Pov Tatiana

August 1907

Duma

After two long weeks of counting, finally the votes have been tallied. From Kazakhstan to Magadan, from Leopolis to Vladivostok, all over Russ the citizens have voted for the future of the nation.

It was the first election in all of Russ history and now, the results were to be announced from Duma.

Was there a reason for this formality? Was there actually a need for me to wear this dress? Was there a need for the entire royal family to be dressed to the nines before the future representatives of Russ?

"Today, Russ steps forward to a new dawn! To all who are here today, I am announcing the results of the first ever Russ parliamentary election!" announced my Father, looking at the results, "With 357 seats, the Liberal Russ party! Followed by the Russ Socialist Party, with 303 seats! The Representative Party of Kieva, 151 seats. The Russ Conservative party, with 134 seats. Followed by the Islamic Union of Kazakh and the Representative Party of Suomi with 30 and 25 seats respectively."

It seemed like everyone was shocked by the results, while the smaller parties had half their seats empty, the larger parties had too many representatives. What a sight, to see the Aristocrats of the Conservative Party fighting over who should stay. All talk and no capability, it seems like the Aristocracy would never learn how to be proper politicians.

Finally, as the bustle died down, father called out to us, "It's time for us to leave. There's no reason for us to stay anymore."

Following him out, I felt something abnormal. Looking up, I noticed that there was a poorly done concealment spell upon the roof.

Worried about a possible communist assassination attempt, I ran to my father, "There's something strange up there! Call the guard!"

"Oh! Don't worry about those. They are the guards! You'll meet them soon enough!" he replied with a laugh, "Let's head back to the Palace first, we'll have lunch together. And hopefully our dinner with the new prime minister wouldn't be too bad either. I just hope he isn't a Socialist."

With a hesitant nod, I continued to follow my father to the Royal Car.

It was shortly after lunch when I finally learnt who the Mages were. Father had gathered us in the gardens behind the Palace to reveal just what that poor excuse for a cloaking spell was.

There were fifty such ripples in the air. Perhaps it was due to my experience with such spells in my previous life, but they were quite obvious to me.

Looking around at the seemingly empty garden, Olga asked in confusion, "What exactly are we doing here?"

It seems the spells weren't as useless as I first thought. To the untrained eye, such as those of my family, they were still effective. It seemed the rest of my family didn't notice them at all.

But that still left one question. As far as I knew, I was the one that came up with this tactic in my first life. I had never seen it used by any other Mages, no matter the Nation. How did Russ Mages of all people come up with such advanced spells?

Giving a clap, Father answered Olga's question. The fifty illusions fell, revealing their casters to be an entire division of female Mages.

Perhaps he was trying for a dramatic reveal, but he had only shocked the rest of the family; Mother herself fell backwards ungracefully, evidently unhappy with the sudden appearance of the 'elite guards'. Looking at her expression while getting up, it was obvious someone was going to be sleeping on the couch tonight.

"Who are they?" asked Olga, eyeing the soldiers suspiciously.

"These are your new royal guards, ten of them will be assigned to each of you."

Considering the absolute disappointment that the Russ Mages of my previous life were, I was worried they weren't well trained. If they were to be my guard, I would have to ensure that they were trained properly, even if I had to do it myself.

"Do I have absolute authority over them?" I asked.

Laughing at the absurdity of my question, father replied, "Of course! You're a royal princess! Barring a few actions, you can get them to do whatever you wish"

Music to my ears.

Forming up in neat rows, the guards grouped up into five sections, ready for their first instructions.

"These soldiers will always be with you, thus we needed to keep them a secret. It was their commander's idea to use cloaking spells," explained my father before he pulled out his watch, "It looks like we still have some time before dinner, why don't you girls take some time to get to know them better?"

"I'll be leaving too, your father and I need to discuss a few things," said my mother as she dragged father away.

Looks like father is in for quite a scolding.

"It's an honour to be protecting you, princess," greeted the commander of my guards, as all ten of them knelt before me.

"You may rise," I replied, motioning for them to get up, "Prepare the car, I need to get to the University."

My arrival at the University was met with an enthusiastic response as the members excitedly came to greet me, making it quite difficult to move around.

After many interruptions by the faculty members, I came to my destination. Vladimir Lenin's room.

As the door opened, Lenin came to a halt. He stared at me for a moment, before looking at my entourage of very visible guards.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" he asked.

Smiling at his comment, I answered, "That remains to be seen. But for now, I am here to ask for a favour."

"I don't think my room has enough space. How about we discuss this with a walk in the University's Park? I heard they managed to acquire a few Akitsushiman trees."

Trees from Akitsushima? Maybe they'll be Sakura.

"Very well, lead the way."

As we walked to the park, I saw that the trees were indeed Sakura. Unfortunately, it wasn't spring yet.

