 At a council meeting, Tsar Ivan and his cruel epigrammatic minister Prince Paul Maraloffski criticise Tsarovitch Alexis's democratic leanings, but the Tsar is assassinated by Michael after the Tsarovitch opens the window.Alexis ascends the throne and exiles Prince Paul Maraloffski, not to Siberia, but to Paris.Maraloffski joins the Nihilists to kill Alexis.