Ch.400Divine Grace

* * *

As if I really had a dream. No, it was a real dream.

To think that I could recognize it was a dream myself. It felt like I really saw Anastasia.

“Did you meet the Tsar’s family well?”

“Why? Is it already time?”

The old man seems to have come earlier than I expected, just like the Tsar’s family a moment ago.

It’s almost certain that this man called the Tsar’s family.

It’s suspicious how he showed me dead people.

“Well, the Tsar’s family said they would leave after seeing you. I forgot to give you something.”

“What is it?”

“No matter what, wouldn’t it be lonely to live like that? If it’s difficult to marry a man because of your past life, wouldn’t it be desirable to have at least a partner who will be by your side for life?”

What, is he suddenly going to create a lifelong partner for me?

Unfortunately, I don’t want that. It’s nothing more than self-consolation.

“What do you mean?”

What is he suddenly talking about?

“Isn’t that Maria friend good? She seems like she would sincerely devote her family to assist you. I’ll bestow my blessing on them as a family. Anyway, there are only three of them now, so the Maria trio should be enough.”

I thought something was strange. So that’s it.

Is he giving Maria the same blessing as me?

I was curious, so I decided to ask.

“What does that mean?”

“It means she can go with you when you go. After all, you’re already branded as a saint with public attention, so would it make a difference if some of the people around you change too?”

Right. That’s true. But whether the Marias will accept it is another matter.

If the Marias refuse and just want to inherit the family, things would be different.

Even if they are the Marias, would they want to live with me?

“Well, see you next time.”

“No, you damned old man!”

The old man suddenly disappeared, and my whole body felt like it was floating, then I woke up from my sleep.

“Your Majesty. Your Majesty!”

Maria rushed into the bedroom as if something had happened.

What the,

“Huh? Maria? What is it. There are two Marias?”

No, there are indeed two Marias. What? Why are there two identical Marias?

There are two Marias with only slightly different hairstyles.

“Suddenly I heard a voice telling me to serve Your Majesty well, and I-I became younger.”

“Hmm. So, you’re the original Maria, and this one is, well, Maria the Second.”

They’re both young, so I can’t tell who is who. So, they really are the Marias.

It’s surprising that they’re clearly young Marias themselves.

I didn’t expect this to happen, but if a little time passes, will Maria the Third also enter the Kremlin Palace?

Is this okay? I feel somewhat guilty.

“God has blessed you. He said your determination to support me with your family is remarkable.”

That must be roughly what he meant when he bestowed the blessing.

Otherwise, this situation wouldn’t make sense.

The problem is that if the Marias have more children, it becomes troublesome in many ways. Does that mean I’ll live among the immortal Marias?

“Indeed, Your Majesty is truly blessed.”

The Marias said with surprised faces.

They both look so similar except for their hairstyles that I can’t tell them apart.

No, wait. Maria the Second seems to show less emotion. I think I can distinguish them by that.

“Don’t put it like that.”

I’m even afraid of myself at this point.

This has turned into a real fantasy in reality.

I think I can somehow suppress the media.

“But this way, it will be easier to assist Your Majesty.”

“Isn’t it bothersome? After all, you won’t die.”

Even for me, I wonder if I can endure as more time passes.

“We don’t mind.”

They proudly beat their chests as they speak, which is even cute.

The old man probably chose Maria because of her loyalty to me all this time.

She’s practically the Kremlin spokesperson. If things turn out this way, we’ll need to do some manipulation.

We need to keep the media from paying attention to the Kremlin Palace. The Maria family might even need to fabricate their family registry.

I want to wash away my identity, but it’s the Marias who are doing it.

It’s truly lamentable.

But the Marias are perfect matches for me.

We’ve seen everything together, both what should and shouldn’t be seen. They’ve even seen me bathe.

“Your Majesty, by the way, I found this old box while cleaning. About the dress inside, is it yours?”

An old box?

Maria the Second, no, the First brought an old box.

It’s a box that doesn’t fit in the Kremlin Palace at all.

“Ah, yes. It seems to be from when I lived in Yekaterinburg.”

Is it a dress I had when I was at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg?

It clearly looks like a relic of a dress.

It must be since it was originally Anastasia’s dress. The Anastasia before the execution and the Anastasia after the execution are different, after all.

“Yes, that’s right. What should we do with it?”

“Hmm. It’s too worn out, but it seems a bit of a waste to throw away.”

Did I bring it with me when I left Yekaterinburg? There’s no need to throw it away.

It should remain as evidence that there was a previous Anastasia.

“Then I’ll keep it safe.”

As Maria carefully folded the dress, something fell out with a thud.

A frame? It looks like a photo, what is it?

Maria picked it up, looked at it, and showed it to me.

“Huh? Who is this person in the photo? It seems familiar somehow.”

“Yeah, the face does look familiar. Who is it? Ah, now I see this face.”

I thought it looked similar to that old man.

I wondered where I’d seen this face before, and it’s Rasputin.

Come to think of it, the Tsar’s family liked Rasputin.

OTMAA also seemed to recognize him as the grateful grandfather who saved Alexei. There’s a saying that they died holding his photo until their last moment.

