The return of the Duke of Bethington home split the lives of Francis and Henri into Before and After. It is not surprising, because one is the son of His Lordship, the other is just a lackey, but the young men grew up like brothers and are not ready to betray their friendship. So what to do? Should we integrate into the duke’s cramped world, or try to find our place in the sun? The young men decide to fight, and along the way, fate will present them with many surprises: this is the secret of their origin, and the non-accidentality of their strange friendship... Exciting adventures will give them new friends, new enemies, and meetings with their soul mates. Everything will be complicated, and the reason for this is not only the Duke, but also an amazing circumstance - after all, one of the young men will have three absolutely similar twin brothers... The events take place in an alternative world, the social system of which corresponds approximately to the 17th century of Western Europe. This is the first book of the trilogy, or let's call it the first volume.