For the next few days, Adam noticed that Belle was acting like the person she used to be when they first met. Nothing could express how Adam felt when Belle was starting to act like herself, even the servants were amazed that Belle was being independent. That wasn't the only change, Adam decided to write back to his aunt, Queen Henrietta Rainier. Adam didn't tell anyone what it was about, but he did tell the servants to be expecting another letter from her.
When the servants did receive another letter, a week later, they brought it to Adam and Belle. When Adam read the letter, he told Belle about it; that his aunt, some of the royals, his cousin and his fiancee were coming to the castle. They were coming to crown Adam as Prince of his father's kingdom and also to do the double wedding for Adam and Belle, but also Sagittarius and Sapphire. The letter also said that the Queen, Sagittarius, Sapphire and the other royals won't be over for a few weeks, so Adam and Belle continued to talk more about how the wedding should go.
It wasn't long until Adam and Belle were standing in the grand entrance as Queen Henrietta Rainier, Sagittarius, Sapphire and the royals came inside. Adam was trying to keep himself calm because he was very nervous about the whole thing, but Belle held his hand to help him.
"It's good to see you again, my nephew." Henrietta said as she hugged him.
"It's...good to see you as well, Aunt Henrietta." Adam managed to say before his aunt released him. Henrietta then turned her attention to Belle, before anything happened, she then hugged Belle. Neither Belle or Adam saw it coming, so both of them were very surprised.
"Hello, Queen Rainier." Belle said.
"I thought I told you that you can call me by my name." Henrietta said as she released Belle.
"Sorry, I forgot."
"It happens." Henrietta said; then she turned at the royals. "These are a few of the royals that are here to see you receive Adam's crown and for the two of you...and my son and his fiancee get married. I assume you remember my dear friend, Adelaide."
"Yes, we do." Belle said as Adelaide approached, she could feel that Adam was still uncomfortable about being near Adelaide, mainly because Adelaide is pregnant. After meeting Adelaide again, Henrietta introduced Adam and Belle to two more royals, Duc Dartagnan and his wife Charlotta and Marquis Toussnint and his wife Clementine. They weren't the only ones who came, Comte Danton and his wife Nanette came with all four of their kids, Fantina, Aceline, Karlitis and Mystique. Adam and Belle didn't like the idea of Nanette bringing all three of her kids over, except Mystique, but neither did Henrietta, but since these were important events, they really didn't have a choice. After meeting the royals, Adam and Belle finally saw Sagittarius and Sapphire. Of course, Sagittarius bear-hugged Adam and was released with his hand over his chest.
"I swear that one of these days, you're going to crush my chest!" Adam told Sagittarius.
"If I were going to crush you, I would've done it by now!" Sagittarius spoke up, while the two cousins were talking, Belle and Sapphire decided to speak to each other.
"How have you been, Sapphire?" Belle asked.
"I've been well," she answered, "better when the big day comes for the four of us."
"You can say that again." Belle said, after everything's been going on, Queen Henrietta decided bring Sagittarius and Adam to meet with the royals while Belle and Sapphire did things on their own.
"So tell me, Belle, how have you been?" Sapphire said as the two of them walked through the castle.
"I've...had a wake up call." Belle answered, "It was to help what happened...when you saved my life."
"Well...if you're trying to thank me, you're welcome. If there's anything I hate more, it's having us ladies be the prey to men."
"Sapphire, may I...ask you a really big, huge favor?" Belle asked.
"What exactly is this really big, huge favor?" Sapphire asked
"Come to my room and I'll explain it." Belle said, Sapphire nodded her head as the two of them headed to Belle's room.
"You have a lovely room, Belle." Sapphire said as she entered and Belle closed the door behind her.
"This is the very room that Adam gave me when I first met him." Belle said, "We didn't get along at all and I didn't want anything to do with him."
"Now you're eating your words, aren't you?"
"More like swallowing them whole." Belle answered, she then started to blush and giggle.
"Okay, now before you turn completely red, why don't you explain your really big, huge favor?" Sapphire asked, the blush from Belle's face left and she stopping giggling. Belle then walked over to the large trunk that held her mother's wedding dress.
"My mother's wedding dress is in here, but...it turns out that it's...so badly ripped and there are so many holes that...I need someone to do real work on it." Belle answered, tears started to fall. "Claudette told me herself that she couldn't fix it, after that, she brought me Adam's mother's dress. She and some of the seamstresses forced the dress on me, the dress was much too small for me. I could barely breathe in that thing...so what I'm asking is...can you fix my mother's dress?"
"Let me have a look." Sapphire said, Belle closed her eyes as she lifted the trunk lid. She kept her eyes closed while she heard Sapphire ruffle the dress. Belle refused to open her eyes until the trunk lid closed. "Wow, you weren't fooling around about the damage on it." Sapphire added.
"You can't fix it, can you?"
"I didn't say that, I'll fix it." Sapphire said, Belle finally opened her eyes.
"You can?" Belle quickly asked, making sure she wasn't hearing things.
"Sure, I've seen damage as bad as this before." Sapphire said with a smile, "It will take me some time, but I can make your mother's wedding dress repaired like it was just made."
"Thank you so much, Sapphire, nothing could express how much this means to me."
