I beg you!
I'm Boehmer the jeweler.
When will the Queen make her payments?
I need the money for the necklace she has purchased from me!
I can't wait any more.
Please make the payment as soon as possible!
I'm on the verge of bankruptcy!
Please pay the 1,600,000 Livres for the necklace!
Queen Marie Antoinette!
Something with the Queen?
What's wrong?
Your Majesty! The King asks you to come to Versailles Palace immediately!
Cardinal Rohan!
You're ordered to present yourself at Versailles Palace.
August 15th, 1785...
was the beginning of the infamous "Necklace Affair" in French criminal history.
The Rose of Versailles
Kusamurani namo shirezu
The flowers blooming in the wilderness
Saiteiru hana naraba
they are without names
Tada kaze wo ukenagara
A gentle breeze
Soyoide ireba iikeredo
makes them sway
Watashi wa bara no sadame ni umareta
My destiny is of a rose
Hanayakani hageshiku ikiro to umareta
Born to live in glory and passion
Bara wa bara wa, Kedakaku saite
Roses, oh roses, blooming with dignity
Bara wa bara wa, Utsukushiku chiru
Roses, oh roses, withering with regret
Bara wa bara wa, Kedakaku saite
Roses, oh roses, blooming with dignity
Bara wa bara wa, Utsukushiku chiru
Roses, oh roses, withering with regret
Episode 23
Cunning and Tough
Cardinal Rohan!
Are you saying that I asked a lady called Jeanne Valois to make you my surety, and bought that necklace?!
Let me humbly say, that is true.
Be quiet! Be quiet, Rohan!
On top of that, you say that I met with you secretly in the Garden of Venus at midnight?!
How can you blatantly lie without any proof?!
What is that?
I humbly present the love letters from Your Majesty...
along with the signed sales contract.
Cardinal...
This isn't the Queen's signature.
And everyone knows that she doesn't sign her name as "Marie Antoinette de France".
It's a forgery then?!
Yes, a forgery.
Your Majesties!
Your Majesties! I beg you!
I'll pay the 1,600,000 Livres for the necklace no matter what!
So, please forgive me!
I was deceived by Jeanne Valois and her husband Nicolas!
Please forgive me!
Well, my Queen?
He seems to be only deceived, so why don't you forgive him?
No, he probably plotted with Jeanne and Nicolas to entrap me!
But he's apologizing like this, so...
No! My mother Maria Theresa and I despised and spurned him.
He was trying to take revenge...
My Queen...
No, no, I can't forgive him!
It's an insult to me!
I'll put him on a trial and make everything clear!!
Welcome.
Only 10 sous for a night...
advance payment please.
Only 10 sous for a night,...
advance payment please.
Monsieur? Advance payment please.
It's me, Nicole.
Not a customer.
Ah, that voice...
Mme. Jeanne Valois!
It's been a while.
Thank you very much for giving me so much money!
I've come to warn you that it's getting a bit dangerous around me.
That means, they won't let you get away if they find out you impersonated the Queen.
Take this and get away from Paris for a while.
This is about 100 Livres.
But...
As soon as possible, all right?
Jeanne Valois de la Motte!
You're under arrest for forgery, theft, and fraud!
All those involved in the Necklace Affair, except for Nicolas...
were arrested to be tried on charges of forging official document, theft, fraud, and contempt of the royal family.
What are you doing in my room, Rosalie?
That's all right.
You can play the piano anytime you want to.
I was waiting for your return to ask you a question.
What question?
Is the punishment for the crime of "contempt of the royal family" really harsh...
Like life in prison, or the death penalty?
Jeanne...
Jeanne Valois is my older sister, who I grew up with in the slums of Paris.
I didn't meant to hide it from you, but...
I didn't have a chance to tell you.
You know what kind of sister she is.
I see.
But the trial hasn't started yet.
It's not yet clear whether your sister committed the crime or not.
No, it's not that!
I'm not thinking about asking you to help her out!
Knowing my sister, she might have done it.
But if...
if...
lf...
If you have a chance to see my sister...
I'd like you to hand this ring to her.
This is Ma's...
a keepsake from our mother.
I'm living in so much happiness now...
so I want Jeanne to have it.
I will. I'll be sure to hand it to her.
Thank you very much!
Gentlemen, do not take this trial as an ordinary fraud case.
We should pay attention to what will be revealed at the trial...
about the royal family and the upper nobility!
What's unimaginable for us commoners -
1,600,000 Livres - is the price forjust one necklace!
It's no surprise to have such things come and go at Versailles Palace.
