Simon

In a secluded valley of the Marche, the crumbling castle of Fougères watches over a modest village, its once‑imposing walls now serving as grain silos and barns. The local Mathieu brothers, wealthy farmers turned landlords, profit from the fertile lands while the peasants struggle against rising prices and nightly raids of rats and beetles. News spreads that the dispossessed Count of Fougères, exiled after the Revolution, has amassed a fortune abroad and intends to reclaim his ancestral estate.

The villagers receive the rumor with a mixture of hope and suspicion, remembering the aristocratic family’s former generosity even as they resent the current exploitation. As the count’s emissary, M. Parquet, begins discreet negotiations, old loyalties and simmering grievances surface, setting the stage for a clash between lingering noble pride and the hard‑earned resilience of the rural community. The first act sketches a world where history, ambition, and survival intersect, inviting listeners to follow the unfolding struggle for identity and belonging.