|Nurgül's POV|

While I was sitting in my room drinking some coffee and reviewing the harem tasks with Fahriye Kalfa, the door opened and Alice quickly entered.

"What's the matter?" I stood up quickly without realizing it "Is Orhan okay? The children?"

"Calm down Sultana" She raised her hand "The şehzades and sultanas are fine"

"Then what's the matter? Why do you seem to be in a hurry?" I put my hand on my chest.

"Aymen Pasha asks to meet you on an important matter" She moved closer to me "It's about what happened to Şehzade Orhan yesterday"

"Fahriye, we will continue our work later" I put a shawl over my hair and covered my chest and then left the harem heading to Aymen Pasha's office... The door opened and I entered to find him standing waiting for me.

"Sultana" he lowered his head respectfully.

"Tell me, is there any news?" I said impatiently waiting to hear any good news.

"The investigation lasted for hours and thank God we found who put the poison in the dessert plate..." He was silent for a long time which made me sure that there was something else.

"Aymen Pasha" I raised my eyebrows "Tell me everything you know"

"In fact" He raised his head and looked at me "Their target was şehzade Ibrahim and şehzade Bayezid as we found the poison in their plates only and fortunately the two of them did not eat the dessert but unfortunately şehzade Orhan ate a little from Bayezid's plate"

"Where is this dirty traitor" I squeezed my hand angrily "Bring her now!"

Aymen Pasha moved his head then signaled to one of the guards to bring her while I stood in front of the window thinking deeply, why would they target Ibrahim and Bayezid? Who would want to do this?... Many questions were running through my mind but I kept my silence until the door opened and when I turned around I saw two guards throwing a woman to the ground, I know her ... she is a woman in her forties who has been working in the palace kitchen for many years.

"You traitor" I approached her with slow steps "Why! Who ordered you to do this?" I wanted to control my nerves trying to find out more information.

She raised her head and looked directly into my eyes "You will never know" Hatred and malice began to cover her eyes and she did not seem afraid at all "My mission failed but rest assured that you and your family will be destroyed"

My eyes widened and before I could do anything she pulled out a small dagger from under her dress and stabbed her neck hard... All this happened in less than a second which made me speechless... I quickly turned to Aymen Pasha and motioned for them to remove her body from the room.

"Did you see?" I started walking anxiously "She wouldn't do this on her own, she must be loyal to someone"

"Someone with influence and power, Sultana" He nodded "We must protect Sultan Selim and his brothers well"

"I will do what is necessary" I nodded slowly thinking "I have some ideas"

Before I left, Aymen Pasha stopped me and said "Sultana, I have other good news"

"What is it? I thought we would never get any good news" I stood still waiting for what he would say.

"The man who shot the late Sultan Mehmet with arrows" I turned to him quickly then he continued "He was finally caught after our men had been searching for him for months"

I approached him quickly, anger covering my eyes "Where is he?"

"We wanted to bring him here so you could see his execution with your own eyes Sultana" He lowered his head "But unfortunately, he got into a tough fight with our men, which led to his death in a forest"

I took a deep breath, trying to control my nerves "At least he's dead now, but" I raised my head "Those who planned it must pay the price"

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|

3rd Person POV|

-Edirne-

Mihrimah quickly raised her head "Is there any news?" She placed the dress she was embroidering next to her and asked impatiently.

"Yes, Sultana.. but" the maid lowered her head and began to speak in a low voice "it's not good ...our plan failed and although şehzade Orhan was poisoned, he was quickly saved"

Mihrimah sighed and kept looking in front of her for a while.

Calmly as if nothing had happened she took off the dress again and began to embroider it.

"The important thing is that they do not suspect me now, this was a good threat to Nurgül and now we must be patient until the right time comes and we will get rid of them all... but while we wait we will make Nurgül suffer from anxiety we will remind her from time to time that her children are in danger" a side smile appeared on her lips "we will drive her crazy she will never be able to sleep...and the most important thing is that Sultan Selim must be by my side"

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|Nurgül's POV|

I stood in the middle of my room where everyone was standing in front of me with their heads lowered, by everyone I mean the most important servants of the palace, the one in charge of the servants, the one in charge of the Aghas, the one in charge of the maids, the one in charge of the kitchen and others.

"You all must know very well why you are here" I stood in the middle looking at them all "After what happened a week ago, we must take precautions...The most important thing is to protect the safety of Sultan Selim, the şehzades and the sultanas... I don't want them to be harmed"

"From this moment on" I raised my hand and raised my voice with it "I will not let any mistake pass, even if it is trivial... You are all responsible for your duties and those who work with you.... Even if they make a mistake, you will also be held accountable..."

I looked at Fahriye Kalfa who was holding a tray full of papers and pointed at her with my hand "Here I wrote all the instructions that you will follow from today... How the work system will be, when you will talk to the members of the dynasty, and how you will serve their food... Everything is written there and I want everyone in the palace to follow these rules"

As soon as I finished speaking, I looked towards the door when I heard ‹Sultan Selim Khan Hazretleri›... The door opened and when Selim entered, I motioned for everyone to leave.

"Valide" he watched them in surprise then approached me "What's happening?" He took my hand and kissed it then sat down and I sat next to him.

"I should have taken some precautions and change some things" I smiled a little "That's exactly what I did" I took one of the papers I had written and turned it over to him so he could take a look at it.

He took the paper and after reading it he raised his head "What you did is very good... May God protect our family"

"Amen" I sighed a little then looked at him again "Why are you here? Is there something important?"

"I just wanted to meet you before the Divan" As soon as he said his last word, I remembered that there was a very important Divan today, I always feel worried because I still don't understand these things and I only rely on the help of Aymen Pasha and those he trusts... What worries me the most are the financial crises that we have never been able to solve... For many years, even Mehmet's continuous attempts have not solved much.

"Okay let's go" I took a deep breath and stood up, there is no escape from these complicated responsibilities.

We headed to the divan room, Selim went inside while I went to the second room overlooking the other room, there is a decorated wooden wall that allows me to see and hear everything... I can be with them there but I prefer to stay here.

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|3rd Person POV|

-In the market-

Three men were standing, each of them holding small bags of gold.

"Did you understand Mihrimah Sultan's orders well?" The first said while looking warningly at the rest.

"Yes, everything is very clear" The other replied, then after a few seconds they dispersed and each one of them went and sat in a different place with other men.

"I do not like the situation of our state at all" One of them said while drinking some coffee and looking at the other men who were at the same table with him.

"Why?" One of them replied in surprise "What are you talking about?"

"I have some friends with high positions" He approached them more and began to speak in a low voice "They say that the one who makes the decisions of our empire is Valide Nurgül Sultan in her capacity as regent, and she is not even good at politics and will lead us to destruction"

He adjusted his sitting position while pretending to be annoyed "How did this become our situation? We are ruled by a British woman who does not understand anything about politics and she is not even the real mother of Sultan Selim"

"Yes, you are right" one of the men intervened after this talk convinced him somewhat "If things remain like this, the financial crises will worsen... I even heard many years ago that Nurgül Sultan was originally a spy"

That man smiled evilly "Exactly... Who can guarantee that she did not end the life of Sultan Mehmet in order to destroy the empire?" The eyes of everyone who was sitting widened and they began to discuss this theory with interest and conviction.