While Madeleine was locked up in a cold, damp, dungeon and was at the mercy of the terrible beast that had put her there; Leon, who was unaware of her ordeal, was busy with his studies, conducting experiments for science as was shown in his text-book, but was careful not to spill anything or to cause any explosions or make any unstable chemicals.

He was also unaware that at this particular time, Amandine was putting her plan into action, as the villagers were gathering around the village green, anticipating the moment when Leon would propose to her. She just had to persuade him.

Just outside the cottage, Amandine and Martine were behind some bushes, ready to carry out the plan. For this special occasion, Amandine had taken great pride in her appearance by applying lots of makeup and styled up her hair in a beehive hairdo with some curly bits hanging down the bottom.

She also wore a dark red, off the shoulder dress, which was extremely low cut, like her normal violet dress, with a ruby brooch and two pearls on the bodice, little red lace gloves, ruby and gold earrings and her genuine pearl necklace.

'Well, Martine, today is Leon's lucky day,' she said, 'If I play my cards right, a grand wedding fit for a queen like me will soon take place.'

'Yeah, Leon's going to get the surprise of his life!' Martine replied, 'I mean he has no idea about it! But doesn't he have to propose to you? That way, once that happens, then you'll get married, won't you?'

'You and your knack for stating the obvious, Martine!' said Amandine, while shoving a pile of leaves and a tree branch in her face, 'Of course he'll propose to me and I want this to be absolutely perfect, why ruin it by rushing? After all, you can't rush perfection!'

'Too true,' said Martine, 'So, what's the plan?'

Amandine sighed heavily at her stupidity and persistent questioning.

'Why do you always have to be deliberately irritating, Martine?' she said, hitting Martine on the head, to which she winced at, 'Sometimes, you really get on my nerves!'

'Then again, good help is so hard to find these days,' she then said to herself.

'I'm sorry, Amandine, I didn't mean it, just don't hit me again!' squeaked Martine.

'That's better, but one more goof-up and it won't be just your head that I hit,' Amandine said, 'Now since you asked and that you have mush for brains, I'll tell you the plan. Pay attention because I'm not going to repeat myself.'

Martine nodded in response.

'First, I knock on Leon's door, catching him totally unaware, but I can only hope that he'll be happy to see me.

Second, I'll get him to propose to me and to get me an elegant engagement ring with the biggest diamond ever..'

'Wait a minute, Amandine, won't that ring be too heavy for your finger? You'll be weighed down by it!' said Martine.

'Don't interrupt me!' shouted Amandine, 'Oh, well done you doofus, you made me forget what I was going to say next. Help me out here!'

'You were going to make Leon get a huge engagement ring,' said Martine.

'Oh, yes, that's right, he'll get that from the jeweller. Only the biggest and finest for me!

Finally, if it all goes to plan, we go out into the green and in front of the whole village, he proposes to me and before you know it, I'll be Madame Duplonk, I mean Dupont! Dupont! No one will be calling me that, that's for sure!

Have you got all that, Martine? Have you processed that into that thick skull of yours?' said Amandine.

'Clear as crystal! What a great plan, Amandine!' said Martine, 'But are you sure that you want to do this in front of everyone?'

'What do you mean by that, Martine?' Amandine said.

'He may reject you and everyone will see you be humiliated and laugh at you and I don't want that happening..'

Amandine glared at her.

'Not that it'll happen of course,' Martine hastily said.

'Of course not, nobody rejects Amandine LeGume, if they know what's good for them,' Amandine said, eager to put her plan into action.

'Come on, we're wasting valuable time and my beautiful new red dress blabbering on and we can't keep everyone waiting.

And once we're engaged, Martine, you'll be my maid of honour. You may be a froggy-faced, pig-nosed doofus, but you're my lackey and the only person I can tolerate.'

Hearing that, Martine gave a squeal of glee. She had always wanted to be a bride or at least a bridesmaid and it was like Amandine had handed her dreams on a silver platter.

'Really, you want me as your maid of honour?' she said.

'Yes, really Martine,' said Amandine.

'Oh, Amandine, I'll be honoured! Thank you, thank you; you're the best friend ever!' Martine squealed, hugging Amandine. She pushed her off in disgust, as she hated it when Martine hugged her and smoothed down her dress.

'I'm going to get you the best wedding gift ever!' she then said.

'Hey, hey, you doofus, don't go all mushy on me,' said Amandine, 'Wait before you start thinking ahead and you wrinkled my new dress with your stupid hugging! You know I don't like being hugged! Well, if Leon were to do it, I won't mind, but not from you!'

