Zinaida at first ardently rejects any talk of a wedding, but her mother argues that the girl has a special mission - in marriage she will be a sister of mercy for her husband, and after his death, she will become a rich and free princess.

When the deception is revealed, Zinaida honestly admits her guilt, and the prince, touched by her sincerity, reports that it would be a great honor for him to offer his hand and heart to such a girl.

Work on the novella began after a long creative pause, associated with his exile in the Omsk prison camp, and later when he was forced to serve in the Siberian Army Corps in Semipalatinsk.

In 1858, in a letter addressed to the publicist Mikhail Katkov, Dostoevsky made it clear that he was in dire need of money: "If you would like to have my novel for publication this year, then can you send me now, in advance for the novel, the 500 rubles that I lack and urgently need, in silver.

Subsequently, recalling the history of its creation, Dostoevsky admitted: "I wrote it in Siberia [...] solely with the aim of starting in the literary field again, and terribly afraid of censorship (as a former exile).