Chapter 43 – Empress Dowager Nadiya – 5
He just stared at Helena’s pretty face like a stone.
“Stop walking away.”
He commanded. Helena’s pride was greatly wounded, but she did not dare to act rashly in front of the Sultan. She bowed her head once again and quietly retreated.
After she returned to the palace, Helena immediately called her maid Jean and asked her about this and that. The head maid answered honestly.
Unlike the West, there is no custom of monogamy in the East. No, rather, having multiple women was used as a measure of a man’s ability.
Therefore, unlike in the West, high-status men kept concubines secretly, in the East, noble men openly kept dozens of concubines. A sultan of the Ottoman Empire would have hundreds of concubines.
In particular, the sultan was granted another privilege: he could have many concubines as well as wives. In other words, in the Ottoman Empire, unlike the Pent Empire, there was not one but multiple empresses.
There was also a political reason for this. In a country like the Ottoman Empire where the sultan’s power is enormous, the closer the sultan is, the more power he wields.
However, if there was only one empress, there was a high risk that the family to which the empress belonged would become her maternal relatives and that her family would have to protect her.
To prevent this, multiple empresses were appointed. Then, since there are many maternal relatives, the power will be dispersed and it will not be strong.
So, Selim, the current sultan, also had thousands of maids and hundreds of concubines in his harem, and her royal family his hers, that is, the empress alone, had as many as 13 people. Helena was the 13th empress.
Only then did Helena understand why Selim used the expression ‘new empress’ and why Nadiya looked down on her and put her down, even whipping her.
There were 13 empresses, so she was only one of them, and Helena, who was a newcomer, must have seemed funny to Empress Nadiya.
Also, because there were multiple empresses, the empresses could not exert any power at all in the harem, a society made up of women. The most powerful woman here was the queen dowager, or queen mother of the sultan.
Originally, when the sultan changed, it was customary to send out all the women in the harem during the previous sultan’s term and then bring in new women to fill the harem.
In general, the current sultan is the son of the previous sultan, so it was natural to prevent his son and father from becoming brother-in-law.
However, only one woman, the mother who gave birth to the current sultan, remains in the harem. And she became her queen mother and seized all her power.
It had to be that way. While there are multiple empresses, there is only one queen dowager, so its scarcity and concentration of power are bound to be special.
As a result of efforts to lower the power of the Empress, the ironic result was that the Empress Dowager’s power her became even more powerful.
Also, the authority of the sultan in the Ottoman Empire was truly fearsome. Even high-ranking officials, such as great nobles or prime ministers, had to bow their heads to the floor and walk on their knees in front of the sultan. Only when the sultan gave permission could one raise one’s head or raise one’s body.
Therefore, it was natural that the women of the harem could not even raise their faces in front of the sultan. Even if it is a concubine or an empress.
Only one woman, the queen dowager, was allowed to stand before the sultan. Even so, she always treated the Sultan with respect and had to bow deeply when greeting him.
In addition, Selim, the current sultan, had one peculiarity. He was very sick from birth and could not leave his bed until he was ten years old. He predicted that everyone would die soon.
Although he was fortunate to survive into his late teens and become sultan, he was still in poor health. He barely got out of bed, but he couldn’t even take a step outside the harem. Like other sultans, it was unthinkable for him to personally lead an army and fight.
The fact that the eastern expedition of Jonathan and others proceeded quite favorably was also due to the fact that Selim was confined to the harem and the Ottoman Empire was unable to properly utilize its magnificent military power.
That’s why Selim was so skinny. He still said that he took more medicine than he consumed food. Moreover, there was a widespread theory that he became a eunuch because of his illness.
Selim had 13 empresses and hundreds of concubines. There were thousands of maids in the harem that he could take at any time. Is that all there is? He is a sultan with absolute power, so if he wants to save a beautiful woman, he will be able to do so.
However, even though there were numerous beautiful women around Selim, he never coveted women. No one has ever seen him sleep with a woman. So it was natural for a rumor to spread that he was a eunuch.
Also, since the sultan was too weak to properly take care of affairs, actual politics were handled by the chancellor Sokolu and the queen dowager Nadiya.
Nadiya within the harem and Sokolu outside the harem cooperate with each other to lead the great empire. Therefore, Nadiya’s authority and power will inevitably become more powerful. Nadiya’s power within the current Ottoman Imperial Palace was much stronger than that of an ordinary queen dowager, and she was truly omnipotent.
So, he must have felt free to whip Helena, who, no matter how much she was called a ‘new daughter-in-law,’ was still the princess of the great empire of Pent. Nadiya’s power extended not only to the women in the harem, but also to the military and officials outside the harem.
Also, although it didn’t happen often, Nadiya would often go out of the harem. It wasn’t because she had a lover outside the harem. Nadiya, who had recently fallen in love with the taste of enjoying political power, wanted to wield it more freely and more powerfully.
Originally, the harem was an exclusive area, and men other than the sultan were prohibited from entering, and women belonging to the harem were also prohibited from going out.
It was a rule to prevent the sultan’s women and their chastity from being polluted by completely blocking the access of other men to the sultan’s women.
