June 29, 1914

Olga resided in the Study Room for two hours. She read a few reports, seeing only the usual few small protests by workers and laborers. Despite some civil unrest and the unemployment of child factory workers, the economy of Russia still continued to boom. The protests and riots had lessened by a third. Many of the working-class Russians had noticed that they were given attention by their new Empress. Mothers and fathers would be spared from the sight of their children crippled, injured, or killed by factory accidents. The new law she had signed had been turned into domestic policy by the Department of Work. To no surprise, the approval rating for the monarchy had increased. Otherwise, the twenty-ninth of June was a casual day.

Before the young Empress could clean her desk, there was a knock on the door. She placed down the reports, and she told the visitor to enter. The door opened to reveal her ambassador to Serbia. Alexander Izvolsky wore a frown, looking down at the floor. He held a newspaper in his hands. Olga raised an eyebrow. What had happened to greatly interest the Russian diplomats?

"Your Imperial Majesty, there has been an incident concerning our ally, Serbia," the ambassador spoke, his brown eyes wide with concern.

"What is it? What happened?" Olga asked, feeling fear curl within her.

"A few Serbians have assassinated the Archduke of Serbia, Franz Ferdinand. As Austro-Hungary is allied with Germany, that incident may result in conflicts with our ally. That may drag us into a long and brutal war that we may not be prepared for."

"What can we do?"

"It is up to you, Your Imperial Majesty."

"Let me see the newspaper, Mister Izvolsky."

Alexander, with a shaky hand, handed Olga the newspaper. As she read the newspaper, she shook her head with a sigh. She looked up at the ambassador.

"Compose a letter to the Serbian Embassy stating that I will consider its situation."

"As you wish," Alexander said, and he left the room.

Although Olga was no longer in adolescence, she felt unprepared for such a crisis. At around nineteen years of age, she had to defuse tensions between two foreign countries. She had been to Germany before to visit her cousins. The trip had given her a good impression of Germany and its ruling royal family. Through her late mother, they were blood related. However, Olga considered herself to be full Russian, denying her part-German heritage. She would help defuse the situation not from family ties, but from her aversion to war.

She had witnessed the effects of the Russo-Japanese war on her late father. He would be away from his children for most of the day. Whenever she had asked her father about who was winning and who died, he would not answer. For the first time, Olga knew that the world was not as good as expected. Now she knew that war was not preferable. All it seemed to bring was death and destruction. She glanced at a blank sheet of paper in the typewriter on her desk. Now, she would have to write a letter to the Serbian government. What would she say? She had not written a letter to a foreign nation before.

She placed her fingers on the buttons, but she could not decide on what to write. A quick glance at the newspaper revealed a fact. The Serbian government had denied any wrongdoing, and it had denied responsibility for the assassination. Somehow, the young Empress needed to persuade the Serbian government to uphold responsibility. The question was, how would she achieve that? She thought back to her study sessions with her departed father.

"Papa, can you tell me about Grandpapa?" Olga asked, looking up at her father with her cornflower blue eyes.

Nicholas gave a weak smile. "Alexander the Third, my father, was known as the Peacemaker. He kept Russia at peace with Japan and Germany. He also allied us with France. I remember him as a kind yet stern father, a tall man of great strength. Oftentimes, he would show off his strength by bending the spoons, but that displeased my mother a lot!" he said with a chuckle.

"I wish I could have met him, he sounds like a good man."

"Yes, he would have spoiled you very much. I miss him, along with my brother, George. You would have enjoyed his company as well, as he was the clown of our family..."

"Like Nastya!" Olga blurted.

"True, George would tell jokes and pull small pranks on us to keep us happy, very much like my little Anastasia. I even have a small collection of notes with his best jokes written on them. But, let us return to the subject of my father."

Olga sat beside her father, looking at her father with her blue eyes burning with curiosity. Nicholas laughed, and patted his eldest daughter on the head. "Alright, let me talk about your grandfather on my side of our family... Alexander the Third was not only a peacemaker, but he was a strong and strict ruler for Russia. After your great grandfather Alexander the Second was assassinated by those vile anarchists, my father realized that if he ruled loosely like his father did, he would be taken advantage of by the people."

