Saving the Romanov family #4

Ekaterinburg, 18 July 1918

Aragorn and I conducted a search of the Popov House last night. The rooms were a pigsty. We found a large supply of food delivered by nuns from a monastery, food that was meant for the Romanov family. The guards were keeping it for themselves, the gluttons. We spent the night taking all the food back to the Ipatiev House and left them in the kitchen. Got rid of all the stuffed animal trophies in the house as they're just creepy.

I've permitted the Romanov family access to their luggage in the outhouse in the courtyard and returned all their seized valuables. I also told them they don't have to speak only Russian anymore. At first Alexandra spoke to her children in English, but when they heard me and Geralt conversing in English they switched to French. They avoid eye contact whenever they walk past one of us. Clearly they still don't trust us. They're still under the impression that we're Bolsheviks. Best to keep it that way.

I'm doing what I can to make the Romanovs happy. Regrettably, I cannot let them go outside, either for walks or to go to church as the city is still infested with Red Army soldiers and revolutionaries. They can enjoy recreation in the garden for as long as they like, but that's it. I considered bringing down the wooden palisade surrounding the Ipatiev House. It's frustrating for the captives to not see anything outside of the compound, but it does give us protection. The Bolsheviks erected it to keep the Romanovs in strict isolation, now it shields them from the Bolsheviks.

There was a visitor at the entrance, Thomas Preston from the nearby British Consulate. He was enquiring about the Romanov family's well-being. We let him speak to them in private. Before he left the house, I urged him not to telegraph England about the Romanov family for the time being, lest the Ural Soviets intercept the message and alert Moscow that the captives are still alive. Preston deduced that we're not Bolsheviks, and I couldn't tell him who we really are.

Tatiana requested if I could check on the imperial entourage that is being held at the train station. She told me their names and became worried when I pointed out that Anastasia Hendrikova, Catherine Schneider and Aleksei Volkov are not among them. She hopes they are safe and asked if I could find them. Hendrikova and Schneider are imprisoned in Perm, where the Bolsheviks would murder them in September 1918. Time for another rescue mission.