Bab 17: Siblings
A girl dressed in an ornate white dress flitted across the room as she announced her arrival.
"Ana? What are you doing here?" Alexander exclaimed. He didn't expect to see Ana so soon.
As Ana ambled toward him, Alexander studies her and noticed a remarkable change in her appearance. Last week, she was this frail young lady, bedridden for almost her life ever since she got afflicted by tuberculosis. He also recalls the time when her voice carried weakness and weariness. Now, she's carelessly walking around the palace and probably giving the servants a hard time.
"I came here to visit you," she said as she stopped in front of his desk. She eyed the sparse documents and files over his desk before returning her attention to him.
"You seemed to be working hard, dear brother. This is the first time in my life seeing you giving efforts in your work," she said teasingly.
"It's only natural for the successor to the throne to work hard on its constituents. Anyways, why are you even here? You should be resting in your bedroom, do Dmitri know you're here?"
"Geez...geez, brother. Aren't you that excited to see me in my normal state? Look!" She did a little twirl. Her dress swished up as it whirled, showing off her graceful movements.
Alexander slowly leans over the table and set his head on his palm as he looks at his sister, his expression serious.
Ana growled seeing that his brother didn't give a reaction at all.
"What's with that face brother? Do you really not that happy to see me?"
Her eyes moistened as if she were going to cry. Alexander averted his gaze from his sister. He knew that if he looks at her for a second longer, he would be possessed by the irrational behavior of the original prince who would be tempted to hug her.
Although Thomas is the one controlling most of the functions of the body, when it comes to family, he would be vulnerable. Which baffled him from the start, does the real prince Alexander really dead or alive?
Still, he can't let her have that gloomy look. He formulated an explanation in his head to make her understand that he didn't mean it in the way that she thinks.
"Ana...look, I'm happy that you can now walk and enjoy yourself but I'm concerned about your health. You're still not completely cured of tuberculosis. It would take another three to six months to fully remove the bacteria off your system."
"I know that Brother, I just wanted to show you that I'm feeling better." Ana reasoned.
Alexander sighed and closed his eyes thinking how a real Alexander would handle this situation.
Searching through his memories, he found one.
'What...do siblings interact like that?'
It was a gesture to calm Ana down and make her happy. He has no choice but to resort to it.
He cleared his throat before offering something. "Ana, do you want to...' ugh this is embarrassing' sit on my lap?"
Ana's eyes lit up with excitement after hearing that.
"Really?!" She said with a cherubic face.
"I have no...gugh."
Before he can offer an explanation, Ana hopped onto his knee. She playfully giggles as she grinds her rear on his lap and wiggles into place, snuggling herself on his chest, sniffing him.
A wave of discomfort ran throughout his body at the sudden action of his little sister, questioned himself again. Is this how siblings interact?
Still, the goal has been achieved, it calmed her and soothed her, making her happy. As long as it is achieved, nothing else matters.
Although he found this to be somehow uncomfortable, he still let her do her thing.
"What are you doing today brother?" Ana picked one of the files on his brother's table and read it.
"Education...reform? What's this brother?"
"It's one of the hundred things I'm currently doing," Alexander answered simply. "Our education system is exclusive only to the nobility, resulting in a lower literacy rate, especially among the peasantry. Now according to the data I read while I was browsing for information about our country, there are 25 million peasants living in Ruthenia Empire. That means twenty-five million people can't read or write."
"That's a huge number..." Ana gasped. "I can read and write brother."
"You're part of the royal family, hence an upper class, so it's only natural that you can read and write. But those people out there can't simply because they were born out of it. Those twenty-five million peasants can affect our economy drastically, if we utilized them by giving them the basic ability to read and write, it can turn things upside down."
"How brother?" Ana asked curiously.
"In this modern world, in order to get a job two basic requirement is required. An ability to read and write. Imagine if a person can't do those, they will only end up with limited options. They can either go back to farming or become factory workers whose job is to do a thing repeatedly for the rest of their life. But imagine those people armed with knowledge, they can change their lives and the lives of countless people around them. They can be doctors, teachers, architects, or engineers. They can be anything. That is why I'm going to push for an educational reform that will extend classes for peasants for free."
"That's...amazing brother! I wonder why our father didn't approve of it."
Alexander didn't answer that. The reason was simple, the Romanoff doesn't want the mass to learn as it can change the social fabric of Ruthenia and possibly earn knowledge that can be used as their weapon to overthrow the ruling dynasty.
He sees an educated mass as a threat to his rule. Not only his father but his grandfather as well.
"I will implement it as soon as possible. Not only did I make education for free, but I also ordered the construction of new schools to accommodate the population."
Not only he will push for education reform, but he also planned to implement labor rights, the child protection act that will end child labor, tax reforms, land reforms, agricultural reforms, and other huge reforms that will greatly affect the citizen's life.
For him, the only way to catch up with the superpowers of Europa is to modernize socially, economically, militarily, and technologically.
As the two siblings continued their moments where Alexander is reading her documents and teaching her about the bureaucracy of the government, two beautiful women dressed in casual attire showed up on his doorsteps.
"Brother...we're ready to leave...Anastasia?!" Christina gasped.
"Ana? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your room? And why are you sitting on Alexander's lap?" Tiffania questioned.
"What's wrong with it? Brother offered me to sit on his lap because he knew that I wanted to do it." Ana said cheekily.
Hearing that, Tiffania's expression darkened. She shot a glaring look at her brother and said. "Alexander...you...creep, pervert, low-life, scum, shameless man..." After her rant, Alexander was struck silent.
Is this the girl who cried because of Ana's condition? Instead of thanking her brother who saved Ana, he received nothing but a curse. She must've clearly misunderstood the situation.
"Oi sister you shouldn't be talking to a brother like that," Ana sat up and chided her best friend.
"Hmph," Tiffania harrumphed as she averted her gaze away from Alexander.
"Anyways, where do you plan of going?"
"We're going out to visit the hospitals, factories, the city," Christina answered. "Why are you here anyway?"
"Why is everyone asking why I'm here!!" She complained hotly. "Am I not allowed to walk around the palace where I live?"
"You should be in your room resting. Did you sneak out of your room?" Christina asked as she pulled her sister's ear. Ana winced in pain.
"Ouch! Let go of my ear sister!"
"Only if you behave."
"Fine," Ana relented.
Christina's eyes flickered to Alexander. "So brother, are you ready to leave? The car's ready."
"Can I come?" Ana asked.
"No!" Christina and Tiffania intoned together.
"Awwww..." Ana looked down sadly.
"It's for your own benefit. Brother said you're not completely cured," Christina explained.
"Plus the trip will be tiresome for you," Tiffania added. "You must stay and rest here.""
"Don't worry, once you're okay, you can come with us."
"Is that a promise?"
Ana questioned looking up at her sisters.
"Yeah, it's a promise," Christina said with a motherly smile.
"Alright. I'll wait for you here. Take care of yourselves."
"We will," Christina and Tiffania said in chorus.
Ana waved her hand at her older siblings as she left the room. Leaving only Alexander, Christina, and Tiffania in the office.
Alexander sorted the documents scattered on his desk and piled them neatly. After that, he stood up, straightened his tie, and buttoned his suit jacket. "Let's go."
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