-The Reborn Dictator-

" Your Majesty the Emperor!"

　When I woke up, the first thing I heard was a panicked voice.

(My head hurts...)

　How had this come to be? The man, Joseph Stalin, held his head and tried to recall his memories.

　I remember that I had been up all night drinking with Bulganin and the others the previous night. After that, I went into the bedroom, took a lamp and checked every nook and cranny for abnormalities, and was hit by the worst headache I had ever experienced.

(Was I… poisoned?)

There are many things that come to mind. There are so many that it's almost confusing. If all the most suspicious people are purged, someone must be the culprit, and eventually the culprit will be punished.

"Your Majesty! Are you safe?"

　...But it's so noisy outside.

　Wondering what was going on, I opened my eyes slightly and saw a large group of people staring at me with shocked expressions on their faces.

(... These are strangers. Who on earth could have let such a complete stranger into my room?)

　I can't help but feel disappointed in the security staff. If this is the case, there is no point in building multiple identical bedrooms in case of assassinations!

　As a great Soviet leader, there was always the risk of assassination, so Stalin had strict security around his residence, divided it into several bedrooms, and would decide where he was going to sleep just before going to bed.

(Apart from me, the only person who has a key is the head of security... so he must be the most suspicious. I'll have to torture him thoroughly later.)

While I was thinking about such things, there was some commotion around the bed.

"Inform the Grand Duke immediately. Then contact His Excellency the Prime Minister."

"It doesn't look like there's anything serious, but you should probably see a doctor just to be sure."

"At this rate, the declaration of war we had planned for tomorrow will..."

　I thought I heard a word I couldn't ignore. "Declaration of war"...?

　When I sat up suddenly, an unfamiliar sight unfolded before me.

"Wha...?"

　First of all, the room is different. It has an unnecessarily luxurious interior, like the Winter Palace in Leningrad. I don't remember ordering the bedroom to be renovated... I wonder who renovated it without permission.

　Secondly, the people are different. Again, they have bourgeois tastes that are reminiscent of Imperial Russia. The men are dressed in military uniforms and the women in dresses overflowing with embroidery and jewels.

　Where has the Soviet homeland of the proletariat that I know gone? Could it have been snatched back overnight by the bourgeoisie, backed by the West?

"Someone! Call Beria! This is Lavrenty Beria, NKVD chief!"

　That man is in charge of protecting all important people, including myself. First of all, I need to gather information about what happened.

　However, the people present just stare at him with wide eyes and make no move. They are all hopeless and incompetent.

　Stalin glared at him in irritation, and a red-haired female soldier in military uniform stepped forward timidly.

"I'm afraid your majesty, there is no one named Beria among the important people of the Empire..."

　He glanced at the woman's rank insignia. One star... that means major general. However, unlike the West, the Soviet Union had achieved gender equality and it was not uncommon for female soldiers to be soldiers.

(But as far as I know, no woman has ever reached the rank of major general... so it seems that a major coup has indeed occurred. Perhaps the first woman in the world to be promoted to major general.)

　I'm also curious about what she has to say.

"You just said that this man named Beria is no longer around, right?"

"That is correct."

"Is there really no mistake?"

"Actually, I don't remember it."

　--What a thing!

　Stalin is astonished.

　Apparently, Beria has been erased from existence. His existence itself has been erased from official records, and it is said that "such a person never existed." This is the fourth time that the head of the secret police has been purged, but it seems that the pervert has followed the same path as Yezhov.

"So who is now the head of the NKVD? Khrushchev or Malenkov?"

"...Unfortunately, I don't know either of the people you just mentioned. Also... there is no such department as the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs in our country."

　The female soldier from before shook her head apologetically, her crimson, soft-looking hair fluttering gently.

　The people standing around him looked at him with worried expressions on their faces, but Stalin was too shocked to care.

　Not only were two promising young figures purged, but even the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was disbanded!

　The NKVD, commonly known as the secret police, was one of the iron triangle that supported the Soviet Union along with the party and the army. For one corner of that triangle, the secret police, to be disbanded would have required a massive coup.

"...."

　This is bad, very bad. Stalin bites his nails in frustration.

(The person who staged the coup must be a real idiot! The army, the Communist Party, the secret police... these three are essential to govern Russia!)

　The great Motherland, the Soviet Union, is a multi-ethnic country with many different cultures. If it lost the shackles of the secret police, each ethnic group would move independently, seeking only their own interests. The Motherland would then be divided, and would have no way to defend itself against external enemies.

　The result was the dreaded Russian Civil War. Russia was in crisis at the time due to successive wars and delayed industrialization. It was my beloved comrade Lenin and the Bolsheviks who rose up to correct this, and the people should have united as one for the sake of their country.

(However, some were deceived by the Western bourgeoisie and became obsessed with self-interest, even going so far as to invite foreign troops! As long as their own people become prosperous, they don't care what happens to the other people... Such narrow-minded nationalism has produced despicable traitors!)

A long and cruel civil war lasted for five years, devastating our Motherland, Russia. The only reason our weakened Motherland was spared from becoming a colony of the great powers was because we stood united against the imperialist forces. The Party held the country together with authority, and the secret police with power.

　And if the state is a huge instrument of violence, then the military is what directs it against foreign enemies, and the secret police is what directs it against domestic enemies.

"Nicholas, how long do you intend to stay in bed? If you're feeling okay, get changed right away. We don't have much time."

　Stalin's thoughts were interrupted by the dissatisfied voice of a middle-aged man. He turned around to see a man with a thick beard staring suspiciously at him.

"...Who is this Nikolai?"

If I heard correctly, I thought the man called me "Nicolai." I don't think he had mistaken the General Secretary, the leader of the Soviet Union, for someone else, but when I asked him to be sure, he replied with an exasperated sigh.

"Speaking of Nikolai, there is only you - Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov... our Emperor"

I thought I heard some words that I couldn't ignore. If my memory serves me right, there is only one person who fits the words of this man.

　They were the sworn enemies whom they had once hated, directed their anger at, and ultimately murdered. They were the ones who had ruined the national finances with their incompetent wartime leadership, and had caused the decline of their great motherland, Russia.

　At that moment, although I did not know the circumstances, I became certain of who I had become. Ah, I was no longer Stalin, the "Man of Iron."

　---The last emperor of the Russian Empire, Nicholas II.

　When Stalin came to this realization, he realized that he had missed out on a certain important piece of information.

"...By the way, what time is it today?"

　The old man snorted as if to say, "Don't you remember that?" and replied in a grave voice.

"July 28, 1914."

　Hearing this, Stalin nearly collapsed again.

　Just two months before, the Sarajevo incident that sparked World War I had seen the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

　In other words--.

"Today Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. You fainted when you heard it."

　In a sense, it was akin to a death sentence.

　War is about to begin, the war that would ultimately lead to the death of Nicholas II and that would end all wars...World War I.