The Last Tsar

John still couldn't get used to this grand room and his luxurious bed.

He still liked modesty even after 3 months of living in luxury and abundance.

Yes, John was reincarnated as Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, or more commonly known as Nicholas II, the last heir of the Romanov dynasty and the last Tsar (Czar) of the Russian empire.

Nicholas II was born on May 18, 1868, as the second son of Tsar Alexander III and Tsarina Maria Feodorovna.

His brother, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich was the Tsarevich (crown prince or heir apparent) until 1899 when he died of Tuberculosis leaving Nicholas as the crown prince of a chaotic Russian Empire.

Of course, Nicholas had gotten imperial education during his whole life but he wasn't designated to be a head of state and didn't have any experience or influence in the politics of Russia.

Even after the death of his older brother Georgy, he didn't get included in state afairs because of his autocratic and conservative father.

Alexander III regarded Nicholas as inexperienced and unprepared. He even once reportedly called him a "child".

But the fate has some twisted ways... Alexander III died unexpectedly in 1894 at a relatively young age, leaving Nicholas as emperor. Unprepared and inexperienced as he was.

Being the son of Alexander, he had also been influenced by his autocratic ways, not understanding the change of times and the will of the people.

He became known in history as a monarch with a feeble will who would change his opinion based on the last person he talked to.

He once declared he would rather "be a despot than a constitutional monarch".

And a constitutional monarch did he become. Although only in name.

...

Right now, it was December 1893. Only 11 months prior to Nicholas' ascension to the throne.

Currently, Alexander III was the emperor of Russia, but Nicholas knew he would die in merely 10 months, "unexpectedly" leaving Nicholas as the heir to the throne.

But for the modern John, it wasn't as unexpected as the original Nicholas had it. He has already began preparing. He hadn't stayed idle these three months he had passed as the crown prince.

The first month, everything was foggy and he had a hard time to adapt to this new life and the way of a crown prince.

But Nicholas adapted very fast. Probably because he knew he didn't have any time. He knew he had only 20 years to reverse his and the Romanov dynasty's destiny and the first step of this reversal was only 10 years later, in 1904, when the Russo-Japanese war would erupt.

Nicholas bought percentages of several important russian newspapers. He wanted to make sure his prestige and fame were boosted as much as possible before he became Tsar.

He planned to reform the country and he would need the population's support to do it.

His newspapers feverently propaganded him and his contributions to the country or the royal family. It should be mentioned they were greately exaggerated or even total fiction, but who dared tell a different tale in a fully autocratic Russia?

As long as the people believed it, it was alright.

Nicholas had a yearly allowance of around 725k Rubles and had a personal wealth of around 3 Million Rubles which accounted to 1,530,000 US Dollars.

And mind you, it wasn't a meager sum back then.

Translated to current US Dollars, it would be around 100 Millions of Dollars.

Thanks to his 'bureocratic' salary, Nicholas had already started investing in some of the most important industries in Russia and Europe. He chose to invest railways in the USA, Germany, France and especially in Russia. He also chose various mining companies around the world like Rio Tinto or De Beers.

But today was also the day Nicholas wanted to start making connections into the politics and start influencing it. His father was already feeling the first symptoms and is often sick.

Nicholas knew that in two months, the situation will worsen and around May, it would be terminal. Some time later he would transfer to Crimea, in hopes in getting better with the help of the warmer weather but he would die on 1 November 1984.