Fateful Apples

By Olga Kryuchkova

Imperial Russia. End of the 19th century. Sergei Lvovich Zavyalov, Major-artilleryman, goes on vacation to his aunt Aglaya Dmitrievna. Zavyalov, at the insistence of his aunt, begins to look after his neighbor Polina Veresova. They spend a night of love at the hunting lodge. Polina's intimate diary falls into the hands of a man. Sergei Lvovich is shocked and immediately leaves the ‘love nest’. Without unnecessary explanations, he leaves the hospitable house of Aglaya Dmitrievna and goes to visit his friend. A frustrated aunt collects a basket of apples for her nephew's trip. Zavyalov gets on the train and finds himself in a compartment with a teenager and his English teacher. The Major could not even imagine that this meeting would be fateful for him. Meanwhile, the teenager behaves defiantly and, without asking, takes an apple from Zavyalov's basket. A scandal flares up. Sobolev-Mitrofanov and Zavyalov go hunting. They find a poacher in Sobolev- Mitrofanov's lands. Zavyalov recognizes the same Englishman from the train. Meanwhile, Polina spies on Zavyalov and gets caught in the rain. She decides to take refuge in a small barn that stands next to Sobolev-Mitrofanov's estate. By the will of fate, an Englishman accidentally wanders there. Soon Zavyalov was summoned to the court. Major could not even imagine that a basket of apples would be involved in this trial. In addition, thanks to this legal case, he will drastically change his life and finally decide to tie the knot. But for this he will have to solve a certain mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olga Kryuchkova
• Release date: Aug 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215983515

Olga Kryuchkova

Olga Kryuchkova began her creative career in 2006. During this time, the author had more than 100 publications and reprints (historical novels, historical adventures, esotericism, art therapy, fantasy). A number of novels were co-written with Elena Kryuchkova.

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Olga Kryuchkova

Fateful Apples

Cover Design: Cover generated by AI (Stable Diffusion, NightCafe)

Prologue

Imperial Russia. End of the 19th century.

Sergei Lvovich Zavyalov, an artillery officer — a man in full bloom, finally received the long-awaited leave, albeit two months later than he had indicated in his petition to the high military command.

It was a wondrous warm September. Suzdal, a small picturesque town, next to which Zavyalov's regiment was stationed, tired him with its provinciality and silence. Alas, Suzdal is not Moscow or St. Petersburg. Life flowed in her slowly and quietly, almost nothing happened out of the ordinary, unless, of course, counting two or three duels over the past few years, and then the duelists escaped with scratches. These duelists shot poorly and did not know how to fight with cavalry sabers at all.

Sergei Lvovich knew all the beauties of Suzdal. And he even had an affair with one of them, until he found his lady in the arms of a rival. Zavyalov did not grieve for long and switched from local noblewomen to women of merchant origin. But soon they bored him with their eternal conversations about apple jam, about home and household, and multi-colored calico.

Sergei Lvovich recently turned over forty. After that, he was seized by melancholy, he began to think: is it time to get married? But where to find a worthy wife? He wanted to marry not just a good housewife, but for her to be outwardly attractive and intelligent. And the last circumstance made the choice of the Major very difficult.

Zavyalov stood before a choice: whether to go to him to rest his aunt's estate Upper Meadows which immediately near the Vladimir county, or to go to Moscow? But, reflecting at his leisure, he decided: in Moscow he knew almost no one, what would he do there?

And so Sergei Lvovich stopped his choice, as usual, on the Upper Meadows estate, and he had already missed his beloved aunt. Zavyalov gathered his simple wardrobe, did not forget to put two new excellent suits in the suitcase, and went to the nearby carriage station in order to hire a carriage with a coachman.

The road to the aunt's estate took, as usual, the whole day: The Major left early in the morning with the first rays of the sun and in the evening, when it was setting, he arrived to his hospitable relative.

Of course, the aunt sometimes bothered Sergei Lvovich and with excessive zeal tried to find him a worthy bride. This is understandable: after all, she was like a mother to him, having actually raised her after her sister's death. And this circumstance somewhat worried the Major, he did not like all these women's tricks: matchmaking and meetings, as if by chance, a bride, because he believed that he himself should find a worthy wife.

But this time, going to the Upper Meadows, his heart told Sergei Lvovich: he will certainly return to Suzdal with his wife, for the aunt will not rest until he marries.

