In this story, fate causes the girl to marry the man she later grows to love without ever meeting him. it is terribly convienent, because it means that there is no need to marry her love, for they are already married, and simply did not know it. Moreover, her other possible love, Vladimir, is killed offscreen, so as to be no impediment when Burmin came along. Whether it is chance or fate, one of the two seems to have positively conspired to bring Burmin and Marya together. Fate brought Burmin to marry her, fate killed Vladimir, and finally, fate brought Burmin to Marya again, where they could finally fall in love. Fate must have worked overtime on them.