The prince's evil wife

"If I could forget that I am his son, I assure him that I would make it."

If we start from the beginning of the young Tegim's life, we will understand the magnitude of the problems that surrounded him since he was born. The birth was extensive and painful for the mother, but thanks to a miracle she was saved and was able to take care of the coal-black child mined by slaves in the mountains.

From the beginning, Tuva Eke was haunted by bad luck, problems, and misunderstandings. Not only he thought so, but all the people who at some point in his life surrounded him, and who in one way or another ended badly thanks to him, for the simple fact of being related to him.

After so many years hiding from others and being isolated from the outside world, he decided to give himself a chance, just one, and clarify what happened that night of the first month of the tenth year.

The tower of exile housed him for more than sixteen years, those gray walls and brick worn by natural phenomena, knew of his sufferings, his fears, and hatreds.

In all his life he did not know the affection of a father, nor that of a mother. His heart was cold, frozen as snow, tormented by a past that condemned him throughout his life, which ended with that tender ten-year-old boy who was forced to see his mother die while everyone hated her and treated her as an outcast.

The windows fogged by the cool morning dew witnessed his sleepless nights in front of them, looking for a way to make his father remember him, that he had a son locked up thousands of miles from the royal castle. It took him time to accomplish his goal, especially when he did not want to raise suspicions about himself.

Finally, he was able to decipher in the thick fog of vicissitudes, the password to get out of exile. The moon whispered it in his ear, the owl expressed it to him with his piercing gaze and the wind announced it to him loudly amid the changing gusts of air.

It was the first month of the year; The 16th anniversary of his mother's death... 16 years lost unjustifiably because of a strategy to pave the calls of the nomadic tribes of the steppes, to extinguish the voice of the bearers of an old tribe that little by little disappeared from the territory.

He looked away from the window and focused on the entrance to the tower of the only person who had been with him since he was a ten-year-old child. The only person who had agreed to stay with him, despite the rumors and dangers circulating and surrounding.

"Mr. Yul, the season is changing," he warned, "I woke up a week ago, but Father has not come... I wonder he remembers me or if he thinks of my mother.

The man looked at the window and smiled sadly.

"It's the anniversary of your mother's death, young sir.

"That's right," he faintly agreed. Today, sixteen years ago, my mother was executed by my father. On a cloudy morning like this, my mother died pierced by a dozen sharp spears.

"Lord, it's a miracle that you're alive. After the death of Concubine Anuska, his father condemned him to exile, also to drink progressive poison...

"I am very curious to know what persuaded my father to desist from giving me much more poison.

"Sir, the poison could have killed you in a matter of a few years, it makes no sense for you to think about it. However, if you wish, I will find out.

Tuva Eke shook slightly while gently scratching one of the purple welts on his neck.

"Do you know when this will be removed?" —He questioned without anguish while ending the subject that so disturbed his companion.

"As long as the white poison does not leave your body, you'll have those hives on your skin.

"You should give me a more generous dose," he suggested in a fearful whisper.

Young Tegim sighed wearily at the sight of reproach. No one could understand it, for none was able to feel in his own flesh the sharp pains and shameful sufferings of his body every night due to the cold.

He felt dissatisfied and powerless, because having reached these instances had not been his fault, nor of nature, but it was his father who had imposed that painful condition on him. It was the great Khan who led him to a dead end, a crossroads facing evil, which had left him mortally wounded and vulnerable in front of everyone's eyes.

The only alternative to relieve the pain that the prince had and counteract the first poison was with another poison that could be obtained on either side of the khanate. That had become his medicine for lack of any other basic service. However, the excess liquid had led him to the point of becoming intoxicated with an overdose. From that day, Mr. Yul controlled the portions of the medicine, to prevent the young master from dying at any time because of imprudence and despair.

"You should not abuse your health, remember that it can be dangerous to mix the two poisons," he warned nervously, but seeing that he did not get a reaction, he decided to change the subject. Time is running out; the king soon must choose a candidate for succession.

Tuva Eke smiled heartily.

"I know, even so, I will not rush to look for more excuses to get out of here, because I have already found one. Send my father this letter, I am sure I will not need words for him to remember me. Surely, he must be thinking about this too, he has been thinking about me.

[…]

While some thought that being related to the exiled and mad prince was a dishonor and a synonym for weakness, others like the great Khan, knew of the danger that the khanate could run, if the son of the Russian concubine killed sixteen years ago woke up from his lethargy after almost dying poisoned with cinnabar.

