The New Life. Part two.

"What right did he have to do that? It's not like we're obligated to buy his fat. It's not logical! I can't believe there was something awful behind his smile all this time! I can't believe it!" Jean shouted these words, waving his arms and kicking rocks around. "I can't believe it! And how could we trust him! More accurately, it's my fault. It's my fault for making a contract with him without your permission. I should have told you and then I would have known that our supplier was still your Lucy. It was my mistake. I'm sorry."

Still smelling smoke from the fire, Adelard sat in his chair and twirled a coin in his hand. He didn't say anything, he just stared at the silver coin. "The gendarmes arrested them all. They made me an interrogation of course. But I told them everything. Now, Louis and his sons will get what they deserve. That's right! They deserve it! I'll even make sure they're locked up behind bars for a few years. I'll make sure they spend the rest of their lives there!" Jean continued shouting even when several other men entered the room. "What do you want? Go away!"

"Monsieur, we wanted to say," began a young man who had just started working in this factory. And he didn't even know the reason why he had been hired. Still, he was glad to be in the same building with the legendary Adelard.

"Get out! Now!" Jean shouted too loudly that Adelard covered his ears and closed his eyes. He didn't want to be where he was now at all. After what had happened on the bridge, he wanted to drop everything altogether and just start living again. Nothing made sense to him. Not even his factory, not even his friend, who worried too much.

"I've aged. I feel like I've gotten old in a day. I'm just going crazy! What's wrong with these people? What if the whole factory burned down? What then? What if someone got hurt? Adelard are you listening to me?!"

"Yes. I hear you," Adelard said quietly, smiling like a madman who understood nothing.

"Do you have any idea what's going on? Adelard! What's the matter with you?! I always knew you were strange, but I didn't know you were that strange! Your factory was on fire! Your life's work was in danger! Can you hear me? Adelard, open your eyes. If you go on being the way you are, you'll start living just like that guy named Gaspard!"

"It's all right, isn't it? No one got hurt, the factory is safe and sound. Why are you shouting like that?! Jean, I don't understand you. You're the weird one. It's over. Why talk about it over and over again?"

"Sometimes looking at you, I understand your parents," Jean said quietly and immediately realized he shouldn't have said that. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Adelard covered his face with his hand and sighed heavily. With all his might, he wanted to be happy, but all he was getting was suffering and worrying about everything around him. Jean sat down on his knees and grabbed his hand and said, "Adelard, I fear for your future. You're still a child. And you don't want to grow up. What's going to happen to you? You're all alone in this scary world. What will people do to you?" There was pain in his voice, tears in his eyes and a storm in his soul. "Adelard, I'm too scared."

Hugging him tightly, Adelard said, "Now, I'm not alone in this scary world."

"I'm your friend, but I know I'm not that important to you."

"I'm not talking about you. Jean," Adelard whispered and took his face in his hands. Wiping away a tear with his finger, he said softly, "I'm getting married. She has accepted my love and trusted hers."

"What?" That was all Jean could utter. His face suddenly became surprised and his mouth even opened slightly.

"You are surprised. Why?"

Jean was not able to say anything. It was only when young Theo entered the room that he said, "Don't let anyone in."

"Yes, Monsieur."

Silence hung over them like a big bird. It was a strange silence that belonged to an overly sunny morning. All they could hear was the singing of birds and bees. But for Adelard, this silence was loud. For his heart was still beating too fast, too loud. What more could one say about such silence? Only that there was too much pain and dangerous thought on Jean's part. But only now smiling, Jean changed his mood abruptly and said, "I am very happy for you my friend. I am happy! We need to celebrate. Let's go! It's not like we're going to sit here and keep thinking about this fire."

Adelard was very happy at the sight of the smile on his friend's face. He needed that encouragement. And one smile was enough to make him sure it was all real. "We'll celebrate tonight. But right now I have some things to do."

"What? What business could you possibly have?"

"Tonight, I'm coming over to your house. Now, I must leave you."

"Where are you going? To see her? You only saw her a few hours ago. Do you miss her already? Did something happen between you two already?"

"You're so nosy."

"When it comes to love, all people get nosy. After all, gossip about love can wake up even a dead man."

"Did you make that up yourself? It sounds strange and even creepy."

"You won't answer my question?"

Adelard merely threw his sly look at him and quickly grabbed his jacket and left the room.

He was sad.

What can be worse than when a person in love has to deal with everyday matters? It's a terrible feeling, isn't it? When your heart is full of wonderful feelings and you keep doing things that don't matter anymore. But it's also scary. After all, love makes it so that everything becomes meaningless. Your favorite job, your life's work, your thoughts, your books, everything loses its value and the most important thing becomes just love. Just a person. Adelard had no idea of his condition yet. He didn't care. For no matter how hard he tried to be serious, he still couldn't. After all, Celeste's face was always in front of his eyes. Always her. Everywhere and all around him. But when he stopped in front of a gray building that looked like an evil wizard's castle, he was still able to forget about her a little bit and look into the eyes of reality.

