Prologue

On the night of February the eighteenth, fifty men left the quiet little town of Villemont in order to protect it from what they believed to be a fearsome, ravenous, child-eating beast. In the early hours of February the nineteenth, forty-nine men returned to the small provincial village, eagerly awaiting the return of the town's tavern owner, hunter, local legend, and the leader of their little uprising against the monster, Gaston Dubois. Hours turned into days before the residents began to seriously question the hunter's whereabouts. Many of the men who frequented the tavern (which had now been put temporarily out of business due to its proprietor's absence) entertained the idea of going back to the castle to find him, before remembering their own experiences with the palace, shuddering, and deciding that it was not worth it.

Little more than a week later, the town was awoken by the screams of a young woman who had noticed a large object that mysteriously appeared overnight several feet away from her front door when she came out early to empty her chamber pots. Upon further inspection she had discovered it to be a well-built, velvet lined coffin containing Gaston's mangled body along with a note explaining that he had fallen to his death while fighting the fearsome monster that occupied the castle, along with confirmation that the beast had indeed perished that night. Again, the villagers thought about going back to the castle to demand more of an explanation, but decided against it for their own safety.

It wasn't long until the little provincial village had a new hero. Before Gaston was even cold in the ground, another man appeared in town and took over the running of the tavern. A man who could drink ten steins of beer in one sitting and still spend the rest of the night dancing with the ladies who adored him. Guillaume was an instant hit with men, women and children alike. The town, mourning Gaston's death, had latched onto the handsome young man, and was soon worshipping him at his feet, just as they had done to Gaston just months before. Women wanted him. Men wanted to be him. Everyone loved him.

Everyone except one man. To Paul-Claude Le Fou, Gaston was more than just the local town legend. He was a god. He had been Le Fou's closest friend for most of his life. As a child, Le Fou had been relentlessly bullied for being short, dimwitted, and cowardly. Gaston, several years older and already the town's favourite guy, felt pity for the young boy and took Le Fou under his wing. From that moment on, the other townspeople began to respect him. As long as Le Fou was with Gaston, no one dared to make fun of him and Le Fou repaid him for this with total and utter blind devotion.

But now Gaston was long forgotten by the fickle townspeople. It seemed that as soon Guillaume arrived in Villemont, Gaston's spirit disappeared from the village almost immediately. Even the Baudelaire triplets, who had formerly swooned over Gaston and swore that he would their own one day, married nearly a year later to three handsome triplet brothers who owned a farm just outside the village and promptly forgot about the man who used to be at the centre of all their dreams. It was almost as if Gaston had never lived there at all.

"Beers on the house tonight boys, for today is one of great significance!"

Le Fou was suddenly jolted from his thoughts and lifted his head from the bar table where he had been lying in a stupor for the past half hour. He ignored the loud, drunken cheers that filled the tavern following this announcement and looked expectantly at the larger man. He hadn't expected Guillaume, of all people, to remember that today was the fifth anniversary of Gaston's death. He hadn't even been living in Villemont when Gaston had died.

"Oui, my friends, today is the twenty-sixth anniversary of the birth of the great Prince Étienne."

More cheers. Le Fou scowled and returned his head to the table. He should have known. Barely anyone in the village remembered Gaston. The mention of the prince did not improve his mood at all either. Everytime he heard that name, he felt a great amount of bitterness and resentment in his heart. Almost immediately after Gaston's death, the prince, whom all the land had presumed lost forever, mysteriously returned and announced his plans to marry one of the town's own, Belle Desrosiers who had freed him from a vicious beast that had been keeping him prisoner for nearly a decade. This announcement had made him very popular amongst the French people who believed that, through his choice of a peasant girl for a bride, they had a sense of camaraderie with him, as well as a feeling that he understood their plight, especially in comparison to the Versailles royals whose materialistic way of life was greatly scorned by the average Frenchman.

In spite of his name, Le Fou was not fooled. He knew Étienne was the one who had killed Gaston. The prince must have fallen in love with Belle, and, believing that Gaston was a threat, lured the unsuspecting hunter to his doom with a ridiculous conspiracy about a beast in a castle. Belle and the old man must have been in on the plan too. The events seemed to be too closely intertwined to be considered to be merely a coincidence.

Prince Étienne had been the one who had been responsible for Gaston's murder five years ago. He had stolen Gaston's life as well as his woman. Le Fou knew it and the thought that the prince was living happily and consequence-free with Belle in his castle made him sick. He wanted revenge.