Over the years, it was shown that life was opposed to the Khan, because against all odds, he received the news that his son had awakened.

He fell silent, feeling guilty for trying to kill him when he was still a child. He would never be able to shake off the shadows of that fateful day, a day when he had lost not only one of his wives, but also the most capable son among the rest of his offspring.

He decided to get out of his exhausting thoughts and face the vizier:

"When has this happened?"

"A few weeks ago," he replied immediately.

"Why hadn't I heard about this?"

"Responding to the Khanliq, visits to the northern tower were restricted by you on the day your son entered there.

The man was silent for a few brief moments.

"How was it?" Did the poison leave his body?

"Khanliq, the poison was in your system for many years. The poison did not manage to kill him, but it has damaged his sight, his skin is stained with purple rosettes, and he does not speak either; He does not say a single word... Besides, that is not all, because his limp has gotten worse.

The man laughed with sorrow, it was not a joyful laugh, but one that could be mixed with crying. Moans rumbled in his broad, heavy chest, even though he didn't want to look vulnerable. But when he felt that the lump in his throat had been lifted, he turned his attention back to his subordinate:

"I am a ruler with a crippled son, a disabled person who is not even able to bear the weight of his own surname, tell me... Do I have any pride left?

"Khanliq, the respect your other children have earned inside and outside our territory compensates for the shame of having that child of yours.

The king turned his gaze to the vizier. His deep black eyes stared intensely at the man, warning him that his words were reckless. The man, understanding this, ran to apologize and ask for absolution from death.

"Tuva Eke is my son, you have no right to speak ill of him, because after all he is your master.

"I know, Khanliq, I apologize.

The Jester Man:

"Do you have another message?"

The man immediately put on the desk each of the documents that his king had to review that day. The Khan set out to fulfill daily duties, sign decrees, issue sentences and read reports sent from the borders. Among all those rolls of skins, he found one yellowish and of inferior quality. He opened it with parsimony, expecting to see one more of the many war reports, but it was not so, and he was surprised to see a date written on the canvas. He remembered the date remembered there and got another shocking surprise; it was the anniversary of the death of Concubine Anuska, Tuva Eke's mother.

The man dropped the scroll as if it were the plague.

"Anuska," he whispered in annoyance.

The vizier arrived with him, and anxiously tried to see what was happening to him. But no matter how much I asked, the Khan didn't tell him anything concrete.

"Tuva, Tuva," he stammered, choking, "look for Tuva Eke.

"Great Khanliq, your son is condemned to exile.

The Khan lost patience and shouted:

"Order my decree! He demanded heatedly, "I want Tuva Eke to appear before me.

…

Both Mr. Yul and Tuva Eke looked out the window when they perceived activity outside the tower. It had been two days since the message had been sent to the khan and all this movement assured him that it was his men.

"Young sir, they are your father's men! Yul exclaimed in fright.

Tuva Eke reacted immediately, extended the cane to the ground and once he had leaned it against the grayish stone, got up and walked as fast as his sick leg allowed. In the end he threw himself on the bed while letting Mr. Yul wrap him in the blankets.

"You're good at this, sir. Don't let the Khan be suspicious of you," he urged before his father's staff entered the tower room.

[...]

Chapter 2

In a land as inhospitable as the same icy mountains that delimited the territory, life had never been easy for Miss Alimceceg Batun, a girl of aristocratic parents belonging to the tribes of the Eurasian steppes. She grew up in a noble family, in the shadow of her sisters and cousins; the daughters of Khan Sekiz Oghuz.

Being one of the last daughters of Khubilai, the Khan's second brother never had the attention of her father and mother less, for she never knew her, because she had separated herself from the common people, she was no longer worthy of being a Batun; many told her that she had gone mad.

As she was the least favored daughter of the minor residence of the city, she was taken in by the old lady, her grandmother, a woman hardened by the experience of a life full of deprivation in the desert, and abandoned by most of her grandchildren, since they all had their respective mothers.

Nothing could be rescued from his childhood, because very few good things had happened in that period. Truth be told, Alimceg preferred not to remember any of those years, which he considered the most terrible and humiliating of his life.

Everyone described her as a poor girl who could subsist in the residence of Khubilai Ilk, thanks to the charity of her grandmother.

Miss Alimceceg Batun was shy and quiet, but she enjoyed an intellectual acuity and malice, which was envied by her older sisters.