Now, in front of him was the gendarmerie.

"Monsieur, can I help you with something?" a young man in a new uniform asked, clearly noticing all the beauty of Adelard.

"I need to talk to someone. I can come in, can't I?"

"I know you. You are Monsieur Adelard Mars," the young man said, not holding back his emotions of admiration.

"Yes. That's me."

"Wait! I think you have come to Monsieur," the young gendarme had just begun, but Adelard interrupted him.

"I need to speak to your superior. Monsieur Pierre."

"Monsieur Pierre is in his office. Please follow me."

After the door opened, a whole row of desks with busy gendarmes appeared before Adelard's face. It was only when they reached the very end of the hall that a young man knocked on the door and a tired, quiet voice was heard.

"Monsieur, Monsieur Adelard wants to speak to you."

A tall man with snow-white hair and an incredibly kind face carelessly tossed a newspaper on the table and raised his blue eyes. "You may go," Monsieur Pierre said, slowly directing his gaze to the gold ring that was on Adelard's index finger.

Monsieur Pierre, or as he was more commonly known, the Wizard, had been the chief of the local gendarmerie for many years. And that snow-white hair was the result of constant stress and a desire to do as much good as possible.

"I knew you would come here," Monsieur Pierre or the Wizard said, leaning against the back of his chair. "I will not offer you coffee or tea. You won't like them. You should never drink anything here."

Nervous, Adelard, like the most dangerous criminal, clenched his hands in his fists and feeling the sweat on his back, took a deep breath and said, "Monsieur, I think you know why I am here."

The cramped office was too hot and flies were everywhere. Adelard couldn't breathe and wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. He felt as if all his non-existent sins were coming to the surface of the truth.

"You are so worried, as if you have committed some crime. Don't be afraid of me, Monsieur. It doesn't suit you. You look too noble to sit and sweat like that," Monsieur Pierre said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Looking at the clock, he asked, "So why are you here? Do you really want to see whoever set your factory on fire?"

Adelard's eyes shone with the light of agreement.

"So that's what this is about. You know what, here, we all know you very well. We know everything about you. You're a very kind man. And my boys even had time to bet on whether you'd come here or not. Everyone was right. You did come. Let me guess, you want to free that awful man and his wicked sons?"

"Yes."

Monsieur Pierre laughed loudly and slammed his fist on the table. "What kind of a man are you? Monsieur, who are you?"

"Perhaps it is my fault, after all, for what happened. I am the one who did not warn Monsieur Louis. I understand him. I and my men gave him hope. And what can be worse than giving a man hope and then disappointing him."

Now, looking sadly at Adelard's red face, at his too kind eyes, Monsieur Pierre thought about something for a moment and then said, "In that case, come with me."

All the stories about prisons Nicholas had told him always terrified him.

Uncomfortable feelings of pity for all those poor people behind bars began to choke him. And those gray walls with insects crawling all over them reminded him of ancient times. He felt sick at the very thought of everything around him, and here, everything stopped.

Noticing the pity, pain, and sadness on his face, Monsieur Pierre said, "Don't pity them Monsieur. They deserve it. This is only the beginning. They have the real prison ahead of them."

Adelard said nothing. All his attention was on the old man who sat in the very corner of the stone room. He looked like a skeleton and only his black eyes blinked at times and said otherwise.

"Don't look at them. They know people like you very well. So you'd better not look at them."

"People like me?"

"Yes, Monsieur, people like you."

Stopping, Monsieur Pierre approached Adelard and said in a whisper, "You should not have come here."

And the next second, Adelard's attention was directed ahead.

Monsieur Louis, sitting in the very center of the stone room looked dejected. His old face bore all shades of sadness. His wrinkled hands trembled and tried to soothe each other. His face, distorted by old age, was the same as the stone wall, which was moldy in places. The marks of time were too deep.

Adelard's heart ached at the sight of the suffering that was his fault. It was hard for him to look at an overly old man who suddenly found himself behind bars. And yet freedom was in his blood. Perhaps Adelard thought too loudly, for Monsieur Louis looked up and froze.

In a matter of seconds, all the colors of hatred appeared on his face. He saw his worst enemy.

"Sit down and don't move! One move and you'll spend another ten years in here!" the gendarme shouted, hitting the bars with his stick.

"Please don't do that," Adelard said quietly. "Can I talk to him?"

"If I leave you here, I think they'll all just break the bars and throw themselves at you."

Moving closer to the bars, Adelard lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry."

"You're just pathetic! You know that, don't you? You're always pretending to be a good man, but you're the real evil one! You are a pathetic and petty man!" the man behind the bars exclaimed.

And then, as one would expect from these people, there followed a flight of spittle that landed on Adelard's new shoes. This was followed by the sounds of laughter and the banging of sticks on the bars.

"Quiet, everybody!"

"Hey Monsieur, come here! I'll make you happy!" a young man shouted, winking at Adelard.

"Shut up!"

"Monsieur! You know me, don't you!"