Happiness, smile, joy. These are all things that everyone associated with that day, December 19, 1601, when the youngest child of the then Sultan Mahmud was born in the Imperial Dynasty. His beloved Hibetullah gave birth to a baby girl, the only female member of the dynasty from birth. Although he was already the father of six sons, Sultan Mahmud could not hide his happiness when he learned that he had become the father of a girl. Maybe because he always wished to have a daughter, and maybe because he knew that she was the only one who would truly love him because she would never aim for his throne. On that winter day, he named his daughter Neslihan.

Sultan Mahmud was only 25 years old at the time, and had only recently come to power, after the death of his father Ibrahim. Mahmud's mother died early, so Mahmud, in order to replace his attention, always had concubines by his side who surrounded him with love.

The first of them was a woman from Circassia, whom he called Ismihan. She was his first love, and when he saw her he never wanted to have another woman besides her. Ismihan gave birth to his first child, son Suleiman. At that time he was still a prince, and by law he was not allowed to have children yet, but his father went over all the rules and allowed Mahmud to have his own harem, which quickly met the wrath of Mahmud's younger brother Korkut. In order to calm the tensions that were happening in the palace, Mahmud also allowed his brother Korkut to have children. He soon had a son, Orhan. At that time, the rule that the eldest prince inherited the throne was still valid, and Korkut knew that one day after the death of his brother Mahmud, he would inherit the throne. After him, the throne will be inherited by Mahmud's son Suleiman, and then by his son Orhan. Because that was the rule.

But let's return to the story of Mahmud's family. His love for Ismihan was great, and she quickly became pregnant again, but both she and her child died during childbirth, which devastated Mahmud.

In order to comfort him, his grandmother sent him the most beautiful Russian concubines, it was not known which one was more beautiful.

His next favorite was the Russian woman Efsun, who gave birth to his twins, Selim and Ahmed.

After Efsun, he sought happiness with Gulbeyaz, who gave birth to a son Kasim. Mahmud fell truly in love again, with Gulbeyaz. He favored her and exalted her above all his concubines, and she soon became pregnant again. But pregnancy complications occurred and Gulbeyaz died.

Again in grief, Mahmud sought happiness with Mihrunisa. She gave birth to twins, who were again a great happiness in the family, named Davut and Mustafa.

Very soon after the birth of the twins, Mahmud sat on the Ottoman throne. Then, as a gift for coming to power, he received several Venetian slave girls as a gift from the Venetian ambassadors. Although he didn't show much interest at first, he quickly fell in love with one, whom he later named Hibetullah. And it was Hibetullah who was the reason for his happiness, who gave birth to his only daughter, Neslihan.

But that happiness was quickly cut short. An epidemic appeared in the palace, which claimed victims very quickly. The first victims were the Sultan's wives. All his wives, except Hibetullah, died of the epidemic. The reason for this was that Mahmud sent Hibetullah to the Pearl Palace to live with the newborn.

When Mahmud thought the epidemic was over, the worst happened. All his sons, except Kasim and Davut, died. There was immense grief for the princes throughout the empire. Within a few weeks, the Sultan lost four sons, some of whom were not even five years old.

Then Mahmud decided that he would not have any more children. He could no longer bear the pain of losing his children. His children became like orphans, without a mother, so Hibetullah made sure that she would be like a mother to them and delay them.

And so for years Kasim, Davut and Neslihan grew up as if they were siblings from the same mother. Hibetullah never had a favorite among them, she always tried to give equal attention to everyone, making sure that Davut and Kasim did not feel the lack of their mother.

Hibetullah gave them everything and tried to guide them in what they were good at.

Kasim, who was the eldest, was extremely interested in war tactics. He always loved to study wars and read war reports, dreaming that one day he would go to war with his father and conquer the enemies. He practiced swordsmanship and fighting, Hibetullah hired the best martial arts teachers to come three times a week to the palace to teach Kasim new methods and to keep him happy. With Mahmud's approval, she even invited several Venetian and French teachers to the court so that they could share their experiences with Kasim, who was very fond of listening to war stories.

Davut, younger than him, was more interested in diplomacy. He studied diplomatic writings and learned foreign languages. Hibetullah, a native Venetian, taught him Italian and Greek, and in addition hired foreign teachers to teach him Arabic, Persian, Russian and French. Mahmud always allowed him to listen from the side when the ambassadors came to the reception, and sometimes Davut joined in as his own translator for his father.

