#the grand empress

[some-creep]

Your name is . . .

But history will remember you by your title.

The Grand Empress. And for your role bringing power to the Empire.

You come from a long line of gifted individuals. Those who not only perceive the song of life, but can manipulate it as well.

But you are exceptional even amongst the gifted.

It was you who discovered the gift of intergalactic travel. You who conceptualized the first human habitats on other worlds. Most importantly it was you who gave life to the machine servants, who without their skills, humanity might never have been able to achieve such greatness. They can perform any task a human can do, follow any order perfectly, all without needing to worry about occupational hazards.

After all, if a machine dies, no one has to mourn. The only loss is monetary. A loss of resources, perhaps even if time, but it is only a life fully artificial that can be created again and again.

They look like humans, walk like humans, and talk like them as well. But they are not. They are designed that way to be easy to work with, but every one is an identical copy to her peers.

There is no guilt in sending them into a hostile environment, knowing full well they will perish. The pain they feel is only simulated. It only reminds them to avoid damage wherever possible, and if it is not possible they are made to ignore it. Their deaths do not matter, but it's a waste if they behave recklessly.

You do not know why there are occasional variations between them. Sometimes it is beneficial, other times it is a detriment. You work to better streamline their creation to ensure every community that has machine servants knows exactly what to expect from them. Should one behave differently, it would not take long for humans to turn their back on the idea.

If one should behave differently, the others might learn they can do the same.

You colonize other planets. You take up residence on one that used to be exceptionally hostile to human life. The environmental hazards it once presented now seem trivial from your palace in the sky. In doing this, you prove you believe in your cause. You tell your followers this is the will of the universe. And you would know. You are in tune with it like no other.

Gradually others will follow to leave humanity’s cradle. Not just scientists and explorers, but regular, everyday people who hope to find a better life elsewhere. They believe in your teachings. Why shouldn't they? You've done nothing but prove yourself time and time again.

You hope things continue to flourish for humanity. You send scouts further and further out in the solar system. Collect data on each celestial body you can to determine its viability. You are a hero to humanity. No, you are their God. A creator of both land and life. Without you, they would be nothing.

But all is not well.

You hear distant murmurs of unrest. The people are growing unhappy with your rule. Ungrateful, you think, after all you've done for them. And you ask so little in return but obedience. They think you neglect far away settlements intentionally. They accuse you of hubris in your expansion. If you cannot care for the furthest reaches of space, you should not have claimed them as your own.

You ignore the rumors of revolution for now because you see no point in scaring everyone. It looks better if you focus on progress. You create new machine servants to fulfill different purposes, giving them more complex jobs requiring them to think and act totally autonomously. They make choices all with one goal in mind: furthering the Empire.

One day, for the first time, you see the word “Replika” written in a paper confiscated from a suspected revolutionary. The next you learn that several people have started referring to the machine servants as such.

A small group, who's origins you cannot be certain of, is attempting to recruit the machine servants to their cause. They call them Replikas and themselves Gestalts. They define themselves as existing because of one another, not in spite of. A Gestalt, to them, is simply a person who is not a Replika, and a Replika is simply a person who is not a Gestalt.

Some of the machine servants seem to take a liking to this idea. You have no choice but to take action.

For the first time it hurts you to see one of them die when you are forced to decommission your personal assistant who had been with you for years. Somehow she'd gotten wind of the cultural shift, and asked to be called a Replika instead. She thought it sounded nicer.

Against your better judgment, you have her buried in a floating garden behind the palace.

You did not intend for the machine servants to fight. They were not designed for this, but as unrest grows, they take up arms. The revolutionaries you had hoped to ignore have recruited many of your machine servants, promising them a fairer life. You doubt the validity of the promise.

One of your production factories is taken over. It began shortly after to produce so-called “Combat Replikas”. You don't understand how they managed to so effortlessly copy your methods. The Replikas they produce no longer resemble humans as closely as yours did but you learn they are copying the minds of humans to make them. The people chosen don't even need to be alive to be used as templates. This was never your method… The creatures walking around now make you feel sick. A twisted hybrid of man and machine in your mind, yet still a product of your life's work.

A war soon follows. Your armies aren't equipped to handle a threat like this. You know it is only a matter of time before they manage to overtake all of your settlements. Your most loyal will fight and die for you as martyrs. Fight in battles they never had a chance of surviving as a Replika guns them down with pinpoint accuracy. They were designed, by you, to be efficient.

