Then the scene shifted to a dark night in her old house, with Leila shouting at the drunken state of her ex-husband, as she was upset and horrified as he explained with a sneer, as Leila had a luggage bag, intending to go beyond the town.
However, as he suspected, her ex had no plans of letting her leave; but Jules was still wondering where exactly Juliet was during all of this. For all he could tell, Leila only had a son but no daughter. Of course, those thoughts quickly were put aside once more as he saw the terrible moment; when Leila's ex admitted what he had done to Romeo and was the reason the boy ran from home.
He cheered when Leila slapped him, shouting at her ex, calling him a monster, and his blood ran cold, wanting to save her as her ex decided to listen to her, becoming a monster. He wanted to look away on one hand, but he couldn't tear his eyes away as Leila screamed, fighting him as he nearly went to force her to submit, destroying the outer shirt, intending to abuse her on all angles.
Then Leila found a pan and a knife, cutting his chest, and arm, smashing the pan into his head with a strength she didn't know she had, and with tears, determination in her eyes, and emotions flying across her face, she left with her luggage bag, running.
She found a kind priest who gratefully saw the state of his wife, and went to annual the marriage legally, and she then left the large village, determined yet grievous that she hadn't stopped him in hurting her son, intending to search through the other towns and such for any sign of her son.
Then the scene shifted, with Jules seeing Pinocchio and Romeo on a stagecoach, heading to the docks, to a near hidden bay, with a steamboat of enough space for over 100 boys including the duo...
The confusion still ran through his mind as he felt Evangeline's presence with him, "Just keep watching... the confusion will be answered soon... but... I must warn you... try and keep an open mind for somethings that you will see.".
Jules nodded, glancing at Evangeline for a moment before he kept watching, wide eyes as he saw the temptations of Pleasure Island as the boys arrived. It was literally like a paradise for them.
He watched Pinocchio and Romeo enjoy their day, destroying things, stuffing their faces out, taking rides on some of the island's carnival places, drinking beer and smoking on tobacco.
He felt for Jiminy before realizing that he looked familiar for a minute with the clothes yet he's a cricket, and he was really trying to help Pinocchio. And he then saw the confliction in Pinocchio as he confessed his feelings about wanting to be a girl.
It still wouldn't click for him... until he suddenly started to hear the screams of young boys replaced with those of young women, his eyes widening when it suddenly hit him about what was happening to all the boys that were with Pinocchio and Romeo. And then he knew exactly why he was seeing this.
With a bit of aiding in blurring some things by Evangeline's help, he was able to watch in horror and shock as he saw Pinocchio and Romeo literally becoming Perla and Juliet. Younger, yes, but definitely the women he knew today.
"H-how?", Jules whispered in shock, and Evangeline replied, "The Coachman. He discovered a gemstone of dark magic under the island, and from there, he made dark magic potions, for many, many years, cruelly experimenting on rare young girls and commonly young boys, and this was one of those experiments, in this decade, along with changing the boys into donkeys on alternate times.".
Jules whispered, "Oh, my god...", and Evangeline nodded, "And it wasn't the worst thing...If it wasn't for Jiminy who discovered the horrible acts, Perla and Juliet would have been mindwiped of their memories, no recollection of Leila and Geppetto, in a state of lust to be sold easier to the black market.".
He wanted to be sick to this stomach at the horrors that flashed before him of the Coachman and his work; but at least took heart when he watched Juliet and Perla make their escape and then reaching the mainland.
Jules watched them be helped out by a blind old woman, "That was one of my 'normal' disguises by the way.", Evangeline explained, and Jules nodded as he kept watching, and became horrified when he heard the news of Geppetto being swallowed by the great whale Monstro.
Some ships from this kingdom have been swallowed and destroyed by Monstro over the years, and for him to see the massive size of the whale, he was beyond shocked to find that Monstro was like two times as big as a normal whale.
He cheered for Perla when she became accepted by her father and was impressed of the logic towards the way of escape from Monstro, and held his breath all the way, to the shore where Monstro was killed immediately, with the family surviving and reuniting, with some healing for Juliet.
Jules was overjoyed when Perla became an officially permanent woman by Evangeline's magic, looking like the happiest woman in the world, and to find that his wife wished to be reunited again with her son no matter what, and that Evangeline found her, told her of the life-changing news of Juliet changing from Romeo, and came on her way to reunite with Juliet, accepting happily of her choice to stay as a woman as the memories of being a boy was difficult on her.
And then came the biggest surprise of all, Carlo. He originally thought Carlo was Perla and Romeo's son, but after watching all of this, to discover that Carlo was a miracle to the family, hearing the announcement of Leila when she told Geppetto that Perla is expecting, and that Juliet was the 'father' before she became permanently a woman by Evangeline again.
