A.N: Here we are, the end of the first work within my Romanov alternate history! As you all read this bitter sweet epilogue, take my big thanks for your support and feedback! I'll miss working on this story, but the sequel will still be written. FYI, the sequel on AO3 under Russian Royalty Fiction will cover the time gap from the 1930s to 1960s.

A double thanks to my loyal reviewers:

Gabros, Firemangan, Guest Claire, Ladyfiaran, CalvinHobbesGatsby, and the rest of those who reviewed! There are around a dozen of you who reviewed, and I apologize for not being able to list you all. I'm horrible with memorization, haha!

Overview

As Olga I of Russia and her spouse Dmitri Pavlovich led Russia through the 1930s, many concessions were made from their regime. A well-formed welfare system including social security and affordable healthcare was implemented within two score years. As they did so, they held great care for the education of their children, making them learn about political theory, economics, and other studies throughout their youth. With a high-standard autocracy, there would be no corrupt middlemen, and incompetent leaders would rarely take the throne. Their autocracy was more reformist than the reactionary regime of Alexander III, but the new principles had worked. Changes such as these would be cherished by the Russian people and other minorities within the Russian Empire.

As the royal heiress Ekaterina Romanova came of age, the events would only grow more turbulent, as a hardline authoritarian communist regime rose in power within Germany and Austria: The Kommunreich. The state led by Lenin, Trotsky, and other German communist leaders would eventually purge itself of all money by 1942, leading itself to a work-voucher based economy. There would be no poor or rich, as the concept of currency was a thing of the past. But some lived in fear of being arrested for even criticizing their government or the work camps…

The Great War of 1943 to 1948 raged in Europe, Asia, and Oceania between the Berlin Pact and the Entente. The great powers of the Kommunreich and Ottoman Empire along with Communist holdouts in French lands and British India would face the other side: the Entente. The Entente comprising Imperial Russia, the British Empire, America, Scandinavia, and other smaller countries would prevail after five years of brutal fighting. As some populous cities such as Dover, Berlin, Vienna, Sochi, and Kiev were destroyed by atomic weapons, the world would shift to peace.

The communist regimes were toppled into the depths of history, and replaced with constitutional monarchies or social democracies. France became a figurehead monarchy once again after about two centuries, and Germany would see the rise of a social democracy. The concept of a United Nations was proposed, but the vote failed… Instead, there were only economic and defense unions between regional nations. The Entente became the Transatlantic Triune, Central Europe and other Mediterannean countries became the Euro Alliance, and Asia would become the Pan Asian Sphere, mostly oligarchies or social democracies.

The now peaceful and prosperous world would continue on into a brighter future. As the late 1970s arrived, some great leaders departed. Olga I of Russia, known as an honored figure in Imperial Russia, died at the ripe age of almost eighty-one. The date was August 20, 1976.

August 22, 1976

Petrograd, Imperial Russia

The funeral procession of Olga I of Russia was a grand affair much like the funeral of Dmitri Pavlovich ten years earlier. Crowds flanked the main driveways of Petrograd, eager to pay their respects to their former Empress then Tsarina. A procession led by a yellow 1974 Cadillac car drove slowly over the bare asphalt roads. The Cadillac, with its metal body given off a faint gleam in the sunlight, carried Ekaterina, her male consort, and her children to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where the final rites and burial would be done. Behind them was a truck carrying a coffin with the embalmed body of Olga, its once blonde hair a silvery gray and its skin somewhat wrinkled. The car with her sisters also followed behind it.

"Mother, what will we do now?" Tsarevich Alexander whispered to his mother, who looked at him with a melancholy smile.

"Just look straight ahead, and try not to cause a fuss."

"We know, Mother," Grand Duchess Yulia whispered, glancing around with her blue eyes.

"Keep quiet, please. Do not disturb the atmosphere of the funeral," their father spoke, looking at them with warm brown eyes.

In the car where Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia sat, the two aged Grand Duchesses and the former one wiped their eyes with napkins, dressed in black suits or dresses…

"At least Olya reconciled with me… I will miss our eldest sister so much," Anastasia said, sniffling.

"She was great, perhaps the best Romanova ever… I will miss her too, even if she used to call me fat-little-bow-wow," Maria whispered, giving a faint smile to her youngest sister.

"I agree… Now the future belongs to her grandchildren," Tatiana commented, her voice a low whisper.

"Tatya?"

"Yes, Nastya?"

"Are you happy or sad?"

"Both, however strange it may sound to you."

Maria and Anastasia nodded, wiping their eyes again. But like all gloomy things, their sadness would pass.

The procession passed yet another crowd of saddened and weary citizens, dressed in their best dresses and suits. A few cameramen recorded the procession traveling to the fortress across a bridge, forever marking the moment in colored film.

The coffin soon reached its final destination, where it would be carried by four Hussars from the Third Elizvetgradsky Hussars regiment, the grandchildren of the Hussars that marched with her long ago. After the coffin was placed, a few honored members of Russian society and leaders from around the world would attend the eulogy.

All would remain silent in the worship hall of the cathedral, where a choir sang the favorite hymns and anthems of Olga: Kol' Slaven, Molitva Russkikh, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Ekaterina would speak, telling of the persona and prominent deeds of her late mother. Alexander and Yulia silently watched as their Grandmama Olya was taken into the mausoleum where the bones of other Tsars and Empresses rested. The realization that they held such a great heritage and burden hit harder than before. It would be a position of great power and responsibility. Whether they were ready or not for it was uncertain. But they were still young and needed their pearls of wisdom from their mother. Heritage was more than gilded items and palaces… teachings were part of it too.

Sometimes, events occur for a reason: so that lessons are learned. To continue forth with the new and promising.

This is where the tale of Olga I of Russia ends.