In a shorter novel of the period, Sadoveanu explored the late years of Vasile Lupu's rule over Moldavia, centering on the marriage of Cossack leader Tymofiy Khmelnytsky and Lupu's daughter, Ruxandra. Titled "Nunta Domniței Ruxandra" ("Princess Ruxandra's Wedding"), it shows the Cossacks' brutal celebration of the event around the court in Iași, depicting Tymofiy himself as an uncouth, violent and withdrawn figure. The narrative then focuses on the Battle of Finta and the siege of Suceava, through which a Wallachian-Transylvanian force repelled the Moldo-Cossack forces and, turning the tide, entered deep into Moldavia and placed Gheorghe Ștefan on the throne. Sadoveanu also invents a love story between Ruxandra and the boyar Bogdan, whose rivalry with Tymofiy ends in the latter's killing. While Călinescu criticized the plot as being over-detailed, and the character studies as incomplete, Crohmălniceanu found the intricate depiction of boyar customs to be a relevant part of Sadoveanu's "vast historical fresco." In both "Zodia Cancerului" and "Nunta Domniței Ruxandra", the author took significant liberties with the historical facts. In addition to Tymofiy's death at the hands of Bogdan, the latter narrative used invented or incorrect names for some of the personages, and portrays the muscular, mustachioed, Gheorghe Ștefan as thin and bearded; likewise, in "Zodia Cancerului", Sadoveanu invents the character Guido Celesti, who stands in for the actual Franciscan leader of Duca's Iași, Bariona da Monte Rotondo.