The night grew late, and the sound of crickets behind the bamboo walls echoed like whispers from the past. Siti sat by a small window, gazing at the low-hanging moon. Julian watched her from the corner of the room, realizing that the way this woman held her tea cup—even a cracked one—possessed an elegance that could not be learned on the streets of Batavia.
"You have your father's eyes, Julian," Siti said suddenly, without turning around.
Julian flinched. His heart nearly stopped. "You... you know who I am?"
Siti turned, offering a thin smile filled with sorrow. "A mother does not forget the features of the man who was once her world. My name is not Siti. That name is a skin I wear to survive. In my homeland, people called me Raden Ajeng Sekartaji."
Julian was stunned. Raden Ajeng was a title for a princess of the Javanese court. "You are a princess?"
"I was," Sekartaji whispered. She began to tell of her first meeting with Julian's father at the palace while he was serving as a young diplomat. It was a meeting of two worlds that should never have united. "We loved each other behind walls of tradition and colonial protocol. However, a blessing was impossible. My family saw it as a betrayal of our ancestors, and your government saw it as a stain on European blue blood."
Sekartaji explained that instead of giving up, they chose a silent path. They married in secret—a union valid by faith but unrecognized by the state. She left the luxury of the court, discarded her Raden Ajeng title, and fled to Batavia under the new identity of "Siti."
"Your father promised to return after settling affairs in The Hague. He wanted to bring us officially. However, the letters he sent grew infrequent, and eventually stopped altogether," Sekartaji continued, her voice trembling slightly. "I realized he had been caged again by his family. And here, I had to raise Adrian and Anne Marie in the mud, keeping them away from officials who saw their existence as a threat to the throne's stability."
Julian knelt before Sekartaji. The guilt he had been carrying felt heavier than ever. "I came here to find them, Mother. I had no idea your sacrifice was so great."
"Do not pity us, Julian," Sekartaji touched Julian's cheek with a hand roughened by hard work but still feeling gentle. "Adrian grew to be a man who knows his people because he lives among them. He is more of a 'king' than anyone sitting on an ivory chair. But remember, if his true identity is revealed, not only will Friedrich hunt him, but so will the court that views him as a blemish."
Julian realized that his task was now not just to protect a brother, but to safeguard the dignity of a mother who had given everything for a forbidden love.
Culture & Language Notes
Raden Ajeng Sekartaji: A Javanese royal title (Keraton). Raden Ajeng is the title for an unmarried noblewoman; in this context, it highlights that her marriage is not officially recognized by the rigid feudal system.
Keraton: The royal palace in Java; a place governed by sacred, strict, and highly formal protocols.