The abbé delivers the cruelest truth: Edmond Dantès is dead.

He tells Caderousse that he died in prison, hopeless and broken, before even reaching thirty.

Caderousse, stricken, wipes at his brow and his eyes with his red handkerchief. His voice breaks as he murmurs that he has sincerely lamented Edmond’s fate, swearing that once-envied good fortune had turned to tragedy.

But the abbé watches in silence, his steady gaze fixed on the innkeeper’s every reaction. His words are as much a probe as they are a revelation.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years.