Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

Tiamat, standing nearby, asked curiously, "What joke is it? Mom, I'm curious."

"...Oh, well, I thought that before eating lobster, you had to punch it hard with your fist and then eat the meat that squeezed out from around the edges. But I learned from His Majesty that you have to peel it open piece by piece like a surgeon, poking and sucking it out. You have to be very careful, like it's a ritual."

"Huh? Eating lobster..."

Tiamat fiddled with her fingers in confusion. "Does that stuff taste special? I saw a lot of humans eating cod or fried eel on the road. They marinated the fish in butter or lard, added potato slices, and then coated it with hazelnut flour. Since so many people eat it, it must taste delicious."

"That's how people eat in the slums... I've had my mom make it before, and it tastes awful. It's nothing like lobster or seasoning; it tastes like eating oil."

Upon hearing this, Tiamat's eyes lit up:

"Your mother? Rasputin, if I have the chance, I must try these dishes, because mothers are all outstanding human beings."

"Ah, um, it's alright..."

"Alright, that's all for now."

Novia interrupted their conversation, "Let's go see the Tsar first."

……

"I see. So you are the royal tutor that Rasputin found for Romanov."

Ni Er raised his glass and said, "It's alright, there are plenty of teachers at Alexandria Palace, one more would be good too. By the way, are these two both daughters? They look only slightly older than my children."

Skaya was overjoyed to learn that Novia had agreed to the deal. At that moment, the mystery of Tunguska was in the Alexandria Palace, and the two people Ni Er mentioned were Eri and Tiamat, who was using the alias Maria.

Novia was about to nod in agreement when Tiamat beside her said haltingly, "Not daughter... mother..."

Immediately, Ni Er looked at Novia in surprise, his expression a mixture of praise and disbelief.

In reality, the average life expectancy in the Russian Empire at that time was thirty to forty years, so it was normal to marry at fourteen or fifteen. In remote Siberia, there were even cases of marriage at thirteen. Therefore, Nicholas II's surprise was probably not because of Tiamat's appearance, but because she could have a daughter with such an appearance.

But Nie Er quickly realized the truth: it must be due to using magic to disguise his appearance.

He shrugged, momentarily wondering why Rasputin would treat a magician so warmly and even keep him by his side. There were plenty of magicians in Romanov's arsenal, after all…

"His Majesty."

Perhaps sensing the perfunctory attitude from Nikolai II, Rasputin hardened his heart, took the wine glass meant for eating lobster (though he couldn't taste its flavor), and held it to Nikolai II's ear, saying, "Lord Novia is... is... my teacher, everything I have is given to me by him!"

Upon hearing this, Ni Er immediately took a deep breath and replied in a similarly low voice:

"So that's how you learned to smash lobsters with your fists? I never imagined someone with Mr. Novia's temperament would teach someone like Rasputin..."

Novia smiled slightly at this, and at this moment Queen Alexandra couldn't help but chuckle twice. "Your Excellency Novia, there are many villas outside the Alexandria Palace. The climate there is very mild, and there are many palm trees. There are camellias in the garden, and the air is filled with the fragrance of jasmine and mint. The river is right at your feet. You and your family will be very comfortable there."

"There's no need for that. We can live in St. Petersburg perfectly well."

"But St. Petersburg is more than ten kilometers away from Tsarskoye Selo."

Rasputin hesitated, then said, "How about you, Your Majesty, move into the Winter Palace? What do you say?"

The Winter Palace was intended as the Tsar's palace, but Nicholas II was not interested in it. Before Rasputin made this suggestion, there were already people living in the Winter Palace that Nicholas II had sent there, including Prime Minister Stolypin, who had recently argued with him about the Rasputin issue.

Therefore, Ni Er nodded as well.

However, Novia declined, saying he would rent a house in St. Petersburg and there was no need to worry about the distance.

"It's alright, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Rasputin. As long as one is happy, one can live anywhere."

"I feel there is no happier place in all of Russia than Alexander Palace."

Rasputin muttered as he ate lobster.

"...Just do everything you can to make all of Russia as happy as Alexander Palace."

Novia's words piqued Ni Er's interest, and he asked with considerable curiosity, "Mr. Novia, have you perhaps already made contact with that group of people?"

"I now live in Russia, among tens of millions of ordinary Russians."

Nicholas II smiled slightly, looking at the silver-haired youth before him.

What the Tsar, now crowned with the mantle of authority, is thinking and feeling remains unknown.

He was a typical old-fashioned nobleman. From the day he ascended to the throne of Tsar, he felt that he was one with all the subjects of Russia. He exercised his absolute monarchical power to fulfill his covenant with God and all the military and people. Therefore, even when he agreed to the Socialist system during the October Revolution, he did not respect it. Instead, he repeatedly dissolved and re-elected the system and arbitrarily adjourned it, completely believing in his divine right of kings.

In recent years, the number of secret police in St. Petersburg and Moscow has increased several times over, collecting intelligence on all kinds of revolutionary organizations. Just the day before the dispute with Stolypin, 63 suspects were arrested. Although they were all subjected to severe torture with whips and wooden sticks, they all denied any connection with revolutionary organizations.

