"...The stench of blood is palpable."
"The atmosphere seems quite different from the capital I knew."
"I thought it would have changed quite a bit according to Beren's letter, but that wasn't all."
"Something must be happening."
Trial news that's now too common, continuously appearing even in street newspaper stands.
Though Governor-General Sergei had heard about the Tsar's purge in the capital and five provinces where agricultural reform first began, it seems what he knew wasn't everything after arriving.
There are clearly more stores bustling and people passing on streets than a few years ago. The city seems to breathe heavily until late evening.
However, the bloody scent stimulating his nose now wasn't from these common imperial citizens.
It was the blood of those who have.
Terror that doesn't discriminate by status or class.
That was the reality of the atmosphere Governor-General Sergei felt.
The proof is in the nobles and Duma representatives not visible even walking around all day.
"According to Representative Volkov, the capital is noisy with street representative speeches and intellectual debates almost daily."
"Shall we meet Beren right away?"
"No, the Tsar told me to enter the palace this evening. I heard he would commend my hard days in the Far East."
"Should I go too?"
"Of course, an aide follows his superior."
Though Aide Felix didn't want to stand out in social circles during this time of purge, the same went for Sergei.
'Yet they say nobles keep entering the palace. It's just strange.'
An exceptional party at the imperial palace amid this atmosphere of terror where anyone could die.
"...I really don't want to go."
"Then shall we all-"
"That's why we must go."
It's been 5 years since seeing Tsar Nicholas. When he saw him as Tsarevich after the previous Tsar passed away, he was far from purges.
'I just thought he was an intelligent and passionate person.'
To think such a person became a bloody monarch in just a few years.
What could have happened?
Maybe he could understand by meeting the Tsar directly.
However the situation flowed, Sergei just hoped sparks wouldn't fly to the military.
==
The place commonly called the Summer Palace isn't just a single palace sitting there.
It has 20 buildings, a central plaza, hundreds of fountains, arched gates, greenhouses and grand gardens throughout, and golden statues.
Below the palace you can see the wide-open Gulf of Finland, and cool winds blow at night - when added to the brightly lit palace, it even gives a moving feeling.
'I thought Chairman Bunge changed the Far East quite a bit, but it was really nothing compared to this.'
The Summer Palace - truly a place showing the ultimate in architecture.
With so many fountains it's also called the Fountain Palace or Peterhof Palace, Sergei arriving by carriage was amazed before even entering.
Is it because he came from such a remote place? Or because it's been a while since an imperial party? His heart pounds despite his old age.
Many carriages must have come and gone already, as voices of people can be heard from inside.
"My goodness, lights are on even over there..."
"What do you mean by that?"
Aide Felix, who once worked in the Interior Ministry, muttered fearfully "Who would be working during a banquet at this hour?" seeing lights bright to the end of distant buildings, but Sergei strode forward first.
"When will we receive such hospitality again?"
Thinking there could be no greater honor than a banquet held by the Tsar for an individual, Sergei went inside holding his aide.
Voices introducing Sergei are heard from the side and many gazes fix on him under the high ceiling shining with chandeliers.
However, what caught Sergei's eye first was the Tsar, who was down on the first floor instead of the emperor's seat.
"Your Majesty."
Nikolai approaches and catches Sergei as he immediately tries to bow in greeting. The shock seems not just his, as many nobles watching also widened their eyes.
"I didn't know you would already be here."
"It's fine, I just showed my face since I need to leave early. Welcome. Did I keep my promise to call you in five years?"
"I can only be grateful."
"Don't be like that, let's have a drink upstairs separately. And beside you?"
"This is Aide Felix Sumarkov-Elston, Count."
"Hmm, have I seen you before?"
He wouldn't have had separate conversations with a mere count, so must have only seen him in passing a few times.
"Would you know Prince Yusupov?"
"Yusupov? Ah, you were the prince."
"I only received the title."
"Ah, that Yusupov. Hmm, you come along too."
Though he didn't expect to meet separately like this in front of everyone, Sergei was about to follow anyway.
But looking around again while walking:
'They're not even dancing much except for young people.'
Though some appear to laugh and enjoy themselves, it's awkward. The nobles who used to enjoy splendor with luxury and pleasure aren't visible.
