The narrator drives the unmarked, forested road to the Dubois family manor in the Guyenne Valley, noting the secluded turnoff, a passing raptor, a row of poplars that evoke memories of past travels, and an untended walnut orchard. She parks before the yellow limestone manor, recalling Lucien's nostalgic boyhood stories about the place: report cards, his maternelle teacher, summer eau-de-vie, and his first sexual encounter with an older student in an abandoned pig stall. She reflects, with quiet contempt, on her preference for older generations of European men shaped by war, viewing Lucien and his peers as perpetual boys formed by banal 1980s and 90s culture.

She retrieves the keys Agathe left behind a dead geranium and enters the cold, musty house. Inspecting the rooms, she finds them dilapidated: leaking ceilings, peeling wallpaper, water-damaged Paris Match magazines, cobwebs, and a dead rat in a trap that she tosses out a window. The largest bedroom is covered in "Les Babies" stickers. She chooses a bedroom with a strategic view of the road, working electricity, and minimal damage.

In the antiquated kitchen with a stone sink and old hot plate, she eats part of a poor sandwich from Boulière, then texts Lucien that she has arrived, describing the place as lovely and rustic. She reveals that Lucien arranged her meeting with Pascal Balmy under the cover story that she, a former grad student, would translate into English the anonymous book written by Pascal and his Le Moulin comrades.

Lucien warns her by text that Pascal is charismatic and tends to gain the upper hand, admitting he himself still tries to impress him. The narrator reflects internally that charisma is merely the projection of others' will to believe, exploited by those deemed charismatic. She teases Lucien about jealousy and confidently texts that Pascal won't get the upper hand with her—a statement she privately considers entirely truthful.