Empire of the Ring

One word from the Duke was taken like a gospel to the Kurds in the royal territory.

The Kurdish people, who were forced to marry their fourth cousins, finally had a chance to break the cycle of the bad tradition now. The recommendation that the royal leadership and elders made for the sake of harmony among people was like an order to the Kurds because they valued authority more than traditions.

As the invisible barrier between people collapsed, Kurdish young ladies began to pursue men actively as they were so excited to break the tradition of pre-arranged family marriage which was a marriage between clan families.

Restaurants, pubs, and coffee shops in downtown were flooded with Kurdish women who were old enough to get married. Aside from the family marriage tradition, the Kurds encouraged marriage between Kurds because as part of the movement to give birth to many Kurds to make their own country.

Kurds living in Turkey and other countries had maintained a high birth rate, giving birth to more than one child in order to have a bigger population of Kurds in the future to pursue the goal of forming their own country. But for the Syrian Kurds who moved to the Kazakh royal territory, such goals were inevitably tarnished. It was because Princess Jelyan who was also a Kurd was already in the royal family.

Since Kazakhstan, home to a large number of ethnic groups, was proof that different people could live in harmony, the Syrian Kurds also had a different stance from Kurds living in other countries.

“Your Highness, it looks like Kurdish ladies are more fond of this than others. We might have to get ready for a joint wedding soon.”

“Is there a reason why Kurdish ladies are attracted to Korean men?”

“Oh, you didn’t know that Kurds have a history with Korea? Korea is a special country for Kurds. Sixty percent of the Turkish troops that were dispatched to the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War were Kurds. They have a strong affinity to Koreans because they think they share blood with Koreans.”

Youngho felt like he was struck by lightning to hear the history between the Kurds and Koreans. He was not a nationalist, but he had a good feeling about the countries that sent troops to help South Korea during the Korean War. He praised the noble decision of those countries to shed blood for Korea. Whether voluntarily or not, their blood and sweat enabled Korea to survive as a free and democratic nation.

“That’s a great coincidence. Accepting the Kurds has been paying back their grace.”

“I think there are quite a lot of people who think that. The Kurds are very proud of that connection with our royal family.”

“I thought our connection started from Jelyan, but it started from the Korean War.”

“I thought you already knew that. That’s why I thought you were taking care of the Kurds.”

“It had nothing to do with Korea. The situation of the Kurds and our need to increase the population matched well. Of course, the fact that Jelyan is a Kurd played a big part.”

Women in the Kurdish society had a very high status compared to other Muslim regions.

In particular, because of the relatively secular nature of the Kurds, they did not impose hijabs on women and allowed them to be actively involved in social activities.

They were also famous for their fast learning and adapting characteristics as they had to adapt themselves to live in different countries for generations. Being quick-witted also meant being smart.

This was something one could see right away from their language skills.

There were various ethnic groups living under the Arirang royal territory, including Serbs, Kazakhs, and Kurds, and each language was different from each other, so the official languages of Arabic and Russian must be mastered as basis.

Learning English was also necessary because the royal territory had many foreign companies and English was a must for students to study abroad, unlike other regions of Kazakhstan.

It would have been confusing to the Kurds as they moved to the royal territory where so many languages coexisted. Nevertheless, Kurds’ language skills developed surprisingly fast. The Kurdish ladies who gathered in downtown already spoke English to the extent that they could communicate with Korean men. For French-speaking Kurds, English was not such a difficult language, just as Europeans spoke English rather easily than people in other regions of the world.

“Wow, they had been ignoring Korean guys so far even though they could communicate with them.”

“You know Korean guys are not so fluent in English, and they are quite shy. That didn’t really help either.”

It turned out that the Kurdish ladies were interested in Korean guys in the first place, but they were reluctant to associate with them because of their marriage tradition.

The wall between them fell apart after Youngho’s announcement, and now streets, cafes, and restaurants were full of young people who enjoyed dating despite the cold weather.

Soon after that, Park Jong-il’s wife, Karajan, opened a marriage agency business and led a group to a blind date, and it received explosive interest among young people.

Since a soldier or civilian worker in the military would automatically receive a home if married, ladies were attracted to such perks, too.

***

The end of the year was already closing.

However busy Youngho was, he spent the end of the year with his family, so this year he decided to take a short vacation on the Arirang Island in the Aegean Sea.

Construction of the docks and related facilities were still in full swing, but the royal villa and runway were roughly completed, so it was not inconvenient to stay there for a while.

The royal family’s travel was usually accompanied by many guards and entourages, but the travel to the Arirang Island did not need such a fuss as the island was safer than the royal territory. Fatima, who hated hassles, loved to have a private and cozy family trip.

“Fatima, did you hear from Zeynep?”

“She will arrive tomorrow.”

“Why is she not coming home already? What’s so fun in Denmark?”

“I think she’s into watching Szechenyi’s kids. You know how she loves children.”

“She’s not dreaming of getting married yet, is she?”

“She said she will live freely and will get married after 30, so don’t worry.”

“What? Live freely?”

“Haha… Why are you so surprised? Don’t worry, she’s such a good girl, and don’t bother interfering because she’s an adult now.”

“Oh, don’t say that I’m interfering in her life. It’s because I’m really worried as if I let an infant go by herself outside.”

“She knows that, and she is very careful about her actions. Can’t you tell that already? I mean, she doesn’t even have a boyfriend yet.”

She had been in college for three years already, and it sounded like a problem if she never had a boyfriend yet.

“I hope it’s not because she’s not popular.”

“Oh, she’s surrounded by guards all the time. Who would dare to approach her? So please loosen it up for her a little bit.”

“I must have been too strict on Zeynep.”

At that moment, the life of Kurdish women flashed across his mind. They were forced to

marry men whom they did not love because of their tradition. He felt sorry that he had been too strict on Zeynep’s life.

When Zeynep arrived, the royal family left for the Arirang Island on a small jet.

It was a trip of a little more than four hours, and Leon and Jelyan were not still even for a second throughout the whole time although they were on a narrow plane.

Jelyan, who was now becoming a lady, acted like a child whenever she was with Leon. Moreover, Zeynep’s joining had added even more excitement to the trip. As they met their aunt after two months, they had to make a noise.

Rena was on vacation, so she had gone back to South Ossetia to be with her mom.

Looking at Jelyan’s bright smile, Youngho smiled.

“Jelyan has grown so much.”

“She grows so fast. This time, Jelyan connected a Kurdish lady to a Korean man.”

“What does she know about marriage?”

“Among the Kurdish ladies who volunteered to assist Jelyan, there is a girl who has lost her parents and brothers. Jelyan thinks about her dearly, and she introduced her to one of her bodyguard.”

“Huh! She’s quite a matchmaker.”

“That’s not all. You won’t even imagine how much she takes care of war orphans. She asked Zeynep’s foundation for support for the underage orphans.”

“I see.”

“She thinks of orphans like family. You know it wouldn’t feel like others’ business to her.”

Fatima was in tears, but she managed to end her sentence.

Considering the horrendous situation she experienced in Istanbul’s slums, she was not different from Jelyan and the other orphans. Youngho hugged her silently as she sobbed.