Pov Tatiana
"It's been a while, I greet my mother and sisters," I said when I saw my mother and my sisters Anastasia and Maria alighting from the train.
Mother came up and hugged me tightly, a little more than etiquette should have allowed, "I missed you too, my Tatiana!"
Despite our relatively bad relationship I had with Anastasia and Maria, we really didn't fight between each other. Even though I'm sure they think I stole their mother, we still respected each other and treated each other fairly. That was much more than I had expected from them.
Pulling away from the embrace with embarrassment, I started to lead them to our destination.
In an attempt to avoid making the walk awkward, I told them about my most sincere wish, "Kieva is a beautiful place, I would like to spend all my holidays here," not entirely true of course, the reason I'd rather be here more often was for my own safety, not to enjoy the scenery.
Mother laughed as I kept going, "When you see Berun, you will like it even more than Kieva.".
Oh yes, that's right, we were going to visit the Empire. It would truly be a strange event. I would be visiting the country I was born in in my previous life in my third life, but before I was even born. What a messy thought.
Perhaps interesting to see the Kaiser in his youth as well as a younger Zettour and Rudersdorf.
"Is it true mother that your family is from the Rhine?" I asked as I slowed my pace to help my mother keep up.
"Yes, and it's beautiful, the greenery, the rivers, it's all lovely." she sounded nostalgic, "Don't get me wrong though. Given the choice, I would pick your father every time, even if I don't personally like Russ or his culture."
As expected of someone from the Empire, a fervent believer in Imperial supremacy. Especially over Russ. It was something I understood well, I too also believed it. Though it is very strange that such futuristic weapons have appeared in Russ.
It just didn't add up. Viktor was a genius, ahead of his time. Yet he was executed during the revolution all the same? Even stranger was that neither side used his weapons in my previous life. The communists were still technologically backwards.
Hopefully this is a question that I had time to answer in the future.
Realising that I had been silent while deep in thought, I smiled at my mother, "I can't wait to visit Berun with you, mother."The following days had been pretty uneventful, merely preparations for a party. I had already met all the nobles willing to make a connection with the Royal Family, none of which had been as beneficial as meeting Viktor. Which was quite unfortunate. Why did the Nobility like to sit on their wealth so much? They could have done great things. You're rich and powerful! Go invest! Build! Something, anything!
It seems like there was little I could do about most people being useless. I would have to dig through tonnes of coal for a single diamond. Having already participated in close to fifty parties, I still felt the one I met Viktor was the only beneficial one I had.
If this was an investment, I would have liquidated everything already. A success rate of less than five percent was absolutely horrendous. Well, the food was always amazing, but that's another discussion altogether.
According to the schedule, the part was set to start at 8pm, but that was simply untrue. For me, the party started two days ago. My mother had been struck by the idea that the best way for a Mother and Daughter to bond was through dressing up. From styling my hair, to making me try every dress in Kieva. What fun.
It seemed like my sisters had already gone through the same process, with much more success on my mother's part, apparently.
Anastasia was dressed in all black, of Francois design. A two pieced dress that only reached her knees, accessorised with gloves, hat and heels. Wearing such a dress would have been unthinkable in 1930, yet here she was doing it in 1906. She must have convinced father, he spoils us too much sometimes. Though I do admit, she is beautiful, if you ignore her utter lack of manners. She'll find plenty of suitors at this party.
Maria, on the other hand, was wearing a frilly sleeveless red dress with a skirt that touched the floor, accompanied by long gloves that reached above her elbow. Just who did she think she was trying to seduce? She was only fourteen! I had to hold myself back from scolding her to think about father's reputation.
I wore a white dress. Since it was meant for someone of my age, it came without all the extra accessories women had to wear. Making it by far the most comfortable choice I had. It was a shame I had to make a few concessions with my mother to get her to agree to let me wear something so simple.
"You look beautiful!" my mother complimented as she entered the room. I would have thought that this comment would cause me to show contempt to the one who dared to utter it. But I suppose I have gotten used to my mother being overly affectionate.
"It's nothing compared to you, mother," I replied. I learned the hard way that the best way to achieve my goals was to humiliate myself and behave like a pretty, cute little girl.
Mother was wearing something similar to mine. It was true that it looked great on her, if a little classic and archaic. But I guess if it worked for centuries, it could work today, just because it's old doesn't mean it's bad.
"That's quite the compliment! I have something to do right now, I'll be back before the party starts," said my mother, taking her leave.
Right as she left, I felt a push from behind. Landing unceremoniously, I turned to see Anastasia. She pushed me, and Maria was alongside her .
"Stop appropriating and deceiving mother."
Wow, looks like the break in tensions had to happen just now, true we had been a normal family so far, but that was mostly because of an unwritten agreement between all the daughters not to cause any more trouble than they already give individually. Anyway, I couldn't play dumb, I've presented myself as a child genius, and I can't punish her, the only way I can eliminate this conflict is to come to an agreement, humiliate her or make her afraid of me.
"I'm not taking over mother or decieving her, but if you want to spend more time with her, you can, I don't see why we have to fight over mother".