They squander the tax money they wring from us at Versailles Palace.
Well, everyone!
Contempt for Versailles is already beginning to grow among the Justices of the Paris High Court.
We should have high expectations for them.
What should be judged is not the crime, but Versailles itself!
We shall trust the good sense of Paris High Court!
Yes!
Dr. Robespierre is right!
To Hell with "contempt for the royal family!"
Right! We shouldn't let Versailles have its way!
That's right!
This is from Rosalie.
It's a keepsake of your mother.
I don't know anyone named Rosalie.
And I don't wear cheap trinkets, sorry.
How do you know it's cheap?
You haven't even looked at it.
I promised Rosalie that I'd hand you this.
Paris High Court...
Paris High Court Paris High Court...
Paris High Court Even the royal family could not interfere with its affairs.
Silence, silence!
Let me ask you once again, Jeanne Valois de la Motte.
The answer is the same no matter how many times you ask me.
Cardinal Rohan's the one who stole the necklace.
I was simply ordered to do so.
So you're saying that you don't know where the necklace is now?
Maybe Cardinal Rohan already took care of it somewhere.
Jeanne! You villain!!
Please be quiet, Cardinal Rohan!
Where do you think you are? We're in a Court!
Then, if Cardinal Rohan ordered everything...
what about the letters with forged signature of the Queen?
Didn't you hire Retaux de Villette, a forger in Paris, to write them?
Retaux has already confessed.
Oh, I've never seen that boor before.
Lady Jeanne...
So you pretend you know nothing.
Rosalie, look.
The ring.
Your sister is wearing the ring that you sent her.
Sister...
Help me, just a little, Mom.
I don't want to end up a failure just because of something like this.
I want to find a way out of this somehow.
Because I can't permit anyone to judge me, not even God Himself!
Summon the next witness. Nicole D'Oliva.
It's the Queen!
It's Marie Antoinette!
Come.
Well, Nicole D'Oliva?
Is this the woman who took you to the Garden of Venus...
and made you impersonate the Queen?
There's no mistake about it.
It's Mme. Jeanne Valois.
Touch,
Well, Jeanne Valois...
Would you tell me why you disguised this prostitute from Paris as the Queen...
and took her to the Garden of Venus?
That's...
Yes?
That's...
Reply promptly!
The more you lie, the heavier your sentence shall be!
I understand, Sir.
I will tell you everything.
I truly regret that I caused Cardinal Rohan so much trouble.
The Cardinal was merely duped by my husband and me.
But that was only because I was asked to do so...
by someone of such high nobility that even Cardinal Rohan ranks far below.
We had no choice but to plot this.
Someone who wanted to get that necklace no matter what.
Someone who's perfectly suited to wear a necklace worth 1,600,000 Livre.
The Queen of France, Her Majesty Marie Antoinette!
Mme. Jeanne Valois de la Motte!
Her Majesty said she doesn't know anything about you or the necklace.
That's the very reason why she asked to have this trial.
Don't you understand?
Stop making irresponsible accusations!
If you keep on making accusations that are not supported by solid evidence...
I'll apply contempt of court on top of contempt of the royal family!
Perhaps Her Majesty thought she was getting into a bad situation once the jeweler started complaining.
She called for this trial in order to put all the blames on me.
Show me the evidence first.
I heard that Her Majesty burned the bill from the jeweler Boehmer.
That's because Her Majesty tried to destroy the evidence.
Wouldn't you think so, Chief Justice?
Right! If she was innocent, she wouldn't have burned the bill!
The Queen did it!
Queen probably has the necklace!
Yeah, the real suspect is that Austrian woman!
The audience shall remain quiet!
If I hear any more noises, I'll order all of you to leave the court!
Madame de la Motte...
Yes, Your Honor.
The Queen says she doesn't know you at all. Are you saying she's lying?
That's correct.
Then tell the court about your relationship with the Queen, so that the court will be convinced.
Yes, Your Honor.
Her Majesty loved me, Sir.
I mean, in a sexual way...
The truth is, the Queen has a taste for other women.
And I was the Queen's lover.
Sister...
I've never heard of such thing before.
Do you have any firm basis for that claim, Mme. La Motte?
I do.
Your Honor probably already knows that Her Majesty's favorite lady is the famous Mme. Polignac.
She's actually someone dear to the Queen.
And the most decisive evidence is the Royal Guard Regiment Commander Oscar François.
She's the commanding officer of my husband Nicolas.
Though she's wearing men's clothes, she's really a woman.
