Before the reader is the third novel in the cycle, dedicated to the fate of the Chevalier de Pardallan, full of vicissitudes. Sixteen years later, the Chevalier reappears in Paris. He is lonely, his heart has died, for Loise de Montmorency, barely having time to become his wife, dies from a blow from a poisoned dagger. Loise's killer is still alive - this is our old friend Morever. To take revenge—that’s why the tireless Pardalian comes to the capital. However, Morever is now so close to Giz that he will have to fight with both of them. Fortunately, the young Duke Charles of Angoulême, son of the late King Charles IX, comes to the Chevalier’s aid... The young man, a reckless and skilled swordsman, is devoted to the Chevalier, and together they work real miracles. But their enemies are not idle either... Our heroes are opposed by the mysterious and all-powerful Fausta, a beautiful and cold princess from the famous Italian Borgia family, secretly elected by the Roman cardinals as pope - a rival of Pope Sixtus V.