'Sorry, Amandine,' said Martine.

'That's better,' Amandine said, 'now, how do I look?' swaying her hips and twirling around, showing off her new dress.

'Beautiful and goddess-like as always!' Martine promptly replied, 'Leon won't know what hit him when he sees you!'

'Good, that's what I like to hear,' said Amandine and the two walked out of the bushes towards the waiting villagers.

As the villagers waited, Amandine, as she walked, unsurprisingly drew attention to herself due to her dress and her chest barely being contained by the bodice, but she was enjoying it, while the girls glared enviously at her.

She cleared her throat, which made everyone turn around and face her.

'Now, I'd like to thank you all for coming to witness the crowning moment of my life,' she said, chuckling as the villagers laughed.

'All I have to do now is to get Leon to come here to propose to me and soon, a wedding worthy of the most beautiful and beloved woman in the village will take place and you're all invited!'

The villagers cheered, while the Muscular Men and the boys wept floods of tears, in spite of being tough and muscular, at hearing that their goddess was soon to be married except for Jean-Luc who couldn't care less but feigned a few tears so as not to arouse suspicion.

Everyone then started to pester Amandine with questions about the wedding.

'You mean he hasn't proposed to you yet?' said Bridgette.

'What will your dress be like?' Violette said.

'Can we be your bridesmaids?' said Annette.

'Why are you marrying Duplonk?' the boys all said at once, 'Why not anyone of us?'

'I'm this year's winner of the Gaston Games!' said Beauden.

'I was the runner-up!' said Stephane.

'I'm the leader of the Muscular Men and I totally idolise your uncle!' Henri said.

'I'm more handsome than that swine kisser! We can be the most beautiful couple in the village!' Pierre said.

'I'm burly and brawny,' said Francois.

'I don't really care,' said Jean-Luc, clearly uninterested in the whole thing, only to be hit in the arm by Henri and said, sarcastically,

'Oh why marry Leon, when you can have me? I am very good at hunting and fishing and came third in the Games.'

'You sure are, Jean-Luc,' said Martine, dreamily.

'Are you going to propose to him?' said a woman.

'Will there be any free beer?' said the blacksmith.

Fed up with their questions, Amandine said,

'Stop asking such silly questions! But, I'll say this.

Beauden, I'll never marry you! You cheated in Beer Drinking and you are not worthy of your title and my kiss!'

Beauden let out floods of tears.

'That was never proved!' he howled.

'The same goes for you so-called Muscular Men!' she then said, while glaring at them.

'You're all stupid, boorish idiots who can't even hunt and fish properly, are terrible sportsmen and are making a mockery of my uncle's memory!'

'But Jean-Luc's not a stupid, boorish idiot!' said Martine, 'He's really nice and friendly and he's excellent at hunting, fishing, chopping wood and sports not to mention good looking!'

She smiled and sighed dreamily at Jean-Luc, who returned her affection only to cover it up a few seconds later.

'Shut up, Martine!' Amandine said, 'I told you already that you are not to talk to Jean-Luc!'

'Sorry, Amandine,' said Martine.

'You never knew your uncle Amandine, so why should you care if we dress like him and look up to him?' said Jean-Luc.

'Although I don't, Gaston was a terrible role model for men and boys and a narcissist bully,' he then said to himself.

'Whatever, Jean-Luc, I don't want to hear it!' said Amandine, before turning to the Bimbette cousins.

'Also, Bimbette cousins, you will NOT be my bridesmaids! I just want Martine only to be my maid of honour! It's because I can't stand you three, as you are very stupid and annoying and I don't want that standing next to me at the altar!' she said, causing the girls to cry.

'And you, fashion impaired,' she said to the woman, who looked at her quizzically, 'I'm not proposing to him, it's the other way around, you know that.

Now for the coup de grace, wish me luck!'

'Luck!' the villagers said, as Amandine made her way towards Leon's cottage, unaware that Martine had arranged for the Etienne triplets to play at the proposal as an early wedding gift. They played 'Here Comes The Bride' totally off-key and rushed.

Hearing the awful sounds behind her, Amandine turned around and was annoyed as she didn't want any music and that Martine had got a band behind her back.

'Martine!' she yelled, 'I specifically told you NO MUSIC!'

'Aw, I thought it would be romantic, a special gift for a special friend who is soon to be married to her love,' said Martine, 'You deserve the best, Amandine and I wish you all the happiness that is to come your way,' as she shed a tear.