"Go on, Papa. Go on."

Nicholas took a deep breath. "I learned from Alexander the Second that sometimes we must use fear to make people do what we want. Pitting down the rebellions and having more security helped keep respect and fear of us. However, I do not enjoy making threats to people..."

Olga felt conflicted while she thought about the option. Simply asking the Serbian government to lead an investigation would not help, as the Serbian officials were far too stubborn. Years of past troubles with Austria did not help ease their stubborness. Still, she had to take action. Otherwise, the horrifying possibility of a world war would become reality. How would her beloved Russia be affected? She preferred not to know.

If she threatened Serbia, she would sour diplomatic relations with a fellow Slavic country. If she implored Serbia to reconsider its aloof attitude to the angered Austrians, the world would descend into chaos and carnage. No, she could not allow hundreds of thousands of her people to die fighting the German dragon. No, she could not afford to give the Bolsheviks an opportunity. An unwanted war would only boost support for the revolutionaries.

Olga stared at the blank sheet of paper, hoping that she could organize her jumbled thoughts. The spark of inspiration never came, and the young Tsarina soon dropped her pen in resignation, clattering on the hardwood surface. She decided that the letter could wait for a few hours. With a sigh, Olga stood up from her chair, stretching her sore arms. She knew that as Tsarina, she would have to face such dilemmas and handle high stress. Perhaps playing with her cousin, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, would help her relax. She made her way down the main hallway of the right palace wing, finding the reserved bedroom near the right side palace entrance. She saw her cousin often over the previous two years, as her relatives had suggested that they both live together for familial reasons. She reached the entrance to the bedroom where her cousin resided. She knocked on the door, and she waited for a few minutes.

The door creaked open, revealing the young, dashing Grand Duke dressed in his dark blue royal guard uniform, which had a white sash. A polished saber, for ceremonial purposes, hung on his leather belt. Olga looked up at his face, the features dulled by a weary expression. His light brown hair was well combed, and his oval shaped face was dulled by a bored expression. His light blue eyes, with their lids drooping, stared down at her.

"Cousin Olya, if you are to rouse me from my rest, you should have a suitable reason to do so," Dmitri muttered.

"Yes, I need a certain hiatus from the assassination incident."

The Grand Duke shrugged. "Then what do you want me to do? Discuss politics that I have poor knowledge about? That would not go very well for us."

Olga clenched her jaw. "No, I am taking a lapse from my duties as Tsarina. The current state of affairs between Austro-Hungary and Serbia has overwhelmed me, and I only want to relax."

Dmitri smiled, and Olga wore a puzzled expression. "I thought you would never utter that word: relax. I am wondering why you are asking me if your sisters are not occupied-"

"They are studying English with Mister Gibbs in their classrooms. I suppose that only leaves you," Olga replied.

"I am so flattered to be the new Tsarina's playmate. Despite her unladylike temper, I find her company... enjoyable."

"In all honesty, I was never a lady," Olga commented.

"You may not be a lady, but I have always had a liking for certain kinds of women, those who are bold and bright."

The young Tsarina blushed, quickly turning her head away to hide her blush. "But-"

"Not in a romantic way! Well, not yet," Dmitri blurted, feeling embarrassed from his words.

"Not yet?!"

A brief moment of silence passed, and Dmitri could not help teasing the new Tsarina. "You look attractive with that blush, especially when you get angry."

Olga lifted a hand to her mouth, blushing even harder. The realization that her older cousin was toying with her feelings caused a certain heat to rise within her, and it was not from attraction. She groaned.

"Just shut up and go horse riding with me," she muttered.

"As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty," Dmitri said with a mock bow.

A few minutes later, Olga and Dmitri Pavlovich arrived at the stables. They saddled their horses before sitting on them. With a light kick on the spurs, the two Romanov cousins rode into the sunlit back gardens behind the Alexander Palace. They rode for sometime before reaching a small plaza with a paved stone floor. In the center of the plaza, a small white tombstone stood. Both Olga and Dmitri stopped their horses, getting off to look at the tombstone. Dmitri kept silent as he watched his cousin pay respects to her departed brother.

"I recall having a vision with my departed brother in it. It was about two years ago on the Standart with Papa and Mama. We were going to Livadia, it was a happier time before everything changed," Olga said, running her fingers over the smooth stone surface.

