Two days have passed since the tragedy struck the two neighboring empires. Alexander, who should be spending his time with his family and honeymoon with Sophie, is instead stuck at his desk along with his ministers and generals giving him updates on the current situation of the circumstances the western powers are having right now.

The stress and constant workloads have led him back to smoking again as the ashtray holds a hill of ash and cigarette butts. A samovar has been moved into his office to supply him with hot water for tea and coffee. His meals were brought to him by the palace staff.

“It is a good thing that Emperor Licht is more cool-headed compared to Kaiser Wilheim. They too believe that this is also an attack by a Black Hand, now we can’t do much about their internal affairs because that is a state issue but what we can do is help them by giving intel about what we know about the Black Hand,” Alexander puffs on a cigarette.

“What are you implying, Your Majesty?” Dmitri asked, his head cocked to the side.

“The Austrean Empire demands everything we know about the Black Hand, that means our investigation methods as to how we tracked and located them,” Alexander said, tapping his finger on his table. “I want you to do it immediately,”

“What do we get in return by giving that classified information?” Dmitri inquired.

“The safety of our people is our top priority right now, especially in those two empires. If giving them the intel means a guarantee, I’ll be glad to take it,” Alexander said and added. “It’s not a loss at all. By giving them what we know about the Black Hand, we are helping them purge them. Black Hand is the world’s enemy and they must be completely eradicated to prevent another tragedy.”

“I understand Your Majesty,” Dmitri bowed lightly, “we will coordinate with their intelligence agency as soon as possible.”

“Do so.” Alexander stubs the cigarette out and adds it to the ash hill in the ashtray.

Dmitri turned to his heels and left Alexander’s office. He let out a small sigh before turning his attention to Sergei. Grabbing his half-empty cup to wash down the burning taste of tobacco.

“What’s the situation in the Deutschland Empire?” Alexander began while taking a gulp from his cup.

“Your Majesty, it’s still the same. Ruthenians are being prosecuted for a crime they didn’t commit, and harassment is still prevalent. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formally denounced the civilian and military actions of the Deutschland Empire but to no avail. Looks like we’ll have to reach other countries sympathetic to the Ruthenia Empire and possibly compel them to release a verbal condemnation.”

“Verbal condemnation and denunciation won’t work in the Deutschland Empire,” Alexander rejected his suggestion. “Though it was not a bad one, the damage caused by this tragedy outweighs` ours. I don’t think there will be a country that will side with us besides the Francois Republic…”

As he was speaking, another person showed up in his office.

“Your Majesty!”-.

It was Philip.

Alexander raised a hand, stopping him before he could say anything else, his gaze still on Sergei.

“We need someone who can broker us out of this mess, I’m suggesting Emperor Licht. We need the Deutschland Empire back on the table. If we don’t do anything for the people that are in the prison right now, it will be catastrophic for me,”

“What is our goal here, Your Majesty?”

“For them to release the Ruthenian nationals,” Alexander answered. If this doesn’t work, Alexander still has one of his trump cards, the export of military aircraft.

He can just breach whatever agreement Ruthenia has with the Deutschland Empire if they insist on not heeding his demand. Of course, this will be seen as a purposeful provocation and will surely have a negative reaction. So a double-edged sword. He has to consider every variable and outcome of his decision if he doesn’t want to be the shortest Emperor ruling the Ruthenia Empire.

“Fucking Black Hands…” Alexander cursed under his breath. Why does this Black Hand keep interfering with his goals of developing the Ruthenia Empire? What the hell do they want to achieve in this world? If the monarch collapses, so what? Will the world be a peaceful place, or will it be under new management?

“I’ll see what I can do, Your Majesty,” Sergei said as he bowed his head.

“Thank you all for your hard work,” Alexander said before dismissing Sergei. Since the attack, he and his ministers are working on the clock to keep an eye out on the situation. Most of them hadn’t had any sleep yet while others had not seen their families. He was one of them.

“Your Majesty, if I may?” Philip derailed Alexander’s train of thoughts.“What’s the situation?”

“Sir, we’ve released a formal statement to every news agency, here and abroad, that Imperial Dynamic Systems will halt production of the television until the investigation of our teams along with respective authorities are done. But sir, if I may share a word, I don’t think our television can cause such destruction.”

“I know,” Alexander leaned over his table, his chin propped up atop his intertwined fingers as he thought carefully about what Philip had just told him. “There’s a possibility that an explosive device has been planted inside the television, but the question is how did they do that?”

Philip was silent as he continued to watch the emperor thinking deeply until Alexander spoke again.

“Do you have anything to report, Philip?”

“I think that’s all, sir.”

“Good,”

Philip sighed in relief when Alexander finally lifted his head from where it rested, he rubbed his eyes and yawned slightly. “This is too exhausting…” Alexander muttered, his eyelids feel heavy, and he just wanted to sleep for a few hours but the situation won’t give him that.