Her Majesty made her lover dress like a man and kept her close as a playing partner.
Her Majesty Marie Antoinette is a great queen.
She partakes of all the luxury and pleasures in this world.
How dare...
Hold, Oscar! How dare...
Calm down. This is a Court.
Your Honor, I was only a puppet!
Judge the Queen before you judge me!
You should judge Marie Antoinette!
Right! The Queen is the one behind it!
It's that loose woman from Austria who's flirtatious and a lesbian, too!
Jeanne Valois! I'm on your side!!
The court is adjourned! The court is adjourned!
The court will be adjourned for a while!
Indeed, it's a wonderful trial, Mr. Robespierre.
Yeah, the royal family couldn't have been more disgraced.
Let's leave here, Monsieur St. Just.
Right.
This very young man was St. Just, when he was still in a law school.
The young revolutionist later became the right-hand man for Robespierre.
And a newspaper reporter who follows Robespierre like a shadow, Bernard Chatelet.
He is also a young man with burning passion for the new age.
The Necklace Affair implanted anger toward the old regime among the people and younger generation.
The incident would trigger the French Revolution.
How could she make an insult like that...
I'm sorry, Lady Oscar!
She did itjust because she thinks she can get away with it.
She's tough. A tough vitality.
Though she's standing on the edge of a cliff...
she's bold instead of cautious.
She even has confidence as well.
Jeanne... I've never seen a woman like her before.
May 31 st, 1786...
The Paris High Court handed down the sentences for the Necklace Affair.
Captain Nicolas de la Motte:
He is sentenced, in absentia, to life in the galleys.
Arrest him as soon as he's found.
Retaux de Villette:
35 years of exile after a flogging of 50 lashes.
Nicole d'Oliva:
Not guilty.
Mme. Jeanne Valois de la Motte:
Life in prison after branding the letter "V" on both shoulders with a hot iron.
Cardinal Louis de Rohan:
On both the charge of the Necklace Affair and contempt of the royal family...
Not guilty.
Chief Justice, I'd like to ask one thing!
What about the REAL criminal?
The one who manipulated me!
Will you only punish me and pretend as if nothing else is wrong?!
We don'tjudge people with only accusations.
Even if there is a mastermind behind this...
this court cannot interfere with the royal family...
just as the royal family cannot interfere with this court.
It sounds as if I were the real suspect!
I'm called a lesbian, and the mastermind.
Furthermore, Rohan was found not guilty!
What was the point of having this trial at all?
Poor Queen...
Mme. Polignac, what did I do wrong to deserve something like this?
This is too cruel!
Your Majesty...
But it's a strange case.
A member of the Royal Guard Regiment had a misconduct like this.
And the Regiment Commander didn't even notice that the man was plotting to escape.
No, never mind, Your Majesty.
A month later, Jeanne's sentence was carried out in Paris.
V-shaped hot iron...
that was the initial of the French word "thief".
Damn it!
Let me go, I'm innocent!
The Queen plotted everything!
She blamed everything on me...
yet that bitch remains cool!
Go to Hell, Marie Antoinette!
I'M I NNOCENT!!
Shit, what a bitch.
She bit off flesh from my arm.
Look, she fainted with her eyes open.
Carry her to the prison in Sarpetrier immediately!
Yes, Sir!
Jeanne's skillful lies gathered sympathy from the whole country.
People came to catch a glimpse of her everyday.
How can it be?
I heard that not only commoners but even nobles are going there to see Jeanne.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Why even the nobles who have social status?
I don't understand it.
Your Majesty, those nobles were the ones who left the Court...
because they were denied access to Your Majesty's villa.
Forjust something small like that?
It was fun...
I hadn't been thrilled like that for a long time.
I always wanted to play a prank on everyone like that when I was a kid...
Ai ga kurushimi nara
lf to love is to suffer
Ikurademo kurushi mou
I will take any suffering
Sore ga kimino kokoro ni
Until my love reaches
Itsuka todoku made
To your heart someday
Kimi wa hikari, Boku wa kage
You are the light while I am the shadow
Hanre rarenai futari no kizuna
We share a bond that can never be broken
Kurushimeba kurushimu hodo
The more pain I suffer
Ai wa, ai wafukamaru
the deeper is my love
When Jeanne escapes from the prison, Oscar was suspected of lending a hand.
"I must help her".
Rosalie suffers.
Then, the mother she despises offered a hand.
In exchange for her return to the Polignac family.
Next Episode on the Rose of Versailles:
"Adieu, My Youth"
Next! Episode 24: "Adéu, My Youth"
See you.