Under the Sign of Cupid. The Call of Cupid

At eighteen, a warrant officer, at thirty-eight — the governor-general of Eastern Siberia, the master of half of Russia, from the Yenisei to the Pacific Ocean. Since his youth, N. N. Muravyov’s life motto became the lines from the poem by G. R. Derzhavin, The Nobleman: His every thought, word, and deed must be: utility, glory, honor. And he considered himself, according to Derzhavin, an instrument of power. A general who earned his rank and orders not on the parquet, Muravyov began an open war in civilian life against corrupt officials, bribe-takers, embezzlers, thieving merchants, and gold miners, which cost him not only denunciations in the capital but also direct attempts on his life. At the same time, he strives by all means to ease the lives of the Decembrists, assists Captain Nevelsky in exploring the mouth of the Amur, and fights against the intrigues of English and French spies. He doesn’t suspect that this struggle is tainted by the fiery personal hatred of his two deadly enemies — Henri, once his wife Catherine’s lover, and Vogul, a former legionnaire he offended. But alongside the general are reliable associates from different classes, and most importantly, he is guided through life and aided in his endeavors by love.