Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.
The life of the young boy that was sacrificed to my friend...
...was cradled in the pure soul's arms as it faded away.
And I rejoiced.
His soul has at long last been tainted.
Tainted by the fires of a remorse and hatred which will never fade.
Why, Franz?
You promised me that you wouldn't go away anymore without telling me, didn't you?
Franz... I couldn't bring myself to go to your funeral no matter how hard I tried.
How could I? Right up until yesterday, you were by my side.
You were always there for me when I needed you.
But now, all I have is this letter...
Why did it have to be you? Why was it you instead of me?!
C'mon, Franz, answer me... Just like you always do.
Say something... Say anything, Franz...
Act 19: Even if I Should Stop Being Me
Queen to F3.
Pawn, C7 to C6.
Danglars Bank stocks have posted trading limit highs for several days now.
Knight to E4.
Queen, B6 to C7.
Every stock in his investment portfolio is on an explosive growth trend.
That Andrea kid did his job a lot better than I expected.
Very well. We will start flooding his investments with sell-offs.
The Paris market goes without saying, but the Eastern,
...Kingdom, and Frontier markets, as well.
Keep flooding all of them with sell-offs in succession until each market closes.
Understood.
Pawn to C4.
By the way, Excellency...
Knight, D5 to E7.
Haidee wishes to speak with you.
Count, I love you more than I did my father.
I cannot bear to see you change any further.
Please, continuing to do this would be...
Knight, E4 to G5.
Unnecessary pawns are to be sacrificed without mercy!
Knight to C8.
Everything that stands between me and my revenge! Without mercy!
Bertuccio! Take Haidee away!
Very good, Excellency.
Count! Did you only save me so that you could use me as a tool for revenge?
You are not that sort of man!
Count, I have faith in you! Count!
Pawn to C5.
The game is yours.
The end is almost upon us...
Just take a look at today's stock prices, Andrea!
I can't wipe the smile from my face!
I'm glad to hear it.
I owe my success to you. I'm in your debt.
Not at all.
More importantly, about the wedding ceremony...
She's being stubborn.
Something about a friend dying suddenly, so she can't get married anytime soon.
Honestly, I have no idea where that girl gets her stubborn streak from.
If that's the case, it's quite understandable.
That reminds me, how is her mother doing?
She's been bedridden for quite some time. Perhaps if I went and offered her my best...
Of course! If you were to keep her company, I'm sure it would take her mind off things!
I certainly hope that you are right.
How much longer will our bank's assets continue to multiply like this? Right, Michelle?
Indeed.
Open the display!
Every last one of my stocks is humming along smoothly.
Albert.
Albert, listen to me. I'm thinking of leaving Paris.
Come with me to my home town.
Admittedly, life there won't be as extravagant as we're used to here.
If it's just the two of us, I have enough saved away to at least keep us fed.
What about Father?
You're a real opportunist, aren't you, Mother?
Albert!
I've had all I can take!
When you get right down to it, it's you and your old friends' fault that this happened.
I got caught in the middle of you and your old lovers' sick love triangle.
Who gives a damn about Edmond Dantes?!
Why are my friends and l... Why did Franz, of all people, have to die?!
Albert, where are you going?
Beats me. Nowhere in particular.
It doesn't matter what happens to me.
Everybody would be better off if I had died.
If you want to blame me for what happened, go ahead and blame me for the rest of your life.
But you shouldn't... You shouldn't think so little of yourself.
Permit, please.
I don't have one. They always let me pass through.
You know, you really shouldn't go around thinking you're still an aristocrat.
Your ID number's already been revoked. You can't come and go as you please anymore.
What's going on here?!
What it looks like.
Like they say, a stupid father is gonna have nothing but stupid kids.
Go get yourself a permit.
That's assuming that they'll even give you one.
Good point.
You punk!
You fraudulent piece of crap!
Stop that! Get off my bike! Get your hands off it!
Hey!
You're fighting ME, remember?!
Don't think that you can still boss us around! Got it?!
This state is most unbecoming a beautiful lady such as yourself.
It doesn't matter. I'm always alone.
Don't say such things.
Seeing you sad simply tears my heart in two.
Men always say things like that to try to make me feel better.
I will always be by your side. Mother.
Andrea...
Please, just for today... Just for now... Call me Victoria.
Victoria, then.
Punk!
Are you okay, Albert?
Franz? Franz, is that you?!
What's gotten into you? Are you okay?
Franz!
Hey, cut it out!
Thank goodness!
I'm so glad you're all right...
Is this any time for you to be worrying about someone else?
C'mon, let's go home.
Albert! Happy birthday!
Congratulations, Monsieur Albert.
Congratulations. What kept you?
What have you been up to? She's been waiting for you for ages!
Who do you mean?
Eugenie!
Albert, congratulations on turning sixteen.
They're going at it in broad daylight!
Save that stuff for when you're in private, will ya?!
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the man...
...without whom this party would not be complete!
The man who saved Albert's life on Luna, the Count of Monte Cristo!
Franz, we can't! We can't invite this man to Paris!
Why not? We both insisted that he come visit, remember?
Look. Everybody says that they're dying to meet the Count.
You can't! He's a demon who's come back to Paris to get revenge on us all!
Darling, why don't you introduce yourself first?
Father! Mother! Run!
Eugenie and Franz! You, too! Hurry!
I'm feeling a little shy.
Hurry! Get as far away from him as you can!
Count!
Thank you for your kind invitation.
Don't do it!
Don't do it, Franz! He's the man who killed you!