She didn't even flinch at my attempt to negotiate a peace between the two, "It's not just that you're cheating on mother and manipulating her, it's how you act, a 6 year old girl trying to act like an adult, you have less feelings than a potato and you think you're superior to everyone else."
This is getting out of hand, I had to end this discussion now. "And what's your point in pushing me around and throwing all this at me?"
"That you are a manipulative snake who acts as if everything belongs to you and shows no respect to anyone."
Getting up from the floor I realized something, this was not a reasonable debate or discussion, this was a form of domination, and I refuse to give in.
"Maybe mother would pay more attention to you if you weren't a scandalous woman who breaks more historical relics than a Khan from a millennium ago."
She burst out laughing for a few minutes, making me and Maria uncomfortable. "You know, it's better to be human and fail than to not be human and not understand human relationships, ever since you have the ability to read you've locked yourself away studying like a scholar, while taking advantage of mother's kindness to give you more stuff, couldn't you be even a little bit more human?"
"What, I am the most human here, I am moved by the logical stimulations of the environment, being an animal succumbing to its instincts and desires is not being human."
She made a face similar to having seen a madman with a shotgun, "Are you seriously not capable of seeing your problem, you don't have the minimal capabilities that make us human, you're crazy."
I felt the anger rising, I am a totally logical and rational being, how can she accuse me of not being a human, I am not perfect but I am a human based on logic and not feelings, I am a functional human being !
"I don't have to listen to these insults towards me anymore. " I turned around with the intention of leaving the room.
"Do you know how they call mother at the court ? The degenerate wyvern, they cannot stand the fact than father married a German princess, nor do they stand the fact than she prefer spending time with people who make her feel happy over hypocrits who will never respect her or accept her as truly one of their own, and the fact she couldn't give father a son only make them worse. "
" I hardly see how it is my fault, sister, unless you think that I am somehow responsible for it? "
" That isn't, however, do you know what is your fault ? Using her affection for your own gains, without even loving her or caring about what she feels like, we are the only ones beside father who she can truly be happy with, being herself, and you ? You use that, you never wanted to make her happy, you just used her desire to be a good mother, and you prefer spending time with that ukrainian brat you fancy then with your own sisters, despite our efforts to be understanding and the fact than unlike what your egocentric self think, we love you , and if you had loved us as well, do you really think either Maria or I would have had issues with mother spending time with you ? "
"So i will tell you this little sister: you are a fool, you even call yourself rational but you run away at the slightest opposition, you are confused about one thing Tatiana, you are not a rational being or a crazy person, you are a coward who takes advantage of others and at 6 years old, so if you continue with this attitude, once you are 20 I will not want to see you, and trust me i will not be the only one. "
Slamming the door shut I walked out, I watched as I was accompanied by a guard as I walked aimlessly through the labyrinth that is a palace of the dimensions of the palace of Kieva.
"Princess, the Tsarina will be concerned for your person, we should return to the designated room."
Stopping, I started to process the discussion, she was right about something, but not as she thinks, I didn't act like the normal individual, that would usually be good, as the normal human is irrational and stupid as I could tell the hard way, however that is causing me problems, I think in my life there was a name for it, when something looks human enough, but doesn't act human, humans have an instinctive fear of that, maybe that's what happened?.
"Princess, we have to go back."
Act more like a stupid human, I've made enough sacrifices over time, this sacrifice isn't even really one looking at the possible benefits.
"Please lead me back to the room."
I'll have to try that more relatively human thing, for my benefit.
your situation how? .
POV History teacher year XXXX
Tsarina Tatiana Romanov a gave a speech in the year XXXX after the XXXX incident marked the beginning of the XXXX, it went as such:
"Pain is the only universal constant. Pain is everything. It is the key to both creation and destruction. And whoever masters pain becomes God, that is why I will start my campaign to become a God."
Throughout the campaign of XXXX she also said many other phrases that went down in history:
"Mercy makes you fragile and weak! I had mercy, and I lost everything I had!"
"Hate makes you strong and is the best gift we have!"
"To negotiate with the enemy is to surrender. Therefore, we will never negotiate with them."
"Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill ten and you are a monster. Kill a hundred and you are a hero. Kill a thousand and you are a conqueror. Kill them all and you are a God!"
Those quotes have been used for decades by opposition to the Tsarina calling her an extremist. Despite that, many historians have denounced the popular narrative of presenting her as a madwoman.
Indeed, many of her own actions ended up contradicting these quotes. It was likely that they have been taken out of context, and perhaps even mistranslated.
Unfortunately, this kind of misunderstanding led to many tragic bouts of violence between the monarchists and the Republicans factions even in the modern era.
Furthermore, historically the Tsarina's words have been used by many different political groups to further their own agendas. Many of which don't even share her views.
The lesson we can take from it is simple: Do not trust propaganda without proper proof in sufficient quantities. Do not let extremism prosper, even when it might sound convenient.
The second part of Anastasia's dialogue and the last dialogue of Tanya to Anastasia was written by Daemon_Targaryen13, also this story was made in cooperation with the same user.
Comment if u like! Thx to Dualwing creator of Shackled to a Corpse for helping me review and edit the chapter.
Also i appreciate any critics and recommendations for the story!