After two hours, Belle and Maurice had all their essentials packed away in the wagons and were ready to move on to Adam's speech in the town square. Belle considered telling Adam and Papa about her encounter with Avenant, but after a while, decided against it. He was probably curious, that was all. And Gaston had always made her feel uncomfortable whenever he was around, so it was only natural that her feelings would transmit over to his younger brother. Instead of worrying about him, she focused her energies on her fiancé, who was spending the last minutes of packing out in the yard, pacing and muttering words to himself in preparation for his first ever speech. It was obvious that he was nervous, and Belle, who could feel his anxiety from watching from him from the porch, walked over and fixed him in a tight embrace.

"You'll do fine Adam," she whispered. "I just know it."

Adam sighed. "I hope you're right." Even though he'd memorized everything the best he could, there was no guaranteeing that he still would mess up in some spectacular fashion.

"And just think," Belle continued, "After this we'll go back to the castle and I can read you all of the storybooks I left back at the house. There are even ones I found that my mother used to read to me when I was small. I'd love to share them with you."

"I'd love to hear them," Adam replied. For a moment he was comforted by the image of him and Belle sitting back in the castle library, reading books together. It was perfectly normal for him to be nervous, right? Maybe he'd be standing up there like some kind of idiot, but at least he could say he'd done his job, at least he could say he tried to be a real prince, if only for once. Taking her hand, he followed Belle back to the front of the house where the guards stood waiting to escort them all out to the town square.

"Make way for his highness!" the head guard shouted about ten minutes later. There was a bit of a ripple effect as the villagers parted the way for the guards, exchanging curious expressions with their peers as the prince and his party made their way past them.

"Is that Belle?"
"I can't even recognize her!"
"Look at that dress!"
"Is that a princess, maman?"

Belle quickly blushed and turned her head to the side. She knew that she and her papa had always been a conversation piece for the people in the village, but it was quite a different experience now that she actually knew what they were talking about. She'd just have to get used to this attention once she became a princess, wouldn't she? Looking to her right, she saw something disturbing; the blonde triplets were standing near the front of the crowd, batting their eyelids at the prince flirtatiously. She immediately strode forward and grabbed her fiancé by his shoulder. The girls could swoon as much as they wanted over Gaston, but her Prince was off limits!

Adam had to admit, he found it a bit weird to see so human faces again. He didn't feel like a prince, more like a stranger trapped in a prince's body as he got up on the podium and surveyed "his" people, half of which were looking upon him in interest, others in scepticism. It shamed him to think that when he was younger he used to think of peasants as animals, hardly worthy to even kiss the floor he walked upon. He was determined not to make that same unfeeling judgement about them this time around.

After sharing reassuring glances with Belle and Maurice, who were standing behind the podium, Adam cleared his throat and began.

"Good day mesdames and messieurs. I would just like to thank you all for coming out here today. It is a pleasure to be in your wonderful town of Molyneaux. I am Prince Adam Eugène Michel César Emmanuel d'Évrard son of former King Vincent and Queen Catherine and I am here to confirm that the news you have been hearing these past weeks from is true, and that I have indeed returned to reclaim my responsibilities as prince after my ten year long absence."

He paused. He thought he saw a tall, muscular man moving somewhere near the back of the crowd, but he disappeared before he could take a better look at him. He shrugged. It probably wasn't anything important anyway.

"And as one of my first acts as prince," he continued as he held out his arm for Belle to take, "Is to marry Belle Dupont, whom you all knew to once live in this village with you. As of next week, she will be crowned Princess of Touraine and will be leaving Molyneaux to come and live with me in my castle. A wedding has been organized and we," he turned to Belle as though to verify, "In light of this wonderful occasion have agreed to cordially invite all of you all to the ceremony, as guests of the bride and of her father, Maurice."

"Prince Adam?" a voice suddenly interrupted. Adam's eyes turned from his fiancée to a boy who couldn't be much older than Chip, gaping up at him from the crowd. "What happened to Monsieur Gaston? Why did he die?"

"Luc!" the woman behind the boy snapped, grabbing him by the shoulders. She looked up at the prince nervously. "Forgive him your majesty – he does not know what he is saying. Luc, how many times must I tell you, it is rude to interrupt people when they are talking? Especially the prince!"