"My, how fascinating."
Please, I'm begging you...
This is for Franz!
Um, Albert?
You were the one who killed me.
Albert, when you think about it, it was you who killed me, right?
It was you.
No!
I wanted to save you!
You only think of yourself, and you know it.
Every time I tried to tell you something, you never listened.
No! Franz, it wasn't like that!
I'll hate you. I'll hate you for as long as I live.
Ow... It hurts...
It hurts...
Franz!
It hurts...
Franz!
Franz, I'm sorry! Franz!
Franz?
No, Franz! Don't die!
Please don't die!
There's something that I have to tell you!
So don't leave me!
No! Franz, don't die!
Franz!
FRANZ!
Hey, Albert, are you okay? Snap out of it!
Hey! Albert!
Hey!
Franz!
I guess there's nothing to worry about if you can still move like that.
Renaud?
Where am I?
By coincidence, I spotted a guy riding your bike.
Relax, your bike is safe. The evildoers have been punished!
Sorry about that.
What're you talking about? Everybody needs a tool-loving, bike-loving friend, you know?
Admittedly, I pushed her so hard to get here that she's in pretty bad shape now.
Do you have any idea how badly I've been waiting for today to arrive?!
I looked everywhere for rare parts, endured setback after setback,
...and finally got her in working order!
Chest swelled with anticipation, I set out in high spirits for a long drive, and what happens?
"Hm? Why, that's Albert's bike! But who's that on it?!"
So I pull up to him, planning to ask him what's going on, and...
Gimme that ratchet.
Here.
My baby's showing signs of a recovery!
Aren't you being overly dramatic?
"Overly dramatic," nothing! There's no sadder sight than a machine that can't be fixed!
I had the same problem that night we rescued Valentine. That was so terrible...
That was YOUR car?
It sure was... You have no idea how bad my heart was broken that day.
How can you talk like that? Valentine was about to die!
Don't get me wrong!
I volunteered my car because they said they were gonna go rescue Valentine.
The thing is, I used to have a thing for Valentine...
Really? You never said a word about it.
Say, Albert... Do you remember when we came out here on a drive?
Yeah...
It was just a little while ago, but it feels like a distant memory.
That quiche that Valentine shared with us was great, wasn't it?
Albert...
Sorry, I was just remembering that day.
Franz is a lucky guy.
You're always thinking about him.
I only have machines to soothe my troubled heart now!
Renaud...
C'mon, let's head back and grab something to eat.
Sure.
Hey! Michelle! We're being swamped with sell-offs!
What are you doing?
I am trying as best I can to prop up the prices, but I am unable to keep up with the volume.
Sink all the money we have into it to stop the slide!
It isn't just our bank stocks or those of our business group that are crashing.
Every stock that we have invested in is in a nosedive.
Why is this happening?
I am unable to determine the cause.
"Unable to determine the cause"?!
Pull it together, damn it! If this keeps up, I'll go bankrupt!
Infection by unknown virus detec... ted...
Michelle?
...ted...
The Eastern market is open now.
...ted...
Pull out our shares! Sell off everything but our bank stocks!
...ted...
Convert it to cash!
Today's weather in Paris is sunny... sunny.
Current temperature is 22 Celsi... sunny... with less than a 10% chance of precipita... sunny.
Hey!
It is shaping up to be a pleasant day... sunny.
Hey! Michelle! Snap out of it!
Michelle!
Sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny...
The Eastern market...
The Paris market closed today with prices considerably lower than yesterday's... sunny.
Michelle, start running these numbers immediately!
The prevailing opinion is that the market turned against overextended businesses...
I can't keep up with it by myself!
The prevailing opinion is that the market turned against overextended businesses...
...as a result of the sudden sell-off of Danglars Group stocks.
Michelle...
Sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny...
Michelle!
At the outbreak of this market run... sunny, sunny, sunny...
...the influx of capital from outer space sources was...
Michelle!
Father? What's the matter? Why are you barging in like this?
Eugenie, dear daughter of mine... I have something to tell you.
Something to tell me?
Yes. Something wonderful.
The thing is, your wedding with Andrea has been set for the day after tomorrow.
Why did you do that?! I told that you I can't get married so soon after Franz died!
That's all right.
Father!
Shut your mouth!
Are you saying that you don't care if l... no, this entire family...
...dies penniless in a ditch somewhere thanks to your self-centeredness?!
Father, calm down.
Calm down?! How am I supposed to calm down?!
My stocks have taken a nosedive! They aren't worth the paper they're printed on now!
Give up on this worthless piano nonsense of yours!
You're not serious...
You're the only one who can save this family.
You've got to marry Andrea right away!
But what about my feelings?
They don't matter.
All that matters to me is that I get my money back.
Thanks to this, Andrea's fortune will be mine!
Eugenie, at this moment, you're the most precious thing in the world to me.
Franz is still here with us.
That's the way I see it.
I get the feeling that he's showing us what path we have to take.
Renaud...
And where might you be going at this late hour?
No! Stop it!
Let go!
No!
Even the daughter of an aristocrat...
...would be ruined for life if something like this is done to her, wouldn't she?
Wouldn't she?!
The day after tomorrow, you're going to belong to me.
The main course will have to wait until then...
Albert, save me...
Albert!
Don't give up on your future.
No matter the time, no matter the place, you're never alone.
Next time on Gankutsuou, The Count of Monte Cristo, act 20...
Act 20: Farewell, Eugenie
..."Farewell, Eugenie."
Bide your time, and hold out hope!