'Awww, how sweet,' the villagers said.

Amandine then responded by pretending to be moved by Martine's generosity.

'Oh, how my heart bleeds, Martine. How lucky I am to have a friend like you. This is a special gift except you got those awful, talentless bozos to play! Anything they play is off-key and spoils the whole thing!'

'Hey, those are our husbands you're talking about!' Claudia, Laura and Paula said.

'What's wrong with our music?' said Thomas, the triplet in blue.

'We play good music!' said Aurelien, the one in orange.

'For a small fee of course,' said Kyle, who wore green.

'It was the best I could get under short notice,' said Martine, 'and I was planning to have them play at the wedding,'

'Well, it wasn't enough!' shouted Amandine, 'I don't want them as the band for the wedding! You screwed up again, Martine and this is what I think of your gift!'

She picked up a drum and put it over Martine in anger before composing herself and finally headed off to the cottage.

'Well that wasn't very nice,' said Thomas, as the villagers looked pitifully at Martine.

'Are you alright, Martine?' said Jean-Luc, going over to her and putting her arm around her.

'Yeah, I'm okay,' Martine said, clearly hurt at her gift being rejected and looking ridiculous with a drum over her, 'So this is the thanks I get. I give her a band for her wedding out of the goodness of my heart and she rejects it like garbage and puts a drum over me!'

'Hey, it's okay,' Jean-Luc said soothingly, 'It was the thought that counts after all.'

'You're right, Jean-Luc, it is the thought that counts,' said Martine, brightening up again, 'and I'll keep serving and pleasing Amandine even if she doesn't appreciate it!'

Jean-Luc just sighed.

In the cottage, Leon had finished his studies for the day and was now sitting on the sofa reading his book, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

'I wonder who that could be, as if I already didn't know,' he said, annoyed at having his valuable reading time interrupted.

Nonetheless, he got up to answer it and looked through the binoculars and saw a very familiar blue cat-shaped eye, the lashes batting against the lens and the unwelcome sight of Amandine at the door.

'Uggh,' he groaned, not wanting to deal with her, but opened the door and Amandine entered, posing seductively in her very low cut dress, which made Leon uncomfortable.

'Miss me?' she said.

'Amandine, what a surprise,' Leon said, feigning surprise at her arrival, 'I wasn't expecting you,'

'Isn't it though?' Amandine said, proud of herself, 'It's my speciality if I say so myself,' as she leaned towards Leon, giving him a view of her chest, which he tried not to look at.

'You know Leon, there are a lot of boys who would sell their mothers to be in your shoes, for today is the day where all your dreams become reality!' Amandine said while looking at herself in the mirror, adjusting her hair, plumping up her chest and puckering up her lips, even though to Leon, she looked exactly the same, like her appearance would change every five seconds.

'How do you know about my dreams, Amandine?' he said.

'Oh, don't think I didn't hear little birdies chirping about your hopes, dreams, your, um, fondness for animals..' Amandine began, before coughing 'Swinekisser' under her breath.

'Gossips and drunken louts come together in the tavern and chat about a certain handsome but odd boy who isn't like the others, who reads a lot, educates himself, likes to kiss pigs, hangs out with his horse, is too devoted to his mother and doesn't do regular manly activities…'

'Amandine, where is this all going?' said Leon, even though he knew EXACTLY what it was and he didn't like it.

'Wake up and smell the roses, Leon!' she said, 'Of course, it's no secret that everyone sees you that way. But I can change all that. I can help you improve your image, social status and reputation and get people to stop calling you 'odd', ' Duplonk,' and 'Swinekisser,' and many other names.'

'How can you do that?' said Leon.

'Picture this,' said Amandine, as she lay on the sofa seductively, kicking off her shoes and pushing Leon's book off.

'A beautiful house in the woods, me sitting around looking beautiful wearing fabulous dresses that your mother made for me, my brave, strong husband, a three time Gaston Games winner coming home with his latest kill for dinner, massaging my feet,' as she wiggled said feet, 'while the little ones play with their dolls and the cats on the floor. We will have six or seven of them,'

'Cats?' Leon said, hoping it was the latter. Amandine let out a false laugh at that.

'Oh, you do amuse me, dear Leon!' she said, 'No, lovely little girls just like me!'

Leon grimaced at that. The idea of being married to Amandine, being forced to compete in the Gaston Games, to hunt for food and massaging her feet was bad enough, but being a father to six or seven daughters was even worse!

