This chapter opens with a soliloquy by a young man named Lucca. Lucca tells the young man that he has come to see him. He tells him that he is the subject of gossip in the court, and that he was thrown into a prison cell for having sex with his older brother. The young man tells Lucca that the gossip is true, but that it is not entirely true. He asks Lucca if there are people who believe it, and Lucca answers that there are. He says that if his brother had not been protecting him, he would be dead.