The guards quickly arrived at the palace. Without wasting a second, they carried Ivan straight to his chambers. Immediately, the entire atmosphere changed. Servants scattered, and physicians started trooping in one by one, carrying boxes of herbs and cloth, all moving swiftly to attend to him.
Not long after, King Vladimir rushed in, his face hard with concern. Queen Olga arrived beside him, her eyes wide. Leonid came running too, his eyes already filled with tears.
"Is he okay?" Leonid cried, clinging to his mother’s arm. "Will he be alright?"
The physician looked up briefly. "He’s alive. He will wake up soon. But he needs to rest. The wound was deep but not fatal."
The king said nothing. He simply stood there, staring at Ivan in silence. After a few minutes, he turned and walked out, heading straight to the throne room.
There, he asked the head guard in a calm but cold voice, "What happened?"
The guard stepped forward. "Your Majesty... it was an assassination attempt. Someone tried to kill the Grand Duke. Luckily, he was saved and treated quickly."
He paused before continuing. "The rebel... the one from the prison. He escaped. It has to be someone powerful who helped him. But the rebel is dead. The Grand Duke killed him during the attack."
The king was silent for a moment. Then he spoke. "Whoever saved him—reward them with whatever they desire. I want no hesitation."
Meanwhile, in the queen’s chambers, she sat on a cushioned chair, her face serious. The Grand Chamberlain stood before her, head bowed. He was the one who had released the rebel.
He kept his head low. "Your Majesty... I’m deeply sorry for what happened. It wasn’t supposed to go this way."
"And the rebel?" she asked sharply.
"He’s dead," the chamberlain replied.
She leaned back slightly, letting out a breath. "Thank goodness... at least no one will trace it back to us."
There was a pause before she added in a low voice, "That monster... he really didn’t die. For twenty-four years I’ve been trying. He really is a devil."
Back at the Andreyevna house, Lydia sat by the desk in her room. She had written a few lines on the letter to her godmother, Irina. But then she stared at it, unsatisfied. It didn’t feel strong enough. It wouldn’t grab her attention.
She tore the paper and picked another. This time, she only wrote two simple sentences:
SAVE ME, GODMOTHER. YOU ARE MY ONLY HOPE.
She folded it quickly and handed it to Galina, who had just finished cleaning the room.
Galina took it and hid it in the folds of her clothes. "I’ll give it to her tomorrow morning when I leave for the market," she whispered.
But just then, the door opened. Her uncle Alexander stepped in.
"You are not to leave this room again until the day of the wedding," he said coldly. "Your meals will be eaten here. Everything she needs will be brought to you."
He locked the door behind him.
Her cousins stood outside the hallway. They heard everything. But none of them said a word.
Later that afternoon, she quietly made her way to her father’s study. She knocked once before stepping in.
"Father, please... this is too much. You can’t treat her this way," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
Alexander didn’t look up from his desk. "This is none of your concern."
"It is," Elena insisted. "You’re not helping her. You’re trying to killing her. You don’t want her to get married—you want to get rid of her. And for what? If she marries and I marry and so does Anya, all to other nobles, we’ll all help the business. Why this cruelty?"
He looked up slowly, his expression hard. "You’re just like your mother. Soft. Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. Don’t ever question me again, and don’t start this kind of talk with me."
Elena stared at him, her fists clenched. "Yes, I’m like her. But I won’t make the same mistake she did by marrying a cruel man like you."
She turned and stormed out.
"Elena!" he called. But she didn’t stop. She ran straight to her room and locked the door.
Back at the palace, the sun had set. Darkness had covered the skies.
Ivan finally stirred. His eyelids moved slightly before opening. He looked around, confused and weak. He had a flashback of what had happened earlier. The fight. The stabbing. And the girl... she saved him. But he hadn’t seen her face.
The head guard had been sitting quietly by his bedside the whole time. As soon as Ivan’s eyes opened, the guard stood quickly and stepped out to the hallway.
"Your Highness! You are awake?"
He called out to a servant, "Tell the Czar. He’s awake."