Chapter 11
The party was scheduled to begin in the middle of the year 1825. However, at the beginning of the year, while we were still in Prussia, an announcement was made by my uncle, the czar, that due to his declining health, he decided to formalize the succession line of the empire.
As he had no male heirs, the second in line was my other uncle, Constantine Romanov, who lived in isolation from the rest of the royal family in his palace in Warsaw, in the Kingdom of Poland.
He had made a declaration renouncing his rights to the throne, making my father, Nicholas, the apparent heir to the empire, this elevated our status significantly and ensured that we would not be ignored and would be invited to this gathering and celebration of the German states.
In the story, this case caused a lot of controversy because Constantine had secretly renounced his rights much earlier, around 1823, but only he and Alexander I knew about it. So when the czar suddenly died, Constantine refused to assume the throne, creating confusion, meanwhile, Nicholas assumed the throne amidst this confusion, and liberal members of the army took advantage of the situation to launch an armed liberal revolt.
However, in this alternative universe, our protagonist publicly presented this letter of renunciation, forcing the czar to make a formal declaration naming Nicholas as the czarevich, during the visit to Prussia, Alexander went from being the fifth and unlikely heir to the throne to the third and probable Czar of all Russia.
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The party was divided into two parts: lunches and afternoon teas for the young heirs, and gala dinners and dances for the adult guests, the hosts aimed to encourage the young ones to form lasting friendships, while protecting them from certain adults with "peculiar" tastes.
The salons were lavishly decorated, and the British truly spared no expense for this celebration, my social ascent greatly improved my image, and I engaged in conversations with many guests, exchanging polite greetings and fake smiles. Discreet glances and whispered gossip could be heard in the background.
If I were not more mature-minded, I could have caused some damage, children can be malicious when they desire, i decided to strike up a conversation with someone as out of place as myself: William of Orange-Nassau, Prince of the Netherlands.
Guilherme was a budding autocrat, driven by greed and a love for power, his lack of scruples was evident in his actions and conversations, he was a womanizer in the making, albeit lacking a bit of experience.
Now, why was I socializing with him? He reminded me a lot of myself and a person who craved power and was easily manipulated, he would always be more submissive to someone more powerful and intimidating, such as myself.
He was engaged in a lively conversation with two ladies, who seemed rather uninterested and simply maintained polite smiles. He was a good-looking young man, tall and slender, with red hair and blue eyes, however, he only seemed to talk about himself, which undoubtedly bored any lady who had to endure his company.
When they spotted me approaching from behind him, they saw it as an opportunity to escape the conversation, as I got closer, he still had a confused look on his face, trying to understand what he had said wrong.
That's when I spoke to him in Dutch, saying, "If you're so persistent, you'll scare them away."
he looked me up and down, startled that I was speaking Dutch to him, everyone at the party followed the main strem of the time for galas, presiding over the party in French.
"You who scared them, with that scary smile after all who are you, I know all the nobles that came were with me to the party", he said arrogantly thinking that I was wrong one of his subjects.
I gave him a menacing look and said, "I am Alexander Romanov, from Russia."
I have to admit, it was extremely amusing to see his expression change 180 degrees. Standing in front of me was a completely different person at that moment.