"What on earth is going on?"
Marshal Jomini shifted his gaze from the soldiers outside the window to the royal steward.
"Exactly! What is happening? Why are the streets of St. Petersburg filled with soldiers?"
Grand Duke Constantine felt a certain unease, a keen intuition told him that something significant might have occurred here.
"Marshal, Grand Duke!" The royal steward pondered for a moment, then said to Constantine and Jomini, "The situation here is complicated and can't be explained in just a moment. You'll understand everything when you reach the Imperial Palace!"
With that, the royal steward turned his head toward the view outside the carriage window.
Seeing that the royal steward was unwilling to reveal the truth, Constantine and Jomini did not press further. Harboring some doubts, they soon arrived before a Baroque-style palace in Tsarskoye Selo.
