Simo gazed up the skies from his rich Seraglio. The Halcyon was evanescent as the clouds quickly blocked the sun as soon as he tried to inspect it. Bringing his eyes down on his opulent seraglio with sets of bungalows built in a circle giving a bucolic charm, while the lavish garden gave way to a comely royal atmosphere. All those parties, all those things, he needed nothing of them! He needed to brood, to find a panacea, a cure to fix all of the problems that the Church of the Scimitar left after their incessant crusades. An assemblage of the finest women were hurled in to please the Knyaz. As they danced and moved around, the man which had the privelege to see such beautiful women made the impression of an agelast. Not even a small smile. But his eyes were locked on only one lady amongst them - Ludmila. He noticed her instantly. Those eyes, those lips... His heart shrunk, his physionomy twirled as if it was a Dali painting. Time stopped.

"If you don't like my brother I don't like you." Her voice was melliflous to him. 

"He started the fight, Luda!" his voice echoed as his mind solved the puzzle of time and put together the fragments of his memories. 

"He is small, you don't understand him, you always don't like him, stop picking on him.." The daughter of the merchant moved back from him as he tried to give an excuse for him lashing out at her younger, autistic brother. 

And then there was this awful, heart-clutching moment. His tongue slipped, he spoke something horrible that not even his memory would want to recollect. Something that made him regret it for the rest of his life. Something that swung away Ludmila from his love. Something so insulting, it was also an insult to [i]himself.[/i] 

Fighting back tears, he muttered something towards the guards. One of them moved over to Ludmila as to slap her across the face. His uproar stopped him from hurting her, stunned and bewildered. A woebegone aura loomed over the people as Knyaz Simo stared into Ludmila's eyes. "Naïve, stupid, foolish.." He spoke as he blocked her from seeing his tear-filled eyes. "You could have had everything you wanted if you stayed with me. The power, the riches, but you stood up for someone who only encumbers you, is a worthless ballast in which you put your time, life, beauty, everything. Why do you do it, Ludmila? Why do you care for another worthless weight? Why do you look for someone who has no future, no ability? You know he shalt not send back all your efforts you made to help him survive in this world back to you. Why do you do it, Ludmila? Why?"

"Because I care not about my future, but my family." She said as the vision of their dalliance surged through Simo's mind. He let her go, even though her answer hurt him more than a guard's gauntlet would do to her. The power, the riches, he had all of this. But had he a family? A person he loved? 

The answer was no.

"Veliky Knyaz, direct your thoughts elsewhere, this a simple woman. Shall we think about your reforms?" A Rakshasa adviser about the immigrant issue looked at him with the sense of confusion playing in his chatoyant eyes. 

"I shall bear with it. What have you done to soften their life, Darja?"

"I am currently in the process of negotiations with the southern boyars about reducing the punishments for crimes committed by the immigrants to the norms. If an immigrant steals, the punishment shall be the same as if a citizen of Mamothe Kras steals."

"And what are they saying about it?"

"Velikoy Knyaz, they do not take me seriously." 

"I shall have my way with them."