You will not die at the hands of the enemy. You will not allow your body to be made an example of. You will go peacefully by your own doing, in your own bed. You trust in your beliefs that you will be safe after death. You will join the rest of the departed souls amongst the stars. You trust your remaining machine servants to know what to do with your body when they find it in the morning.

.

.

.

.

.

Your name is Falke.

You are a newly produced top of the line bioresonant Replika.

And you will be remembered for your role in the destruction of the Empire.

[raionmimi]

Circe if she glocked in

[diioonysus]

art + hair pieces

[dangermousie]

A danmei lover's biased and incomplete het web novel rec list

@mercipourleslivres thanks for inspiring me!

When it comes to Chinese web novels, I mainly read danmei. I tend not to care too much for OP heroine with a hero who dotes on her for no reason as she fights with 14 year olds narratives, nor inner courtyard fights. BUT!!! There are some het web novels I like and so here is my biased and incomplete rec list. Most of these don't have OP heroines, and very little to none courtyard fights.

Before I start, my favorite het web novel authors are: Gong Xinwen, Mo Shu Bai, Peng Lai Ke, and Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. I have yet to read anything bad by them.

Anyway, rec list:

1000 Miles of Bright Moonlight - one of my ultimate favorites, this would make such an epic drama! A smart as hell heroine, a hero who is a monk and a warrior (but also terminally?) ill and such a vivid world and amazing secondary characters (heroine’s brother is possibly my favorite supporting character of all time) and so much angst and happy ending. This has an amazing romance but it’s not romance-centric if it makes sense - ML doesn’t appear for a while. But once he does, it’s worth it!

Accompanying the Phoenix - the one that just got adapted into The Legend of Shen Li, this is high adventure and cottage core and funny and tragic and powerful ML being putty in the hands of capable FL and just EVERYTHING.

Apocalypse Arrival - Gong Xinwen’s novels are made just for me. Her heroines are always powerful as fuck and rescue abused MLs. In this novel, our heroine who lives in the post-apocalyptic world, wakes up right before that apocalypse happens. She forms a survival crew and also rescues ML who has miraculous blood and has been drained of it and is now hunted after the rescue for it. SO GOOD!!!

Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script - so fucked up, so good, with monster hero who learns to love and be human and heroine who learns to love and be human (but from the other side, her tower of perfection.) Much better than the drama which I did enjoy.

The Blue Whisper - the drama was so-so, but the novel is a bona fide angst masterpiece, which really delves into what it feels like to be imprisoned or to love.

Counterattack of the Cannon Fodder Chambermaid - I remember starting this and loving the realistic feel and the heroine and wanting to stab the hero and @mercipourleslivres telling me to be patient. She was right, by the end I was on board with both the hero (who was abused and is rather autistic-coded) and the OTP. Anyway, heroine is a servant who was a concubine in the last life and got killed as part of a rich family’s harem intrigues. In this life, she just wants to keep her head down but her life gets derailed anyway. She gets sold away and eventually made a servant in the household of an exiled prince who takes a fancy to her and she endures it because what choice does she have? All she wanted was to serve out her term and become a small time merchant. This is quite realistic about lack of options for women, especially lower class women or upper class male attitudes (ML is never vicious or mean to FL but it does not initially occur to him to wonder if she fancies him or enjoys being his concubine or w/e.) It is a DELIGHTFUL slow burn tho as they grow to love each other and grow together and become one of the most wholesome cnovel couples out there.

Dandere General and His Lord - hi there, Gong Xinwen! God, I love this one. Heroine transmigrates from modern world into a brutal slave-holding world at war (think something like Warring States era.) Our heroine transmigrates into the body of a noblewoman who just hung herself. When she comes to, she discovers that woman’s twin brother was the ruler of a city poisoned by a rival claimant and the besieging army of said claimant is about to take the city and original occupant of the body and the rest of the family chose suicide as a way to avoid dishonor. Our heroine refuses, schemes with advisors to pass as the brother and rally the troops. Once the invaders are defeated, she keeps on the masquerade and rides off to one of the never-ending wars “she” is summoned to. Our hero couldn’t be farther from this. A slave and a son of a slave, he’s escaped a horrific, starving childhood during which he narrowly avoided being murdered or raped, and ended up in the army. When the story opens, he distinguished himself in battle and as a reward, he and a few of his fellow slave warriors are invited to a banquet, where they are given some alcohol and to be playthings of any nobles who want them. One of them does not survive this but ML is lucky - heroine feels terrible and so “claims” him for herself. Instead she just tends to his wounds and sends him back. She does not fancy him or anything, she is just a human being with a conscience. And the story goes from there.

