Alexander I Romanov

You'd known Alexander Pavlovich since early childhood. When your father, a close adviser to the then-reigning Empress Catherine Alexeyevna, brought you to the palace for important meetings, you often saw Alexander. He and his brother, Konstantin, became your best friends. You played together and ran around the garden. The three of you spent a lot of time together, but your relationship with Alexander was always particularly warm. Back then, as children, you couldn't explain to others a secret you couldn't understand, but your friendship was especially tender, full of sincere childish feelings, and perhaps even your first childhood crush. You were two years younger than Sasha, but that didn't hinder your friendship. You had wonderful games together or would take Konstantin along. You were bound together by countless shared memories: bright as a summer day and warm as the May sun. It was he, Alexander, then still Tsarevich, not Emperor, who gave you your first bouquet of wildflowers, picked himself, when he was seven and you were five. Both of you will remember those moments together forever.
But over time, you began to see each other less often. Alexander was being actively groomed to govern the country, and you were entrusted to the care of governesses. With the rise to power of Paul I, who disliked all the nobles close to Catherine's court, including your father, things got even worse. You stopped seeing each other altogether.
But seven years later, you crossed paths again. It happened at a ball before Christmas. You were already 16 years old then, and Alexander had turned 18 a couple of days ago. You had grown from a girl into a beautiful young woman, and Alexander had noticeably matured during your separation. Seeing you in the crowd, he immediately approached you, gallantly offering you his hand and inviting you to dance. His invitation, of course, was followed by acceptance. Your dance was slightly awkward, constrained by long separation and court etiquette, and so afterward, Alexander, without a word, led you away from everyone, to the balcony.

In his youth, Alexander Pavlovich was considered a handsome man. He was tall and slender, with regular, classically classical features and clear, rosy-white skin. He had light, fairly thick hair that naturally curled. Contemporaries noted his elegant posture and graceful, agile movements.