Vyacheslav Kharchev

Little Elizabeth thought her future was predestined: she was to marry Louis XV and become the Queen of France – that was the promise given to her by her father, Emperor of Russia Peter the Great. When Peter dies in 1725 without naming a successor, an era of palace coups and power struggles begins in Russia. For some tumultuous years it remains to be seen whether the young Russian Empire and its new capital St. Petersburg would stand, and what future lies in store for the country of Russia. Peter's widow, Catherine I, becomes Empress - the first woman to rule Imperial Russia. She wishes to fulfil the promise her late husband had given to their daughter, but fails. Young Louis XV refuses to marry Elizabeth after learning that she was born before her parents were officially married. That, in his eyes, made her illegitimate.

1911, A graduate of the Institute of Noble Maidens, Sasha Meshcherskaya returns to a small provincial town. The well-being of her family is based on her relationship with her loving uncle, the owner of the arms factory Nikolai Shumilov. Sashenka's parents: Prince Ivan Sergeevich Meshchersky and Maria Ilyinichna dream of their daughter's early marriage, and she herself dreams of a brilliant career as an architect. Wanting to please her parents, Sasha makes new acquaintances and instantly plunges into a whirlpool of intrigue, where political interests are at stake above personal passions. Cold-blooded murders and blackmail, intricacies of conspiracies, daring provocateurs eluding detection - all this captivates the enthusiastic schoolgirl, who experiences mortal melancholy from the paucity of life prospects. Without noticing it, Sasha becomes an ideal target for terrorist hypnosis.