The 19 year old Ekaterina Schmidt, and her 17 year old sister Elizaveta had just inherited a small fortune. Vladimir Lenin saw an opportunity and came up with a plan. Waging a revolution required vast amounts of money and Lenin would use any means necessary to acquire wealth, including bank robbery, in furtherance of his pursuit for power.
His plan, in this instance, was simple, he would use two party operatives to seduce and marry the girls and then have them donate all of the money to the party. He selected Nikolai Andrikanas and Victor Taratuta to run the scheme. Both successfully married their target. Ekaterina and Nikolai donated a small amount of money to the party before moving to France and keeping the vast majority of the inheritance.
Victor however successfully convinced Elizaveta to give a substantial amount of money to Lenin. Speaking of Taratuta Lenin remarked “There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.” Lenin knew what he needed in pursuit of power and he was willing to use whatever means necessary to get it.
“What about Roxane?” Alexander asked.
“Your prisoner bride?”
“Such disrespect is worthy of death!”
“There is no possible way that you could love her or that she could truly love you.”
“What gives you the insight to speak so assertively about matters you know nothing about?”
“Daughter of Oxyarthes, the man who surrendered the Iron Gates to you, makes for a very political marriage.”
“Continue,” said Alexander.
“At a feast celebrating your latest victory a number of young women were brought in for entertainment. You spotted one of them whose beauty far surpassed the others and you decided on the spot to marry her once you learned she was the daughter of Oxyarthes. You needed to cement a strong relationship with the local leaders. What better way to do this than through marriage? You didn’t share a common language and never even spoke to each other beforehand. She never was given a choice. So she is your prisoner bride.”
“You have a vague outline of the past. I suppose it is remarkable that you have as much ...
