Empire of the Ring

Fatima changed again.

She was not as talkative as before but she showed more variety of facial expressions. It was natural for a bride-to-be to experience different surges of emotions before her wedding but Fatima’s case was different. Turning even more graceful, she exuded profound dignity that no one could attain. Because her transformation was so obvious, Youngho thought everyone also noticed but it was only him who felt her changes.

This was not listed as one of the mystical ring’s powers in the old literature. Ever since the rock on his ring’s color had changed to light blue, he had been noticing that all of his senses became extra keen and he just realized that noticing Fatima’s delicate changes was another influence of the ring, which was very unexpected.

After the security company was established and the farm was pretty tightly secure, Fatima had put the ring back on, which Insoo had been borrowing from her. It was not sure if her change was related to her putting the ring back on, or it was because she regained peace in her mind because the wedding was set, or if not, maybe it could only the effect of Youngho’s ring that was making him to sense her changes.

At the farm, the most leisure month in a year was December, since most people took a break at the end of the year, field agents also could take about a month of free time to visit their families. For Youngho, it was the time off both from the farm and the CIA. Since he did not need a lot of preparation for his small wedding, he was not busy at all. He used most of his time in his study, reading the old literature found at a museum in France. The literature stated that once the ring turned transparent, one could go over a mountain in a bound and gain strength manifolds more than regular people. Since it did not say much about the relationship between ring’s color and the changes such as improved vision, hearing, memory, and attentiveness, he wanted to find more about those abilities.

Although Youngho was looking into finding out more about the ring’s power and abilities, he did not wish to make personal profits out of it. It might have been pure luck to have met the ring but he considered it a destiny. He did not have a big sense of duty to use the ring’s power for world peace, but at least he was suppressing his desire to make personal profits using the ring’s power. If he wished to, he would have taken advantage of the ring to gain wealth but his conscience did not allow it.

This was why he had a hard time getting over the fact that he used the ring’s power to fight and kill Russian soldiers residing around the Chechen border. He could not have done that without the ring and it made him even bitter that he harmed other people using the ring’s power, instead of using it for a good cause.

Even after reading the old literature repeatedly, it did not say anything about the recent change that Youngho sensed about Fatima. Some parts of the literature were left not translated, and he thought that the answers to his question might lie in those parts. He would have to find more prestigious archeologist or linguist to solve the ring’s mystery.

What he learned from the old literature was that Serbia, which had been developed through more than a thousand years of its history, used to flourish to the extent, where it even threatened the Byzantine Empire. It had been fallen in the 1400s by Turkey and through WWI and WWII it had gained the country back but due to ethnic disputes, the nation was now divided into Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo and Metohija. Since the country was near Europe, other countries of power did not let it be.

Because the culture was mixed with all sorts of civilization, it did not seem to be weird to have mystical relics like the ring and the leather shoes.

***

The wedding felt quite real when Yunsuh and her husband arrived at Baku for the wedding. It was going to be a small wedding but the rumor had spread inevitably. After Sevan found out about it, he contacted Kamal, the head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and soon the presidential palace noted the joyful news. Youngho’s plan to have a small wedding was not an option now.

He had to notify any acquaintances and connections he met through business in Baku, including the Korean embassy and the international school parents. If he did not send out invitations to all soon, it would get him in trouble later, so he hurriedly made more invitations and delivered them by himself, apologizing to everyone for such short notice. Jongil and Sangchun had already insisted that they should have a big wedding, and Youngho now had to agree with them. Since he was a very successful businessman of Baku and everybody now knew about it, he could not just get away with a small and brief wedding. Yunsuh was also on their side, saying such a humble wedding did not suit a descendant of an archduke of Serbia.

Everyone in the wedding, the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and even the flower boys, had ordered matching dresses and suits according to the wedding theme color and a hotel venue for a large wedding guest group was reserved. By the time everything was ready, the wedding had become a huge event in Baku that everyone knew about.

Finally, the wedding day had arrived. Receiving flowers sent by President Aliyev showed how much his wedding had become an issue in Baku. The wedding begun as the bride and groom greeted the guests on the stage of a hotel reception. Because both sides did not have parents, there were no special procedures, such as lighting candles and bowing to the parents of each side for appreciation as done in Korea. The only thing that looked like a traditional wedding was the flower boys and bridesmaids and the groomsmen coming down from the stage together as the wedding march resonated, and taking group pictures after the ceremony.

Right after the official ceremony was done and pictures were taken, foods and drinks were served and it had turned into a celebrating party with music and dancing.

There were plenty of foods for everyone. The wedding tradition here was that after the bride and groom’s dance, the guests would join the dance together in celebration, the wedding soon turned into a real party. Youngho was thankful for the guest who came to celebrate the couple’s special day in the cold weather. He also enjoyed the party. With Fatima, who was being shy, he went over to everyone to say thank you. There were too many guests that Fatima’s small purse was too small for the congratulatory money received from them as they went around. Zeynep followed the couple around and emptied the purse as soon as it was filled, but the purse would soon get full again.

When they stopped by Yaniv’s table, he whispered to Youngho that he would give them the money later since he did not want them to lose the huge amount of money. Unlike Korea, where people would give the congratulatory money before they entered the wedding ceremony hall, in Azerbaijan, people gave the money directly to the bride and groom.

