Happiness is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, fiery dragons defend the entrance and approach.
Edmond senses that joy invites trial, the way fairy-tale gates are guarded by monsters. The simile folds childhood wonder into adult risk, forecasting the “dragons” he will meet—envy, treachery, and state power. It shows his instinct: happiness must be earned and defended. The image sets a tonal bridge from romance to ordeal. Readers feel the thrill and the foreboding at once. The line also frames the book’s structure as a quest with ordeals. It’s an early philosophy that the Count later proves by endurance.