"Was... was that your work too?", Jules asked, about Carlo as Evangeline smiled, "Well, not exactly... it had something to do with the trace amounts of dark magic that transformed the two of them... but the pure love the two of them shared for one another helped curtail the darkness from doing anything to Carlo when he was conceived.".
Jules nodded, and watched as the family was overjoyed with the news with quite some worries, especially by Geppetto, and Jules didn't blame him, as this is his daughter and his grandchild.
He watched as Leila healed happily with the support of her family behind her, seeming to have moved on from her bad memories of the past, and helped Perla as she became more and more pregnant.
And then came the day of his arrival. He was relieved to see that Perla and Carlo survived. He knew they are fine as he saw them earlier in the party and all, but this...He felt the same with Amelie and Ella.
He smiled as Evangeline gave Carlo the gift of protection from dark magic, and flashes of Carlo growing up, with Leila blooming into the beautiful woman he knew today.
He could tell things had basically run its course... that the story that they had told him about their past was true in certain ways. He witnessed Geppetto's death, the mourning of the family, the decision to leave and of course, before they arrived in France; the journey back to Pleasure Island.
He was horrified of the sights under the island, and then cheered when the dark magic was destroyed, freeing the souls trapped there, changing numerous donkeys back to boys/men, and memories of old lives returning to the women, and of course, the collapse of the island forever.
"Have you been busy helping those boys return home, and those women make their choices to stay or change back?", Jules asked softly, and Evangeline nodded, "Yes, and it's still continuous...The Coachman...he changed literally thousands of lives, which many of them would not come home unfortunately, but with the Lord's permission, I helped those souls to reunite with their families just for a night in their dreams, to explain, and give their families the sense of relief that their sons, uncles, nephews, and cousins are free in the heavens, to wait for them with happy hearts, human again.".
Jules smiled sadly, realizing that those families would move on at last, for never knowing is worse than knowing at all. Evangeline smiled, "Let's get you back to your wife.", as she rested her hand on his shoulder, flicking her wand, and then they were back in the room, as if nothing had changed, with Leila still deeply sleeping and slowly recovering.
Evangeline then glanced at Jules, "May I heal your wife now that you know the truth?", with a warm, patient smile. Jules nodded one more time as Evangeline smiled. "Please... just please...", he started to tear up. "I'm sorry... I just... seeing all that... everything they've all been through... ".
Evangeline nodded, "Indeed, Leila and her family is one of the strongest families in faith and love that I have the honor of knowing.", as she almost glided closer to Leila, gently placing her wand on Leila's heart, "Leila Russo, wife of Richard Russo, mother of Juliet and Ella, mother-in-law of Perla, and grandmother of Carlo, let thyself be healed to full strength and health through and through, so mote it be.".
There was a bright flash of light as Jules covered his eyes from being blinded; but it was fairly quick before it died down. Jules, once his eyes readjusted, saw that Leila looked almost completely as lively as she had been only moments before drinking the poison.
She moaned to herself as she was starting to wake up, her mind trying to reset itself and catch back up with things as she opened her eyes... seeing Evangeline first. "Evangeline...?", Leila muttered.
Evangeline smiled warmly, "Welcome back, Mrs. Russo.", and Leila blinked in confusion for a moment before she widened her eyes as she remembered the tender, quick wedding ceremony, almost sitting up when she felt her ring on her hand, looking at it with awe, hearing Jules' warm voice, "I almost forgot about that part of tradition, but luckily, the King had some reserved jewelry for the staff of the castle, and gave me permission to grab our rings.".
Leila looked up to see Jules with tears in his eyes, smiling happily, and she smiled widely, sobbing softly, "Jules!", as he nearly came into the bed, holding her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Oh, Jules...", before gasping softly as she pulled back slightly to look at him, "Did you stop Tremaine? Is Ella okay? Is everyone alright?".
"Tremaine's executed by now. Ella and the others are safe on the rest of this floor, asleep and tired...Leila...Oh, you're so beautiful as the stars...I nearly thought I lost you when you collapsed into a coma.", Jules whispered before kissing her deeply on the lips, and she closed her eyes as she kissed him back, reveling in the sensation of love in the kiss and in her heart.
After a long moment, they pulled away for fresh air, and Leila then remembered something...She smiled softly, "Jules...When I was in the coma, I met Amelie and Pietro, my first husband...", and Jules gasped softly, "Are they...they're not mad?".
