＜ Episode 270 >
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, Winter Palace. 14 June 1945.
I went to the main gate of the Winter Palace, accompanied only by the guards and Irina.
The soldiers saluted all at once, and as I advanced through them, I was in a complicated mood.
Two weeks ago, Wilhelm II died. Asking to stay on the side of the monastery in Moscow, he died under the watch of his first love, Grand Duchess Elisabeth of the Convent.
And yesterday, the urgent news came.
Nicholas II, who had come to Saint Petersburg around the time of the death of Wilhelm II, received a call from Olga that Nicholas II was not in good health, so I hurried to Saint Petersburg.
Nicholas II.
In the original history, history judged that he would have lived with respect and died in peace if he was a female soldier but not a tyrant.
But in this world, what will history judge him?
With complicated thoughts, I entered the Winter Palace and was escorted to the bedroom.
And I could see familiar faces there.
Nicholas II lying on a bed, Empress Alix sitting on a chair, and the couple’s sons and daughters around them.
Nicholas II smiled and opened his mouth.
“Come here, son-in-law.”
“your majesty.”
Nicholas II, who laughed out loud, answered quietly.
“I am not Your Majesty, no more.”
“……”
“Shouldn’t your wife be called majesty, and you yourself are worthy to be called majesty. If you just call me a father-in-law, that’s enough.”
“…Yes, the father-in-law.”
“Did Billy leave?”
“You knew.”
“We talked a lot for a long time.”
The old man with a bald head and counting his head, said with bewildered eyes.
“I was talking to Billy, and he was only talking about the dead, except for my son-in-law, my daughter, and Alexei and so on.”
“……”
“Didn’t you say that one day, when you talk to others, if you talk more about the dead than about the living, it’s time to prepare for death.”
“……Even now, a famous doctor…”
“I have the best doctor in front of me, and you seem to have guessed it already, cool!”
Panting at the sudden burst of cough, the old man opened his mouth again.
“It’s crazy, but son-in-law, can I ask you a favor?”
“Say it.”
“We were really good friends, the three of us were cousins and we looked alike.”
“……”
“So, I felt sorry for the whole war, why do we have to fight each other?”
“Now that won’t happen.”
It really is. Now either Britain or Germany has accepted the order of the Empire as a member of the EU.
One of the provisions of the EU, there is a clause that states that if a dispute arises, each country must request arbitration before the EU Supreme Council for arbitration and not take military action. Although we are at war with many other countries, we are arguing that we do not enter into the prohibition of war.
In any case, the chances of an all-out war between countries are now extremely low.
“I’m not talking about that.”
“then…….”
“Billy was actually kicked out, and the government almost collapsed, and it must have been if my son-in-law hadn’t listened to me.”
“……”
“So I’m going to force it one more time.”
“You mean the monarchy of England?”
“No, it’s not like that, it’s just… Even if they lose power, even if their people cry out that they will no longer have them as monarchs, let them live the rest of their lives.”
“…the words…”
“Make sure they don’t get shot or go on the guillotine, or even if they get kicked out of the country, at least they can live life as human beings.”
It wasn’t a difficult request. Isn’t that the story of asking for asylum if you’re in exile?
“All right.”
“And… I have other desires. This will be more difficult than I said earlier, but…”
“Say it.”
“I have many grandchildren, but I wanted to see at least one of them get married.”
“……”
“Aren’t those children at that age, of course, I know it’s difficult, because the imperial marriage can’t be done so hastily.”
“that……”
“So even if I can’t see you, I’ll show it to Alyx, who she’s married to and how happily she’s married.”
“…I will hurry.”
“Don’t be too hasty, because if those children marry someone who has chosen them too carelessly because of my greed, I will always be sorry for myself.”
“……”
“It’s been 40 years since I first met you.”
“Father-in-law.”
“Someone like you would have heard of it in the German Empire or England, but without you the empire would be in jeopardy. In fact, you wouldn’t want to take away whoever was your son-in-law.”
Nicholas II exhaled.
“Without you, the war would have been won, and it would not have been easy. Without you, my son would still have suffered, and would not have given me Sberlina… my granddaughter. After losing the war with Japan, the empire must have been full of starving people, and could you have left a country like that to Olga?”
“Your Majesty has believed in me, so I just reciprocated it. There is a saying in my hometown that knights die for those who know them.”
It was obvious that he would not be able to understand the word ‘scholar’, so he roughly called him a knight.
“That’s a good thing, it’s… the only achievement I’m proud of that would have been better had it not been for the Emperor. Now the only thing the Russian Empire glorifies is because of you, and your wife and your children will glorify it for all generations, what shall I fear? He doesn’t say a word, but it won’t make any difference.”
“Father-in-law.”
“Thank you, son-in-law, I must sincerely thank him for giving me the feeling of son-in-law who is not wasted even if I give all of my daughter.”
“……”
“He’s half a son-in-law, thank you for always being Alexei’s eldest brother, and… do whatever you want. It was a more appropriate name for him.”
