Gaston pushed the dungeon doors back and forth. The bars were at the very bottom, so whoever would be in this dungeon would have to lie on the floor to see something.

"Wow!" he whistled. "Did you keep Belle here?" Gaston looked at Adam, and then at Belle, who immediately rushed to the prince's defense.

"Oh, he kept me here for a short time, Gaston, he didn't even close the door. Then he and Lumiere took me to a charming room."

But Gaston was still in shock, staring into the prince's handsome, groomed face and his naive blue eyes, which had no association whatsoever with someone who could keep prisoners in a tower.

"Look, you're not offended that I made a little fun of your horns? I didn't mean anything with it-"

"I'm not offended," Adam smiled broadly, jingling his keychain. "What are you so nervous about?"

"No reason. I'm afraid to even ask, who were you keeping here?"

"God, you're like a child," Adam muttered, first opening and then closing the dungeon door, making sure the keys fit. "Why ask questions you don't want answered?"

Gaston remained silent, shrugging his shoulders. He'd only known Adam on the good side, but apparently he'd had some business when he was the Beast that he didn't want to divulge, even to Belle and Gaston. Or maybe, after the conversation with the cognac, the prince decided to remain himself and the saintliness, which he really did not possess, left his handsome exterior. The trio of them rehearsed a number of times. The plan was that Adam would have already captured Belle and Gaston and, meeting the military marshals and Jeannette and Paul at the castle gates, would offer them passage to the dungeon where, supposedly, Gaston and Belle, whom the prince had caught stealing, were already being held for confrontational interrogations. Most likely the marshals would agree and once everyone was in the tower, there Gaston and Adam would shove the traffickers into a cell and then explain everything to the marshals. Prince Adam's identity was a weakness in the plan, but the fact that the criminals were already in the dungeon and would not need to be caught should give the marshals confidence. Adam looked harmless and aristocratic, and people tend to trust power and youth with beauty.

This plan was actually Belle's. Adam had only suggested using the dungeon to shove the offenders in there, and Belle, who read a lot of books, had suggested that Jeannette and Paul be outplayed before the law. She referred to books where military marshals were easily persuaded by the pretty female protagonist. Gaston was worried, of course, because the last time they'd used a book situation in real life, things had gone wrong, but this time everything sounded logical and safe. And the way Belle rattled off quotes and some names of laws or whatever they were called had him truly enthralled. Belle had a great brain!

After rehearsing the dialog and movements, Adam went downstairs to the castle doors. Belle and Gaston, on the other hand, remained in the tower with their hands folded behind them and wrapped with a rope without a knot, so that the rope could be dropped at a moment's notice. A guard stood beside them as if guarding them, but they did not enter the chamber itself, the chamber was waiting for other guests. The second of the guards who stood at the gate blew a horn - strangers appeared near the castle. Gaston saw his foes Jeannette and Paul, with whom four military marshals were walking side by side.

Everything was going fine until Jeannette decided to gloat. She touched his always half-naked chest and slid her hand downward, an intimate and masterful movement. "Well, hello, Gaston," the woman smiled.

Gaston's heart dropped because he realized what was about to happen. He turned around, looking at Belle and saw that she had turned white with anger. Next, events began to unfold rapidly. Belle instantly shook the ropes from her hands and slapped Jeannette with all her might. The woman fell to the floor from the suddenness of the attack, and Belle climbed on top of her and clawed at her hair, slapping Jeannette:

"You're petting my man, aren't you?! You like that, huh? Take that! You still want to spend the night with him? Well? Maybe you want this?!"

"Help me, she's going to kill me!" Jeannette wailed in a breathless voice, more out of fear and surprise than actual physical harm. Gaston and Adam jumped around the fighting women like dumb chickens, not knowing how to safely pull Belle away from Jeannette.

At the same time they shoved Paul and the marshals with their strong arms, so that they rolled down the stairs, persuading them:

"Don't you hurt her, she's expecting a baby! Belle... Belle, darling... Darling... Let her go, let her go..."

"No way! "Belle screamed, gasping for breath. "I'm not done with her yet!"

