Chapter 4: Figuring It Out

Two hours later, the prince was sitting lazily in his chair, in the main room quietly, all alone thinking to himself.

Belle and the stranger were in another part of the castle, with Lumiere and Cogsworth watching their every move under the prince's order.

It had occurred to the prince that the man didn't seem too dangerous at the moment. So he didn't want to stir anything up until he could prove that the man was indeed mad.

The prince sat in his chair, resting his cheek in his left hand while he gazed into the fire. He seemed to be lost. He wanted this man gone from his home, but he was afraid that Belle would turn against him, if he were to just kick the man out for no apparent reason.

Belle and he had only been together for less then a year, and already their lives had been disrupted. He wondered what might of happened if he had never let the stranger into the castle. Would the man of suddenly transformed into the enchantress like last time and lay yet another curse on him?

So many possibilities. The prince finally heaved himself out of his chair and idly walked to the door of the room. He wanted more than anything to run and find Belle and take her on a romantic sleigh ride. But "Mr Mysterious" would most certainly put on a rejected act, and then Belle would feel bad and stay behind to make the man feel more "welcome".

I've got to find a way to uncover what this man is up to. I know he's hiding something. Something I know would certainly make everyone realise that he is no saint.

He tried to think of anything strange that the man had done whilst staying at the castle.

Well everything about him is strange. Thought the prince perplexed.

But no one else seems to think so. So I have to find something really abnormal about him that even Belle will think is peculiar.

The prince had now wandered into the hallway and was slowly pacing up and down the hallway with his fingers tapping his chin as he stared down at the red carpet. Just then Lumiere ran past breathlessly and said excitedly, "Master! Won't you join us for a snowball fight outside?"

The prince looked up from his thoughts startled. He then gave Lumiere an annoyed look.

"Lumiere, can you not tell that I am busy?"

Lumiere showed a face of puzzlement, because it didn't seem that the prince was busy.

"Oh, I apologise sir. But if you prefer not to be disturbed, the library is free."

Suddenly the prince's bright blue eyes lit up.

"Lumiere you're a genius." Exclaimed the prince, as he hugged Lumiere tightly.

"I am?" said a bewildered Lumiere, who was suffocating from the prince's rather tight grip.

The prince let go and ran up the stairs to the library.

"Always a pleasure to be of service, master." Called out Lumiere with one hand cupped around his mouth, so that he would be heard.

He then smiled and scurried out to the front yard to endure in a game of snowball fighting.

The prince burst through the doors of the library, only to find that the stranger was standing by the fire. The prince's determined expression was quickly wiped away to turn into a scowl.

"Oh, what are you doing here?" the prince asked very unpleasantly.

"Just warming up by the fire. Nothing too serious. I see you have the same idea. You do look quite pale." Said the man putting on an act of concern.

"I'd rather you left. Go play a game of snowball with the others or something. I need time to myself." Said the prince calmly, as he waved his hand as if to shoo him away like a fly.

"Of course. Most certainly. The library is all yours." He said as if it was his to give up.

"Yes I know it is." Said the prince eyeing the man apprehensively as he left the room.

The man was gone only for a few short seconds only to pop his head around the corner again to say, "Oh by the way, Belle has requested that you are not to touch any of the books on the centre left wall. She's – ah – reorganising the shelf." He said uncertainly.

Then he was gone.

Odd. Thought the prince with a confused expression on his usually confident face. Belle always put her books back in the same spot so that she remembered where everything was. To just go ahead and reorganise them, would just confuse her.

The prince thought that this was all too suspicious. He then thought back to what he had originally come into the library for in the first place. Okay, this morning Belle had a red book. But then she had a blue one. So she must have originally been reading something in the red book.

Then a thought occurred to him.

Wait a second. The man was standing by Belle, behind me after I had finished talking to Lumiere and Cogsworth. When I turned around to look at Belle, her book was no longer red. It was blue. So obviously the man had switched the books while I was distracted. And now he doesn't want me to touch the particular bookshelf, which Belle appeared to have taken her book from this morning. So he obviously got rid of the important book, (I assume it was important, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered to hide it.) that Belle was reading this morning with another useless one. So clearly he's hiding something. And I suspect that Belle knew something this morning. That was why she was in the library so early reading. And I think that crazy lunatic gave her a substance of some sort to make her delusional and forget everything. It's all coming together.

Okay, I am not going to get angry and go after this man. Thought the prince as his face started to lose its pale colour and turn scarlet at the thought of someone hurting Belle.

I'm going to find out what Belle was reading this morning and see if I can figure out a way to prove to everyone that he is the mad one. Not me.

So the prince started to search for the book, which would hopefully be the solution to this nightmare.

Thankyou to everyone who keeps reading my story. This chapter is a little bit shorter this time. But I hope you enjoy it all the same.

P.S. You should know about Fan Fiction's update these past few weeks. And I would just like to say that I have had some trouble trying to upload my stories. I have had many chapters typed up already. I have just had a lot of trouble uploading them. So I am very sorry about the wait. It shouldn't happen again. I have been dying to upload these chapters. Believe me.

Candy depp sumpter