- Rousseau is as free as a bird. Well, at least he's not apprenticed to an engraver anymore.
- Rather than experience Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), our guy travels abroad to Confignon, close to his childhood home of Geneva.
- There, he seeks some advice from a priest named M. de Pontverre.
- Pontverre tells Rousseau that he knows a pious lady named Mme de Warens, who will definitely take pity on his poor jobless friend.
- It doesn't hurt that Mme de Warens is super-pretty. Rousseau catches a glimpse of her and is instantly starstruck.
- Still, Rousseau wants to get a proper job. Although he's under the support of Mme. de Warens, he heads to Turin to see if he can drum something up.
- Rousseau happens to meet up with his long-lost dad while he's job-hunting.
- Once our buddy Rousseau gets to Turin, he presents Mme. de Warens's letters of introduction and gets admitted into a community of converts to Catholicism.
- That's cool, but Rousseau isn't actually Catholic. He's Protestant, but he's willing to fib in order to get special treatment.
- Rousseau figures that he won't actually have to fully convert for a while, so he can play a game of cat-and-mouse.
- Rousseau gets a full education in the Catholic faith. After all, the guy doesn't mind getting a good education.
- He goes before the Inquisition to receive absolution for the crime of heresy. It's a little rough going, but he passes muster.
- After passing the test, Rousseau figures that it's time to hang out for a bit. He has a little bit of money to live on, so he finds lodging and kicks back.
- While wandering around one day, he meets a pretty saleswoman named Mme Basile. She's married, but that doesn't stop Rousseau from flirting.
- One day, while visiting Mme Basile, the two have an especially flirty moment.
- Rousseau throws himself at her feet and wants to kiss her, but the two are interrupted.
- Mme Basile kisses his hand twice, but that's all she wrote for Rousseau's first real romance.
- Still, Mme Basile invites Rousseau to dinner to introduce him to one of her priest friends… and coincidentally, her husband.
- The dinner does not go well. Even though Rousseau is young, the husband gets super-jealous.
- Luckily, Rousseau's landlady finds him a job at the Countess de Vercellis's house.
- Basically, the Countess de Vercellis dictates letters in French to Rousseau. She has breast cancer, which makes it totally impossible for her to write comfortably.
- Finally, the Countess de Vercellis dies of her disease.
- Rousseau steals a little pink and silver ribbon in the hubbub after the Countess's death, and pins it on a sweet servant girl.
- He feels super-bad about it, even to this day.