Strings Attached ✨

32. A Perfected Skill

(Ruh pov)

As I entered the chamber, I felt myself weakening for some reason.

The big bed in the center was softly guarded by curtains on all sides that were tied all together at the top in the center.
On the two sides of the bed, two huge chandeliers hung, casting the entire room in a shimmery glow.

The architecture was just out of the world. The carvings on both the ceiling and walls were exquisite and visibly, requiring a lot of dedication to have been designed.

As I stood there, taking in the beauty of the place, I heard footsteps behind me that stopped just a few feet away from me. I knew who it was from the smell that now lingered all around me.

I didn't turn back, and I didn't feel him move either.

" It's beautiful, isn't it ?" ...I heard him speak.

I nodded my head, not turning back.

" My mother designed it. In Fact, all the royal chambers were done by her. " .........this time I was intrigued. I turned around, looking at him.

" But isn't it the job of the royal architects ?" ....I questioned.

" Yeah, we have them. Loads of them in fact. They've had the happiest job in this kingdom I would say, .........." He chuckled in between. " They get paid for just sitting there and watching my mother design everything, she's really passionate about it, and she is really good at it too. " .........I saw his eyes shine as he spoke about her.

" I know, she might have seemed a little off-putting to you at first....." ....I tried to shake my head but he smiled. " She's just a lot protective about the entire family, and now that you'll be added to the family, I bet she'll be protective of you too. " .......he started walking towards the bed and signaled me to follow him.

Talking to him helped my earlier hesitance and fear.

" You know we're told that women are just homemakers, then I was always so confused when my father let my mother do whatever she wanted. I mean, architecture isn't really something left to women by our standards. I always saw my dad enjoy watching my mom be passionate about something. " .......I didn't really understand what he was talking about and why he would want to tell me all of these, but I didn't object.

" He would always pay the royal workers for the job to just sit and help my mom do the job as and when she wanted. I was a child and so it baffled me, but as I grew up I realized that in fact she did some of the jobs better than the workers could've ever done. But then, something else baffled me. " .........I was intrigued. " What ?" ...I asked almost as soon as he stopped.

He turned around, and sat on the bed facing me and patted the place beside him twice, asking me to sit. So I went on and did that.

" Well, he would do all of this which was obviously nothing wrong, at least it didn't feel wrong to me, but he would always hide it from the people. The workers were also kept and paid for that reason, so no one in the kingdom knows about anything. And while we have all the funds to pay the workers their whole life, I didn't know why my mother's work needed to be hidden. " ..........I understood where he was coming from, and totally agreed with him.

Although in our sikri, it was completely different. Women could do anything a man did, but I knew that sikri was criticized in the whole empire for that. When we came out of Sikri, we could hear people saying that our kingdom might be cursed because we let the women do things they weren't 'supposed' to.
But like he said, I knew that sometimes women did the job even better than their male counterparts ever could.

" Although it wasn't clear to me then, it's clear to me now. People just don't believe women should do anything except being a homemaker." ....he stopped and turned towards me.