In fact, Nadiya usually followed this rule well. Usually, when Prime Minister Sokolu and Nadiya communicated with each other, a maid from the Sokolu family would come to the harem.
After delivering Sokolu’s letter to Nadiya, her role was to receive Nadiya’s letter and deliver it to Sokolu.
And when there was something important to discuss, Aisha, Sokolu’s wife and Nadiya’s half-daughter, would visit.
Even though Nanidya and Aisha were not her biological mother and daughter, they were close as if she were her own mother and daughter. Aisha, a cat-like beauty with short blonde hair and ruby eyes, admired Nadiya, a heroine who controlled both the old palace and the imperial government even though she was a woman.
Even in her mid-to-late thirties, Nadiya still boasts the beauty of her prime through perfect management, and her strong authority and power to the point where men of her her status her tremble in front of her . He was the object of her admiration.
Nadiya also loved Aisha, who was not only pretty but also an excellent mage. He loved Aisha, who was unusually smart for a woman and even had outstanding magic skills.
Every time they saw each other, they would giggle to each other, thinking about the fact that their exchange of opinions would move this great empire, and feeling satisfied with their powerful power. Aisha felt sorry for her sickly half-brother Selim, but at the same time she despised him.
However, there was also a concern that things could go wrong if one was confined to the harem due to insufficient information or time lag in the delivery of orders.
So Nadiya would often come out of the harem and take care of the affairs herself. When she breaks the rules of the harem, she always uses this situation as a shield.
But what Nadiya didn’t say on the outside was that she wanted to feel the immense power she possessed on her own skin.
Nadiya would feel a deep sense of pleasure every time her ministers, including her vizier Sokollu and the Nanda Ginda of the Ottoman Empire, bowed deeply in front of her, frowned at her, and looked at her.
Nadiya was also known for her terrible double personality. She always behaved like an elegant and cultured lady when dealing with her sultan or her outsiders, especially her men. She had a soft and warm demeanor like the spring breeze and spoke with a gentle voice.
However, in front of women, women of the harem, his attitude would change completely. She turns into a very strict, sharp and fierce woman.
Nadiya would attack women as fiercely as her predators, and she would find fault with her and inflict very cruel punishments.
Her terrible character had a part to play in why she whipped Helena. No, in fact, the only thing that ended with her whipping her was that Helena considered her empress her. It was common for women to die or become disabled due to Nadiya’s cruel punishment.
That is why the women of the harem terribly hated Nadiya, who pretended to be elegant only in front of her man. However, because her power was so great, everyone followed her without saying anything.
As her maid Jean, explained these circumstances in detail, Helena finally began to understand what was going on. But now she feels bad for telling this story. When Helena raised her eyes with such intention, the head maid responded with an attitude of apology.
“Sorry. “The Queen Mother gave me a strict order not to say anything until the greetings between her and Her Majesty the Sultan were completed.”
So, it seems that Nadiya wanted to play around with her ‘new daughter-in-law’, who she knew nothing about. In that case, she had no reason to scold her maid, Jang. In any case, even if Helena knew everything about her, Nadiya would have found any excuse she could find to whip her.
Rather, Helena felt that she should make good use of the information she had just gained. Although the Gujung Palace was originally a place like a devil’s den, the current harem of the Ottoman Empire was more like a devil’s den than you could imagine.
But she didn’t hate it. Such grotesque and erotic magic was actually Helena’s taste. A smile was drawn on Helena’s lips as she hatched all her intrigues. That smile was so beautiful, but also breathtakingly close.
That night, Helena was called by Nadiya and headed to her bedroom. After listening to what her maid, Jean, had said, she knew that he would call her tonight, and she also guessed the purpose of her, so she had prepared thoroughly in advance.
Her luxurious blonde hair was left loose and adorned with sparkling jewels. Her wavy golden hair her fell near her shoulders her her her. Every time that hair fluttered, it seemed like golden dust was fluttering in the night sky.
Her always beautiful face she had perfect makeup. In addition to her emerald eyes, sharp nose, and red lips, her elf-like pointed, long ears added to the impact.
She wore an off-shoulder one-piece dress, so her shoulders were exposed. The dress barely covered her breasts her her, covering only her nipples her her her, so the top of her breasts and the curves between them were clearly visible. The straps on her sides were hanging on both of her arms, giving off a subtly more sexy vibe.
In particular, the black one-piece dress contrasted with Helena’s pure white skin her, creating a more erotic atmosphere, and the style was tight to her body her, revealing her sexy S-line without filtering.
Her skirt was very short, barely covering her buttocks. Long, slender legs stretched out beneath the tight black skirt of hers. The silver high heels at the end of the legs she was high and sharp enough to make you dizzy.
This is a look that emphasizes Helena’s beauty and sexiness as much as possible. She smiled in satisfaction as she looked in the mirror and saw that her beauty and sexiness were perfectly expressed.
So, she headed to Nadiya’s palace dressed in clothes more suited to a high-class courtesan than an empress.
When she arrived before the Empress Dowager, she was immediately taken to the deepest bedroom. When things went as expected, Helena smiled.
