The newly christened Imperial couple, Olga and Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon in Livadia again. The Livadia Palace had long since been repaired since the Livadia Intrusion of 1912. Now, its pristine white walls stood proud and majestic over the rolling coastal hills of Livadia. In the residence, Olga and Dmitri would reside for the first two weeks of their marriage. Photos were then released to the public! The hearts of the common people within the Russian Empire soon warmed up to the sights of their beloved Tsarina now in love. Even better, that pesky Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich could no longer smear their reputation.

Four months passed, and it became clear to the public that Olga was with child. This time, the pressures of bearing a heir to the throne hardly put any stress on the couple. The Pauline Laws had long since been replaced with the Nicholian Laws, which implied that both men and women could inherit the throne. As long as a candidate held over seven-eighths of royal blood, they could!

Eventually, the excited couple decided to have their child in Livadia, which had never been done before. For Russia, this would symbolize the birth of a new era as the world headed into the start of the Roaring Twenties…

May 23, 1920

In all of her twenty three years of life, Olga had experienced much pain. Yet all the physical or emotional agonies she had ever felt paled in comparison to this. Her late father and mother never told her about the pain of childbirth. Imagine pushing a heavy melon through your nether regions! The pain of another contraction washed over her, making her body painfully tense. Olga screamed, and the midwife continued to encourage her. She glared at her husband, who held her hand in a feeble attempt to comfort her. If only he felt what she felt!

"It will be over soon, dear," Dmitri whispered.

"That's what you have repeated for the past ten hours!" Olga growled, her blue eyes blazing with anger.

"Alright, the head is crowning! Push!" the midwife ordered, giving her Tsarina a steely gaze.

No matter what, that heir needed to come out!

Olga bore down with all of her might, as drops of sweat rolled down her forehead. After a few more moments of even more screaming that left her voice hoarse, she heard a wonderful sound. Her anger dissipated when she realized what it was. The cries of a child filled the bedroom, and Olga made a tired and very satisfied grin despite having reddened eyes and a horrible case of bedhead hair. This joyful, wonderful feeling bubbled up in her heart. She was now a mother! Her cornflower blue eyes began to water with tears as she reached her arms out for her baby.

"Is it a boy?" Dmitri asked, his blue eyes shining with happiness and glistening with tears.

"It is a girl, your Imperial Majesties," the midwife said.

The umbilical cord was cut, and after the child was cleaned with sterile towels, it was given to the new mother.

As Olga looked down at the face of her newborn daughter, she began to cry. Dmitri handed her a napkin to wipe her tears, and stroked her dark blonde hair…

"My Mama and Papa are gone… but I promise that I will love and cherish you until my dying breath," Olga whispered.

"What about me?" Dmitri teased.

"Of course I do, even if you made me squeeze a melon through my nethers."

Dmitri chuckled. The new parents looked at their newborn daughter again, who opened her eyelids, revealing Romanov blue eyes. The baby could only look into the eyes of her mother. This innocent babe born of love… may God bless this little soul.

Olga looked into the eyes of her daughter "You will be named Ekaterina, after my favorite Empress of Russia."

The baby whimpered in response, tugging at the gown of her mother. Perhaps she was hungry.

"I wholeheartedly agree with that choice of name. Majestic and refined, like her mother."

Olga blushed. "Mitya, hush. Let me feed Katya."

"Alright, I will be back with some water," Dmitri Pavlovich said, kissing Olga on the forehead.

And so, the news spread like fire around Livadia, and one-hundred cannons were fired in honor of the new heiress! The news then reached all of Russia within a month! The public could only look with awe and adoration towards the new heiress to the throne through the one released picture. Ekaterina Pavlovna Romanova, the Grand Duchess of Russia, would be cherished by her people someday. She would love her country, and it would love her in return. God bless Russia, the Third Rome!


August 8, 1927

The Alexander Palace

Born in 1922, Sergei Pavlovich Romanov had lived a comfortable life under the supervision of his parents. He had been raised with strict discipline by his father, a former military student and Grand Duke before his co-reign as Tsar. Still, his playfulness and yearning for freedom had never waned. If he were to meet his aunt Anastasia, he would have been close friends with her.

