I Became the Last Princess of the Brown Bear Kingdom

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“Are you telling me to give up the revolution?!”

“We need to start over. Petrograd is still standing. We must go there and plan for the future.”

Going to Petrograd, huh? How far are we talking about here?

Has it really become that dangerous to travel from Moscow to Petrograd?

Petrograd is a symbolic city where the revolution of the Soviets began.

To suggest returning there is to suggest going back to square one.

Lenin was reluctant to accept this.

“No, not yet.”

“Comrade Lenin?”

Seeing Lenin with a vacant look in his eyes, the Soviet state’s Minister of National Information Control, Stalin, realized that Lenin’s former brilliance was entirely gone.

Lenin unfolded a map of the area around Moscow.

“Semyon Budyonny’s cavalry must pierce the side of the princess and deal a powerful blow to Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel. We can drive back the counter-revolutionaries.”

“Budyonny’s cavalry was repelled by Cossack counter-revolutionaries.”

“If Comrade Yegorov’s Red Guards can strike at Anton Denikin’s rear, things should turn around.”

“Comrade, Yegorov doesn’t have many troops to mobilize for an attack. His offensive has not been successful.”

Stalin shook his head as he listened to Lenin’s words.

The “Red Guards,” huh? The Red Guards were the predecessors of the Red Army, existing before Trotsky built the Red Army.

How dire must the situation be for us to refer to them as the Red Guards and not even the Red Army?

Even if there are enough Red Guards to strike at Anton Denikin’s army from the rear, we are still lacking weapons.

“Where on earth did all those troops go! Stalin! If you had just held Tsaritsyn, we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

“I’m sorry, Comrade.”

“Get out!”

At Lenin’s order, Stalin left Lenin’s office.

He thought.

‘Thoroughly failed.’

The last opportunity, Semyon Budyonny’s cavalry, aimed to cut through the rear and either capture or kill the princess, who would symbolize the White Army. But according to the rumors, the princess was at the forefront and, in fact, had been driven back by the Cossack cavalry.

Even the capture.

Now all that’s left is trying to hold the line while putting the people through suffering.

Even if we succeed in defense, the Bolsheviks will have met their end. I might not even be able to stop it.

Is it really true that the symbol of the revolution, Lenin, is crumbling so quickly?

Is it going to be that one surviving princess that brings down the entire revolution?

Although the execution of the Tsar’s family was proposed by Stalin himself, it would have been a significant opportunity had they been killed at the right moment, rather than rashly.

Lenin had become a devil, killing Bolshevik citizens.

‘Of course, some people fight with resentment towards the princess.’

But things aren’t looking good for that.

Because the princess, spitefully, has been spreading propaganda that if they surrender, they will be granted amnesty.

“Citizens of Moscow! No longer listen to the wicked whispers of the Bolsheviks, rise up! Stand against those who push your husbands, children, and brothers to death!”

It has been beautifully spread.

Even if this is distributed among the White Army, it will be of no use.

But for the citizens of Moscow, this will likely catch their attention.

This means we must bring hardline Bolsheviks from the frontline back to maintain control over the citizens, further depleting our manpower.

‘We’ve completely lost.’

Where did it all go wrong?

The princess, Anastasia, is like the Okhrana, secretly infiltrating the Soviets and disrupting their ambitious reform preparations, causing the people to grow disillusioned by that point.

No, that’s not right. The mistake was not killing Anastasia in the first place.

It would’ve been better to keep her alive and convert her.

If the Tsar’s family had sided with the White Army, they would have crumbled.

Later, when the Soviets had seized control across Russia, it wouldn’t have been too late to execute the Tsar’s family.

“Damn Trotsky.”

If we look at it, there’s some blame that falls on Stalin for not stepping up at that time.

Stalin had tacitly agreed at that time.

If he had tried to stop the execution in front of Trotsky, Trotsky might have branded him a counter-revolutionary.

Stalin had no intentions of dying here and becoming a martyr. His own life was valuable.

Moscow might be holding on, but the gap in strength is clear, and as the fighting continues, unrest will only grow.

Then we must set up Lenin as a shield.

Stalin’s respect for Lenin had long since vanished.

He knew nothing but agitation.

He has given up land, and the princess is working hard on her propaganda, while we are unable to even make reforms.

Stalin was a cold figure who could accept reality even as a communist.

Lenin had been defeated by that young woman, Anastasia, whose head was yet to bleed. Yet, they must discuss measures to confront her. Lenin’s limitations were evident.

Communism in Russia had succumbed to the facade of “modified capitalism” put forth by Anastasia.

At this point, Stalin questioned whether what he believed in was truly right.

If that modified capitalism combined the benefits of socialism took root in Russia, communism would be utterly finished.

It would become increasingly difficult for communism to establish itself in Russia.

In that case, he would have to go into exile to another country.

Be it the chaotic China or the remnants of the defeated Ottoman or Austria, or perhaps Germany?

Yes. For that, Lenin must die here as a symbol of the revolution.

The problem is that in order for that to happen, Stalin’s group must escape from Moscow before Lenin dies—there’s a condition attached.

He thought about that,

But Stalin had a problem.

Lenin declared he would stay here.

If that is the case, then they cannot escape either.

Must they die here?

Already among the citizens of Moscow, there was a noticeable increase in those who were not openly hostile but held unsympathetic views toward the Soviets.

They were being taken down, but how much longer can Moscow hold out against infiltrators from the Okhrana?