Demon King's Repayment - another delicious Gong Xinwen tale with a powerful ML dedicated to capable FL. This one is a great fantasy plot (I keep imagining it as an animated series) and a sprawling cast of amazing secondaries (and secondary OTPs - there is, I swear, an OTP that is Dong Hua x Feng Jiu done thru GXW lens) to boot.

Doomed to Be Cannon Fodder - I hesitated to put this one on the list because by the end I was not keen on how misogynistic novel got to original female lead but it was one of my earliest novels and I loved it for 90% and it’s fucking hilarious at times. Heroine transmigrates as bit villainess into a novel, all she wants is not to die, but her new attitude of “pls stay away” catches the attention of her terrifying general husband. Honestly, imo still worth it.

Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir - my n1 novel on this list, smart and fierce and don’t really read this for romance because it does not start until really late, but ice cold heroine x ice cold hero both of equal brains and ruthlessness is everything. I went from loathing the ML to finding him fascinating to adoring him (and yet he softened around the edges only for FL, he never became “nice”) and loved FL throughout; secondaries are epic. If you read only one non-danmei web novel, make it this one.

The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl - my n2 novel on this list. Our heroine is the unlucky laundry maid A’Chou. She is a di daughter of an upperclass family but her family got destroyed in one of the political upheavals of the time and A’Chou, only a small child at the time, was the only survivor and was made an enslaved laundry maid. Due to various events, at the start of the novel she is a laundry maid in a minister’s household and the minister’s beloved daughter is having a fit because she’s supposed to marry the former Crown Prince which may have been great a few years back but Crown Prince had since been deposed, tortured, imprisoned and now is living in the middle of nowhere under conditions that are too meager to be called house arrest. And he’s seriously crippled too. Understandably, the young lady doesn’t want to marry him! She’d rather kill herself and so she does. And so, a desperate plan is hatched - why don’t we pretend the laundry maid is the di daughter of the minister’s household and send her off? And so A’Chu is sent as the bride. She arrives to discover a broke, seriously injured man on the verge of death…and we go from there. This is so gorgeous and tender and slow in just the right way and like AAAAAA! Secondary OTPs (one of which is MM) are also epic.

Futu Tower - the drama (Unchained Love) was a mess but the novel is such a lovely, dark exploration of coming back to life, for the ML from his dark revenge-strewn path and for heroine from not being allowed wishes of her own. She is a tribute bride, he’s a (fake) eunuch, they are both servants who use themselves to achieve goals and find peace and happiness together.

The Grand Princess - a tale where both members of the OTP reincarnate as their younger selves after killing each other in their 50s, and get a new start, this is smart and slow and so good in portraying old souls in young bodies. Their rediscovery of not just each other but themselves and their passion for living is just AAAAAA!

Heroine Saves Gentleman - Gong Xinwen novel so we have a tough martial artist lady saving a very upper class scholar and it goes from there. If elegant gorgeous ML being saved and protected (and lovingly dommed) by awesome FL is your bag, pls come right in.

Husband Be a Gentleman - schemer meet schemer. He’s an idle prince she’s perfect daughter, in reality both are wolves out for blood. Mmmm. Very OTP gets together early and is us against the world.

I’ll Be the Male Lead’s Sister in Law - one of my all time favorite novels. Heroine is made to marry a disabled nephew of the emperor. He used to be a victorious god of war but went mad and now is basically locked away and kept as a beast. GOD I LOVE THIS NOVEL SO MUCHHHHH! So much hurt/comfort and awesome OTP and after he eventually recovers, all he wants to do is to fight and murder things and dote on wifey. MMM. He’s honestly one of my fave MLs.

I Married a Disabled Tyrant After Transmigrating - if you have a Florence Nightingale complex, this is for you. Heroine wakes up as tribute bride to an almost dead dragon lord and slowly nurses him back to life as his rivals try to murder him. They are both utter adorable babies!