No one stumbling drunk from rushing drinks since early in the banquet, no one arguing or gathering in cliques - all quiet.
In this joyous and splendid imperial banquet, a sense of incongruity stands out.
'The Tsar's purge and the Tsar's banquet.'
Even thinking again, it's questionable whether these two words can exist in the same period.
It's also strange that so many nobles attended meanwhile.
The Tsar who had been walking ahead pleasantly stopped his steps for a moment and spoke showing only his upper body sideways.
"I will take my leave today, so I hope everyone enjoys themselves and returns home."
Is it my imagination that the faces of nobles in the banquet hall that had been heavily pressed down seem more comfortable at the same time?
No, it's not imagination. Somehow the musicians' music seems to have gained more strength.
Once arriving in the capital.
Once again at the banquet.
If you get the same feeling twice in one day, how could it be mere coincidence?
After continuing to follow the Tsar, we arrived at a separately prepared reception room.
The Tsar probably intended to just briefly show his face from the beginning.
With family guided to another room and only three people remaining, Sergei couldn't hold back and started questioning first.
"Your Majesty, may I ask one thing?"
"Speak."
"The nobles gathered in the banquet hall earlier had different complexions than before - do you know why?"
"Ah, that."
The Tsar filling glasses nonchalantly answered as if it was nothing.
"How could their minds be at ease when they might die tomorrow?"
"Yet if they attended the banquet..."
"People naturally want to know their death in advance."
"..."
"But this tastes good. Is it because it's expensive Orleans wine?"
Sergei's words were blocked with just one question.
He hadn't heard news of any rebellion, and the Tsar filling glasses didn't seem angry either.
Really just one reason.
It was just an ordinary Tsar's purge.
==
Let's be clear about one thing first. It's absolutely not my fault that those palace nobles tremble while holding wine glasses and look around cautiously.
It's not that I hate and oppress those who have, or pick and kill nobles who might become threats, or just moved the Okhrana on a whim.
It started with, yes, that mir dissolution.
I really just wanted to quickly dissolve the mir and expand agricultural reform to other provinces.
'But they say Populists reached even into the mir?'
Originally I planned to just replace the rotten mir bigwigs as an example, but that became impossible.
What could I do in this situation - only option was to input more Okhrana.
That was the beginning.
When the Okhrana began full-scale investigation to crack down on Populists trying to infiltrate the mir, something else kept tripping them up more than the Populists they were trying to catch.
The local government zemstvos governing each province.
Zemstvo representatives serve 3-year terms and are divided into three categories based on real estate ownership scale:
1). Representatives of landless peasants (mir)
2). Representatives of regular landowners (independent farmers)
3.) Representatives of large landowners (nobles)
In other words, our imperial citizens vote twice - for local representatives and State Duma representatives.
Up to here is the system our grandfather created, so I had no reason to draw my sword.
The real problem lies in how those zemstvos operate.
In zemstvos where #2 regular landowners are half-excluded, the ones exerting power and corrupt are clearly #1 and #3.
Noble and mir representatives.
The mir representatives were drowned with the mir so no matter, but these guys each spat out a #3 name before dying.
What else could we do? Our Director Sekerensky couldn't pretend not to hear, and with so many names coming up on the list, I couldn't leave it alone either.
So we killed nobles from the zemstvos too.
Not many. Just the truly hopeless ones. Those frequently mentioned who couldn't possibly be left alone after investigation.
'How could someone born to high status not have a speck of dirt? But the zemstvos were just too closed off.'
Grandfather created zemstvos with the shackles of the press, but Father removed these shackles.
Zemstvos without preservatives naturally rotted.
"That's how it happened. Though it seems quite shocking to the nobles. They had always thought of themselves as victims until now, not traitors."
Land tax was eventually introduced too. Noble power has weakened over three generations - grandfather-father-me.
Especially with imperial farmers across the empire joining reform this year, their place disappeared even more.
"I don't dislike nobles. Just look at Prince Yusupov here - isn't he from an ancient family?"
"Y-yes."
"They say a cornered rat will bite... but nobles don't even have the strength to bite."
I thought a noble military rebellion might be somewhat possible... but nonsense. That's impossible in this period's Russian Empire too.
