While Alexander II was meeting with his ministers in the office on the first floor of the Grand Kremlin, his two sons and daughters-in-law, Alexander Alexandrovich (future Alexander III) and his wife Maria Feodorovna (Danish Princess Marie-Sophie Frederika Dagmar), together with his younger brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife Duchess Maria Pavlovna (from Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, Princess Mary-Alessandrine-Elisabeth-Eleanor of Rostock today).

They were visiting their mother in the second-floor bedroom of the Grand Kremlin, also the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna (Princess Maximiliana Wilhelminne August Sophie Marie from the German Duchy of Hesse).

Even on a warm spring afternoon, the window of the queen's bedroom was obscured by thick velvet curtains, and only a few candles glowed faintly yellow in the dark bedroom, and the brothers and their wives sat quietly on either side of the bed, watching their mother curled up in bed and coughing. The queen has been bedridden for several months because of tuberculosis, and her health is deteriorating.

The pungent smell of herbs, the erratic candlelight, and the helpless appearance of his mother made Crown Prince Alexander feel a raging fire in his heart, and the only thing that could suppress it was the oppressive darkness in his bedroom.

Suddenly, something crackled and rolled over the wooden ceiling of the queen's bedroom roof, followed by the sound of hurried high heels.

Crown Prince Alexander clearly felt the surprise of his brother and wife and his wife, and then the Empress suddenly let out a groan of pain, as if awakened by the sudden sound.

Crown Prince Alexander didn't care about the reason for the sound, but quickly crouched down on the side of the bed and carefully watched his mother's condition. Unfortunately, the queen was only a stress reaction to the stimulation of an unexpected sound, and the queen remained in a stupor.

Just as Crown Prince Alexander was about to sit back in his chair in disappointment, a playful laugh came to his ears from the rooftop, followed by the sound of rolling objects and moving footsteps in his high heels, and the same empress erupted in pain again. The flames exploded in Crown Prince Alexander's chest and brain, Alexander could no longer sit still, and after gently removing his chair, Crown Prince Alexander, with a pair of scarlet eyes in the dark, walked out of the bedroom softly.

Duchess Pavlovna gently stabbed her husband, Grand Duke Vladimir, and left the queen's bedroom softly with Crown Princess Feodorovna. In the hallway, they saw a startling scene, a giant man-bear nearly two meters long, holding the neck of a poor attendant, was whispering to ask who lived upstairs in the queen's bedroom!

When the poor attendant still refused to answer directly, Crown Prince Alexander unceremoniously and directly pinched him to faint, and after throwing the attendant to the ground, Crown Prince Alexander rushed directly to the third floor. Seeing this, a clever maid also hurried downstairs and rushed to the Tsar's office.

When the sixty-one-year-old Tsar rushed to the third floor of the Grand Kremlin with a brisk stride, he saw the attendants lying in the corridor, and a door that had been clearly kicked open by violent kicking. Seeing this scene, the heart of the Tsar, who had been running all the way to the ground, almost jumped out and ran desperately to the door of the destroyed house, and the old Tsar didn't want to think about it, so he shouted "Stop!" Stop it! ”

When Crown Prince Alexander knocked over the chamberlain on the third floor and kicked the door open, he saw a young lady huddled in a chair by the fireplace in the room, with two girls and a boy in her arms. This scene caught his eye, and the surprise suppressed the anger in Alexander's heart, and Alexander lowered his voice and asked with a roar, "Who are you!" ”

Crown Princess Feodorovna and Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife also crowded into the room, equally stunned by the young woman and the two children in front of them.

At this moment, as the old tsar's voice sounded, the old tsar blew into the room like a gust of wind, and then stopped in front of the young woman and the three children.

Seeing the old tsar like a brave hen in front of the young woman and her two children, Duchess Pavlovna immediately understood what was going on, and after glancing contemptuously at the young woman who was shrunk behind the old tsar, she leaned into the ear of her husband, Grand Duke Vladimir, and whispered the identity of this young woman: the young mistress of the old emperor, or the young lover raised in the bedroom room of the empress of the Grand Kremlin.

The words of the old tsar then corroborated the judgment of Duchess Pavlovna.

"Alexander, what are you going to do! Stop me! The old tsar shouted to his son!

"May I ask Your Majesty the Emperor, who are these two?!" Crown Prince Alexander, who had already understood the identity of this young woman, stared at his father with red eyes.

"Oh... Oh—" The old tsar's face flushed, and he seemed to have phlegm in his throat, preventing him from spitting out the words he wanted to say.

"Your Royal Highness, Your Royal Highness." A timid voice sounded behind the old tsar, "My name is Ekaterina Mikhaillovna Dolgorukova. ”

"Dolgorukova .... It seems that the Dolgrukov family? What a noble family! Duchess Pavlovna deliberately accentuated the tone of the word noble, and then her eyes swept like a knife to the crown princess Feodorovna beside her.

Crown Princess Feodorovna resisted the words of counterattack against her brother and daughter-in-law, and tightly held the hand of her husband, Crown Prince Alexander, without saying a word.

The voice of the young woman named Dolgorukova seemed to give strength to the old tsar, and the old emperor's hoarse voice rang out, "This is Katherine of the Dolgrukov family. The old tsar then pointed to the three children and introduced to Crown Prince Alexander in a panic, "This is your nine-year-old sister Anna, this is your seven-year-old brother Valery, and this is your five-year-old sister Lilia." ”

"Dear Fedorovna, it seems that Nikolai has an uncle who is four years younger than him, and now Nikolai has no shortage of playmates, which is a great thing!" Duchess Pavlovna was delighted with the crown princess Feodorovna, hiding her bright smile but her eyes were full of banter.

Under the mocking gaze of her brother and daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Fedorovna only felt that her nails were about to dig into her husband's palm.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, your Empress, my seriously ill mother is lying downstairs in this room, my mother is not dead, but you have taken this woman to live in this palace, this is the greatest humiliation to your Empress, my mother!" Like a low, roaring man-bear, Crown Prince Alexander confronted the old Tsar, "Do you know, your Empress, my mother is suffering from tuberculosis and needs to recuperate. Your Majesty the Emperor, do you know that this woman and her children torment the Empress with noise every day, my mother? ”

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I really didn't know that Her Majesty the Queen lived downstairs, so I'll move out, move out immediately." Dolgorukova put her arms around her children and began to cry in a low voice.

"My dear son, I will change rooms for Catherine and her children at once, and I beg your pardon me, and I will go and see the Queen." The old tsar said with some nervousness.

Crown Prince Alexander didn't say a word and pulled his wife out of the room. Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife also retired together.

As they walked up the stairs of the Grand Kremlin, Duchess Pavlovna said in a loud voice to her husband, "Vladimir, in the future, you should find such a noble lady to treat me so undecently." ”

"Of course not, dear, I can swear." Grand Duke Vladimir said loudly.

"Dear Duchess Pavlovna, think about where the Empress came from, just like you?.. Aha! It's Germany! Crown Princess Feodorovna muttered to herself in a loud voice.

It was night, inside the bedroom of the palace of the Grand Duke of Vladimir.

"Vladimir, I have thought about it, I will never let any German princess remarry to Russia, today's humiliation is unbearable for any German Protestant, and I swear that I will never let this woman from the low and declining aristocracy of Denmark laugh at any noble German lady again!" Duchess Pavlovna swore hatefully to her husband.