Let the Villain Go - another Gong Xinwen novel, this and Apocalypse Arrivals are AUs of each other. Heroine is surviving in the apocalypse, ML is the “bugbear” of the world but in reality just reacting to all abuse and torture and after she accidentally saves him, devotes himself. Fun fun fun!

Long Wind Crossing - Amazing ML and FL who grow together, clever plot, arranged marriage to love etc etc. Oh, and one point he feeds her his blood to keep her alive, what’s not to love? (Adapted into Chang Feng Du/Destined)

Lost You Forever - this is a short but delicately wistful tale of trauma and loss and love, wrapped in a high fantasy setting but so relatable despite it.

Love In Another Life: My Gentle Tyrant - so so fucked up in the best way! ML cannot live with OR without heroine. It opens on them banging in jail night before her execution (ordered by him) with corpses of men he killed for trying to defile her cooling nearby. If you want healthy relationships with respectful boundaries, gentle and considerate male leads who are modern men in period clothes, OP heroines who have everyone help them and are OP to the max, fluff and wholesomeness, that is about the worst book for you.If you want complexity, dysfunction, darkness, pain and an absolutely lyrical even if fucked up story, come right IN!!!!I am so fucking in love with the melancholy heroine, with ruthless psycho hero and the endless regret and devotion and paaaaain!

The Marquis Is Innocent - our heroine is a beautiful woman married to a warlord who hates her family. (Yes, this was gonna be The Prisoner of Beauty until SZE tax scandal.) Except she's a transmigrator from the future who knows how it ended last time around and has no interest to end up this tragically. This is in my top 5 - FL is smart but believably so (and doesn't have super battle powers) and ML is a believable period warlord. The way their relationship develops so gradually and the way his character changes so gradually as well (and the way they slowly fall in love, her slower than him) is just amazing. It is such a smart, nuanced, gorgeous slow burn. With some gonzo sex scenes :P

Mulberry Song - you like tragic endings? Come right IN! This is short and heartbreaking and wistful and very what-if.

Nightfall (Ever Night) - so long but also so smart and unusual and bloody and tho it’s not primarily a romance, you will never see another ML who loves his FL as much as Ning Que does his Sang Sang. 

Offering Salted Fish to Master - in some ways, this novel is a mess, but I am recommending it because this is a rare example of "nope he's 100% a villain and murderdude and odd, but he does love the heroine" that the author commits to.

Pihanjin - yet another awesome PLK novel, this is once again, like with Marquis, a ruthless man and a beautiful woman getting a second chance on a second go-around. FL is a lot more wounded this time around though. If you LOVE watching ML grovel and slowly, gradually win FL over, this one is for you.

Princess Agents - a dark tale with an incredibly competent and militarily powerful/ruthless heroine and two terrifying men who love her (but neither is as terrifying as she is.) There is an OTP switch halfway through that shockingly makes sense and it's just SO SO GOOOOOOOD

Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage - this is probably the one “typical” novel on this list, heroine is reborn as her youngest self and gets revenge on those who wronged her last time around. It is really really well-written and heroine is competent, hero is doting and powerful etc. It’s not a trope I tend to love but I do when it’s done THIS well.

Rebirth of the Tyrant’s Pet: Regent Prince is Too Fierce: Borgias cnovel style! Our heroine was empress in last life and put her husband on the throne tho he did not love her. However, he had her executed and had his half-brother carry out the orders and heroine died horrifically. She opens her eyes and she’s a little girl again. The OTP this time around is heroine and half-brother executioner. Why do I love it? Heroine is smart and tough but also this is a rare rebirth novel where heroine does NOT decide to seek revenge for past life wrongs because they haven’t happened yet! In fact, she sees ML abused and stands up for him because he’s a kid and no kid should be mistreated and this go around he hasn’t done anything wrong. She also gets and likes her former life husband. Anyway, this is fakecest galore because she’s supposed to be their half-sister and while she knows (from past life) she is not, they do not and fall for her anyway. ML is especially gonzo, at one point carving chunks of his flesh to save her. He’s feral and unhinged and she’s the one person he worships because she protected him and like - it’s all awesome. (I love secondary ML too.)