"But maman, everyone keeps talking about Gaston," the boy named Luc argued, "Even you and papa say things about him. Why can't Prince Adam just tell us so people will stop wondering what happened to him?"

"The kid's gotta point your majesty," a short man with dark hair and a bulbous nose added from beside them, "What did happen to Gaston? Seeing as he was at your castle the night he died?"

"I'd like to know too," another man added.

"It would put my mind at ease at least," another agreed.

"Well –," Adam's face turned a dull shade of red. He certainly wasn't expecting this kind of reaction from the villagers. How much could he tell them without giving away the truth, that he was the Beast Gaston had tried to kill that night? "Mesdames et messieurs, I can assure you that Gaston Légume's death was an accident," he managed. "We were on the edge of a balcony; he stabbed me, lost his footing and fell."

"C'est des conneries!" a new voice shouted in the distance. The prince looked up to see something a little unexpected: a gruff looking man was glaring at him from up on the rooftops outside the town square. "I know the truth," he sneered at him, "You killed him!"

Belle gasped. "Avenant?" she said in disbelief.

"Who?" asked Adam.

"Gaston's younger brother," she explained.

"You mean there are two of them?" In all their talks about life at the village, Belle had failed to mention that Gaston had a brother.

"Bien sûr," Avenant said with a grin. "And ladies and gentleman, this prince is not who he seems to be. You see, this whole rumour you've all been hearing about the 'Beast' is really just a story he made to cover up for the murder of my brother. The truth is, he lusted for Belle and killed Gaston so that he could claim her as his own. He is a deceiver, murderer and a thief and is not worthy to be called a prince."

A hush rose across the crowd. Adam began to grit his teeth. A deceiver? A murderer? A thief? He only had heard a few sentencess from this man's mouth and knew that he was completely out of order. "And what evidence do you have to support this ridiculous story?" he demanded.

"Why don't you just ask your pretty wife, your majesty?" Avenant chided. He had to admit, it felt good to be the center of attention for a change. Much better than being Gaston's underdog anyway. "After all she and Maurice were the ones who set my brother up to find this imaginary 'Beast' so that you could lure him into your castle and kill him."

"But that's not true!" Belle insisted, "The prince never killed anyone! I never wanted Gaston or anyone else to go to the castle."

"Oh, but of course you didn't," he winked. "A pretty girl like you, how could you have known you would be taking part in such a diabolical scheme? Surely if you are as innocent as you say you would have at least paid your respects at my brother's funeral? Or were you too busy? Maybe the prince here simply had something better to offer you."

Adam immediately stepped forward. "You leave Belle out of this," he warned him.

"Oh, pardonnez-moi, your grace," Avenant said. "But I'm afraid we're just getting started."

He turned to the side, and Belle noticed for the first time that there was large group of men standing beside the house, all bearing the same threatening expressions as their leader. "Messieurs," the hunter said, "Are we going to bow down to this beast, this murderer who killed our town hero for one woman, and continues call himself a prince?"

"Absolutely not, Avenant!" the men replied.

Adam felt his grip tighten around the podium stand. This was not a good sign. In all their tutoring sessions together, Cogsworth hadn't exactly told him how he was supposed to deal with an angry mob of villagers, especially ones that seemed to think that he had killed their town hero in cold blood. "I'm warning you, monsieur," he said tensely. "I don't know what you have told these people, but if you do not stop whatever you are planning right this instant, I will be forced to take drastic measures."

"Ooh, I'm so scared!" Avenant moaned sarcastically. His face filled with determination. "Gaston was my only brother! And the best hunter this goddamn town had ever seen! Why should we even be listening to you? You've been gone for ten years!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" He was shouting now, he couldn't help it. Unfortunately for him, provocation was exactly the sort of thing Avenant was looking for.

"Oh, am I making you angry now, Prince Adam?" he said patronizingly, "How inconsiderate of me. You must already be pretty frustrated, knowing your only way of producing an heir now is to marry une salope like her."

