After trusting Villefort’s promise of release, Edmond Dantès is escorted through dark corridors and secretly transferred by night across the harbor to the feared Château d’If. Realizing too late that he has been betrayed, he briefly considers escape but submits, believing justice will prevail. Locked in isolation, denied answers and contact with Mercédès, his hope begins to collapse into despair and the first signs of madness emerge.