Nikolai Rykov reads the letter, not with disgust or outrage, but with curiosity. He sets his quill down, penning a response
"Dear Princess Sophia,
I have found your letter to be of great interest, and I'm both surprised and pleased by the eloquence of your letter. Unfortunately, the contents of it do not please me as such as I have found them to be riddled with falsehoods and uncalled for accusations. I mean no insult by this, but I will take my pen to defend my liege and homland
First and foremost, I express the utmost sorrow and regret for assassination attempts on your life. To assault any lady, much less a child, is a grave sin and a curse in the face of GOD. It truly goes a great distance to show the sad state that Axios is in. However, whoever this man may be, he has no ties or connection to House Ruthern. To be quite frank, I find the accusation or implication that this man was sent by house Ruthern to be grievously insulting, and the fact that it's tossed out without a second thought, as if it's common knowledge ("If one is to point out the faults of us, is it not fair to admit their own?"), to be baffling. What propaganda occurs in your capitals that such lies and slander could be tossed out so casually?
There seems to be a confusion, a misunderstanding maybe? Some seem to believe that the rebellious House Ruthern are Haensetic sympathists. This could not be farther from the truth. We were no more close to Haense than the Archduke was--in fact one of our principal leaders who was cut down at the Massacre of Alexandria had fought against Haense in the Haense-Courland war, as had Count Joren's father Viktor, something that Franz the False did not. He only arrived as a claimant after the war was well and finished.
Princess, I cannot stress enough that the only crime committed by House Ruthern was failure to pay a 7,000 mina fine. There was no banditry, no assassinations, no attacks, no affronts. Please keep this in mind as the war effort progresses, and know we as honorable men of Axios will always protect you, the innocent. This war never should have come about, but since it is so obviously unavoidable we will do the most we possibly can to ensure that no innocents are harmed, that no child or woman's blood is spilled.
With regards,
Nikolai Rykov"
((nice post