Sitting at a balcony overlooking the Park, I began to explain what I wanted, "Russ industry has been growing, unfortunately it is insufficient. Our industries only grow in cities connected to the railway. This is where you come in. You are a great promoter of Russ industrialisation, I want you to assist me in the creation of a major railway network in the Western region of Russ."

With a sad look on his face, Lenin replied," I have been trying to convince the nobles and bourgeoisie to do the same for years! I am afraid I will never be able to convince such a useless bunch!"

"I see. What if you had the support of both the Tsar and the Prime Minister?"

After a thoughtful pause, he replied, "Even then I would need funding."

"Very well. I will finance you with my own wealth."

With an incredulous look, he asked, "You are already managing your own finances?"

"Are you that doubtful of my ability?"

Standing up and shaking his head, Lenin replied, "If only you were the Tsarina. Perhaps We could have improved this nation by now. I will assist you in this venture. I imagine that we could very well succeed within five years!"

How wonderful. Everything was going as I planned.

Pov Lenin

August 1907

University of Moskova

The Princess is so very intelligent. So very committed to improving the nation. Working with her will allow for Russ to transition to a Liberal economy and a true communist haven.

I will have to keep her close, she is a much more reliable ally than that parasite Joseph. I cannot afford to make the same mistakes as the past.

Tatiana is such an interesting person. So intelligent, yet so full of hope. Perhaps one day she would be a proper part of the communist party. We need her intelligence. There is no reason to let it be wasted together with the rest of the Royal family.

Hanging my jacket up as I returned to my office, I found the comrade who has been helping me coordinate the communists in my office.

"Loria, I told you not to visit me. At least wait for the revolution to happen first. We can meet after we have the proletariat take control of Russ."

"Apologies, Comrade. I was just so excited. I'll try to be more patient," he replied as he left.

Even while being a member of the bourgeois, Loria was a good man who only wanted to build schools for the children. A true communist at heart, kind and intelligent. He was someone with the capability to plan for the future, the children are Russ' future. He was someone I could trust to help me achieve the communist utopia.

POV Tatiana

August 1907

Moskva Palace Dining Hall

Dinner was a grim affair. Father could barely hold in his anger knowing that the socialist party had taken control after allying with the smaller parties of the IUK, RPK and RSP. Due to that, it was the chairman of the Socialist party who had become prime minister.

Father was usually a peaceful gentleman. Yet upon hearing the news, he managed to break a table with his bare hands. Proving that the most dangerous man to anger was one who was never angry.

Father's outburst led us to perhaps the strangest political meeting in recent history. With his right hand injured and bandaged, he could only use his left to shake the prime minister's.

The visitor was tall and handsome even to me. His hair well groomed and his face beardless. To me, he looked more like a playboy than a politician. Despite being twenty years his junior, Maria looked like she was about to start drooling over his face. Typical.

Doing his best to be polite, father smiled through gritted teeth, "Congratulations on winning your seat, Prime minister Kruchev. May we bring this country to New heights together."

"Before we begin. I would like to say that unlike the communists, the socialist party respects your authority and finds your reforms favourable. We are greatful for your approval of our participation in the elections and we hope to work with you into the future."

With a nod, father spoke, "Let's eat."

For a few moments we ate in silence before father spoke up again, "I would like to bring up ideas for a few reforms for the parliament to vote on."

Putting aside his cutlery and wiping his mouth, the Prime minister replied, "I'm all ears, your Majesty."

"I've thought about it for a while. I want to remove all laws of cultural and linguistic restrictions in Kieva."

The entire room looked at him in shock. I didn't think he would have ever agreed to it when I suggested it all those months back.

Straightening himself, the prime minister asked," Are you sure? The international community will look down on you if you give in to the Kievites!"

With just his left hand, my father continued to eat, "It doesn't matter. We are reforming the Empire. The Kievites are still my citizens. I am going to do this right… One last thing."

"Yes, your Majesty?" asked the prime minister, looking almost like a soldier waiting for his deployment.

"Do not touch the Church or the army. Everything else is fine."

As soon as he heard that the prime minister's eyes went wide, "You mean you're not going to side with the Aristocracy?"

"When I decided to go through with the reformation of the government, I had to ask myself if I was going to side with the Nobility, or the citizens," my father responded with a smile I had never seen before, "I decided that I was doing this for my people. I may have preferred that the liberals took charge, but I am willing to work with you socialists."

Everyone looked at the Tsar in surprise. My father had just been a much braver man in this life than in any of my previous lives.

It should have been something to celebrate, but I couldn't be sure the future was safe.

I didn't know whether to be relieved or afraid.

What did the future hold?

Comment if u like! Thx to Dualwing creator of Shackled to a Corpse for helping me review and edit the chapter.

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