The Ministry of the Interior originally thought it was better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free, but Ni Er waved his hand and let them all go.

To some extent, Nicholas II was a 'good man'. He would let go of those who didn't have any evidence, and exile those who did have evidence. For example, in January 17, someone was planning to overthrow Nicholas II. At this time, the secret police reported to Nicholas II. Nicholas II wanted to arrest one of them to intimidate others, but the Minister of the Interior advised him that this was forcing people to take desperate measures. Therefore, Nicholas II pretended that nothing had happened.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the upright Mannerheim was loyal to him, even though Nicholas II did not look like a ruler.

At this point, Rasputin, raising his glass, shouted: "Yes, yes! In my opinion, all of Russia is immersed in joy, and the people love Your Majesty!"

If there had been no revolution, Nicholas would have thought:

The people love me? That's only natural, because under God's covenant, I am one with them.

But now he couldn't help but think: If the people love me, then what is it for if there is no covenant with God?

"OK OK."

Alexandra spoke up, "I think it's like this: since he's Rasputin's teacher, he should participate in Alexei's teaching from now on, what do you say, Niki?"

Nicholas II's nickname was used by Wilhelm II when the Sarajevo assassination took place. Nicholas II wrote a letter to Nicholas II using this nickname. Of course, Nicholas II knew that when his wife used his nickname, there was no need to object; he could simply accept it.

"All right……"

Just as Nicholas II was about to pass on the mantle like his wife had, he suddenly realized that his usually mischievous fourth daughter, despite still holding the bear, seemed dazed. This reminded him of the scene when he saw twelve-year-old Alexandra at his uncle's wedding when he was sixteen.

That's how I was back then...

This made Ni Er want to laugh, and just like that, the words that came out of his mouth became like this—

"Alright then, besides Alexei, you can also teach Anastasia, Novia."

Chapter 507 The Countdown to the Collapse of the Russian Empire.

"The people of Chernigov are sighing."

"The shortcut to Kyiv is overgrown with weeds and no one has traveled it for many years because of the nightjars there, but Rakhmavich's son of God is perched on the banks of the Smolodino River, on three oak trees and nine branches."

"Whenever he imitated the cry of a nightjar or the roar of a wild beast, all the trees would wither and bend to the ground, the flowers would fade, the grass would turn yellow, and men and horses would fall to the ground and die. Some people advised him that if he wanted to go to Kiev, he should take the long way."

"Of course, the shortcut to Kyiv is only three hundred versts, while the long way is one thousand versts."

“The warrior Ilya said, ‘I want neither glory nor praise. If I take the long way, it would be tantamount to condoning the Nighthawk’s continued obstruction and evil deeds. I am determined to go on the road no one has traveled.’ Ilya mounted his horse, cracked his whip, and galloped away.”

Alexander Palace, where the Romanovs lived, was not as luxurious as the Winter Palace, because Nicholas II disliked extravagance.

Here, Ni Er's trousers were shabby and his shoes were tattered. His food consisted of simple Russian dishes such as beetroot soup and cabbage soup. Even his children were treated very simply. They slept on hard cots without pillows, and except when they were sick, they had to take a cold shower in the morning. In their spare time, they had to clean their own rooms and make embroidery for charity projects.

This was probably because the day Nehemiah was born was the Day of the Saints of Job, so he believed that fate was punishing him for it, and that he was being punished in place of his ancestors because their mission was too easy.

At that very moment, Nicholas II and Alexandra were secretly watching Alexei and Anastasia being taught by their new teacher Novia on the first floor through a window in a corner of the second floor.

"What is he talking about? What is Ilya? Nikki."

"Oh, that's the Russian fairy tale 'The Battle of Ilya,' which is sung among the people."

"I see. It seems my understanding of Russia is far from sufficient."

Alexandra then elbowed Nie Er beside her, "By the way, why did you entrust Anastasia to him for instruction as well? Did I say that?"

"Haha, isn't Novia the teacher of Rasputin? I feel it would be great to hand the little rascal over to him as well."

Ni Er laughed heartily, "And his magic skills are so good that even those old guys can't see through them. I was thinking that Alexei won't encounter any obstacles. He will abolish those unnecessary things because I'm paving the way for him."

"Alright, alright, I'm going back to sleep. I'm so sleepy this morning."

As Queen Victoria's most beloved granddaughter, and with Nicholas II's affection for her, Alexandra never woke up before midnight at Alexandra Palace. If she hadn't been thinking about how her children were being taught by their new teachers, she would probably still be sleeping.

Meanwhile, Novia, watching Alexei intently listening to the lesson and Anastasia lost in thought, continued:

"You are probably familiar with this story, but I'm telling it to you again to ask you why Ilya was determined to take that path that no one had ever walked before?"

"Because Ilya was brave, fearless, and had a tenacious will."

Anastasia, who seemed quite adept at it, said this while resting her chin on her hand, while the timid Alexei nodded vigorously beside her, "That's common sense, teacher."

"Pretty much, but the most important point is that it's his world."

"...The world? What world? Is it heaven?"

