Chap­ter I unfolds in the heart of 18th cen­tu­ry Paris, where Addie LaRue, a woman bound by the restric­tive gen­der norms of her time, choos­es to dis­guise her­self as a man, seek­ing a brief, but deeply yearned-for, sense of free­dom. The weight of soci­etal expec­ta­tions is a con­stant bur­den, but in her dis­guise, she finds a fleet­ing release from the con­straints of her true self. Addie’s deci­sion to swap her soul for eter­nal life, a choice that has shack­led her to a soli­tary exis­tence, takes on a dual sig­nif­i­cance as she expe­ri­ences the world as both an immor­tal and a woman. Her curse, imposed by a dark fig­ure named Luc, has forced her into an exis­tence of con­stant erasure—no one remem­bers her once she leaves their pres­ence. Yet, for a rare moment, she is able to escape this relent­less cycle, wan­der­ing through the streets of Paris as a name­less man, free from the stig­ma of being a for­got­ten woman.

As Addie enjoys the brief illu­sion of auton­o­my, she reflects on the years she has lived, how the sea­sons come and go with­out her ever grow­ing old­er, and the weight of a world that con­tin­ues with­out her. Dur­ing this peri­od of reflec­tion, she pre­pares to cel­e­brate her rare soli­tude with a pic­nic at Sacré Coeur, a spot she often vis­its to indulge in her love for the city and its qui­et beau­ty. But this qui­et moment is inter­rupt­ed by an unex­pect­ed encounter with Remy Lau­rent, a young, vibrant man whose ener­gy fills the air. The serendip­i­tous meet­ing quick­ly esca­lates as Remy becomes aware of Addie’s dis­guise, but instead of expos­ing her, he choos­es to engage with her, seam­less­ly adding to the mask she’s care­ful­ly con­struct­ed. They share a delight­ful con­ver­sa­tion, and Remy intro­duces her to a sim­ple joy she’s nev­er expe­ri­enced before—a taste of cof­fee, a bev­er­age that Parisian soci­ety has only recent­ly begun to embrace, some­thing that rep­re­sents a cul­tur­al shift, one she’s been on the periph­ery of for so long.

As the night deep­ens, the two con­tin­ue to con­verse, delv­ing into philo­soph­i­cal dis­cus­sions about iden­ti­ty and soci­etal roles, touch­ing on the stark con­trast between the priv­i­leges afford­ed to men and the lim­i­ta­tions imposed on women like Addie. Still pos­ing as “Thomas,” Addie finds her­self con­fid­ing in Remy, though not entirely—she shares bits of her­self, giv­ing him a ver­sion of her life that is only a shad­ow of the truth. Remy, a young man from Rennes, is deeply involved in the world of lit­er­a­ture, aspir­ing to become a writer, but Addie, unable to read or write in the for­mal sense due to the lack of oppor­tu­ni­ties for women in her time, is remind­ed of her own lim­i­ta­tions. As they dis­cuss life, art, and the human con­di­tion, Addie is forced to reck­on with the grow­ing gap between Remy’s intel­lec­tu­al pur­suits and her own cursed exis­tence, where knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence are rel­e­gat­ed to fleet­ing mem­o­ries and for­got­ten truths.

Their con­ver­sa­tion takes a brief pause when Mon­sieur Voltaire enters the café, ignit­ing Remy’s admi­ra­tion for the renowned philoso­pher. Remy’s excite­ment is pal­pa­ble as he dis­cuss­es his admi­ra­tion for Voltaire’s work, and Addie, on the oth­er hand, feels an unde­ni­able sense of alienation—there’s a world she can nev­er tru­ly par­take in, a world of men’s ideas and intel­lec­tu­al spaces that seem so out of reach for her. Despite her sep­a­ra­tion from this world, Addie finds moments of deep con­nec­tion with Remy, who, although unaware of the curse that binds her, offers her a sense of cama­raderie and under­stand­ing. Yet, even as these con­nec­tions spark, Addie can’t shake the feel­ing that her exis­tence remains out of sync with the world around her. Her encounter with Remy brings to the sur­face her eter­nal long­ing for a life she can nev­er ful­ly live—a life of con­nec­tion, intel­lec­tu­al ful­fill­ment, and love, but one she can only expe­ri­ence in fleet­ing, frag­ile moments. The chap­ter delves into the themes of immor­tal­i­ty, iso­la­tion, and the deep human desire for iden­ti­ty, recog­ni­tion, and the fleet­ing warmth of belong­ing. Through her con­ver­sa­tion with Remy, Addie reflects on the beau­ty of tran­sient moments in an oth­er­wise unyield­ing exis­tence, while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly con­fronting the painful truth of her eter­nal soli­tude and the curse that dic­tates her every move.