooden boats sunken in the past, and they were preventing big vessels from entering the island. As workers cleared the obstacles to build the harbor, they found old relics and gold coins.

After agonizing over how to handle the coins, Youngho turned it into a relic of the Kingdom of Serbia and was selling it at a high price now. If it was known as the undersea artifact, there would be a dispute with the Greek government over the ownership of the relics, so he had played a trick.

Most treasure boxes were collected already, and only the coins that were scattered around the sea bottom were left. The gold coins were almost recovered now, and only a few were being brought up from time to time by the construction workers.

Having just found some gold coins on one side of the barge, Zeynep held them in her hand excitedly.

“Huh! Even though you’re a princess, you can’t take royal property recklessly.”

“I’m just going to take a few. You can get a lot of donations if you give it as a gift to influential people.”

“Hmmm, if that’s the purpose, take as much as you like, Zeynep. We’ve collected enough already.”

“More than this?”

“In the beginning, we found them in boxes.”

“Well, then can I take all of these? We’ll support the orphans that Jelyan takes care of from our foundation.”

Zeynep’s business mind was behind her request. She wanted to make connections with influential people and receive more contributions for her foundation. This would lead them to get connected to the Kazakh royal family, so Youngho also liked the idea.

“You can melt, sell, or make gold bars out of the gold coins. I will give you more if they can achieve something.”

“Hohoho... Make sure you keep that promise.”

After confirming with Youngho, Zeynep encouraged the divers to retrieve more gold coins. She told them that she would introduce a beautiful Kurdish woman to the one who retrieved the most gold coins.

As Youngho was pleased to see Zeynep’s action, Fatima held his arm and asked for a walk.

“What’s gotten into you? You never link our arms.”

“There are not many people who are watching us here. Let’s take a little walk up the path near the harbor.”

“As you command, my queen. Shall we walk?”

“I love this place. It’s quiet, and it’s not crowded. It reminds me of the early days of Zeynep Farm in Baku.”

“You and Zeynep have been talking about the Baku farm for a while. Don’t you like our life in the palace?”

“Well, it’s a luxurious life, but I sometimes want my simple life back.”

“Would it have been possible for me to live such a simple life with my greed?”

“It would’ve been possible if we stayed in Baku. Well, now we can’t go back anymore.”

Although she became the Queen, Fatima still had the heart of a poor girl in Istanbul.

She did not like the hustle and bustle of things and felt burdened by the attention of people. She envied a normal and simple life and thought of their past life on Zeynep Farm in Baku as the best.

Feeling sorry to burden her because of his goals, Youngho held her hand tight.

“If life like this is too much and difficult, you can always tell me. I’ll lay down everything and leave to a remote place for our family.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t beat the hopes of those who trust our royal family. I’m just going to take it as fate.”

“But you still have a desire to hand over the throne to Leon?”

“Of course, I do. I can’t just give up the royal family you’ve worked so hard for.”

“But you still dream of a simple life?”

“I just want to go back to being a normal woman and a wife. Please make time for our family often like this. Then I’ll be satisfied with that.”

“Should I build a separate palace here as well?”

“I’d appreciate it if you did. Still, I really want to visit Zeynep Farm once a year.”

“Why there?”

“It’s where our memories are.”