BAM! Adam didn't know what happened next, but he couldn't stop it. Avenant could insult him as much as he wanted, but once he started calling his Belle a whore, that was when he drew the line. "GUARDS, ARREST HIM!" he shouted. It was just the cue that Avenant was waiting for.

"Get 'em boys!" he shouted.

The next few seconds turned into chaos. Villagers found themselves screaming and leaping backwards as the castle guards ran forward to stop the onslaught of rioters come to seize the prince and his fiancée. Adam realized a second too late what a stupid mistake he had made. While his guards were stronger than the townsmen, he had only brought a dozen with him, certainly not enough to stop all of the attackers, or get close to Avenant for that matter. Even worse, some of the faster men were making their way up to the podium to where he and Belle stood, completely defenseless.

"We have to get out of here," he said. Belle nodded. She just couldn't believe it...what would possess Avenant to make up such a twisted story about his brother's death? And how could he want revenge on Adam so badly when he had done nothing wrong? She moved to grab her fiancé's shoulder, but then she heard another voice calling her name.

"Belle!"

"Papa?" She spun around and gasped. Two of the men had already reached the side of the podium and were holding her poor father hostage. "No!" she shouted. Without thinking, she let go of Adam and ran towards him.

"Belle, get back here!" Adam warned.

"What's the matter, pretty boy?" a voice said from behind him. "Afraid of getting your hands dirty?"

Adam spun around. Two burly men with yellow teeth and greasy hair were slowly coming towards him, causing him to take a few nervous steps backwards. "Merde," he thought. As a Beast he would have been able to maul over a couple of men like this no problem, but as a human... "Please, messieurs," he said tentatively."Don't make me hurt you."

"Ha!" the first man laughed. "You think we're scared of you? You're no Beast. We know what you did to Gaston and you're gonna pay!" With that, he reached out to grab him. Adam, through agility he could have known from being a beast for so long, managed dodge his attack just in time. The second man pulled Adam toward him by his jacket, but he quickly countered his blow, breaking his grip with his free elbow and pushing him away with his knees. The first man moved to grapple him from behind, and Adam pulled him up with his arms and used his shoulder as a fulcrum to flip him on to the ground. He couldn't believe it...couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Adam!" Belle cried desperately.

"Belle?" Adam turned around to see that in the confusion, the men had managed to seize both her and Maurice and were dragging them to the far side of the podium. He moved forward to stop them, and his two attackers used the moment he was distracted to jump forward and tackle him to the ground. He heard something crack from underneath him as he was slammed, painfully against the floorboards and then pulled up again as they grabbed hold of both his wrists, this time, so he couldn't escape. And as he did, he felt the exact depth of his situation set in. How could he have been so stupid? He should have never let Belle and Maurice go back to the village, knowing this sort of danger waited for them. Now Avenant could do what he wanted with the three of them and it was all his fault.

"Well done gentlemen," a voice said appraisingly. Adam looked up to see the damn hunter himself, standing a few feet away from the podium, looking over at him as though he were an impressive prey he had just managed to capture on a gaming trip. "He picks a fair fight - for a moment I almost thought he was going to beat me!"

"You," Adam said, "You'll pay for this you – !" His threat was rewarded with a kick to his stomach. He fell to his knees, retching in pain.

"Now now, Prince Adam," Avenant said with a smile. The prince obviously had a bit of a temper, just one other reason why it was up to him and the other townsmen to put him in line. "A lesson must be learned here. You see, you can steal as many wenches as you want from my brother, but killing him? I simply cannot accept that. Now I'm just about to cause you the pain that you caused me."

And in a second, the shiny glint of a rifle appeared in the hunter's hands. Adam felt something cold run through his body as he realized what he intended to do with it, something much worse than shooting a bunch of insults at him or capturing him and kicking him in the stomach...

"NO!" he shouted.

In an instant he was on his feet, stomping on both of his captives' feet, hard. They grunted out pain and released him. It would be suicide for him to run at Avenant from this angle, but if he tried to save the one he planned to shoot at...

In the next few seconds Adam was pushing and clawing his way across the podium, barely registering the shouts, the warnings from the onlooking guards, he just had to get her, get her away from them, from him. And as he did, Avenant took aim.

He had only just managed to reach her when the sound of the first gunshot filled the air.