Gaston looked up cautiously, scrutinizing the prince's face. He had expected the prince to look down on him or squeamish, but the prince's gaze was like his butler's, scrutinizing Gaston's face, and also sad. Why was the second man already looking at him like that - intently and with some secret sadness?

It was getting on his nerves.

The silence lasted for quite a while. Finally, Prince Adam spoke:

"You... You're Belle's husband? What did you want?"

"I wanted... I wanted..." Gaston gathered air into his lungs and blurted out. "I wanted to ask you not to take my wife. Don't take Belle."

The prince was silent, and the hunter took advantage of his silence by quickly reciting a prepared speech.

"You can't take her just because she's the prettiest girl in town. No, you can, of course, but you shouldn't. You can't tear a person from the family. Yeah, you'll say we don't have feelings, that we're like animals. But even animals can't be separated, I know that. God or life will punish you for it, mark my words. Listen to me. I'm not going to threaten you or anything, but you'd better live with us nicely. If you start taking our wives, we got nothing to lose. You wouldn't want to face a mob of men with nothing to lose, would you?"

The Prince was still silent, and Gaston frowned. He did not want to anger His Highness so obviously and added:

"You'll say Belle will be here better. But she's not like other girls. She's- She's special. She can't be bought with dresses and jewelry. For her, a luxurious environment is still a cage. She won't be happy here even if you dress her up like a doll. She's... She's different. Too lofty, too delicate, too ethereal to be a maid or your mistress."

"I get it, I get it," the prince cut him off and, strangely worried, rose from his chair and walked to the window. "I wasn't going to take your wife. I... When I asked about her, I didn't know she was married."

Gaston didn't immediately realize what the prince had said, and when it came to him, he exhaled a sigh of relief.

"How long have you been married?" The prince suddenly asked. Gaston was surprised to see that he had clenched his fingers into fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"About a month ago. Newlyweds, you might say."

The prince looked at the hunter from head to toe:

"You're handsome and strong," he said at last.

"Well... That is what it is," Gaston was surprised at the unexpected compliment. "I was the most eligible groom in town."

Prince Adam turned back to the window again:

"So about a month ago, then... So that's when she came back..."

"Who came back?" Gaston asked.

The prince turned to him, his face, though sad, was calm.

"It's nothing. You know, it's not easy starting over. I don't want to offend anyone around here. I've been... I haven't been human in some way for too long. I don't want to lose everything again. Is there anything else you wanted?"

Gaston thought about objecting, but then he remembered Paulette's words. Things had changed, and that was why he should ask for a damn permit to hunt in the woods he thought were his own.

"What about hunting now? Is everyone allowed to hunt in the woods? How much of my prey should I give to the castle?"

The prince seemed surprised or even confused by his words. He quickly muttered:

"Of course, you can hunt as before. You don't have to give anything back."

"Nothing at all?"

"I'm not going to overeating Bell's food. Your and Belle's. I... The town must live as before, nothing will change for the townspeople.

Gaston shook his head:

"No, Your Highness. Things will change whether you want them to or not. Your blood is blue and ours is red. But thank you for letting me hunt as before and not taking my wife."

- You don't have to thank me for that. You may go, if that's all you wanted.

The hunter bowed and walked out.

He stood in the hallway, trying to catch his breath. It was amazing how smoothly everything had gone. The prince had turned out to be a normal man, even though he was an aristocrat. But he should be on guard, of course, in case this Prince Adam had so easily turned back to let his guard down, but why would he do that when he could just take Belle to himself by force? And why was he so sad? Why would he be sad in such a palace with wenches like that brunette and Paulette?

But he'll still have to give some of the prey to him. It's a trick, the prince says he doesn't need anything, but the prince won't hunt, right? Everybody wants to eat, even kings. It's better to bring him some of the prey at once than to have his knights knock on the door and take it all.

Gaston wandered the corridors for a while and finally came to the garden. He sat down by the fountain and washed his face. After all, he was overexcited.

There was a white-haired boy hanging around. He was watching the hunter as well as the butler and Prince Adam himself. But the boy still had a wariness in his gaze.

The boy stared and stared, and Gaston was beginning to get angry.

"What do you want from me, boy?" he asked.

"Did you force Belle to marry you after all? And keep her from coming here?"

"What?"

"You said you'd lock her father from the madhouse if she..."

Even if the ground had opened up under Gaston's feet, he would have been less surprised and frightened. This little bastard knew his dirty little secret that no one knew but himself, Lefou, Monsieur Darque, and Belle.

"What did you say, rat boy?"

The boy must have realized that things were bad, and before Gaston could leap up and grab him with his terrible hands, he dodged and started to run.

"Stop! Stop, you little bastard! I'll break your head!"