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1626, Rajouri.
The entourage was forced to camp midway through their journey due to the sudden deterioration in the health of the Padshah Jahangir. The Padshah wanted a drink of wine, but he could not swallow it. As he choked and coughed, Nur Jahan held her nerves and wiped him clean and made him lie down to rest. His forehead was burning with fever, and he was losing consciousness. Nur Jahan immediately sent a messenger to Lahore to let Shahryar know that the emperor wouldn’t survive the break of dawn. However, she decided to keep the news a secret till they reached Lahore, where he wished to be buried.
She sat through the night beside the man she loved, holding his hand firmly in hers as he slowly started losing his grip. At dawn, he had stopped breathing. She sat at his bedside, for some moments in silence, as Asaf Khan entered, hearing the news and put his hand firmly on her shoulder. All the chiefs were awake all night, praying for his painless passing outside the royal tent. As soon as Asaf Khan held Nur Jahan, she cried. It was like ages of pain were hidden in her tears as she shed every drop for him, who perhaps loved no other the way he loved her. After a few minutes, she regained her posture and wiped away the tears. She then called in all the chiefs and informed them to keep the news of his passing a secret till they reached Lahore, where he was to be buried. This strange request did not go down well with the chiefs. Most of them knew she was buying time to reach Lahore and declare Shahryar as the heir to the throne. After all, her daughter would that way be the empress. They never found Shahryr competent for the job. All at once, in the silence of the moments as Jahangir’s body was dressed and preserved in a coffin to be taken to Lahore, loyalties shifted from Nur Jahan’s side to Shah Jahan’s.
Asaf Khan had sent out a secret message to Shah Jahan at dawn informing him that the time had come. He was aware that after three days of mourning, Shah Jahan would set out for Lahore, but he knew his sister would act in haste. He took the men concerned about the future of the empire into his confidence. Unaware, Nur Jahan led the last entourage of the late emperor all the way to Lahore.
Shehzade Shahryr’s eyes glittered as he read her message. Ladli Begum asked, a little pale, “What’s wrong?”
“The Padshah...” He said. Ladli Begum nodded. She was about to take out her mourning attire when Shahryr stopped her. “Your mother has some specific instructions for us.” He almost whispered. For in the palace, even the walls could hear.
“Us?” Ladli Begum asked in fear. Shahryar nodded. That night, he set out with a few trusted men and opened the royal treasury. He took out as much wealth as he could and shifted some of the weaponry into his harem as well. But everything didn’t go unnoticed.
Dawar Baksh, who still believed he was indeed the competent ruler everyone wanted on the throne, was an inexperienced teenager at nineteen. He assembled his little troop against Shahryr’s men.
Inside the Lahore fort, the men faced each other, and Dawar Baksh was captured again. Shehzade Shahryr, without a second thought, did as he was instructed by his mother-in-law and declared himself king. Ladli Begum kept begging him to wait for the empress, but he paid no heed. Angered and sensing that her child’s life could be in danger, that night, Ladli Begum packed her belongings in silence.
“Where do you think you are going?” Shehzade Shahryar asked, “You are my empress.” Ladli Begum let out a sigh. “Do you realise you are just a pawn here?” She rebuked her husband. “I kept telling you to stay away, but you never listened. Do you have any idea what you have caused?”
“Listen, Ladli Begum, I am as much the rightful heir to the throne as Shah Jahan, no matter what you think.” He spoke with irritation. Ladli Begum dropped the bundle of clothes on the floor.
“What do I think?” She asked, frowning, “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“No, please don't tell me!”
“You are my wife, but the truth is, you always think he is better. You never fell out of love with him, and you hope he kills me and marries you just like your mother wanted your father killed!” Shehzade Shahryr didn’t expect Ladli Begum to slap him. But she did. As soon as her father came into the conversation, Ladli Begum had had enough.
“You insulted me and our relationship and proved why I doubted you in the first place.” She said firmly, “How are you so shallow?” She had tears in her eyes. Shehzaade Shahryr fumed in rage.
“How dare you hit me?” He held her bun tight in his grip and made her shriek in pain. Arzani Begum woke up in the commotion and tiptoed to the threshold of their chamber. Unaware of her presence, Shahryr pushed Ladli Begum down on the floor. Her knees hit the stone floor and hurt her.
“You are not fit to be royal blood! No wonder they all refused you.” He said in rage.
“Is that so?” Ladli Begum got up and picked up her bundle. “Then mark my words, Shehzaade Shahryr, you are not even a pawn in this game. You will be doomed.”
“Oh, you pray for that, don’t you?” He asked, looking at her, hurt. “If only you stopped misunderstanding the Padshah Begum and being jealous of her.”
“Jealous? I wish I had never had a life like she had... and as for you...The universe knows how loyal I was to you, how I loved and honoured you; and you never did so truly from your heart.” Ladli Begum spoke, “But today, before being your wife, I am a mother. And today, I understand my mother a little better.”
Ladli Begum stepped across the threshold in tears and saw Arzani Begum standing there, shocked. She picked her child up and hugged her mother’s neck. Planting a kiss on her forehead, she turned to Shehzaade Shahryar, “I will pray that I am wrong and we meet again, in a better place.”
Ladli Begum instructed her eunuch to take them to Shahdara, where the emperor was to be buried, at dawn. She took up one of the quarters near the construction site, hoping her mother would decide to stay there to oversee the construction of the emperor’s tomb.
“Why are we leaving Abbu behind?” Arzani asked once on the journey. Ladli Begum held her close and kissed her forehead.
“Because sometimes we have to choose ourselves over the ones we love.”