"Those damned Bolsheviks cause plenty of trouble, but if we change our ways, they will lose support."

"Exactly. That will be the strategy of my reign, defeat my enemies through giving welfare. I will accomplish what my ancestors never achieved: ending the threat of revolution once and for all. I will do that for my family... and my people."

"I admire your noble intentions, but you must realize that such reforms will take some time to be fully effective. Passing laws alone is not enough, Cousin Olya. You must make sure that the corrupt in the government are removed. Only then will our Empire run well like a well-oiled machine."

"Absolutely, I understand your point."

Dmitri knelt down in front of the small white marble headstone alongside Olga. He caught a glimpse of her face, which had a pitiful expression. She was taking time to remember a life that she had never met on earth. As someone who had lost his mother at his birth, the Grand Duke understood. He had always yearned to know his mother, the Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna. He had noticed his father neglecting him and his sister even years after the death of his mother. At a young age, he only had a lacking space in his life where he expected loving parents. He was first raised by his father sometime after the death of his wife. that lasted until he married a commoner. After the banishment of his father, Dmitri and his sister Maria were raised by the cold Grand Duchess Elizaveta and the stern Grand Duke Sergei.

The young Grand Duke felt slightly jealous of his cousin Olga. Despite losing her parents at only the age of seventeen, she had at least experienced a mostly happy childhood with her true parents. Under the thin cover of his jealousy, he had a longing for love. The thought of marrying his first removed cousin did not have any appeal, but he knew that he would have to enter an arranged marriage with her later. Dmitri did not know what to feel about the issue. With Nicholas the Second gone, he had been placed as a major candidate for Tsar.

"Baby?" Dmitri read from the headstone.

"Yes, we all called Alexei that. He will be forever young, as they say. And my Papa will be forever forty-four... I miss him very much," Olga said.

"My sister is still married to that Swedish prince, William, I recall. I miss her."

"We have a lot in common, Mitya. We miss someone close to us. We both lost our parents, yet we both seem to stubbornly press on with wit and will. It is almost as if we were meant to be close, not minding the possibility that I may have to erm- marry you."

"It would not be for love, but for the current circumstances. As hesitant I may be, I know that I must do what I must, if Russia is to become great once again," Dmitri said, standing up.

"I can say the same," Olga said, standing up after placing the flowers in front of the headstone.

"Now, how about a different subject?"

"My letter to the Serbians?"

"Hmm... I would say that getting involved in a war would be out of the question, but to prevent it... that would greatly lift your image to the world, not only your people. Imagine preventing a world war between the allies of Serbia and the allies of Austro-Hungary, and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize."

"I am doing this for my family and my homeland, not for a medal."

"Whatever the purpose, I suggest that you push for peace between the Serbians and Austrians. Such a war would have a price too great for us."

"Then I will do it."


Olga found herself back in her Study Room, seated at the desk. She began to compose a letter to the Serbians while her cousin sat across from her, drinking from a glass of water. Placing her pen on the paper, she hesitated.

"Do not overthink, dear cousin. I believe you can avert this crisis," Dmitri said.

"Spasibo, Mitya," Olga said, and she thought of what to write.

Finally, the words emerged from her pen, finding home on the blank paper.

The Russian Empress has considered your situation, and has decided that a war between Austro-Hungary and Serbia will only lead to devastation for both your nation and other Slavic nations. As the guardian of all Slavic peoples, she has determined that appeasing Austro-Hungary is the only suitable option. Avoiding such a war will save countless Slavic lives and keep the much cherished peace in Europe. To let go of grudges is the way of a better future for not only Slavic nations, but others as well.

The Empress encourages that Serbia agree to the last term of a joint Austro-Serbian inquiry into the assassination. Russia is prepared to cover any monetary reparations that Austria may request. In the event that no cooperation occurs, Russia will terminate her alliance...

(End Excerpt)

A.N: Olga has made a wiser choice that may save Europe from the Great War. In the original timeline, the unwanted wars (Russo-Japanese War and WWI) and the incompetence of Nicholas II played a major role in dooming the Romanovs. Hopefully, things will go better in this one.