'You want six or seven daughters?' he said.

'Of course,' said Amandine.

'But it'll ruin your figure if you have that many children, especially since you're so insistent on keeping it,' Leon said, 'and haven't you even considered the possibility of having sons as well?'

'Well, I'll only have one every four years, which will be plenty of time to get my figure back in between.' Amandine said.

'Imagine that,' said Leon.

'That will be me and you, Leon, our life together, wouldn't you love that?' Amandine said, her voice sickly sweet which made Leon retch in his mouth a little.

'Are you alright?'

'Yeah, I just threw up in my mouth a little,' said Leon, quickly swallowing it down again.

'So what do you say to that?' said Amandine, 'I'll give you a little hint, five words make up this sentence. They are 'Amandine,' and 'will' and 'you' and 'marry' and 'me?' Put them together and that is a proposal that I will gladly accept!

All you need to do now is to go to the jeweller, get me a ring with the biggest diamond and take me as your fiancée in front of the village and we'll be married soon after that!'

Leon couldn't believe it. She was actually persuading him to propose to her! To be her husband, to waste away being nothing more than her slave and being a father to six or seven spoiled, bratty children? It wasn't what he wanted at all!

'Amandine, I really don't know what to say, it's all so..sudden,' he said.

'Then don't say anything, except 'Amandine, will you marry me?' That's all I want to hear from you!'

'Well, as..romantic as your intentions are, I'm afraid I'm not interested, besides all the boys would love to marry you.'

'I don't want to marry any of those losers! I want you and you only, Leon! I'm offering you a wonderful life with me and a chance to improve your reputation and you're rejecting me? HOW DARE YOU?!' Amandine screeched and whined.

'Look, Amandine,' Leon said, determined not to lose his temper, 'I already told you that I only want to marry for love, not because the villagers say I should or that it might improve my social status, or being nothing more than your handsome husband or to have children with you and catering to your every whim and you know what happened with me and Violette.'

'Don't give me any of that pathetic dribble, Leon!' said Amandine, getting angry.

'Let me tell you a few things,

One, true love is only in stupid fairy tales that you waste your time reading.

Two, Violette is a brainless, empty-headed bimbo who is easily influenced by her stupid cousins who made her do that stupid joke on you, which you, a very intelligent boy, was stupid enough to fall for.

Three, I don't want any boy who mocks and dishonours my uncle's memory by dressing and acting like him or cheats at the Games in his name.

Now, we are going to the village green where everyone is waiting for us, you will get that diamond ring and you will propose to me, capiece?'

'Amandine, I'm really sorry, but you're just not the girl for me. I don't deserve you and I can't afford to get you a diamond ring that big,' said Leon, realising that he was leaning against the door and thought of an idea.

'But I can give you a kiss,' he said. Amandine went to kiss Leon only to have him open the door and for her to be sent flying face first into a pond of mud near the green and letting out a shriek in horror.

'So long, Amandine, it was fun while it lasted,' Leon said, as he put her shoes out onto the step and closed the door behind him.

'Let's see how she likes being humiliated,' he said, as he knew that Amandine would experience the same humiliation he did when he kissed Cecile.

Upon seeing Amandine and believing her to be with Leon, thinking that the proposal was going to happen, ushered the villagers to approach them and said,

'Here they come, the future Monsieur and Madame Duplonk- DUPONT!'

She got the band playing and as the villagers got closer, they saw Amandine, not with Leon, but in the pond dripping mud, her dress ruined, her elaborate hairdo messed up with Cecile on her head.

The villagers looked shocked, while Jean-Luc covered his mouth to supress a smile and snicker at seeing Amandine covered in mud.

'So when's the wedding?' Martine innocently asked. Furious, Amandine lifted herself up and grabbed the small girl by her top.

'What?' she said.

'Oh, I may be down but I am not out, Martine!' said Amandine, 'Leon will be my husband, whatever he may think! Make no mistake about that!' as she pushed Martine into the mud, with Cecile giving an oink.

'What are you looking at, pig? At least he kissed you!' snarled Amandine, as she stormed off.

'Touchy!' said Martine to Cecile, who oinked in agreement. Then she realised something.

'Hey Amandine, am I still your maid of honour?' she called out, but got no response.

'I'll take that as a yes,' she said.

Amandine stormed past the villagers, dripping mud, angry and humiliated at being rejected by Leon and falling into a dirty, slimy mud pond.

'Even when covered in mud, she still is beautiful,' said Pierre, but Amandine didn't take notice.