"Don't worry about it, how about you help me take this to my room in this castle?" Sapphire said as she grabbed one of the handles. Belle nodded her head as she grabbed the handle on the other side. The two of them headed to Sapphire's room of the castle, it was the same room she was sharing with Sagittarius when she and Adam first met Sapphire, but since this was going to be a double wedding, the brides had to be in separated from their grooms. Some of the servants who saw them offered to help them, but they denied the help, mainly because the trunk really wasn't all that heavy. "It's very disappointing that Sagittarius and I can't be in the same room for a while." Sapphire said as they approached her room.
"Are you telling me that you and Sagittarius have been sharing the same room?" Belle asked as she opened the door.
"More than just the same room," Sapphire answered as the two of them brought the trunk in; then she closed the door. "we also share the same bed." Belle now started to turn red when she heard that.
"You mean...you and Sagittarius...?"
"Yes, we have," Sapphire answered with a smile, "but we don't do it very often, even though we want to. Sagittarius wants the two of married before I become...well, you have an idea by what I mean by saying that. Also, by the way your face is turning red, you know what it's like with Adam." Belle started to become more red and started to shake since Sapphire figured out that Belle had done it with Adam.
"Sapphire, I beg of you, don't say that out loud out there!" Belle pushed, "Adam and I are actually embarrassed about doing it, so please don't say anything to him or anyone else for that matter."
"Don't worry, my mouth is locked and the key has been thrown away." Sapphire said, "I don't even talk about me and Sagittarius. Now, before we get to out of hand, how about we go downstairs and see what our boys are up to?"
"Might as well," Belle said, "Adam's been very protective of me lately. I don't want to give him any more worry than I have to."
"So has Sagittarius." Sapphire said. "I believe it's because we are very close to being married...they just don't want to lose us."
"I can tell from the look on your face, we don't want to lose them either." Belle added as the two of them left Sapphire's room.
"Sagittarius gave me a life that I didn't think I would ever have, I'm not only talking about the life of a princess."
"I know you're not, Adam gave me the same thing." Belle said, "He gave me the life of a person and protected me from other men."
"Sagittarius did the same thing, he gave me the life of a person and protected me from other men." Sapphire repeated, "I'm grateful for what I have and...I plan to fight to keep it."
"With your needle-like hands and feet?" Belle asked.
"Exactly!" Sapphire said, "You should learn to fight with something, otherwise you'll lose a lot."
'That must be the reason on why Lady Temps gave me the Rose Blade.' Belle thought in her head.
"Belle, either it's my imagination, which is hard to believe, but you've been acting like you don't want to bend your back a whole lot."
"It's because I've been having some back pain." Belle answered, "I think it came from me falling out of my bed a few nights ago. My lower back has only been hurting when I bend over, other than that, I'm fine."
"Does Adam know?" Sapphire asked.
"No, because if I told him about my back pain, he would be carrying me around non-stop and, to be honest, I don't want him doing that unless I want him to."
As the two of them reached to the grand hall, they saw the royals leave a room with Adam, Sagittarius and Henrietta coming out last. Belle and Sapphire watched the royals leave, but when Belle looked back at Adam, she was surprised to see him fall to the ground.
"Cousin?" Sagittarius almost yelled as he and his mother got down to revive him. Belle and Sapphire soon came near and tried to help.
"Adam, are you okay?" Belle almost frantically asked as she shook his body.
"I think I know what might wake him up." Henrietta said as she went back into the room, Belle just continued to shake him back and forth.
"I think he passed out from all the stress of being in there." Sagittarius figured, just then, his mother came out with a pitcher with water. "Uh-oh." He added as she put the pitcher over Adam...and then dumped the water. As soon as the water splattered on him, Adam quickly woke up and sputtered.
"What happened?" Adam asked as he quickly got up from the floor.
"You passed out right in front of us!" Belle said with worry.
"I did?"
"Don't be embarrassed about it, cousin." Sagittarius said, "We don't blame you for passing out, considering the stress we just endured...especially about the rumor the Comtesse had spread."
"What rumor?" Belle asked.
"Belle, not out here, okay? I'll tell you about it, but in private." Adam said, by the way he was talking, Belle could tell that it wasn't good.
"All right, now that's taken care of, let's get some rest." Henrietta said, "We've got a lot of work these next few days...possibly weeks."
"Now my children, you know what you have to do?" Nanette said to her three kids.
"Yes, mother." Fantina, Aceline and Karlitis said together with an evil smile.
"Mystique, did you hear me?" Nanette said, but her youngest daughter just stuck her nose up.
"I don't care that you're my mother, I'm not helping you with your revenge against the Queen and the two Princes!" Mystique pushed, her mother made an angry groan when she heard her daughter's voice saying that. "You already got in trouble for spreading the rumor that Sagittarius is marrying Fantina and Adam's marrying Aceline! I have no intent to help you with anything!"
"Oh really?" Nanette said in an angry tone. "Karlitis, make sure that your baby sister doesn't muddle with our plans."
"Yes, mother." Karlitis said with an evil smile; Mystique became very afraid on what her big brother was going to do to her.
"Now my children, our plan shall go as planned after Adam's coronation." Nanette said, "My family will soon have what should've been ours in the first place."