Finally, Gaston intercepted Belle's wrist and, putting his other arm around her shoulders, lifted her off the floor, pulling her against him.

"Let me go!" Belle screamed, kicking. "Let go, I say!"

Adam rolled Jeannette, lying on the floor, into the dungeon, and then, grabbing a confused Paul by the arm, also pushed him into the cell and closed the door behind them. Gaston hugged Belle gently but firmly by the shoulders and quickly walked down the stairs from the tower past the marshals lying on the stairs, out of harm's way.

...

"I know... I know..." Belle repeated to another of Gaston's long tirades. She was sitting on the dining table in the hall, putting her feet up on the seat of the chair and eating slices of sliced cold beef with her hands. She was perfectly calm, and that confused Gaston.

"What do you know?" Gaston sighed and collapsed into the chair, gazing into her beautiful face with her huge almond-shaped eyes. Her hair was disheveled and her cheeks were flushed, and she was even more beautiful than ever.

"That I should be more careful. And so on and so forth and so on..."

"It's like you're not taking this seriously, Belle. You could have gotten hurt!"

"Me? Come on, Gaston. What makes you think I won't slap her? You think I'm a porcelain doll again?"

"Belle, you gotta take care of yourself. You mustn't make a fool of yourself-"

"She touched you," Belle stared at him with her huge eyes.

"So what!"

"She was petting you!" Belle wiped her hands with a silk napkin and threw it on the table in annoyance."What was I supposed to do? Just watch? Ugh, this is so infuriating..."

"I could have handled this problem myself!"

"I see how you handle it. If I was being touched in front of you, what would you do?"

"Belle, it's not the same thing!"

"Of course it is! God! You can be such a bore sometimes. I feel so much better now than when I was lying down all the time," she got off the table and Gaston got up too. "I've got an appetite! It's a wonderful feeling, you know. I should tell Lumiere to organize breakfast when the marshals leave."

"Are you sure they'll just leave?"

"Of course they will. Adam will convince them." Belle stepped closer to him and reached out her arms, fixing the collar of his shirt with a caring gesture, then put her arms around his neck. "God, you're so handsome..." she whispered. "It's strange that I've never seen it like this before. In the morning sunlight, you're like a Greek god of beauty..." She paused. "You got too easy for me, and I didn't guard you properly. Too many women still don't think you're a married man..."

"Oh, come on, Belle!"

Gaston, in turn, put his arm around her waist. "It's nothing like that. "

"Yeah?" she said.

"I've just been wondering why, when you started going to the market, why shopping became cheaper for us? It's not because the saleswomen are flirting with you, is it? It's not because of your pretty eyes?"

"No, of course not, Belle!"

In fact, quite often in recent weeks, Gaston had heard: "Oh, come on, take these vegetables for half price, you're so handsome!"

"Yeah?" she was quiet for a bit longer. "Well, anyway, I'm feeling much better, so I'll be going to the market by myself or with you if you're so worried I won't get a basket of vegetables."

"You should be more careful..." Gaston began again and Belle, sighing, dropped her arms and, releasing herself from his embrace, sat down on a chair, putting her hands on her knees.

"Gaston, come on, what do you want from me. I've already said I'm sorry. It was vulgar after all - the jealous wife who clutched at her rival's hair, I must be careful, and so on - but haven't you ever done things you'd regret? I've always done the right thing, always had a cool head. I didn't know what love was, what jealousy was. When she started touching you, I just had a red mist in front of my eyes, and that's all I could see. I'm just a human being like everybody else. You know, jealousy is a very painful feeling, but you know... Feelings... That's what I was deprived of. I had fictional feelings, ephemeral feelings, feelings for literary characters. Now I feel alive."

Gaston knew all too well what she was talking about. He was a passionate man, and easily got into fights. And jealousy... Oh, one hint of that feeling already tormented him. And he understood Belle. Belle... It was like she was awake and yes, she could do irrational things. And he certainly wasn't someone who would condemn her for it. Gaston came closer to her and sat down beside her on a chair and took her hands in his.

"I love you so much, Belle," he said quietly and very seriously, kissing her hands.