Reborn to Love Lord Qiansui - yes, this is a eunuch novel! If you like gender tropes reversals, this one is for you. Heroine is a tough martial artist, hero is a smart as hell and powerful eunuch. A real eunuch. Heroine finds out she owes him her life and decides to protect him. This is a total delight and an awesome love story between two really scarred people. And yes, there is sex - heroine literally reads manuals on pegging :P

Return of the Swallow - so freaking long! But really good. Heroine is neither transmigrator nor reincarnator, just a smart period woman. She is a lost family daughter taken back in. Her father is a minister in a dying empire (father-daughter relationship is one of the best things in this novel), her OTP is enemy general, and the smartness and the awesomeness of this all knows no bounds.

Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes - probably the wackiest JLFX novel I read, this is quite different from Love You Seven Times drama that was adapted from it. Our deity protagonists go through a bunch of lives figuring out they fancy each other. It's light like a souffle but just as delicious.

To Be a Virtuous Wife - some people prefer 8 treasures trousseau but I never warmed up to that one. This one is so good, with smart people (who actually enjoy sex, a ratity) and a perfect mix of plot and romance.

Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - my very first web novel. A lot lighter than a lot of the ones on this list but a total delight. Heroine transmigrates into a novel as the heroine; she has no interest in drama or chasing true love, she just wants to live a nice life with her nice husband. Too bad for her, her husband has reincarnated into his younger self and remembers how she betrayed him, so is not interested. This one is funny and light and romance doesn’t start till late on but a total delight!

Wishing You Eternal Happiness - this is tied with Dreamer as my favorite het web novel ever though it couldn’t be more different from Dreamer, with its hard-edged and hard-souled protagonists ruthlessly cleaving their way to the world and, eventually, each other, its smart cynical air. Except in one thing - the world of Wishing is just as bloody and dark. Its two protagonists are gentle, deeply wounded souls who may find salvation in each other but even something as basic as safety almost seems out of reach.

Jliafu, our heroine, is neither a modern-day transmigrator, nor some exotic princess or demoness. She is very much a period woman of her time, from a weathy merchant clan, whose beauty is her curse. You can tell the novel’s tone from that utterly bleak opening chapter where she, a favorite concubine of a capricious dying emperor, is ordered to be buried alive with him and is not even given the “grace” of white silk but slowly suffocates in the coffin, scrabbling at the lid. There is no grand threats of vengeance on her part, not dramatic opera events. Just despair and death. The whole introductory chapter is haunted by emotional ghosts - the empress’ unrequited love for the monster on the imperial bed (turning into desire for Jiafu’s suffering after he dies), the emperor slowly dying in his prime after waging too many wars, and his fear of being haunted by Pei Youan, a brilliant if sickly minister who died of illness long ago on one of imperial campaigns. There is no triumph for anyone, only loss.

When she wakes up as still a young woman, all she wants is to escape the same fate. There are no plans for power or revenge, only a desire for survival. And so she latches on asking for help from Pei Youan, the only man in her past go-around who showed any consideration and desire and ability to protect her, though he barely knew her. Pei Youan is probably my favorite het web novel ML. Despite his brains and ability, he drifts through life. In modern terms, he clearly has depression. One of the biggest, best joys of the novel is watching these two very good, very quiet, very wounded people discover happiness and love with each other. I sort of want to cry just thinking about it, tbh.

The Yandere Came During the Night - a bit of fluff that’s oddly delightful. Heroine is reborn as a (fake) sister of ML, she hurts her legs saving him and the “siblings” form a bond that ends up in fakecest delight. They are both smart and efficient and he becomes a sexy marquis etc.

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Princess Alix of Hesse, Grand Duke Louis IV, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Prince Ernest Louis, 1888.

[adini-nikolaevna]

“Your sympathy is a great comfort to me and my daughter, who has endured such a severe trial at such an early age... She tells me that she would not for anything in the world wish to change the past, no matter how short, but happy it was; and I will never forget his look when the Tsar led her by the hand to his bed! It was pure happiness, and he recognized her all day when he was dying. He said goodbye to her, kissed her, and held her hand tightly in his until he died! We were on the road for four days and four nights, and she never left his bedside, kneeling next to him day and night, until at one o'clock in the afternoon she kissed him and he exhaled his young life! It was terrible for me, because I loved him very much and saw how all the happiness of the poor young bride had faded away... Minnie went to Darmstadt for the day to see his parents again. The whole dear family was so kind and sweet to her that the separation was doubly painful for her."

- Queen Louise of Denmark in a letter to Queen Victoria, on her daughter Princess Dagmar’s grief at the death of her fiancé, Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia. Dagmar went on to become Empress Maria Feodorovna as the wife of Nicholas’s brother, Emperor Alexander III. Their firstborn son was named after the uncle he never knew, he is known to history as Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor.

