An Equal Trade

“Kassio, what do you think she looks like?” he whispered to his friend. They had yet to reach the conference room where they would discuss the Romanovs’ terms of surrender, and Ivan had already successfully annoyed Orlov for the rest of the day with his incessant questions about the mysterious Romanov princess. 

“I’m sure she’s lovely,” he replied with a monotone voice. 

“What do you think she thought of me?”

“Probably not well, considering you just conquered her lands. The Romanovs are prideful and loyal to a fault.” That seemed to make Ivan’s mood droop. It was as if one moment he was a bright ray of sun, and the next he was a dark storm cloud ready to lay waste. “Come, don’t worry too much about it. Perhaps you left a good first impression. I was rather impressed by your civility in your greetings.”

“Really? I thought I did well too, considering the Romanovs were such a large territory to conquer, I thought I should give them some face.” And like it never happened, the storm cloud gave way to the shining sun. 

“And here we are,” one of the attendants said, guiding them into the large conference room. There was a large wooden table with comfy chairs set up. A servant was ready with a typewriter to write down everything said, and another to write down the actual terms. Orlov and Ivan sat down, getting ready for some long negotiations. Ivan had planned to let Orlov do all the talking- he was the more diplomatic of the two. 

After watching Lord Volkov whisper something to King Romanov, Orlov decided it was time to begin. “Our terms for those defeated are usually that of an annual tribute of traditional commodities, as well as a military presence of some sort. We also require some Vasil officials implanted in your courts, and a Foreign Minister to correspond from our Vasil capital.” Orlov glanced at his sovereign, only to find him staring off into space. Orlov wanted to face palm, but didn’t want to lose face in front of the Romanovs. 

“King Vasil, anything to add?” Orlov asked through gritted teeth. Luckily Ivan snapped out of his reverie. 

“Oh yes- is your daughter of marriageable age?”

“Why yes, My Lord,” King Romanov replied cheerily. Ivan couldn’t explain it, but something seemed to draw him towards the mysterious princess. 

“And uh- how open would she be to-” Orlov cut him off before he could finish that question. 

“My Lords, would you excuse us to discuss something in the hall very quickly?”

“Go right ahead,” King Romanov said very amiably. Orlov all but dragged his sovereign out of the room, like he was a child disturbing the adults. Romanov turned to Volkov. “King Vasil seems interested in my daughter, this is going as you planned.” 

“But of course. Every man can’t help but love a mystery. All he knows about her are the rumors, and how she presented herself. Although I can’t quite say I foresaw him jumping so fast at the chance to marry the princess, it’s a welcome surprise,” Volkov said. 

In the hallway, a much different conversation was happening. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Orlov chastised him as if he were his father. Ivan looked the part of the child that did something wrong. 

“Nothing- I was just interested in knowing,” he said. Orlov wasn’t buying it though.

“Do you wish to make a formal offer of marriage to the Romanovs? If it’s what you really want, we can do it, but there will have to be some concessions on other fronts of the surrender terms.” Ivan’s eyes lit up. 

“Do you think they’d accept?”

“They’d be fools not to.”

“You’re right! And if they don’t, we can just kill them!” Orlov knew one thing for sure- Ivan was clueless about the way to win someone’s heart. 

“Alright, we’ll go in there and gauge their reactions.” King Romanov and Lord Volkov sat, speaking quietly about some matters when Ivan and Orlov made their return. 

“King Romanov, I’d like to formally request your daughter, Ursa Romanova’s hand in marriage.” King Romanov couldn’t help but smirk, but quickly covered it up. 

“King Vasil, that’s such a sudden request. My daughter is very precious to me- to give her away would come with some form of collateral.” As Orlov expected, King Romanov did indeed have a bride price in mind. 

“What are your terms?” Ivan asked eagerly, oblivious to it all. 

“Well, I suppose the Romanov state would like to preserve it’s autonomy, and half the tribute each year. We would also like to minimize Vasil presence here.” Ivan glanced at Orlov, looking for his friend for guidance. 

“We can agree to the first two, however this is now Vasil territory. We cannot lessen Vasil presence come time for it. We can offer access to a trade route to the north, though.” King Romanov seemed to mull it over. He and Volkov started whispering again. 

“This seems agreeable. Then, let us smooth over the finer details,” King Romanov declared, and thus, the marriage between Ivan Vasil and Ursa Romanova was decided.