Count Antoine de C-- is the last member of a line of the noble Comtes de C-- and protagonist in The Alchemist. His last name is not revealed in the story, with only the first letter. His family was cursed after an ancestor wrongly accused and murdered the recluse alchemist Michel le Sorcier. le Sorcier's son, Charles, cursed the family, saying that no member of the de C-- family would live beyond the age of 32.