'How would they recruit Grand Dukes who are like the Tsar's alter ego? And what about uncorrupted nobles? Commoner-born soldiers? Military districts scattered across the empire?'
Above all, Father's impact was too strong. Father who made everyone from military chiefs to privates into Tsar supporters.
His scent still remains throughout the military to this degree.
Since he himself became the military itself, this country's army can't move according to nobles' will despite containing many of them.
"Aren't they mostly nobles with residences in the capital or Moscow?"
"When we followed the stems up from zemstvos, they kept getting caught one by one. Family, acquaintances, relatives - anyway they were all connected somehow so we cut them off."
Even if their own family survives, could they sleep comfortably if relatives they did business with got beheaded?
"The atmosphere got a bit awkward so I held many banquets, but seems it's still not enough. Well, I think this too will become a driving force for reform."
Then it's fine. I may be called Bloody Nicholas, but I have clear justification and many supporters. Unlike Mary I, it's hard to die now unless the empire falls.
The somewhat disgruntled-looking Governor-General Sergei - no, Major General and his aide.
Thinking the talk might have been too heavy, I briefly changed topics.
"Prince Yusupov is the Governor's aide? How? You could have stayed in the capital."
"I-I volunteered to go! Since the Tsar was said to be very interested in the Far East then, there were quite a lot of volunteers!"
"I see. You have an adventurous spirit."
Yusupov. Actually, I don't know who the man before me is. Not particularly interested either.
But I can't help but know the names Yusupov and Yusupova.
Yusupova is his wife. An heiress with immense wealth whom all European royalty and nobility came to propose to - a beauty of the century.
As a European man of this era, she was too famous not to know.
And Yusupov. The name Yusupov belongs to the man who killed Rasputin, the behind-the-scenes power that led the original history's Russian Empire to ruin.
Probably the next Yusupov, not the Yusupov before me.
'Though respected by all even now due to his wife Yusupova's good deeds, they say the next generation was quite tough too. Anti-Nazi, supporting Russian immigrants, establishing charities.'
A family continuing quite a fateful connection with the Romanov imperial family.
Though Major General Dukhovskoy seemed to need time to adapt to the capital's atmosphere having just returned, there was no trouble having pleasant conversation when limited to Far Eastern topics.
"Did you know Admiral Romen is about to die because of the Baltic Fleet?"
"That guy needs to suffer a bit. He was probably the most leisurely one, so he needs to work."
The recent situation of Romen Nikolai Nikolayevich whom I designated and installed.
"Though it might be difficult to pay detailed attention to the Far East now, how about looking after Roman Kondratenko, that friend, once?"
"Why Roman? He's been reporting frequently since wireless communication became possible in the Communications Department."
"Whether to call it obsession... anyway the Yalu River isn't enough, he keeps drawing huge budgets. These days he's fixated on the Lüshun fortress..."
"Heheh, I know better than anyone."
Hearing about Roman directly, I can tell not a single historical record is wrong.
Wasn't there an anecdote about him completing more in six months than 5 years of construction after being appointed to Lüshun fortress right before the Russo-Japanese War?
Anyway, he's a crazy engineer unprecedented in imperial history.
"What about Chairman Bunge? How is he doing? Do you know, Prince Yusupov?"
"Don't even mention it. First he called himself by a strange name, and now he's even created an ideology. I experienced firsthand that scholars are scariest when they go crazy."
The most mysterious thing since my accession.
Someone who should have died originally is still not dead.
Nikolai Bunge's life recorded in history books only goes until the mid-90s. So the current Bunge was unknown even to me - perhaps the biggest evidence that history had changed.
"Hehe, it's tearfully fun hearing Far East stories after so long. Your family? Did they go together that far distance?"
"My children had all grown up and left long before I was appointed Governor."
"I went with my family. Really, I'm just sorry and grateful to my wife. My daughter and two sons too."
"...Really? Were those your family behind you earlier?"
"Yes."
We continued endless pleasant conversation like that.
Though our ages differ and we haven't known each other long, it seems offset by looking toward the same goal.
And the next day.
[12 officials jointly indicted on 19 charges including massive bribery, tax evasion, threats and extortion received death sentences-]
[With this the Lukaveyev family that belonged to the Noble Assembly for generations was exterminated-]
A day like any other dawned.