The terrible and tragic year 1825 came. Roman Saburov and Platon Roscoff, each in his own way, faithfully serve the Empire and the Sovereign. Alexander the First is preparing for a secret voyage to the south, but an invisible ring of conspiracy is already tightening around him. The Emperor is doomed. He dies in Taganrog, and now Saburov and Roscoff have only one goal: to protect the royal family from destruction, to prevent the conspirators from carrying out their diabolical plans to destroy the greatest Empire in history! The novel completes the saga-trilogy about the Saburov family, begun in the “Casket” novels and "Lileya".