Natasha 2

Natasha's words and actions truly surprised Wilhelm, making him think she had some kind of supernatural ability. However, her response cleared his confusion. "I can read lips. I saw what you told your secretary from a distance. But don't worry, I won't report it to my superiors."

"Lip reading?" Wilhelm paused for a second and shouted, "Stop the car!"

The driver immediately slammed on the brakes, and Wilhelm instructed Göring from the United States, "Göring, get in the car behind and tell them not to talk nonsense." He never expected these spies to have such a skill.

Göring hesitated and said, "But Your Highness, your safety?"

Wilhelm shook his head slightly. "Don't worry, if she wanted to harm me, I would have died dozens of times by now." After all, although the two countries had different ideologies, there hadn't been any substantial conflict.

"Understood." As Göring got out of the car, the vehicle ahead also came to a stop. Tukhachevsky, sitting in the back seat, asked, "Why did the car behind stop?"

The deputy officer got out, glanced, and replied, "His secretary got out of the car and sat in the back."

Tukhachevsky sneered. "It seems this Crown Prince is truly renowned."

Seeing Wilhelm's actions, Natasha quickly spoke up. "Don't worry, Your Highness, I'm the only one in the entire GRU who can read lips."

GRU? Wilhelm furrowed his eyebrows slightly. The Soviet Military Intelligence Directorate (Soviet GRU) was under the Soviet High Command and the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces. They were responsible for military espionage and intelligence analysis both domestically and internationally. They ranked high among secret intelligence agencies during World War II.

He couldn't understand what kind of information these people wanted to obtain from him, sending an expert lip reader like her.

Even though she vehemently assured him that she was the only one in the GBU who could read lips, he couldn't trust her completely. Wilhelm asked the driver to continue driving and inquired, "How did you learn lip reading?"

"When I was a child, I had a sister who was deaf and mute. I developed this skill to help her." There was a tinge of sadness in her voice, and it was likely that her deaf and mute sister hadn't escaped the horrors of the Great Purge.

"Oh," Wilhelm responded, no longer speaking. He had heard that learning lip reading wasn't too difficult if one put their mind to it.

Seeing Wilhelm's silence, Natasha took the initiative to speak. "So, I guess you're planning the next war."

"... Damn, this is too ridiculous." He had just crossed over not long ago, and someone already saw through his intention to start another war? This was a joke! If he were in Germany, he would definitely find a way to eliminate this damned female agent, but now he was in someone else's territory and could only continue pretending to be clueless. "What war?"

"If one day you attack the Soviet Union, I can be your inside source. I used to live a wonderful life until everything was destroyed by the purges! My entire family, except for me, was labeled as enemies of the people and cruelly killed by those executioners! Especially that damn instigator, I wish I could tear his flesh and drink his blood!"

"... " Wilhelm said nothing, staring at Natasha in front of him, who was grinding her teeth and cursing a certain Stalin. If she was acting right now, her performance was truly extraordinary, surpassing those young actors of later generations. But even if what she said was true, Wilhelm couldn't promise or commit to anything.

When Natasha finished speaking, Wilhelm finally spoke up. "It seems General Tukhachevsky was just joking around. Did he send you to test me? I came to the Soviet Union for big business, not for espionage!"

"You have to believe me, Your Highness! Please!" Natasha pleaded desperately. Crystal-clear tears slowly streamed from her beautiful eyes, leaving two deep traces on her fair face.

A beauty shedding tears always had a way of easily moving most men. Wilhelm resisted the urge to lick away the tears on her face and spoke in a deep voice. "If, and I mean if, everything you said is true, do you think your personal influence will have a significant impact on the wars between nations? How much useful information can you really obtain with your current position?" Unless she had control over the entire GRU, she wouldn't be of much value. "Even if you're willingly being used, you should consider whether you have any value to be used."

After a moment of stunned silence, a flicker of surprise flashed in Natasha's eyes. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I understand." Natasha wasn't a fool; on the contrary, she was an incredibly clever girl. Otherwise, she wouldn't have survived in the midst of the terrifying purges. She realized that her impulsive actions were driven by her desperate desire for revenge.

When she read the order given by Wilhelm to his secretary earlier, her intuition told her that Wilhelm intended to leverage the bloodline of the Romanov dynasty to gain support or even overthrow a certain Stalin's rule. This inference caused the flames of her long-buried vengeance to erupt uncontrollably, leading to her rash behavior. If Wilhelm were to reveal everything she said to Tukhachevsky, her life would be completely finished.

However, she became even more certain that her judgment was correct. This future German emperor truly harbored ill intentions towards the Soviet Union. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to leverage her for their friendship.

"Well, since you're putting on such a convincing performance, I'll play along." Wilhelm reached out and forcefully tugged at Natasha's collar, causing the coat and the buttons of her shirt underneath to come undone. It revealed a fair and tender... Wilhelm had to suppress the impulse to let his saliva flow. "So fair." He managed to hold back his saliva, but those two words slipped out, making both of them extremely embarrassed.

Wilhelm cleared his throat, pretending to look out the window, while Natasha sat down, clutching her torn collar. "Thank you, Your Highness. One more thing, there are listening devices installed in the rooms of the hotel they arranged for you. Please refrain from discussing important matters."

Soon, the convoy came to a stop, and Natasha quickly got out of the car. By the time Wilhelm stepped out, her figure was no longer visible.

The hotel they were assigned to, although not particularly grand, had a splendid decoration, clearly meant for receiving foreign guests.

In the future, Moscow would have the iconic buildings of the Seven Sisters, including the main building of Moscow University, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ukraine Hotel, the Ministry of Transport, the Leningrad Hotel, the "Gosplan" building on Revolution Square, and the "Detsky Mir" building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, among others. But those would be constructed in the 1950s.

Wilhelm was looking at the building, trying to determine how many floors it had when Tukhachevsky approached and introduced himself. "Your Excellency Wilhelm, this is our Soviet guesthouse. However, it's temporary. In a few years, when you visit again, you'll see a new guesthouse that is several times taller and more magnificent." Since Natasha had disappeared to change her clothes, Ger was temporarily serving as their translator.

"It has a distinct Russian style." Wilhelm wondered if dictators all had this inclination, the fondness for all things "grand." Whether it was a certain Stalin, a certain Hitler, or dictators from the East or West, they all seemed to enjoy grandiose projects.

Perhaps in the future, he would become that way too?