The next day was tough for Adam to go through because in order for the Archduchesse, Comte and Comtesse to know what he was indeed the son of Henrietta's brother, the servants had to bring out the very old portraits of himself...and both his parents. When Adam saw the portraits, he started to get horrible flashbacks of how his father would lash out at him and his mother.

"I can see without a doubt the relationship between you and your father." Archduchesse Adelaide said, Adam tried not to cringe when she said that.

"That maybe true," Comte Danton said, "but I think he looks more like his mother."

"I have to agree," Adelaide said, "your nephew, Henrietta, looks more like Lydia than he does of Henry."

"I see that as a good thing!" Henrietta said, pushing her point.

"I think your nephew wouldn't be as handsome if he didn't get his mother's looks." Comtesse Nanette said with a strange tone in her voice, but Adam didn't pay attention. Another flashback entered his mind and it was one of the worse ones.

When Adam was three, his father was trying to make him very mean. He tried to make Adam unleash his anger on the animals first. At first, Adam did what his father wanted him to do, mainly because he was a child and Henry was his father. Adam was just like other kids, he wanted to make his parents happy.

When his father wasn't around, Adam tried to understand what else he could do to make him happy. When Lydia, Adam's mother, found out what Henry was making Adam do, she really decided to put her foot down. Because Adam was three years old at the time, Lydia really couldn't punish him. Instead, she tried to show Adam what he and his father were doing was wrong. It wasn't until Adam turned four did he try standing up to his father.

Henry wanted him to go after one of the children of the servants, Adam really didn't want to do that.

"Why should I do that, papa?"

"How else are you going to show that you're a man if you don't show others who's the boss?!" Henry said, Adam really wanted to avoid the possibility of his father lashing out at him. Henry soon brought one of the children up, Adam felt the sense of dread in his stomach, but considering he was four, he thought he was going to be sick.

"Papa, I don't know about this!" Adam tried to push the issue.

"Quit being a baby!" Henry raised his voice, "You're four years old! Do what I tell you! Punch him!" Adam turned at looked at the child, he was the same age as Adam and was just as afraid. Adam started to raise his hand and arm, the child didn't make any noise. He knew that if he did, he would have to face Henry's hand instead of Adam's. "Good, my son." Henry said when Adam raised his arm all the way up, "Now hit him! Right in his chest!" Adam was shaking as he tried to bring his arm down to hit the child, but...he knew he couldn't. Adam dropped his arm, turned to his father and shouted;

"I won't do it!"

"How-Dare-You-Disobey Your Father!" Henry shouted as he lashed at Adam. Henry smacked Adam across the face, he hit him hard enough to knock out some of Adam's baby teeth and had him move a few feet away from them. After he punched his son, Henry left the room, so did the child. Adam knew that he was going to get in trouble, but he really didn't want to hurt anyone. He laid there on the floor, holding his swollen face, for about half an hour, when his mother ran into the room and heard about what happened.

"Adam?"

Adam then shook his head trying to focus when he heard someone say his name. He turned and saw Sagittarius with his right hand on Adam's left shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked, Adam just nodded 'yes'. He really couldn't speak, the flashback made his heart beating very fast. Sagittarius knew that this part was going to be extremely tough for him. Henrietta also noticed Adam's behavior, she decided to end this now before Adam starts getting worse.

"How about we go outside to enjoy the sun?" she said, everyone agreed, except for Adelaide. She said she wanted to go to her room to rest or her baby won't leave her alone. Adam tried not to show it, but he was relieved when his aunt said they should go outside.

"May I join you in a few minutes?" Adam asked, "There's something important that I need to attend to."

"Very well then." Henrietta said, Adam bowed and left. He decided that he waited long enough as he was walking towards Belle's room.

Adam knew he couldn't wait to talk to her, despite the fact that her bedroom door was always locked. He thought if he told her what was going on, he might be able to feel better. As he was walking towards Belle's room, someone ran into him. Adam looked at saw that it was Mystique, the Comte and his wife's daughter.

"Excuse me, your highness." Mystique said as she curtseyed.

"It's okay," Adam said, "I wasn't paying attention."

"Not to be rude," she said, "but I thought you would be with my parents and your aunt."

"I was," he answered, "but I have something that needs my attention."

"Like what?"

"I'm sorry, but that's for me to know for now. When the time comes, I'll all of you about it."

"Okay then." Mystique said, "I'll let you get back to what you were doing." She curtseyed and went on her way.

"Mystique." Adam said, she quickly turned around, "Thank you for not pushing the issue." She smiled and nodded her head.