Leila shook her head with a warm smile, "No... Amelie said that she'd be always be watching over you and Ella, and she's overjoyed that you're happy again, finding true love with me...She's all free and much, much better in the heavens...And Pietro, he was happy that I, his best friend found true love again, and that he'd always be watching over me and Juliet, and our grandson, and he's moved on, yet he was worried about something that you'd be perhaps upset about.".
Jules blinked, "Oh?", and Leila nodded softly, "Pietro wanted your permission to court Amelie, just to give her happiness and love again, and he's willing to just be friends with Amelie, courting her or not, never marriage as he doesn't want to hurt you or her either way.".
Jules chuckled as he gave a small smile, "Well... if that's what they wish... after all, they're both in a much better place than us... and hopefully it'll be a long time before we join them there.".
Leila nodded, "That was my thought as well... but I still had to ask...". She then sighed before glancing to Evangeline again, "I take it you probably told him everything...".
"About your past? Your true past, about you only having one son in Romeo who was turned into a woman? Those sorts of truths?", Jules replied. Leila nodded. "Yes...", Jules then kissed her on the lips to make sure she knew his answer to all that information.
Leila cried happily as she realized that Jules accepted her all as who she is, and who her family is, and considering that Ella is a purely kind child, she would easily accept the family too, at her age.
She whispered, "I love you, Jules...", and Jules whispered, "I love you too, Leila.", before looking back at Evangeline, "Thank you...And wherever we go, I'm glad to have your star watching over us.".
Evangeline smiled warmly, "You're very welcome, Jules. Well, good evening to you, and congratulations on your marriage. You're truly meant for each other.", before disappearing into her usual spiral of white-blue sparkles, heading home.
Jules and Leila smiled as the drapes moved on their own, leaving the couple with a few candles alight including a couple of gas lights on. Jules spoke softly, "If you want me to sleep in the chair, I could.", being polite even if he knew that he's her husband, he doesn't want to scare her like that bastard did.
Leila chuckled as she sighed, "You know you don't have to do that if you wish...", and Jules nodded before replying, "I know, but I just don't want to frighten you... bringing back too many bad feelings, considering the last man who laid with you.".
Leila nodded in understanding with his reasoning as he continued on, "And I hope you don't mind if maybe we postpone consummating our marriage for a few nights. Not exactly the place to do it here in the castle and if anyone finds out, questions will quickly be raised since the doctors told me to wait some time for you to recover before doing anything like that. And with home, we'd have to get Ella out of the way for that night less we wake her, or she walks in on us."
Leila smiled, "Don't worry, there's a way to muffle sounds. Gift of Evangeline years ago. I'll show you later, but right now, take off your shoes, and jacket, and you can sleep on top of the blankets...After all, we're married, but we're also going with the doctor's orders, okay?".
Jules then chuckled softly, "Okay...You truly find a compromise for those things...", taking off his shoes, and hung his jacket over the chair before carefully climbing into the bed, around Leila, and rested his head on the pillows as Leila settled in, as they faced each other, one snuggled under the blankets, and one atop the blankets.
"You know, I was shocked when I heard you denouncing your title like that...Do you really want to be...well, a regular commoner like me?", Leila whispered as she intertwined her hand with his, fingering their rings.
"It's... it's complicated... that's for sure. I mean, for starters, look at Tremaine, her and a bunch of the other women were all wanting me just for the titles and riches alone; those that weren't forced by fathers into trying to secure family unions.", Jules told her.
Leila nodded softly, "I guess the social pressure was greater on you than a village's social pressure on me...But that was in Italy...and I hoped that I'd make a living here with the family, but well, look at where we are...".
Jules lifted her hand, kissing it lovingly, "Yes, I admit it was bad luck there, but I wouldn't ever regret loving you, almost from the day we met...True, I didn't have love back then, but I had attraction...and how you cared for Carlo...it was like I couldn't think without having you in my thoughts every day if only for a few minutes or such as I felt like I knew you a bit even before we technically became friends...".
"Me too...I felt the same way, Jules...I'm really glad that you kept your real name for me and the family, and in the King and Grand Duke's acknowledgement, but Richard Russo, nobody wouldn't think twice...Are we going to sell the chateau after some time?...I mean, you care more for me and Ella, and in turn, the family.", Leila asked.
Jules replied with a sigh, "Within denouncing my title, my property will have to be sold in a week or two's time, considering the size and popularity of the chateau, and since I was a duke, probably a week at most, since who wouldn't want a chateau to rent or such? But perhaps, if we have Ella with your family at the cottage for that night, we could technically have a bit of a honeymoon in the chateau...if that's good for you...".
Leila smiled warmly, "I'd love to spend time with you and Ella as a family for the first few days, but yes, that's a brilliant idea...And oh...I have to free Ray and Naveen...", with a frown as she then remembered the two still retained slaves.