Surrender to the princess?

The princess may be young, but she is an imperialist.

Just by appointing a Mongolian governor during the civil war and pushing south into Northern Manchuria, isn’t the answer already clear?

A communist cannot kneel before an imperialist.

Besides, putting aside the desire to save lives, the princess’s parents and siblings are dead, leading to her current state.

It will be difficult to preserve one’s life.

Better the best of the worst.

How to kill Lenin here and escape to Petrograd.

No, it wouldn’t necessarily need to be a kill.

Just rendering him unconscious for a while would be sufficient.

Once they reach Petrograd, they would have to prepare for exile in a different location.

The question now is how to capture Lenin—right, there’s no way other than that.

‘I’ll have to resort to drastic measures.’

Coincidentally, my wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, works in Comrade Lenin’s office.

Yes. That’s the only way.

Stalin did not want to die in a place like this.

As the battle for Moscow escalated, the defenses of Moscow were crumbling.

While the people were dying, there were always others to fill their places, but even those people were being worn down—essentially, they were just meat shields for maintaining Bolshevik power, nothing more, nothing less.

Yet, why was this defense still being upheld?

“Comrades! The counter-revolutionary traitor princess is approaching! And now you want to tuck your tails and run?!”

It was thanks to the die-hard Reds pointing guns at the people from behind.

It was already too late for a reversal; unless the princess was killed, they were stuck in their situation as long as they remained in the Reds.

Those die-hard Bolsheviks shot down the people who were trying to flee in fear.

With the chance of survival as slim as a fingernail and bullets flying in from behind, what would they choose?

Clearly, the answer would be to choose survival.

But that hope is starting to fade away now.

“Then you go fight! Do you think we’re just your meat shields?”

“You guys are worse than the Tsar!”

“Y-you counter-revolutionaries!”

As a Red Army officer was about to shoot the people of Soviet ideology, kaboom!

He was shot dead by the people’s guns first.

One could never be sure where a bullet might fly from, so the people who fought were forced to change their thoughts; the comrades they had enjoyed laughing and talking with moments ago had become flesh carpets under that massive steel beast’s wheels.

Will seeing this rage them with revenge?

Revenge can only be possible to a certain extent.

Even those comrades were merely strangers pulled from various regions, sympathizing with one another through shared tragedies.

When faced with the harsh reality of the scene unfolding, survival instinct takes over.

The White Army rolled in like a wave, while the officers behind them pushed the people to their deaths.

In fact, they didn’t even have to fight.

They had already promised that surrender would lead to amnesty.

“I… I will surrender. The princess said she would give amnesty as long as the Bolshevik heads gave up!”

“I will surrender too.”

The soldiers from the enemy ranks only had to glance at the leaflets dropped from the aircraft, realizing that they were done for anyway.

If they could survive, joining the White Army would be the better option.

Now, the Red Army officers were merely walking targets.

If they threatened with their guns, the cowardly soldiers under them would just retaliate with their guns, busy surrending.

In this instance, with reports coming in, Red Army officers began to fear their own heads being targets and softened their stance, trying to calm the soldiers.

“Comrades, think carefully. Is it really true that they will spare our lives?”

“We need to speak plainly. Not all of us are true Reds like you. We were dragged here against our will!”

By trying to appease them, some soldiers saw through the officers and boldly surrendered.

Of course, there were still more Red Army soldiers filling those positions than there were surrendering.

Mikhail Frunze was increasing rations for soldiers to maintain defense while trying to persuade them that once they win, the true paradise of the Soviets would unfold—but all that was pointless as the tide was irreversibly against them.

“The Black Baron is indeed strong.”

Anton Denikin’s army could be held off by the duo of Trotsky and Yegorov, but the Black Baron, Pyotr Wrangel.

With the princess at the forefront, morale is heightened. The army under the Black Baron was exceptional.

The blitzkrieg led by those tanks was smashing through the thick fortifications of Moscow, with the defenders flickering like candles in a fierce storm.

Budyonny’s cavalry, which aimed to ambush the princess and end the war, was utterly trounced by the Cossack cavalry under the Black Baron’s command.

How long can they possibly stop the Black Baron?

It wasn’t the fault of the current Red Army that I was assigned to hold the defense in the Moscow battle either.

Nowhere can I find a way to counter them.

The people were clinging to the tanks to immobilize them, effectively rendering them useless, but the bullets coming from the accompanying infantry were just as brutal.

The enemy was nothing more than prey for the White Army, a test for combat effectiveness.

In actual history, Mikhail Frunze had finished off Pyotr Wrangel’s White Army, yet now he was being driven back by the Black Baron.

The imperialist powers were probably rejoicing at seeing the Soviet Union collapse.

Barely able to endure with just defense.

Recently, former officers from the Tsarist era had also begun to surrender to the White Army.

The Red Army was being held together almost through coercion.

Maybe if they had more time, it would be different, but they’ve utterly failed and failed to hold public sentiment.

As a die-hard communist, there’s no way I can surrender to that imperialist princess.

At this point, they have no choice but to retreat from Moscow.

How do I tell Comrade Lenin that we must retreat from Moscow? What do I say?

Just then, a soldier burst into the barracks.

“Comrade Commander!”

“What is it?”

Could it finally be that the Black Baron’s army has breached the defenses?

It doesn’t seem like that.

“Uh, uhh, Comrade… L-Lenin has collapsed!”

The worst-case scenario was upon them.