People say it right: freedom doesn’t solve your problems. So young Kirill Nikolaev, who finally got rid of the overbearing guardianship of relatives, had to confirm it in his own experience. Hardly had he breathed in the intoxicating air of freedom when troubles piled on—troubles that, until recently, his status as a minor noble protected him from. An invisible yet tangible web of someone’s intrigues closes in; the nobles and the Preobrazhensky Prikaz take an interested look at the young emancipated townsman; the representatives of an little-known but very influential “ethernik” club weave around him; the number of pupils increases… and his intuition keeps howling, warning of an approaching danger.