They could have had this photo.

Now that I look at it, it does seem to resemble the old man I know. But surely it can’t be.

If Rasputin were that old man, would he have left the country in that state and passed the responsibility to me?

“It’s Rasputin.”

“That’s right. Grigori Rasputin. The man who contributed to the fall of Imperial Russia.”

Of course, it’s not entirely his fault.

From the beginning, Nicholas II wasn’t particularly capable as an emperor. The same goes for the empress. Although he’s said to have meddled in state affairs, he also advised against participating in World War I, which led to the downfall of Imperial Russia.

They stubbornly participated in the war, lost public support, and were destroyed by Lenin’s deployment.

There’s a rumor that Rasputin left a letter shortly before his death.

He said that if he died at the hands of the people, the dynasty would last for hundreds of years, but if he died at the hands of the nobility, they would kill each other and be soaked in blood for 25 years.

Indeed, there was tremendous bloodshed through the Russian Civil War, the Great Purge, and so on.

I don’t know if Rasputin really left that, but it became reality.

“I heard this man saved the former Tsarevich’s life.”

To Maria, Rasputin doesn’t seem to be such a bad character.

That makes sense. Since the Tsar’s family, including Anastasia, was connected to Rasputin, the media might just bury it. If they openly criticize and insult Rasputin, who was associated with the Tsar’s family, they might be branded as Bolsheviks.

Even if that’s not the case, someone of Maria’s generation probably wouldn’t know much about it.

“To Anastasia, this Rasputin was a grateful figure who saved her younger brother Alexei.”

“Your Majesty, did you just speak in the third person?”

Of course. This isn’t me trying to be cute like Nasser.

I judged that it’s time to speak up. I need to say it at this point. I feel like I should tell someone this fact.

“The me from then and the me now are completely different people.”

“Pardon?”

“That day, the original owner of this body, Anastasia, died. She was trampled under the evil guns and swords of the Bolsheviks. And when I woke up again, I took Anastasia’s place.”

Saying this won’t change anything for the Marias.

“I don’t know the details, but Your Majesty is Your Majesty, right?”

That’s right. I am me.

At least when I woke up, the Bolsheviks were burying me.

As long as I have this body, I claimed to be Anastasia, but thanks to that, I was able to lead the White Army to victory.

“That’s right. At least I’m here because of God’s call.”

Originally, Anastasia was a child who knew nothing.

Still, she must have known that her father had misled the country.

But in the end, she died screaming, and it would be much later that it was revealed that the Bolsheviks had killed the Tsar’s family.

“Not like a dual personality. Ah, that was a rude question. I apologize.”

It’s not a rude question.

It was a circumstance worthy of suspicion.

“No, it’s okay. Of course you can say that. If I had a dual personality, how could I have known the future and prepared for it?”

“Then, Your Majesty, are you from the future?”

Hmm, should I start talking about this?

If I don’t speak, my mouth will become parched.

“That’s right. Actually, I wasn’t even Russian. Originally, I was a citizen of a country called the Republic of Korea, which was liberated by the United States.”

It’s funny how a Korean ended up like this.

I have no idea how that old man ended up doing this.

“When you say Republic of Korea, do you mean the Korean Empire? The one that was a Japanese colony. The one mentioned in the World Strategy.”

“That’s right. At that time, there was no Balhae Federation, and the Korean Peninsula was divided into south and north, with the Republic of Korea in the south and communist North Korea in the north.”

A world that can no longer exist.

The country called North Korea in that world will not appear here.

Korea has changed so much that it’s remaking itself anew.

“I wondered if the World Strategy might be true, and it is. So communism existed in the world.”

Maria spoke as if amazed.

“In my world, communism had mostly disappeared, but after liberation, communist countries were created by the Soviet Union. Yes, in the world where the Red Army won.”

“So the future of that world is the World Strategy.”

I should tell someone now.

It feels like I have to speak.

The truth I possess that I can’t tell everyone in this world.

“Yes, you could see it that way. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

“I understand.”

I explained to the Maria mother and daughter who I am.

“So that’s what happened.”

Surprisingly, the Maria mother and daughter looked slightly surprised.

Well, it’s a bit different from being surprised, but anyway.

“Strictly speaking, I’ve always been the same person to you, so it doesn’t matter.”

It wouldn’t have mattered much to the Marias.

Maria was in the innermost circle.

Originally, the others were similar too—frankly, among the White Army generals, who would have known me from before?

“It’s a bit sad that Russia ends up like that in the future.”

Yes. Who would have thought Russia would do such terrible things?

There’s supposed to be plausibility. Does it make sense to handle nuclear war that way?

“So that’s why Your Majesty tried to divide China somehow.”

The reason I kept the United States alive is because, at the very least, historically, it was the best country among the hegemonic powers.

I think it’s suitable as a safety device.

“That’s right. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ve tried to block potential conflicts as much as possible. Now it’s important how my descendants lead the foundation I’ve laid.”

It might cause tremendous conflicts that I don’t know about, but that’s a problem for my descendants.

Frankly, in the world I originally lived in, couldn’t the world have ended with conflicts that never ceased, even without nuclear war?