From childhood she was harassed by them, who were supported by her mothers, Khubilai's secondary wives. Despite the constant attacks, Alimceg learned to defend herself with a magnificent technique refined and personally taught by the grandmother, so over the years her legs no longer trembled when her stepsisters accused her of disobeying the rules imposed by the head of the mansion, on the contrary, she enjoyed seeing their angry faces when she returned the signs to him.

The doors of the room opened, letting in the dim sunlight to the uncovered pavilion, which was in the first courtyard of the Batun house, a first-class family belonging to the Sekiz Oghuz tribes, the main lineage among the rest of the clans, since to that the khan belonged.

Through the large wooden doors passed the entire arsenal of jewelry, fabrics, perfumes, and expensive essences, which were traded on the Silk Road.

An event like that was not seen so often in the pavilion of the first courtyard, where the mother of Khubilai Ilk resided, because despite the status she possessed, she was not a fan of luxuries and eccentricities... An old woman like her could only wait for death, but the rest was a vanity. Therefore, all these pretensions were left to his granddaughters.

Although, the only one who lived with her in the pavilion was Alimceceg, her most attached granddaughter, the shyest, and even the most disadvantaged among the rest of the girls in the mansion. She was not vain, at least not with things that dazzled the rest, the aspirations of her granddaughter were different, she aspired to control and authority; being the abandoned daughter of the Batun house, her thirst for freedom was also overwhelming, impossible to appease.

Grandma, seeing the entire number of gifts listed and labeled in Miss Alimceceg's name, could only suspect one thing. Something that her granddaughter surely would not approve of immediately, even if she insisted on pretending in front of her that everything was fine, that it did not affect her and that she would accept it.

"Is this all for Miss Alimceceg?" —he asked the man who seemed to oversee performing the task.

The man greeted her respectfully as she accepted with an inclination of her trunk and head.

"What business is this?" The first courtyard doesn't usually receive such gifts—she debated really confused.

"Mrs. Ogul, congratulations! He exclaimed “The khan has chosen Miss Alimceceg to marry Khan Karluks' second son: Tuva Eke Tegim.”

The woman saw the man move around the courtyard as she ordered the entry of the gifts, rather, the bride's dowry.

"Did you have Eke Tegim?" She asked confusedly. The prince has been in exile for 16 years, how is it that my granddaughter will be betrothed to him?

"Recently Khan Karluks released his son from exile and has returned the status of prince and heir, so this marriage is possible.

"When has this happened?" Does Khubilai Ilk know?

"Yes, it happened recently, maybe two days... Khubilai Ilk himself has ordered compliance with the decree.

The old woman let the men continue to perform the task imposed by the head of the Batun house and waited patiently for her granddaughter to return to the first courtyard.

Miss Alimceceg used to walk in the garden of the mansion together with her half-sister Khojin, who was two years younger than her. Both gathered the morning dew that accumulated in the flowers, picked fruits, and then offered them to the old woman each morning.

However, the monotonous day of Alimceg and his sister did not have a good ending, because the news of the engagement even reached them, who were at the back of the walls.

Miss Erzhene, the sixth sister, ran to see them when she saw them pass in front of her mother's pavilion. That was another of the daughters of Khubilai Ilk, a spoiled girl who had just turned fifteen, but to her regret she was a bit silly and annoying. Although, she did not become poisonous like her mother.

"Sister! She shouted angrily as she walked down the steps. How is it that you are getting engaged to a prince? How can you marry the nobility when you are not father's favorite? I should get married, not you.

Miss Alimceceg listened to her younger sister without understanding for sure what she was saying. Marriage? I had not heard anything about it.

"What do you say?"

"Don't play dumb, Alimceceg, because an infinity of gifts is entering the old woman's courtyard... An expensive dowry that has been given by the Khan of the Karluks tribe; I speak of the royal house Tsagaandorj!

Khojin grabbed Alimceceg by one of his arms, dragged her in the direction of the first courtyard while Erzhene followed closely, when they arrived, the old lady was sitting in the hall while drinking tea with honey. On each side of the place, an infinity of chests was stacked.

"Grandma, what's going on?" —he asked. He ran his gaze through the trunks and asked another question—"What is all this?"

"The royal house Tsagaandorj has sent the dowry of the bride who will be related to one of the sons of the khan... The khan has asked for a bride and your father has chosen you.

