Chapter 1: The Proposal
It was a sunny morning in Paris, and as usual King Louis had to spend the entire morning listening to the monotonous voice of his advisor.
Wait, was he really listening? No, his mind was somewhere far away, daydreaming. It's been two weeks since Corinne and the musketeers left to stop the plot against the new king, and he found himself missing her terribly. He was counting every day for her to return, as he had so many things to tell her…
"Your highness?" His advisor repeated the question for the second time.
"Huh?" Louis slowly came back to reality. "I'm sorry, what were you talking about?"
"Your highness, are you still worried about the plot against you? The musketeers have taken care of it." The advisor assured Louis.
"I wonder what took them so long" Louis' patience was running short. He desperately wanted to see Corinne again.
"But Your Highness… Monsieur Treville and the musketeers have just returned to the castle. That's why I told you they have taken care of the mess."
"They're back?" Louis immediately stormed out of the room, leaving the old advisor standing surprised.
Meanwhile, Corinne, Viveca, Aramina and Renee were taking their horses to the stable.
"Oh, it's so nice to be back!" Corinne took a deep breath. The smell of Parisian air was always the best. "All these times traveling is killing my back."
"Oh yes, I can see why it's so nice to be back." Renee giggled, nudged Aramina and whispered to her:"I bet it has something to do with the King."
"I heard that." Corinne frowned, but anyone could see that her face was slightly blushing. "We're the Royal Musketeers. Our job is to protect the king, not flirt with him. You said so yourself, Renee."
"Who said anything about you flirting with him? You mentioned it yourself." Viveca laughed.
Corinne felt both annoyed and amused. She liked it when someone mentioned her and King Louis in the same sentence. It was her secret.
"Speak of the devil…" Viveca giggled, and quickly left with the others.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Corinne was about to run after them, but soon realized someone was standing behind her. It was Louis.
"Your highness!" She greeted him.
"Welcome back, Corinne." Louis smiled. "Would you like to take the balloon ride we planned before you had to go on that mission?"
Corinne was surprised at how straightforward he was. She just returned home, and he was already asking her for a balloon ride with him? Strange.
On the contrary, Louis didn't feel anything strange about his invitation. All the waiting for her to come back had pushed his patience to its limit. He wanted to get this done before he loses the guts to invite her again.
"You came to the stable just to ask me this?" Corinne asked.
"Yes." He replied. And seeing how hesitant she was, he added:"Come on, I promise you won't have to save me this time."
Louis filled the balloon with hot air and it slowly ascended. After a moment, they were already high up in the sky. And that's when the awkward silence began. It seemed Louis had converted back to his shy self.
With nothing else to do, Corinne stared down the palace. A few people were already looking up at them. She imagined her friends seeing this and teasing her to the rest of her life as soon as she came back. She felt a little bit embarrassed.
"Don't you think we should find another way to spend time together? I mean, this way the whole kingdom will know their king likes to hang out with a musketeer." She suggested.
"You think so, Corinne? Then, next time, I'll hang out with someone who isn't a musketeer. At least not solely a musketeer."
Corinne felt a little jealous, but managed to stay calm and ask Louis who it'll be.
"Who's that lucky person?" She asked, observing his facial expression.
Louis got closer to her, and took one of her hands into his.
"You, Corinne." He answered, gazing at her with admiration in his eyes.
"Me? But I'm a…" Corinne thought Louis was joking, but soon got the hint of what he said. "You don't mean…"
"Yes. Corinne D'Artagnan, will you be my queen?"