Neslihan, was the youngest and only daughter. The only Sultana of Ottoman blood, which was a rarity, because once the court used to be flooded with Sultanas, but now she was alone. She always wanted to have a sister by her side, which was an unfulfilled wish, because her father did not want to have more children so that he would never again have to bury his child before him. As she was closer to Davut than Kasim for years, she studied languages together with him. From an early age, she showed a talent for writing and poetry, so Hibetullah invited teachers to teach her calligraphy and poetry. She always wanted to provide her daughter with the best possible education, telling her: "one day you must have the knowledge to stand worthy of your husband!"

Mahmud also allowed his nephew Orhan, the son of his brother Korkut, to live in the palace to spend time with his relatives, Mahmud's children, who were all of a similar age. However, Orhan was four years older than Kasim, and from an early age he showed his interest in inheriting the Ottoman throne.

Orhan was cold-blooded, he never showed emotions towards anyone. As much as Hibetullah tried to soften his heart, he never gave her permission to do so. He did not want to hang out with his relatives, because he always considered them rivals. Orhan has always told everyone, even the Sultan, that there is no longer a law of fratricide, but that he will inherit the throne before Kasim and Davut. Mahmud was very angry that they were already thinking about such things in their teenage years.

But then the accidents started. Mahmud's younger brother, Korkut, died after a long illness, making Orhan first in line to inherit the Ottoman throne when he was 20 years old. Then he separated himself even more from his relatives and began to hold himself high. Now, as the heir to the throne, he had other obligations, and he had to go on expeditions with the Sultan.

Nobody paid much attention to it, until on November 11, 1619, Sultan Mahmud suddenly died. No one could believe what happened, because Mahmud was not old, he was only 44 years old. He was never sick.

But Orhan didn't wait a moment. Immediately an hour after learning of his death, he called the Divan and prepared everything for his ceremony of succession to the throne.

Hibetullah, Kasim, Davut and Neslihan knew it was time to start fearing Orhan, who had never loved any of them. Orhan's first decision was to remove from the Divan all the people who were loyal to Mahmud, and he appointed his supporters. Hibetullah, as the sultan's widow, was exiled to the Old Palace. Then, he locked Kasim and Davut in a kafes, a special place where the princes stayed, and forbade them to have their own harem. He did not limit their ability to move, they could normally stay around the palace and go out, but they were not allowed to have their own harem or participate in state meetings.

Neslihan was left alone in the palace. Her father's old harem was expelled, and new concubines arrived who were there for her cousin Orhan. Orhan did not show too much sympathy for Neslihan, and immediately told her that she would get married soon, but he allowed her to express her opinion about marriage if she had one and if she had a potential candidate.

After only three months in power, Orhan immediately went to war with the Crimean Khan Sahib. They went to war, but Orhan did not leave, but sent his army, for fear that one of his relatives Kasim and Davut would decide to take the throne from him.

During the battle, Crimean Khan Sahib dies, and his 23-year-old son Mehmed Giray, who was then in the capital of Crimea, takes over his throne.

As Orhan's army did not really have the strength for a long war, because bad weather was coming, Orhan decided to use smarter tactics. He invited Mehmed Giray to a meeting and decided to announce the end of the war and sign an armistice if he would marry his cousin Neslihan. Mehmed Giray was taken aback by this idea, he never hoped that the Ottoman Sultan would propose such a thing, because otherwise there was no practice or tradition of marriage between the Crimean and Ottoman dynasties, but in order to save his country from ruin in the war, Mehmed agreed to his condition, he decided to marry the Ottoman Sultana Neslihan.

Orhan was pleased to realize how quickly he manipulated Mehmed. He did this because he believed that those in Crimea, because of Neslihan, would know to whom they must be loyal and faithful. He thought that in this way he would gain some kind of alliance, because the Crimeans would appreciate that their bride was from the Ottoman dynasty.

But for Mehmed it was the worst moment in the world. It wasn't even two weeks since his father died, he inherited the throne suddenly not expecting to ascend to the throne so young. And now he has to leave the love of his life to marry the Ottoman Sultana.

For the last five years, Mehmed has been in love with Lejla, one of the girls who was in the service of his mother Ayse. Mehmed was waiting for the moment when his father would give him permission to marry Leyla, but that moment never came due to his father's untimely death. A man who dreamed all his life of having a happy family with Leyla, for which he was ready to break the tradition of a harem at his court, was now supposed to marry an Ottoman sultana who had more authority, according to the rule, than him, but that was only valid on territory of the Ottoman Empire. But Mehmed knew that when a person marries an Ottoman Sultana, he must not have more wives beside her, and he cannot divorce her, unless she makes a request. And she can break up if she says three times: "I'm divorcing you!"

But Neslihan received the news even worse than Mehmed. She couldn't believe that her cousin decided to send her to another country where she would be alone without anyone, where she doesn't know anyone, married to a man she doesn't even know, away from her family and everyone she loves.