He resolved that he would not die.
Banishment seems a light punishment to have inflicted.

It was gentle treatment for treason at the court of Moscow.

But the poison of suspicion had entered his soul, and was the more surely, because slowly, working a transformation in his character.

And when soon thereafter Anastasia mysteriously and suddenly died, his whole nature seemed to be undergoing a change.

He was passing from Ivan the gentle and confiding, into "Ivan the Terrible." Ivan said later, in his own vindication: "When that dog Adashef betrayed me, was anyone put to death?
Did I not show mercy?
They say now that I am cruel and irascible; but to whom?
I am cruel toward those that are cruel to me.