Muhtesem Yuzyil Imagines ♡

sᴜʟᴇɪᴍᴀɴ's ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜs ɢᴇᴍ - Prologue (By Seraphis88)

The year was 1520 when Sultan Selim Khan passed away while his heir twenty-six-year-old Şehzade Suleiman was at his sanjak in Manisa. While he was hunting, a young dark-haired woman sat at the head of the harem since the Valide Ayse Hafsa Sultan left to visit her husband before he passed. Known as Haseki Zeynep Sultan, legitimate wife of Şehzade Suleiman, the English Rose, the young woman held her enlarged belly lovingly while watching some of the other harem girls dance for her, Mahidevran, and the other ikbals. Her children sat next to her on each side as they played with each other and their half-brother Mustafa. Şehzade Ahmed was the eldest at seven, with Şehzade Mustafa and Dilara Sultan at four, and Şehzade Hakan and Emine Sultan at two.

Wearing a white dress that accentuated her curves, Zeynep watched contently as her children enjoyed the party. She soon saw an agha rush inside with a scroll in his hands. He gave it to one of her maids, Defne Hatun, who rushed it over to her with a curtsey as she handed it to her. Dread pooling in her gut, she opened the scroll to read the news contained. Seeing the words on the page caused her face to go pale as she quickly looked up from the scroll.

"Stop the festivities!" She ordered, causing everyone to be confused as the harem girls stopped dancing and the music stopped playing. Standing up, she walked to the middle of the room and stood in front of everyone as she continued saying, "Sultan Selim Khan has passed away. Our Şehzade Suleiman has left for Constantinople to inherit the throne. I and Mahidevran have been summoned to Topkapi Palace with our children. For the rest of you, you'll be married off or given the choice to continue to serve as Kalfas." Unable to continue, as the death of her father-in-law hit her hard. He was the one to grant permission for her and Suleiman to marry seven years ago after the birth of her first child.

Heading back to her rooms with her children and her two maids, Defne Hatun and Burcu Hatun, she ordered servants to come and start packing her belongings and ordered the same of Mahidevran's things. Over the next few days, packing filled the time as Zeynep quietly mourned with her four children. They were all dressed in black as they moved throughout the large room, silence filling the air around them. In a few days, they would be leaving the home they'd known for years as they moved to Constantinople to begin a new chapter in their lives. She knows Mahidevran was probably overjoyed at the news of Suleiman's ascension, imagining her son on the throne in the future. Though not the oldest son, Mustafa was a precocious child with an innocence that pulled people to him. Though a threat to her sons, she wouldn't harm a child and would wait and see if he would harm his siblings.

Soon the day came for them to leave Manisa. As Zeynep watched her maids corral her children into the carriage, she saw Mahidevran and Mustafa leave them behind as they were done packing first. As two carriages were finally filled with their belongings, she stepped inside the third carriage with her four children as they were escorted by some of Suleiman's trusted men to guard them. It was about a week's travel from Manisa to Constantinople, and many things could happen in that time.

When they arrived on the sixth day of traveling, they immediately went to visit the Valide Sultan as was the custom to let the children see their grandmother. Though the older woman was indifferent to Zeynep, preferring Mahidevran to her, she couldn't help but be grateful that the young woman was adept at harem matters and wasn't as emotional as the others were. She knew the rules of the harem and didn't try to change them, but embraced them. She took many of the young concubines under her wing, teaching them the ways of the world and the skills they would need in the future.