章 33: Sophie's Concerns

Inside the Winter Palace, The Princess of Bavaria Kingdom, Sophie, was painting in her study room. The fire in the fireplace that is giving her room warmth flickered as the embers crackle. She took a look outside her window and saw snowflakes drifting and falling.

It's been two months since she arrived in the Winter Palace, yet, all that time was spent alone in this room.

The reason why she is here is to develop her relationship with the Imperial Prince of the Ruthenia Empire, the would-be Emperor, Alexander Romanoff. However, there was no progress.

Every day since her arrival, Alexander was cooped up in his office, meeting with his ministers, and is always busy with his royal duties. There hasn't been a chance for them to interact with each other.

Not only that, the servants of this palace don't speak Deutsch or English at all. Making her feel like an outsider in the palace.

Alone in her study room, she passed the time by painting what was in her mind. Her artworks sometimes express her everyday feelings inside the palace. As time goes by, she wondered to herself, what is her purpose here? It felt grey and lifeless. She can still remember the time when Alexander proposed to her, promising that he'll be a good husband to her. But not in a single day did she feel that he was important to him.

Thinking about it aches her heart, that even painting couldn't ease her feelings. Even though he's an Imperial Prince and the future emperor of Ruthenia, he should make time for her.

But as the time goes by again, especially in this month, in the span of two weeks visitors across the Empire's smartest engineers, scientist, and rich businessman comes by the palace to meet Alexander.

Most of his time was hosting meetings that would often take six to eight hours. Sometimes she tried to sneak her way into the meeting room, only to be barred by his chief of security, Rolan Smerdyakov. Of course, she got upset at the time but whenever the meetings concluded, she would often hear praises from the engineers like "The prince is a genius", "how did he think of that concept?" something like that.

His efforts alone made her rethink his impression of him. She judged him for not giving her affection but it turns out that he's just working very hard to save his country.

She's not ignorant of the current issues of the Ruthenia Empire, before she left, she studied the history of the Ruthenia Empire. After the sudden death of his father, he inherited a crumbling Empire rampant with work strikes, assassinations of government officials, and mass protests. The events reminded her of the fate of The Kingdom of Francois, where the people sentenced the King and Queen to their death. However, thanks to Alexander's progressive reforms, by even went so much that he transitioned the form of government from autocracy to constitutional monarchy and gave people rights, saving the country from its doom.

To do so, he must work day and night, sometimes until dawn to finish his paperwork. Knowing that he exerts that much effort made her feel guilty.

If a man is working hard on his job, what should his wife do? Thinking back, she hasn't done anything for him. So demanding his attention would be shameless.

Then she remembered her words to him.

"I will try my best to become a suitable wife for you..."

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door. She stopped her work, and set her palette and brushes down. She stood up and saw Christina.

"Sophie...dinner's ready," Christina informed and then noticed a pensive expression written on her face. "Hmm...why the long face Sophie? Did something happen?"

Christina Romanoff, the third child of Emperor Romanoff, is Alexander's sister. Out of all his siblings, Christina was the first one to engage in conversation with her. She can speak fluent Deutsch, which makes it easy for her to talk to her. As for Tiffania and Ana, she's working on it. The reason being is that they quickly became embarrassed when they meet each other. But she hoped that she'll get along with them, as they will become her family once she became married to Alexander.

Sophie shook her head. "Nothing...I'm just thinking of something. Is Alexander going to join us?"

Christina looked down as she shook her head. "Dear brother is still at the meeting with the CEO of the Tupolev Aeronautics and the Tula Arms Plant. He said we should have dinner without him."

"Oh..." Sophie's face became even more solemn.

"I feel you too Sophie, prior to our father's death, he became like that. Slave to his work...but I can't blame him...he's the next king of Ruthenia Empire. He carries a heavy burden on his shoulder and is working tirelessly to make it better."

"I see..." a melancholic smile appeared on her face. "Uhm...Christina, can we talk for a bit?" Sophie sat on the bed, gesturing for Christina to sit next to her.

"Okay...excuse me," Christina said, taking her seat next to her.

Sophie got down to business. "We know about Alexander right? He's always working like there was no tomorrow and whenever there was a chance for us to talk, he would just raise his hand and tell us that he doesn't have time or he was busy...I was wondering if he's eating at the right time or taking good care of himself," she said, looking at her lap.

Christina listened and nodded. "You're right Sophie...I understand that you're worried about him but you have to understand that he's doing the best he can. I know you two are to become the new King and Queen of the Ruthenia Empire but think of it this way, if dear brother won't work hard, there will be no empire to rule. Still...sometimes he takes it too far that I too am worried about his health."

Sophie could only nod at her words.

Christina sighed, "He's not like that before..."

Suddenly, Sophie got excited, "Is that so?! Christina, can you tell me about him?" Her eyes were lit up with excitement like a child that was offered candy.

"Well...you might not like it and your impression of him might change."

"Eh?" She placed a hand on her lips as she tilted her head to the side, quizzically. She remembered last time when Alexander told her a funny story about him sneaking out of the palace. She finds it funny. Whatever the content of the story, this is her chance to know more about Alexander. "Don't worry, I can take it."

"You said it...don't blame me later," Christina said and began telling her Alexander's story. "Well before he became an adult, Alexander was not the person you're seeing right now. He loves to laze around, lie on the bed, not attend his private lesson with the royal tutor, and sometimes he would sneak out of the palace and bring girls along with him from who knows where...He's very rebellious...?" Christina paused and then asked, "Why are you laughing Sophie?"

"It's just that...if I don't see Alexander as a lazy bum, I'll be shocked," Sophie giggled. Everything that Alexander is showing right now contradicts his past self.

"I know right...anyways, back to the story. Those carefree days of him ended when our father and mother got killed by a terrorist."

The mood suddenly plummeted but Christina continued the story. "He was injured badly from the attack and fortunately he survived. From that day, he changed. He became a workaholic and suddenly had knowledge about a miracle medicine that saved Ana's life."

"Eh? He created medicine for Ana?"

"Yes, you know tuberculosis right?"

Sophie nodded.

"It's an incurable disease, a death sentence. But when Alexander created a medicine called...Strep...thingy...Ana's health improved dramatically!"

"Oh...I didn't know Alexander can do that...I thought he was an only engineer...though that was what he said."

"Engineer...did he say that to you?"

Sophie nodded.

"How is that possible? Alexander's grades in mathematics are at an all-time low but he's good at language," Christina gasped inwardly. "My dear brother became mysterious after he woke up from his coma...So...did your impression of him change?"

"No, not at all!" Sophie said, honestly. "In fact, I find it lovely...everyone has its flaw and mystery right?"

Christine could only chuckle.

"Thank you for sharing a story about him. I appreciate it. I see him in a new light now."

"It's fine...So what would you do?"

"It's obvious, I'll visit him in his office, as his wife."

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