Catherine and the Black Emperor

002. Sergei's Gift

Sergei extended his hand to the girl: "Please give me your hand."

He grabbed the girl, turned and called out to the soldiers. The carriage was then pushed upright by the crowd, but a woman's painful screams came from inside.

"My head!"

The girl, supported by Sergei, got out of the carriage. Her movements were labored, but the pain she had just felt was clearly not her voice.

"Where are you hurt?" Sergei asked with concern.

"I twisted my ankle," Sofia replied.

Sergei bowed, and to her astonishment, he lifted her up by her legs. Sofia wrapped her arms around Sergei's neck, her expressive blue eyes filled with tenderness and excitement.

Despite being very weak, she still whispered to her mother, who came out from behind, "Mother! This is His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Sergei smiled but did not respond to the girl's innocent words, letting the misunderstanding continue.

The woman, clutching her head as she emerged, watched the handsome 18-year-old youth leave with her beautiful 15-year-old daughter, and her headache worsened.

Only after he carried Sofia to his carriage and she expressed her gratitude again did Sergei reveal the truth.

"Let me introduce myself, I am Prince Saltykov."

The girl's bright smile faltered slightly: "You're not the Crown Prince?"

"No, I am the Queen's personal guard."

"Isn't you my lover?" Sofia asked again, seeking confirmation.

Sergei shook his head and said, "No, get some rest."

Before Sofia could speak again, he turned and left. Sovia watched him go, a look of frustration on her face: "I'm still so far from being a real Russian..."

She patted her head lightly, but still couldn't help looking at the handsome young man's back.

The guard departed for their return journey.

Sergei went up into the carriage and brought hot chocolate to the mother and daughter, who were still shivering despite being wrapped in blankets.

"I love you so much, Duke!" Sophia's mother, Johanna, exclaimed, eager to warm herself.

"I am greatly encouraged," Sergei said politely.

It seems that this mother, who grew up in luxury but is now disheveled, is more like a fallen princess.

Sofia also thanked Sergei, but her cheeks were slightly flushed and her head was lowered, as if she was still embarrassed about having mistaken him for someone else.

After drinking the hot chocolate, Johanna regained some of her body temperature and began to tell them to leave.

"Duke, could you allow my daughter and me to be alone for a while? I mean, we'd like to rest."

"Mother!" Sophia tried to dissuade her.

Sergei smiled and nodded: "You two should get some rest."

After the other person got out of the car, Johanna coldly warned her daughter, "You are the future crown princess, so don't associate with other men!"

"But we must have basic manners. It is because of the Duke that we are riding in such a luxurious carriage, that you can drink hot chocolate, and that you can use the chamber pot you've been longing for!" Sophia retorted to her mother.

"He was sent by the Queen, it's what he should do. Alright, I need to rest now, you don't need to practice Russian anymore."

Johanna wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and closed her eyes, while Sofia, pouting, turned around and picked up the Russian book next to her.

"Fence (German), fence (Russian)."

"Private First Class (German), Private First Class (Russian)."

……

"Oh God! She's driving me crazy!" Johanna screamed.

In the vast, pristine white world, a village finally appeared. Sergei ordered a short rest in the village and summoned the captain of the guard.

"Search thoroughly, don't miss any corner, and arrest all suspicious persons!"

"yes!"

Sergei turned around and saw Sofia getting off the vehicle to breathe in the fresh air. Her mother followed, muttering, "This weather is going to eat people up," and went to the farmer's house to borrow a latrine.

Sofia stretched out her graceful figure beneath the thick blanket and walked towards Sergei: "Your Highness, my mother is always like that. Thank you for saving us."

Sergei nodded and smiled.

Previously, due to the heavy snow and the rush of travel, he had not taken a close look at this young girl who would one day become the Empress of Russia, on par with Peter the Great.

The girl who took off her cloak and hood had a head of jet-black hair, her cheeks were pale and frozen in the cold, her big, round blue eyes were very lively, her eyelashes were long and black, she had a Greek nose, and her small mouth was rosy and shiny because she had just drunk hot tea. She was tall and lithe.

The Emperor's charisma truly began from a young age.

"Do you know His Highness the Grand Duke?" Sophia inquired.

Sergei nodded.

"Are you two close?"

"Not bad," Sergei replied.

If his relationship with Peter wasn't good, then no one else was close to Peter; Peter only had him and Naryshkin as a few playmates.

"Can you tell me about the Grand Duke? What kind of person was he?" Sophia asked with great interest.

Sergei countered, "Haven't you seen him before?"

Historical records indicate that Johanna, in order to marry her daughter off to a good family and thus escape her impoverished circumstances and honest husband, used her family connections to take Sophia all over northern Germany.

So, Sophia had met Peter several years ago.

"That was a long time ago, when the Archduke was still the heir to the throne of Holstein (the Duchy of Germany)."

Sophia couldn't help but think of the little boy who had lost his parents. He was her cousin, short and thin, sickly-looking, with thin blond hair and a jaw so short it was almost invisible.

"The Grand Duke has a very special personality; he loves dogs," Sergei commented aptly.

To be honest, this is probably the best compliment Peter could receive; even Queen Elizabeth wouldn't have said it.

"She has a unique personality; she's actually just shy and withdrawn," Sofia said bluntly.

She felt she had been tactful, since Peter had started drinking heavily at a very young age.

Sergei smiled, but did not mention that Peter also had a volatile and irritable temper.

Such harsh words only become truly meaningful when Sofia experiences them firsthand.

"Do you think the Empress will choose me as the Crown Princess? My mother said the Empress hasn't decided yet, and some people don't want me to be chosen."

Sofia shuffled through the snow with her toes, but she was actually just playing with it.

She didn't care whether her future husband was ignorant or willful; even if he was physically weak or had a withdrawn personality, she remained unmoved.

She went to Russia not for Peter Ulrich (the crown prince), but for Russia itself, which offered her the opportunity to get close to Peter the Great's throne.

That's it!

"Definitely!" Sergei replied with unwavering conviction.

He thought to himself, "Even if you don't want to be empress, I will definitely push you to that position!"

"Not only will you become the Crown Princess, but you will also rival Peter the Great in the future!"

"Duke, I don't have that kind of confidence, but I'm very happy that you said so." Sophia's face was beaming with a smile.

Sergei smiled slightly, took a piece of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to her.

"This was originally written for myself, but I'm giving it to you now; it suits you just as well."

Sofia opened it with curiosity, and it read: History was changed because of me.

"Your mother is here, and she doesn't want me to talk to you," Sergei shrugged.

"She is herself," Sofia said nonchalantly.

Sergei smiled. "We should get going too."

Sovia nodded emphatically, turned and went back to the carriage. After putting one foot on the carriage, she turned back and called out to Sergei. Sergei turned around and she waved the note in her hand.

"It's in French, just like the one you wrote to me, Your Highness! It's a gift, and I love it!"

After saying that, the girl got into the carriage.

Sergei paused for a moment, then smiled and shook his head: "Very clever."

In the 18th century, French was the common language of intellectuals throughout Europe. He was afraid that his readers would not understand Russian, and writing in German would be too deliberate, so he wrote in French.

I didn't expect the other party to discover it through such a small detail.

At this moment, the captain of the guard came over: "Duke, we have caught a suspicious man. He has admitted to being the princess's coachman."

Sergei wrapped his clothes tighter and walked toward his carriage.

"Kill him."