“Everyone has three worlds: the first is within him, the second is the material world, and the third is the world he creates himself. Without the third world, a person cannot live. The solution to evil is the world that Ilya created for himself. Once he goes against this, he cannot live.”

As Novia spoke, he walked over to Alexeipon, who was shy due to his illness, and touched his shoulder.

"Alexei, what kind of world do you want to create, and live in?"

When asked this question by his new teacher, young Alexei was momentarily speechless.

He could only think of his father's hopes that he would stand tall on Russian soil like a bear and become a real man, while his mother thought that he, being sickly, should stay in the palace because he would inherit everything in Russia sooner or later. But in fact, he really wanted to play in St. Petersburg and make some new friends.

Alexei remembered one time when his parents went to the Winter Palace after a long absence, he took the opportunity to slip away. He saw a man walking out of St. Petersburg, so he waved to them to say goodbye. But an awkward scene followed: the man was not moved by Alexei, but instead took a step back.

"W-what's wrong?"

The man's reply was soft but direct: "I am one of the ordinary people. In the past, when people reached out to your father, he refused them. Now, I will not accept the hand extended by someone like your father."

Later, Alexei learned from Rasputin that the man was a revolutionary who had been exiled to Siberia.

Nicholas II confidently believed that he fully understood the Russian people. He frequently made pilgrimages to religious sites, and when he met peasants, he firmly believed that as long as the peasants were kept away from the sinister propaganda from abroad, Russia would be at peace. He never imagined that Russian peasants would be genuinely dissatisfied with the power system established by his ancestors.

Even Alexei himself didn't understand why anyone would be so hostile towards him and his father.

Just as he was about to talk about creating a world that would make Russia powerful, he suddenly remembered a book he had once picked up from the trash can that Rasputin had thrown away. The book was called "Peter and Alexei," written by Merezhkovsky, one of the founders of Russian Symbolism, and was the last part of his "Christ and Antichrist Trilogy," published a few months before the outbreak of the 1905 Revolution. In the book, Peter is Peter the Great and his son, the "Antichrist" Alexei.

The book concludes by saying:

Weber, a Hanover resident from St. Petersburg, wrote in announcing the death of the Tsarevich: "One day, everything in Russia will end with a terrible revolt, and the autocratic rule will end, because millions will cry out to God against the Tsar."

Perhaps thinking of those words and the comments of those people, Alexei finally said this to Novia:

"I want to create a world where every Russian can reach out and interact with each other in a friendly manner."

Novia seemed to ponder these words, but he didn't say much, only patting Alexei's head.

"...In that case, you need to have the courage to challenge fate."

Novia promised Rasputin that he would let the Tsar's family live, but on the condition that he forget everything about being a Romanov. Even if someone he knew saw them, they wouldn't recognize them because 'the Tsar's family is dead.' Novia also saw that Alexei's hemophilia would haunt him for life. If he lived well, he could live to his thirties, but if he lived a hard life, he would probably die in his twenties.

If Nicholas II were to forget his identity, his subconscious would surely lead him to Crimea, near Ukraine, where he had been accompanying his ailing father, Alexander III, before his death.

"Yes, I will, teacher. I will definitely become a strong and upright man."

"Tsk."

Unlike the hot-blooded Alexei, Anastasia, holding the teddy bear, looked completely unconcerned. It wasn't that she disliked Novia, but rather that she was annoyed that 'she had answered first, yet asked Alexei first.' Therefore, she decided to keep her mouth shut and not say anything from now on.

Of course, we need to answer this question first.

Anastasia then gripped her long dress with both hands and stared intently at Novia, who was about to approach.

What annoyed her even more was that Novia didn't ask any questions after that, but just walked around and started explaining other things.

What's going on?! Don't think you can get away with helping me up, it was just on purpose... Just wait, another day I'll drag Alexei along to play pranks on you, knock you down with snowballs when it snows, set up a scene in the hallway for you to fall over, and stick chocolate on your clothes...

Anastasia was gritting her teeth as she punched and kicked the teddy bear in her hands at Novia's back, as if venting her displeasure. But suddenly Novia turned around and stared at her as she played with the teddy bear, and the scene instantly fell into a strange atmosphere.

Seeing his usually quirky older sister looking completely dumbfounded, Alexei couldn't help but burst out laughing.

This brought Anastasia back to her senses. She threw the bear at Alexei's head, then crossed her arms and turned her head to the side, looking completely like, "What can you do about it?"

"By the way, Anastasia."

"Humph."

The little princess snorted coldly, still not turning around. "Teacher, three hours have passed since the last question. The deadline has passed, a full three hours!"

No, that's not what I meant.

Novia stated simply, "What I want to say is that from now on I will be responsible for your massage therapy."

Although Anastasia always appears energetic, she has to receive massages twice a week because her back muscles are also weak.

"Alright, that concludes today's lesson."

A few minutes later, Anastasia, having regained her senses, looked at Alexei waving goodbye to Novia's retreating figure and said unhappily:

"You seem to really like this new teacher. Have you forgotten your last one so quickly?"

"It's not..."