The next few days were dedicated to making Belle at least more comfortable in the castle. She was still rather weak to leave bed, so... He moved the bed to the library while she slept. He had hoped that being closer to the books, her spirits would lift and have her slowly begin to at least trust him again. In the morning he brought her breakfast up to the library, expecting to see her smiling at all the books. Instead, she was glaring at him angrily.
"You moved my bed to the library?!" she said. "You think that'll fix everything?"
"What? No, of course not, I-"
"So if you just give me nice things, then I'll love you again and we'll go back to being master and caretaker?"
"Belle, it's not like that! I want you to be happy, and I did this so you would be, and to apologize for-"
"For what? For throwing me out? You're not sorry, Dark One."
"But I-"
"You're not sorry. If you were sorry you would have come for me sooner. You wouldn't have kicked me out in the first place if you were 'sorry'. You aren't sorry for being a coward, Dark One, you're quite content at hiding behind your power."
Oh, how her words cut at him. It felt like a thousand spears had just been rained onto his heart. Hearing her say all of those awful things to him...
"Take me back to my room." she said. "Tricks like this, to get me back into your life you don't want me, in isn't going to work."
"Belle-"
"Now!"
Rumple visibly flinched and looked at her for a little more before she, the bed, and the breakfast tray were suddenly in her bedroom. There was no sign of the sorcerer. That afternoon, he had written her a letter and sent it to her on her lunch tray, describing how sorry he was, and his feelings for her, and how much he wanted her in his life.
She didn't even open the envelope.
At tea time the next day, he went to her himself and bluntly told her he was sick of her being an "inconsiderate, rude, whiny, arrogant, and complaining little bitch." This resulted in an argument that caused her to throw the whole tea set at him, save to the chipped cup, which he hadn't brought up. Afterward he had gone downstairs and destroyed the cabinet again, along with whacking the corner of the long table with a sword until the corner fell off. All of this could be fixed by magic, but his heart couldn't...
"Oh, Rumple, you poor, silly man," Regina chuckled as she looked into her mirror. Mirror magic was a bit trickier when there wasn't a mirror on the other side, but with the right practice, she could see what was going on in The Dark Castle. She watched Rumple's failed attempts to get his maid back into his arms and she couldn't help but laugh. It was a pointless pursuit. Belle would never take him back after what he had done. Regina would make sure of that. When Maurice and his men were dealing with Rumple, she would sneak away, find his Belle, and take her heart from her chest, so she could never love again. He would suffer with the same pain that she had, never being loved by the one he loved. And if he tried to take the heart back, she would crush it to dust, killing his sweet Belle. And of course, that was only part of her plan...
"Regina?" Maurice asked, interrupting her thoughts. "Would you know the quickest way to the Dark Castle? I'm not sure which route to take."
Regina thought for a minute. "...Yes. Yes I believe I do." She went over to the maps Maurice was looking at and looked them over. There were plenty of ways to the Dark Castle, and a few of them were by magic, but Regina wasn't going to let Maurice waste her magic on this trip. The many roads that they could take, all of them at least a day or two. Regina looked for the longest one that would take more time. She pointed to the road marked "Hobblefoot's pass".
"There," she said. "That is the way to his castle."
"Hobblefoot's? That'll take a week!" Maurice said.
"A week worth spent on the road if we want to have the element of surprise," Regina said. "If we take the main road, Rumplestiltskin will see us coming, because his castle faces all of them. If we take the pass, we sneak up behind the castle and he won't see us. And he won't be able to put up any more magical boundaries."
"I see what you mean," Maurice said. "Thank you, Regina. We'll take Hobblefoot's pass."
"Excellent," Regina smiled. A weeks more time with Belle might let Rumple fall in love with her all over again, giving her the perfect chance to make it hurt more when she took Belle's heart.