Behind her Erzhene squealed angrily when she heard the old lady and replied:

"Father has chosen you?" What did he see in you?

Khojin rolled her eyes grumpy at her younger sister's words and turned to her with patience on the floor.

"If you don't shut up, I assure you I'll strangle you," she whispered in her ear, causing her to scream and be quiet in place.

"Grandma, how did your father choose me?" I don't get it," Alimcceg spoke.

"Your father is waiting for you inside, so go and see him," he ordered. And looking at his other two granddaughters, he called them. The Khubilai Ilk will talk to Alimceceg, come, and have tea with me.

Miss Alimceceg walked quickly into the visiting room of her grandmother's house.

"Father," he greeted as soon as he entered.

He fell silent as he watched his father. The last time I had seen him years ago, and the figure in front of him was quite different from the one his memory remembered... His father had grown old.

"Alimceceg, you must be confused by this whole situation, right?" —he questioned.

"Certainly, Father.

"You will get married.

"Why me?"

"Khan Karluks has asked for a bride for the purpose of withdrawing his troops from our border, and as you know your cousins, the princesses are already married to the Kyrgyz, so my brother has asked me for a bride from the Batun house, the second most important house of the Sekiz Oghuz tribe. Of your three older sisters only one is married and the other two are engaged, of the youngest the only three lefts are Khojin, Erzhene and you. But, both Khojin and Erzhene are minors, therefore, they cannot be compromised yet.

"Who will I marry?"

—Con Tuva Eke Tegim.

Alimceceg snorted with a mocking smile on her face, for she could not believe that her father was marrying her to a prince as helpless and inferior as that.

"Khan Karluks has exiled him since he was a child... In addition, he is sick, he is a helpless without status.

"The khan has released him," he explained, "now, your uncle must solve the situation of the border and the way to do it is by sending a girlfriend, as stipulated by Khan Karluks.

"Father... Will you marry a disabled person like him?" Where has the pride of the great Batun house gone?

"Pride! I will explain the situation to you in detail to see if you understand it and let go of your stupid pride, girl," he shouted angrily. The Karluks khanate has sent its army to the borders of our territory and is pressing Transoxiana... We cannot lose that territory. So, a beneficial agreement has been reached for both khanates. We give them a bride and sign an act where they are given the possibility to market and transport themselves through Transoxiana.

"I will not become a pawn in my uncle's political game.

"Whether you want to or not, you will. What do you think is the usefulness of a daughter in this kingdom? To unite countries and consolidate dynasties. All of that you get with a girlfriend. —he dictated—. I assure you something Alimceceg: I will not allow this house to lose its prestige.

"Should you help sustain the prestige of the house, Father?" He asked sarcastically. This is the first time he has come in... I do not even remember the number of years that have passed since you last visited me... Do you know my age, or do you know how long I waited for a visit from you? I am twenty years old, and the last time he visited me was when he was thirteen. He was not there when I needed him, should I support him when you never did? —she cried, enraged and her eyes flushed with tears of rage that threatened to run down her cheeks.

Khubilai Ilk could not stand Alimceceg's claims, he slapped her with all his might, causing her to fall on the floor.

"Insolent! He shouted. You do not have the right to make claims to me. You are my daughter, and I am your father.

"It's not my father! He may be the father of my sisters, because I do raise them in his lap, but here he has never come to see me, and every time he sees the great old woman, he avoids seeing me at all costs.

"I will not respond to any of your claims, I only warn you one thing: do not try to avoid this marriage, do not do anything stupid that stains the surname of this family. You will marry, the khan has already sent a large dowry, and within two weeks you will travel to get married.

—Father...

Miss Alimceg had not had a chance to give much thought to what she should do to avoid this engagement, her thoughts having been lost on the possibility of such a marriage. She could not allow such humiliation. The only disadvantaged daughter of the Batun house was to marry a cripple, it was not only embarrassing, but also a pain that sickened her soul.

She may not be as dazzling as her older sisters, nor as unattainable as her cousins, the daughters of Khan Sekiz Ohguz, nor impetuous and powerful as her sister Khojin was in the fight of Bök. Despite being a shy and quiet woman, she always had a trick up her sleeve, she never sat idly by and would psychologically fight anyone until she got what she wanted. Although sometimes her mind games didn't work for her, so she resorted to her underhanded cunning.

"Sister, you have to help me convince my father to choose me over you... I know you don't want to get married, but I'm interested. Besides, it's t