“I think you need to take a rest, Your Majesty,” Philip suggested. “You know…refresh your mind and rest your body.”

“Yeah…yeah, maybe I should do that,” Alexander said. He slowly stood up and stretched. His back cracked as he straightened himself up. “If there’s nothing, you can leave now.”

Philip bowed his head before leaving.

…

Alexander ambled into one of the hallways of the Grand Kremlin Palace, he arrived at the huge door and had the guard open it. Inside was Natalya and Sophie with each other on the balcony.

The creaking sound of the hinges caused the two to glance in his direction.

“Alex!” Sophie exclaimed as she ran towards him. “Oh my god! You’re here! We were so worried!” She hugged him tightly, so tight as though she didn’t want him to escape.

“Hello, Sophie…” Alexander mumbled weakly, his head resting above her head. He had missed this feeling of warmth she was giving to him. After all, it’s been two days since they last saw each other. Although they did, it was momentarily.

“Alexander…you’re pushing yourself too hard, you should rest here,” Natalya said concernedly.

“That’s why I came here,” Alexander said. “What does Norway have to say on this matter?”

“I’ve reached out to my government and they shared their support for the Ruthenia Empire, saying that a Ruthenian attack on Deutschland is highly unlikely. They believe Black Hand plays a huge role in this.”

“Is that so? I’m glad….what about you Sophie? Did you talk with your dad?”

Sophie looked up to him “Yes, he was just here moments ago but he assured me that he will speak to Kaiser Wilheim to come up with an understanding.”

Alexander planted a kiss on her forehead and smiled warmly down at her.

“I appreciate you guys helping me…” Alexander’s voice is getting weaker, even more so than before.

Sophie and Natalya both helped Alexander to sit down on a bed.

“Take it easy,” Sophia said worriedly as she sat next to him.

“I look so pitiful here…” Alexander chuckled.

“Geez don’t say that, dear,” Sophie frowned.

“I haven’t had enough sleep for the past two days and it’s beginning to take a toll on my body,” Alexander said, trying not to fall asleep right away.

A knocking sound was heard. Natalya walked over to the door to answer it.“Uhm…the ambassador from the Britannia Empire and Yamato Empire wished to see His Majesty, Alexander Romanoff.”

Natalya glanced at his brother and then returned to the messenger.

“My little brother is exhausted as of right now and needs a rest. I don’t think he’ll be able to attend the meeting, have them reschedule it,” Natalya ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty,”

Meanwhile, Alexander leaned back to rest his back on the bed while Sophie was still in his embrace, pulling her along with him.

Her head rested against his chest and she could hear a faint beat of his heart beneath. Her smile grew, grateful that she has his husband by her side now.

“I’m gonna be selfish again, Sophie…can we stay like this for a moment?” Alexander pleaded softly, one that only her ears could pick up. She nodded gently as she closed her eyes.

“Okay.”

***

The riots in Berlin and places most affected by the explosive televisions have reached fever-pitch.

Even with military presence, the roving mobs continue their path of destruction.

The local Ruthenian streets have been vandalized twice over, shop windows broken and covered in paint telling the Ruthenians to “Go Home!” or even worse words.

An even bigger mob was heading towards a building, the television relay tower.

They overpowered the security posted there and went in to destroy it.

They cheered when the tower is set on fire, and the radio technicians stationed there were all hung and beaten by the angry mobs.

Other more ‘peaceful’ mobs held demonstrations in front of government offices, calling to bring “The Tele-Terror Tsar” a name coined by the mob, to justice by any means including declaring war.

The demonstration includes an effigy of Alexander Romanoff being beaten and thrown on a pile of broken television sets they looted and smashed. The lot is set on fire before the military is called in to disperse the crowd.

This has some unintended effects as people start calling the military to send in for crowd control as “lapdogs” of the Imperial Family.

Since the Tsar of Ruthenia is the Kaiser’s nephew, seemingly the whole imperial family is protecting themselves from justice.

And then things got worse.

The television sets they set ablaze have some tampered televisions mixed in, the explosives cooked off and resulted in another explosion.

The blast killed more people as the bonfire demonstration turned deadly.

The pile of TVs turns into a huge wave of shrapnel that reaped a bloody harvest again but this time with military casualties.

The windows of the government building shattered as the shockwave blew it in and injured many with broken glass and an unlucky woman whose neck got stuck with a large piece of glass and bled out.

The angry demonstrators now turned into the panicking crowd as they all ran.

Rumors began to spread and the news of more explosive televisions turned into the Kaiser calling the army to shell the protesters with artillery.

Kaiser Wilhelm holds his head in anger as more news trickle in about how the country keeps tumbling down into almost anarchy.

His nephew better get results and be fast about it.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere in Berlin.

A man holds a spyglass as he watches the unintended secondary bombings.

Standing on the roof and unaffected building, the man grins as he pops a roasted peanut in his mouth.

“Seems the plan paid off more than expected.”