[Serialized Novel] Third Night: 'The Sultan's Otogizōshi'

Third Night
The Nature of Family

As he gazed at the scenery while riding his swaying horse, the sound of the horseshoes clattering against the cobblestones was pleasant to his ears.
For the Sultan, who had just returned from a long voyage, this view was particularly special.
Clop, clop.

The road led from the seaside, where the scent of the tide drifted, toward the dense forest. He traveled along a cobblestone path lined with hibiscus hedges on both sides.
Since they were hedges, maintaining the landscape required labor, but Chandra was a wealthy city, so that was not a problem.

He galloped up the winding slope, where the Sultan's villa, his detached palace, stood.
It boasted an elegant design, different in character from the solemn palace in the royal capital of Kota Pura.
Buildings with high ceilings and large windows, built on stilts, were connected by corridors, and tropical flowers and trees were planted throughout the open grounds.
Although it lacked a minaret, there was a bathing area with a fountain in the courtyard surrounded by castle walls.
Peacocks with jade-colored feathers were kept free-roaming, and it was mainly used by the concubines in the harem.
Of course, men were forbidden, and only female attendants and eunuchs were allowed to enter besides the concubines, but it was sparsely populated now.
The reason was that the Sultan had been keeping people away. The reason for this was never spoken of much.

The Sultan was not blessed with children.
Neither with his first queen, Nasreen, who had been his fiancée since childhood, nor with any of his several concubines, was a child born to inherit the royal blood.

There was no child to inherit the royal bloodline.

It is true that there were voices among the people, who otherwise loved the Sultan, that mocked him as 'seedless'.
That might have been the reason he kept people at a distance.

To make matters worse, his first queen, Nasreen, died young.
The cause of her death was officially recorded as illness, but there were many mysteries surrounding it.
It is said that every night, the Sultan would think of his queen and cry until his eyes were red and swollen.
It was around the same time that he had a falling out with his only sibling, a half-sister.

It was after that that a restless atmosphere began to cover the palace, as people worried about the future of the royal family.
The unrest both inside and outside the country reached the Sultan as well.
The Sultan was a king who was always well-regarded and popular, but anxiety began to dominate the common people.

However, after he finished his journey and returned, rumors began to spread that the Sultan had changed.
His interactions with his close aides seemed joyful, his manner had softened, and he had regained his naturally cheerful and open-minded personality.

Was it not his encounter with that Wokou child that triggered this?
He had been caught in a storm, shipwrecked, and was struggling all alone when fate brought them together and he saved the child.
That was all.

Suddenly, the horse stopped walking.
He realized the horse was sweating and breathing heavily. It did not neigh, but it was restless.
What was wrong?
He understood immediately.
As he peered ahead, a shadow instantly leaped out from the grove.
Vivid yellow and white fur with black stripes.
It was a Malayan tiger.
Its body length was far larger than a full-grown adult. Seeing it, the Sultan jumped off his horse and ran toward it.
'Mani!'
'Grrrrrrr!'
'Mani' means jewel.
The Malayan tiger, called by that name, also ran toward the Sultan. He knew it wasn't wild because it was wearing a collar.
Mani licked the Sultan's face as if to embrace him. The Sultan laughed, happy for the reunion.
'Hahaha, stop it! Mani! You smell!'
The playful wrestling with the Sultan continued. Mani did not use his claws or fangs.
They had been together for fifteen years now.
Come to think of it, it was the Sultan who had spared no time to keep feeding milk to Mani after he lost his mother to death.

The Sultan, who was not blessed with children and had lost his queen, Nasreen, to death.
Even so, the reason he was still able to interact with people with a bright face was because Mani was by his side.

The bond with Mani, the Malayan tiger he had raised until they both grew old. And then he met the Wokou child.

The Sultan knows the warmth of Mani.
And he had reached out his hand to the lonely Wokou child.
That was the Sultan's form of family.

To be continued

<Next time, Fourth Night: Maghrib>