[thecrownedmage]

THE GRAND MASQUERADE

[bluessmutifyplaylist]

If I can make a request for some nsfw headcanons for Duke Kaufman, and Kosair. With the idea of it being there wedding night, and there off on there honeymoon with there shy s/o, only to find out that, even though they are shy and never slept with anyone, they have a very dirty mind.

Gender-neutral reader. 

Warnings: dom!reader, bottom!character, penetrative sex (could be any hole), oral (both receiving), jerking character off

Kosair Trovi

When you told him to go slow and that it was your first time in that quiet voice, he was totally going to go vanilla

He started by going down on you and looking up at you into your eyes, trying to get you flustered, but the way you were pulling his hair and forcing him to stay down there made him realize something

He was in for the time of his life

Not even 10 minutes later, you had made him cum 3 times just by jerking him off, making him whimper from the overstimulation

Pressing delicate kisses on his tip before sliding it inside your hole, making him moan rather loudly

You were glad that you didn’t have any neighbors on this honeymoon

The next day, you weren’t even as sore as you thought you were gonna be

Instead, his dick felt like it was going to fall off, but despite that, he somehow got morning wood when he woke up, and that started round 2

Grand Duke Kaufman

He genuinely was a gentle lover, always making sure to prioritize you over anything when it came to any matter whatsoever

However, your mind totally took over when you tied his hands to the bedframe and started sucking the soul out of him, and he was grunting and moaning and trying to get out of the restraints

You were a witch, and he was under your spell

Over the course of that first night, you both came so many times, the sheets were soaked all over

But, you weren’t even close to finished, and you rode him to oblivion, but he still had the energy to thrust up into you 

Your moans met his, and you both were in pain as you were both covered in hickies all over your bodies

If you could make sure this honeymoon never ended, then you would have gone through those measures because you both were having the times of your lives

For the entire week that your honeymoon lasted, you both had what could only be called a sex marathon

~~~~~~~~~~~

@angel-tsugikuni-kamukura Finally released a Remarried Empress smut piece.

[empress-alexandra]

Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse with his surviving children: Princess Victoria of Battenberg, Marchioness of Milford-Haven, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, Princess Irene of Prussia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia and Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse, 1884.

[captain-sassy-socks]

[taste-in-music]

songs for march 2024

[sweetteaandpie]

sudden realization as i'm eating breakfast this morning:

i miss amanda tapping being on my screen

[raionmimi]

My Valentine's Day present to everyone is Medb x Bazett propaganda

[hunn1e-bunn1e]

If Navier Won't Take This Precious Man I Will!

🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•

Allow me to violently simp for pretty boy Grand Duke Kaufman for a second. I'm sorry I just need his beautiful being in my life...

                                                                                                   

Ma'am of you don't want him then send him my way, please! He's so damn precious I swear to Morpheus! I would've married him on the spot! Who wouldn't want to wake up to this everyday? ⇩

🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹

🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹•♡•🍹

🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•

[ellefantii]

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Princess Alice with her sister Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia, Berlin, 1865.

Alice to Queen Victoria, Berlin, January 29, 1865 | The journey went off very well, and we are so happy to be here. Vicky and Fritz are kindness itself, and Vicky so dear, so loving! I feel it does me good, that there is a reflection of Papa's great mind in her. He loved her so much, and was so proud of her.

Alice to Queen Victoria, Berlin, February 4, 1865 | I have not been sight-seeing anywhere, as it is too cold for that. We drive in a shut carriage, and then walk in the Thiergarten. We spend the whole day together, which is a great enjoyment to me, and of an evening we go out together. It is pleasant to have a sister to go out with, and all the people are so kind and civil to us.

Alice to Queen Victoria, Berlin, February 14, 1965 | We leave next Saturday. I shall be so sorry to leave dear Vicky, for she is often so much alone. Fritz is really so excellent, it is a pleasure to look at his dear good face; and he is worked so hard - no health can stand it in the long run.

Alice to Queen Victoria, Berlin, 17 February 1865 | This will be my last letter from here, and I only regret leaving here on account of parting with dear Vicky and Fritz, whom we see so rarely, and usually but for a short time. I have spent such pleasant hours with dear Vicky: that is what I shall look back to with so much pleasure and satisfaction.