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The royal couple carried a terrible secret. Their only son, Alexei Nikolaevich, suffered from hemophilia — a genetic disease that prevented his blood from clotting. A minor injury could cause catastrophic internal bleeding. Every bruise was a potential death sentence. Doctors were powerless. The empire’s future hung by a thread. When Rasputin was brought to the palace during one of the boy’s crises, he did not administer medicine or perform rituals.