His sister, Ekaterina Pavlovna Romanova, had less inclinations to play than her brother. Despite her stubbornness, she had the rational mind of her mother. Her round face and high cheekbones came from her mother, but her long, thin nose and light brown hair came from her father. As the named successor to Olga I of Russia, she would become the next Tsarina.

But she did not care at the moment. It was summer! The seven year old Ekaterina wanted to have fun like any other child would. All she needed to complete after an hour of Russian lessons was her arithmetic practice. She shook her right leg in the chair with impatience, making the chair creak.

"Please, do not make so much noise. I need no distraction."

"Sorry, Mister Gilliard."

The man with graying hair chuckled. His face had long since gained wrinkles, and his body began to have occasional muscle aches. He glanced back at the young girl, who reminded him of another bright minded and young Grand Duchess long ago.

"I accept your apology. You can play with your brother after this."

"Yay!"

Ekaterina then worked through the problems. They were fair game for her, but she had little trouble computing those adding problems. Then, she came across a problem that asked her to add all whole numbers from one to eight. She wondered if there was a faster way to do it.

"Mister Gilliard?" the young girl asked, glancing at her paper.

"Yes?" the aging tutor replied, walking over to his pupil.

"How do I add one to six very quickly?"

"There is a pattern hidden in the numbers on opposite sides," Gilliard said.

"Oh, so the first one and last eight add to nine. And two plus seven is also nine…"

"You may tell me your answer later, Miss Ekaterina."

Ekaterina began to write out the sums of each opposing number, noticing that each number added up to nine. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that there were only four pairs of whole numbers that added to nine. This was half of the count of numbers!

She multiplied the sum of nine by four, and she smiled in satisfaction. Every answer appeared correct. After writing thirty-six, she then picked up her paper. Ekaterina then showed the paper to Gilliard, who gazed at the worksheet for a few moments. He smiled, and nodded in approval.

"You got all of them right! Well done, Your Highness. And the next time I give you another problem to add one to any number, you may use that trick."

"Okay!"

"Alright, you may go and have fun with your brother."

The young Grand Duchess jumped with joy, then ran out of the tutoring room. She went to her room. It was the old room where the Little Pair once resided. But now, it was hers. The pink walls still had the white outlining, and a detailed mural of dragonflies were painted on the ceiling. But her brother was nowhere to be found… until she heard a loud noise!

"Boo!"

Ekaterina screamed, whirling around to see her brother laughing at her, his blue eyes tearing up from his laughs.

"Got you!"

"You scared me! Not funny!"

"Aww… I just wanted to have fun!"

Ekaterina looked down at the ground. She soon decided to play tag with her brother.

"Fine. Want to play tag in the garden?"

"Yeah!"

And so they did. Their parents watched from their spot by the small lake in the Alexander Palace gardens, smiling at the wonderful sight. Being young provided many joys, however naïve. Yet with age came knowledge and wisdom.

"Wait until they get older," Olga said.

"Yes, and I'll have to chase off quite a few suitors," Dmitri said, chuckling as he laid back on the bench.

"What a shame. Maria would have loved these children very deeply."

"They will come back someday, I know it."

"I cannot help but wonder how everything has transpired well. It almost makes me wonder what would have happened if things had happened in a different course…"

"We will never know, but we can look to this bright future ahead of this world," Dmitri said, gazing at the birds flying above.

Eventually, Ekaterina and Sergei ran to their parents. The new generation all joined in a shared embrace. It was as close as people could get to the physical manifestation of familial love. Yet across the vast seas of the Baltic, two young women stared off to the east of Buckingham Palace to reminisce of bonds broken and new ones they made…

I know this chapter is a bit shorter, but I hope that you all enjoyed it anyways! Only about two more chapters to go... I never thought I'd make it this far into writing this fic. It's been fun writing this fic so far, and thanks to the loyal reviewers! Your reviews make my day!