The carriage rolled along the dusty road, squeaking with springs. About an hour later, Sergei Lvovich, fed up with monotonous roadside landscapes, fell asleep.

He dreamed of his aunt's Upper Meadows, he saw himself as a young, still quite adolescent: rather it was not even a dream, but a memory that came from the depths of memory.

Beloved aunt, Aglaya Dmitrievna, was still quite young, she was thirty-nine years old. Three years ago she was widowed, but God, alas, did not give her heirs. Therefore, she turned all her unspent maternal and feminine attention to the orphaned nephew, taking care of him in every possible way and not denying him nothing.

Sergei woke up, as usual, at exactly nine. At my aunt's estate, everything was subject to a certain order: morning rise, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and, finally, sleep — everything had its own time.

The nephew got up, cleaned himself up and went down to the living room for breakfast. The handmaiden Varvara was invariably busy around the table; she herself baked morning pies. Sergei loved Varvara's cooking. Every morning for many years began with that pleasant smell of fresh, warm pastries. Needless to say, how he missed Barbara's pies in the army!

Sergei had breakfast, he always had an excellent appetite. If the nephew began to eat poorly, the caring aunt would immediately invite a doctor she knew, and he would give the nephew a complete medical examination, on which he found nothing but bruises and abrasions.

After breakfast, Aglaya Dmitrievna announced:

We're going to Veresovo. I want to visit Anastasia Nikolaevna. Yes, and you will see Polina.

At the mention of Polina, Sergei usually blushed, he felt the blood rush to his cheeks, but, alas, he could not help himself. And so every time. Auntie made fun of her nephew:

You’ll grow up and marry Polina. What a beauty! You will live next to me!

Alas, Sergei no longer had his own estate. His late father went bankrupt, the estate went to pay off debts. Mother, on the other hand, could not stand such life's ordeals and fell ill overnight — she ‘burned’ down in a week, and Sergei was left an orphan.

Polina's dad, Mr. Veresov was not like the late Zavyalov and showed due regard to his family property, and therefore was considered a prosperous and serviceable landowner.

Aglaya Dmitrievna understood perfectly well that without a private estate, Sergei could not marry Polina, or another daughter of the landowner. Therefore, she drew up a will in favor of her nephew and made sure that as many neighbors as possible knew about it, and the estate of Upper Meadows was considered at that time a highly commodity economy, of which Aglaya Dmitrievna was very proud.

And then the long-awaited moment came: Aglaya Dmitrievna and Sergei plunged into the carriage and headed to Veresovo.

As always, Anastasia Nikolaevna kissed Aglaya Dmitrievna three times at the meeting, according to Orthodox tradition. The women immediately found a reason for a conversation, to which Sergei was constantly amazed: how much can one discuss estates, neighbors, and life in the capital! But the women landowners, absorbed in each other, quickly forgot about the young Sergei. And then a captivating fateful star named Polina usually appeared.

The girl, one can already say, is a young lady, since she has already begun to grow up and lovely bulges have been outlined under the bodice of a translucent dress, gracefully entered the living room and stretched out her hand to Sergei for a kiss. She always copied mother's behavior.

Bonjour, cher ami! She said ‘good morning, dear friend’ in the French manner and smiled. Sergei approached the young seductress and kissed her hand as it should be according to etiquette.

The young lady tried to flirt.

Ah, Serge, she recently began to call her childhood friend in the French manner, how do you feel about a boat trip on the lake?

With pleasure, Sergei mumbled.

Then let's go!

They left the house, an intricate fountain flowing in the courtyard, spreading coolness on a sultry summer day. Polina went to the fountain and, scooping up water in her palm, tried to spray Sergei.

The young man snorted, the spray hitting his face.

Oh, Polina! You promised me not to do this again! Remember last time! He rebuked the lovely young lady.

Yeah, really? She was genuinely surprised, rounding her blue eyes.

Polina knew perfectly well that Sergei would not resist her gaze, and would certainly apologize. And she was not mistaken.

Yes, I must have confused something. Sorry.

Polina laughed loudly.

Be careful, otherwise you may confuse your future bride with another girl.

With whom? Well, speak! Sergei gradually got annoyed. He hated it when Polina was teasing him.

With a domestic servant for example.

Sergei