"You're welcome, your majesty." She said, "If it's something that should wait, then we shouldn't push the issue about it." After that, Mystique turned back around and left. After hearing what she had to say, Adam started to think that maybe Mystique isn't what Sagittarius and he feared to be. After Mystique left, Adam continued his way to Belle's room.

When Adam got to Belle's room, the door was still locked. Adam wasn't going to even try and push Belle to open it. There's a good chance that she was in such a deep sleep that she couldn't hear him, but it didn't mean that he shouldn't try. Adam gently held the door knob and rested his forehead against the door.

"I hope you're starting to feel better, Belle." Adam whispered, he didn't want to take a chance that someone might overhear him. "I'm still not sure that I can do all of this on my own. I ended up dealing with seeing flashbacks of the past, it...was very difficult. Even though I want you there by my side, I would rather have you resting in bed. I'll check on you later." Adam left Belle's bedroom door and headed down to meet his aunt and the others.

"Did you take care of what you needed?" Comte Danton asked Adam when he reached down to the fountain.

"Yes, sir." Adam answered.

"Well, now that's taken care of," Comtesse Nanette said, "how about you show us around these beautiful gardens?"

"Very well." Adam said. He took his guests around the gardens, showing them the different colors and smelling the wonderful scents. Near the end of the tour of the gardens, someone said something.

"Wait a minute," Adam heard Danton, he turned around and saw that the Comtesse wasn't with the group, "where did my wife go?"

"Don't tell me she got lost!" Henrietta said.

"Not only she gone," Sagittarius said, "Mystique's gone too." Now Adam was starting to worry, the Comtesse and her daughter is missing and who knows what they might do in these large gardens.

"We better find them," Henrietta said, "who knows what Nanette might be thinking of doing." Henrietta decided that the four of them should split so they could find them faster, but Sagittarius argued that they should be together to search for them because of the size of the gardens. While the two of them were arguing, Adam thought about the gardens that he showed them. He was thinking about which one that Nanette and Mystique got themselves lost in, because it's actually hard to get lost in any of them.

"Adam," Danton said, "are you sure that we've seen all the gardens?"

"Of course," Adam answered, "we saw all of them. Why the question?"

"Because if something catches Nanette's eyes," Danton explains, "she wants to find out what it is."

"I don't think there's anything she can get herself into." Sagittarius said, "Right, Adam?"

"No," Adam answered, "there really isn't-" Sagittarius saw Adam's eyes grow wide.

"Adam, what's wrong?" Sagittarius asked, but before anyone got an answer, Adam bolted. Both Sagittarius and Henrietta knew that the confirmation was going to be ugly if the three of them don't catch up with Adam.

Sagittarius, Henrietta and Danton tried to follow the paths Adam took, but he took off so fast that they couldn't catch him.

"Where could he have gone?" Danton asked.

"I don't know." Sagittarius said.

"We have to find him!" Henrietta said, she then looked at Danton, "Otherwise, we're going to have a nasty confirmation that your wife and daughter got him into!" Before they could figure out which way to go, they heard Adam's voice. They could hear that he was very angry. The three of them followed Adam's voice in order to find them.

When they did find them, they were in time to see Adam push the Comtesse away. They all saw the angry look on his face as he walked backwards to a gate that was guarding a wooden door. The door and gate were connected to hedges that seemed to be hiding something.

"How dare you push me away!" Nanette shouted as she got up, Adam didn't say a word as he continued to guard the gate and door.

"What happened?" Henrietta shouted as she got between her and Adam.

"You saw it with your own eyes, my queen!" Nanette said, "Adam pushed me away from that door, it turns out he didn't show us all the gardens! If he were a real prince, he wouldn't hide things from us!" Henrietta then turned and looked at her nephew, he could see that he was now afraid of what she had to say and he was still guarding the door and gate.

"Adam, do you care to tell me your side of the story?" Henrietta asked in a calm voice.

"He doesn't deserve your kind words, my queen!" Nanette pushed.

"Was I asking you?" Henrietta spoke in a firm tone, she changed back to her calm tone as she spoke to her nephew, "Adam, tell me your side."

"I-I-I saw her trying to get in here." Adam said, he was very afraid of telling them what the Comtesse was going to do.

"I was not!" Nanette shouted.

"You know what?" Henrietta said in her firm tone again, "I'm getting nowhere with you interrupting all the time! We're all going inside, but you, Adam, you and I are going to talk." Adam felt the pupils in his eyes shrink, he was now officially deathly afraid of what his aunt has to say.

Hey readers, hope you're enjoying the story. Once again, I'm busy with family projects again, but as promised I'll try to put the chapters up on the weekends.