In your hands is a beautiful novel full of mysteries about a world balancing over an abyss. The cruel policies of powerful empires, the discontent of the social lower classes, the machinations of revolutionary parties... The slightest shock is ready to become a shot in a powder keg. It is at this moment, on the eve of the conference with the Poison Islands, that terrible crimes occur in the Old Capital of Odelter. The bodies of the victims—Odelters and delegates from the Islands—are found burnt; An international scandal is brewing. Isn't all this too much into the hands of the hostile Cess Empire? Monsieur, who calls himself the Sly, undertakes to find the culprits. The investigation of a complicated case leads to unexpected details...But is the Cunning Man himself so simple: a spy, a courier, a thinker - or something more? How will his participation affect the fate of the entire power? And who will ultimately play poker for the King?