Gwynplaine and Dea share an adoring, poetic bond that completely layout the cruel intentions of those who physically disfigured him as a child.
Though his artificial hideousness was designed to isolate him from humanity, nature counteracted this malice by providing him with Dea, a beautiful but blind orphan. Together, their respective afflictions create a providential balance: Gwynplaine finds himself selected and redeemed by a beautiful woman, while Dea operates in total security under his loving protection. Sheltered within their unique, idyllic universe, they enjoy a pure, soul-bound ecstasy, experiencing complete blindness toward nudity and physical disparity. Having grown up sleeping alongside their protector Ursus on the floor of a rolling van, Gwynplaine eventually transitions to sleeping on a bear skin with the old man or outside with their wolf, Homo, to guard Dea’s evolving innocence. Even as Dea matures into a breathtaking woman, Gwynplaine’s profound reverence and awareness of his own deformity maintain a saintly, virginal distance between them.
Ursus, acting as their gruff but deeply dedicated parental figure, frequently issues practical lectures on love while playfully threatening to marry them. Although he attempts to cool their intense ardor by privately pointing out Gwynplaine's hideousness to him and highlighting his overwhelming public success to Dea, his reverse-psychology warnings only solidify their mutual adoration. Ursus manages their unconventional education, teaching Gwynplaine philosophy and Latin while training both children in ancient vocal traditions to accompany his musical performances on the flute and hurdy-gurdy. Despite his extensive scholarly background, Gwynplaine routinely suffers from a guilty conscience, fearing he is deceiving Dea because she cannot see his monstrous face. However, when he confesses his ugliness, Dea effortlessly dismantles his insecurity, insisting that true deformity lies in doing evil, whereas Gwynplaine only acts with divine goodness.
By 1704, when Dea reaches sixteen and Gwynplaine turns twenty-five, their innocent partnership remains absolute, prompting Dea to observe that they are already spiritually married. Although natural male impulses occasionally cause Gwynplaine to glance at external women, the universal disgust and aversion he receives in return quickly drive him back to his internal paradise with Dea. Over the fifteen-year interval, their severe poverty transitions into notable prosperity. Their dilapidated old hut has been replaced by a large, pristine, green-painted theater on wheels known as the "Green-Box," pulled by two robust horses and announced by trumpeting bohemian women named Phoebé and Vénus. Driven proudly by Ursus with Homo chained beneath the chassis, this grand caravan marks the spectacular evolution of their nomadic lifestyle. This growth is entirely fueled by Gwynplaine’s growing renown as a celebrated fairground performer whose miraculous, contagious grin attracts immense, paying crowds at every festival and market, proving Ursus right that his deformity would eventually make their fortune.