intrigant
intriguant

He is an unscrupulous, cunning intrigant, but in contrast to mainstream versions his motives are understandable.

"So, O'Connell made some overture to this minor intrigant, and you learned of it.

I don't want to dwindle into a mere wife, or end up an aging intrigant, like Javanne!"

And again, Fouché's services were necessary: as Talleyrand, another notorious intrigant, became the prime minister of the Kingdom of France, Fouché was named his minister of police: so he was a minister of King Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI.

I knew him as a courtier, too, and as a bold intriguant.

Thus, though generally esteemed an able diplomatist, he had the cunning of the intriguant, and not the providence of a statesman.