“The father-in-law and the father-in-law also received the title of the great emperor, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, it’s all thanks to you. It was a good life. Honor and glory have been acquired in abundance, and people praise me, and as long as I have a son-in-law, that praise will not stop forever, and even after that…”
A wrinkled hand caressed my cheek.
“You look reliable any time you look at it. Hundreds of worries all disappear after a while. I enjoyed enough to see and enjoy. I’ll be waiting patiently, so everyone should come slowly and as late as possible. Enjoy all of them, and everyone, follow me as late as possible.”
“The gates of heaven are opened, and the angels are waiting, I see light coming down from his throne. It looks like it’s time to leave.”
“father…….”
A cry was heard.
“Yeah, you went first and waited.”
“Father-in-law?”
“…Okay, the waiting is over.”
muttering, Nicholas II laughed.
“I am not sorry. I have to go now.”
In an instant, his hand moved toward the air. As if asking someone to hold this hand.
and fell off
“Father-in-law? Father-in-law?”
“father!”
“father!”
A shout broke out, and the doctor rushed in.
After examining the body for a moment, the doctor bowed his head.
I got up and removed the flag representing the Romanov dynasty from the flagpole, which had always hung like a drapery.
And the flag covered the body of Nicholas II.
A cold feeling ran down my cheeks as the wailing sounded.
***
In order to grant the second of Nicholas II’s last requests, it was necessary to have a lot of haste.
Alyx’s health deteriorated rapidly just before the passing of Nicholas II.
Thanks to this, I started to crave Nikita and Nikolai in England.
“The will of the father-in-law must have been to show the prince’s marriage, right?”
“You just said grandson, it doesn’t really matter if it’s Nikolai or Nikita.”
“The simplest way would be to tell Lev to bring his lover, but it’s going to be out of shape.”
Olga sighed in agreement.
“However, thanks to Mr. Who, we will be able to rule out ghost marriage sooner or later, because many of the royal families are too close relatives?”
“I’m sorry, but cousins are enough for marriage? Well, the exclusion of ghost marriages… It won’t be impossible.”
Of course, if you go to the extent of excluding ghostly heavenly marriages, there are usually many cases like that because your hands are precious.
“Anyway, it will be difficult in our generation, maybe when it comes to marrying our grandchildren. Lev should be able to get married, but it’s true that he loses his shape, and… my mother doesn’t really like it either.”
“Not even the Serbian royals who were exterminated, Hungary and Germany of course not, Italy was exiled, should we find them again from Denmark, Norway, or Sweden?”
“There are also Spain, England and the Netherlands. And Nikita told me a pretty interesting story, but Princess York and Nikolai had a strange atmosphere.”
“How old are you?”
“19 years old.”
“……It’s just the right age.”
“Yeah, the problem is…”
It has been less than two years since the war with Britain ended.
“But the UK is also a member of the EU, and it is also a country that we will have to bring into our allies in the future.”
To be precise, it is one of the countries that we have to write with.
Just as the US used Japan as a shield against the Soviet Union, we also had good reasons to use Britain as a shield against the US.
“In terms of reconciliation between countries… it would be a good message.”
I nodded.
“Let’s tell the British government a story.”
***
Scotland, UK.
“hey!”
Colonel Nikita Mikhailovich Romanov was fishing when he saw someone running in the distance.
“Ouch.”
“What is it?”
When he said he was going fishing, Nikita briefly answered the question of Margaret Rose, a young princess who followed her.
“Well, you’re a bit of a hot-headed person. Anyway, let’s go quickly, if we get involved, we get tired.”
“Hey, you child! You are not standing there!”
“If you run away screaming like that, who will catch you?”
I decided to leave the fishing gear behind, but I was concerned that I had a companion. It’s hard to run fast, but he’s a companion you can never lose…
After thinking about it for a while, Nikita decided to ‘transport’ herself and started running at a tremendous speed.
“Hey, you child! What are you doing with this!”
Nikita chuckled at the very familiar voice coming from behind.
I don’t know what happened, but I thought I was bitten properly.
“What! Anyway, I don’t know!”
“What you don’t know is bullshit! You talked to Moscow! You originally came here to marry me, but why do you take me and sell me!”
“Ahahahahahaha!”
Nikolai followed Nikita, who ran at high speed while laughing.
“Who teaches you to sell your brother?”
“Yeah, you sold me too! Why did I come here in the first place?”
“If caught, I will kill you!”
“If you don’t get caught, that’s it! Do you want to do some physical training?”
Although he was a high-class soldier with his own skills, it was only natural that Nikolai’s eyes were turned upside down when he heard such ridicule. Even if the Air Force was ridiculed as Chair Force and not Air Force, Nikolai was not without stamina. Only Nikita was superior.
“Aww!”
It is said that Nikolai, who had been chasing with a letter in his hand, was exhausted after not being able to catch the traitor who had reported about him to his parents.
“If you don’t get on the plane, can’t you even catch up with the ground dog? Fuhahahaha!”
“Shut up…..”