The wedding was huge that even Newspaper companies and TV broadcasters came to cover the event. The wedding was a cherished memory that Youngho and Fatima would never forget since hundreds of people were gathered just for the two. They were deeply grateful.

After the party, which went on until early morning, the couple stayed at the hotel for the night. Yaniv visited them in their room and left a small box congratulating their marriage. Youngho’s heart leapt into his mouth when he opened the box to check what was in there. There were three gold bars of the Russian Empire. Yaniv was indeed a wealthy, big-scale man.

All of the money received today was for the bride to keep as it was done traditionally, Youngho could not even get a single penny out of it. That explained why Zeynep was so helpful emptying her sister’s purse and following her around. She was eager since the money would all be her sister’s.

***

One obvious change after the wedding was that now Youngho shared a bed with Fatima no matter what, because in the people’s culture here, if the newlywed husband did not sleep in the same bed with his new wife, it meant that he did not like her and she would be chased away to her family soon.

Youngho was so used to sleeping alone that he could not sleep tight with Fatima sleeping next to him, making rustling sounds. Also, Fatima kept asking for his arm to pillow her head on and he had to endure it even if it felt like he was going to get a cramp. Except for those inconveniences, everything else was great. He enjoyed everything he could from the sweet new married life with Fatima. Although he was sad now that Zeynep did not show up in his bedroom but he was impressed by her thoughtfulness since she was being considerate of the newlywed couple. Another change that the marriage brought was that he became a real member of the siblings’ family. If he had a baby, Szechenyi and Zeynep would be its uncle and aunt, the baby would be another medium that would draw them closer together. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Fatima wanted to have a baby as soon as possible.

All of the wedding guests left except the Yunsuh couple. Youngho had already agreed with Sangchun that they would be spending some time to get used to living in a foreign place and he would be moving to an area around Austria or Netherlands to establish Zeynep Farm’s wine distribution company in there.

Chunho Merchant in Seoul was already being managed by a management specialist and they only needed to visit the company’s headquarters once in a few months. Although Sangchun’s parents had worried that it was not good for them to leave Korea, their own country, they did not say anything to their son’s decision. It seemed that they already forgot about that as soon as they got to see their grandson again.

When people get old, their greatest joy was to spend time with the family of their own flesh and blood. Charmed by their grandson, smile never left from Sangchun’s parents’ faces.

Because Sangchun’s parents insisted that they should eat what the new bride made, Fatima was troubled. She could make a few Korean dishes that Youngho liked but she was not a great cook. Although Sangchun’s mom helped her, because she was so nervous, she could not really pay attention to cooking. Tasting her soup, everyone’s face was strange but Zeynep was the only one who was asking for another bowl.

“Unni, give me another bowl of soup.”

Looking at her strangely, Szechenyi asked,

“You. Do you really think this soup is good?”

“Of course, it’s what she made and if you eat it consciously thinking that it’s good, then it really tastes good.”

Because of Zeynep’s remark, everyone else asked for another bowl of soup, not to make Fatima embarrassed but their next actions were indicating that her soup was terrible. Everyone was busy putting more salt, pepper, and red chili powder into their bowl. Looking at them, Fatima began to make excuses.

“Well, I usually put too much spices when I make soups. So this time I thought I’d make it a little thin, so you can put spices according to your taste.”

“Oh my word! My new sister-in-law is so reasonable. It’s hard for me to put enough salt for this soup. It’s better this way, so people can put spices to their own likings.”

“That’s exactly what I was going for.”

Yunsuh, who had already been dreaming of living overseas and fantasizing everything that was foreign, was taking Fatima’s side. Listening to her, Youngho also wondered if Fatima had really planned all this as Yunsuh was saying but he could see her sitting next to him, putting salt into her soup and smiling in embarrassment. The newlywed bride was making up stories to cover up her mistake, she was no ordinary woman.

Zeynep, who had stopped coming to Youngho’s bedroom ever since the wedding, stepped in his room with a pillow in her arms.

Since the night was especially windy, he had just told the night guards to be on their guards through the interphone and was about to go to sleep. However, it seemed that Zeynep could not stand the sounds of chill winds of the winter. Even though the house was sturdy, it did not block the sounds of winds and Zeynep hated that eerie sound of wind that seemed like something was going to come out. She was too scared that she had to interrupt the bedtime of the newlyweds.

“Oppa. Unni. I’m too scared, I can’t sleep alone.”

Although she looked mature on the outside, her mental age was still young. Youngho, who would never refuse her, raised the corner of his blanket and told her to come in.

“Okay, Zeynep. Come in. This bed has enough room for three of us.”

“Oppa, you’ve done this a lot… You should stop doing that. You’re spoiling her.”

“Fatima unni, I’ve slept with him more than you have, I have a right to do this.”

“???”

This might have sounded inappropriate if someone had overheard their conversation but Zeynep, who was like Youngho’s beloved little sister, was speaking innocently.

‘Phew. Sleeping together more times than her is not something to brag about.’

“Oppa said that I can come any time when I feel scared.”

She squeezed between the couple and instead of falling asleep immediately, which she seemed that she would, started talking about what happened at school excitedly. He was not sure if she was just playing the baby or she had slow wits but Youngho secretly welcomed her appearance in his bedroom. He had been exhausted because he and Fatima had been working on making a baby for nights in a row upon Fatima’s request. Since Youngho could take the night off because she showed up, he was just thankful.