Adrien felt his stomach clench as he reread the note.
"No matter what my father put in his will..."
He stood up quickly and walked toward the door, holding the note tightly in his hand. Tikki and Plagg stopped their bickering and his tutor grabbed him by the arm, eyes large and slightly scared at Adrien's expression.
"Whoa there, kitten. Hold on a second! Talk to us and tell us what's going on here before going off to do something crazy."
"I'm going to go find Marinette." Adrien said, his voice hard and determined as only his tutor had heard before, mouth tightly clenched as he walked down the stairs. "But first, I'm going to figure out what is going on in this house. She said something about a will, do you know anything about that?" he asked Tikki over his shoulder. Tikki shook her head.
"Only what Marinette told me, which wasn't much. She just said her father left her to Lila's guardianship until the day of her marriage, which I can't believe from him. That woman can't have tampered in the will, can she? Even she couldn't do something like that!"
Plagg was running after them, saying quickly
"Okay, I agree, we have to figure out what the heck is going on here. And then what, Adrien? We don't know where she could have gone!"
"She can't have gone far, right? We know she was still here as of midnight, maybe even twelve thirty."
"How do you know that?" Plagg demanded as he and Tikki hurried to keep up with him down the stairs.
"The shoe. Her stepmother has the other shoe, which means she must have come back here."
Tikki made a noise of assent.
"And she left the gown outside my house, which means she can't have left before then anyway - I was awake and waiting for her until then."
Adrien stopped paying attention to their putting together of clues and marched right back up the hall, pausing for a moment to put a smile of polite confusion on his face before opening the door once again and saying
"Madame, I'm afraid I must ask you-"
Then he broke off as he saw the scene in the room. No one was speaking, but Madame Rossi was crying great crocodile tears on her sofa by the window, dabbing at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. Alya was still being physically held back by Nino as she continued to glare at the widow, Sabrina was sitting and shaking on her chair in the corner, also in tears, and Nathalie was standing by the door, staring at Madame Rossi with distaste. Adrien looked around, then leaned in to mutter into Nathalie's ear.
"Where is Miss Bourgeois?"
"She requested a few moments of time to fetch something. She said it might help you." Nathalie responded quietly. "Perhaps it wasn't what you would have done, but I, too, pride myself on being an excellent judge of character, and it seems to me that she's trying to do you some good."
"You noticed that, too?" Adrien muttered. Nathalie nodded just as Plagg slipped into the room, followed by a still-fuming Tikki.
"You've got some explaining to do, Lila Rossi." she said menacingly. "What did you do to her last night?!"
"I'm so sorry!" Madame Rossi cried, tears still running down her cheeks. "I… I went up to see if Marinette was feeling better this morning and she wasn't there! I thought-"
"Madame Rossi, I believe we've heard enough." Nathalie said, stepping away from the door for the first time. Madame Rossi gasped and moved away from the approaching woman - and Adrien couldn't entirely blame her. He'd been on the receiving end of that threatening glare before. Nonetheless, he reached out a hand and stopped Nathalie from advancing any further.
"Wait. I think I'd like to speak to Madame Rossi and her daughters for a moment. Would the rest of you please give us a moment?"
The people in question looked at him in surprise and confusion, but all heeded the tone of authority in his voice and quickly walked out of the room, except Nathalie. She looked hard at Adrien, who nodded - he hadn't really expected anything else from his father's steadfast assistant.
Adrien sat down in one of the chairs farthest away from Madame Rossi and looked over at Sabrina, adjusting his voice to something less authoritative.
"Miss Sabrina, would you give me your story of the last few nights, please?"
Sabrina looked up through her all-too-real tears and nodded, saying thickly
"Marinette… she knew she wouldn't be able to go to the festival, she told me so. She said Mother wouldn't let her, so she wasn't going to get her hopes up. But I thought she should, I really wanted her to! So I talked to my mother and asked if Marinette could come and be a part of the family with us, and she said she'd think about it and talk to Marinette, and the next thing I heard…"
She broke down again at that, burying her face in her handkerchief again. Adrien walked over to her and knelt beside her chair, gently patting her arm. It took several seconds for Sabrina to compose herself enough to continue.
"Mother didn't say anything about it until we were already on our way to the festival. I tried to ask, but she never admitted to anything until we were gone, and then she said… she told me… Marinette had been making a dress and was planning on going just to use us to get close… to get close to you. She said Marinette had just said she couldn't go because she wanted to get rid of me! And Mother said the only reason Marinette wasn't going anymore was because she'd destroyed the dress Marinette had made for herself. I don't know why I believed her, Marinette's the kindest girl in the world and she'd never do that to someone!"
Sabrina finished and buried her face in her hands once more, overcome with remorse. Adrien looked up at Madame Rossi, who was looking back at her daughter with a fake look of confusion and shock.
"Sabrina, I was just looking out for you! You know I would never do something like that!"
"And if you think we believe that, you're a bigger fool than I thought."
They all looked up to see Chloé standing in the doorway, holding a black box in her hands. She was looking at her mother in fury and clearly had been listening to her sister's story. She walked over and took Adrien's place at Sabrina's side, setting the box on the floor and pulling her sister into a hug while still glaring daggers at their mother.
"I hope you're happy. You got what you wanted for this long, but I'm through letting you treat my sister like that - Either of them." she said, letting go of Sabrina and picking up the box once more. She held it out to Adrien, who took it carefully and said
"What's this?"
"It's everything she's done to Marinette." Chloé responded with a venomous smile to rival her mother's before turning to that woman again. "You got complacent. You assumed we were all too scared of you - stupid, really. You should have known better. My father was a politician, after all."
During this, Adrien had set the box on the side table and opened it gingerly. Inside was set the second glass shoe, sparkling and completely intact, atop a pile of papers. Adrien took out the shoe and looked at Chloé.
"Where did you find this?"
"My mother's room. Along with a rather large collection of items she was using to try to smash it. Care to explain that, Mother?" Chloé spat. Madame Rossi was looking at the box in horror and fury.
"Chloé, how dare you? How DARE you, you ungrateful little-"
She sprang from the couch and made for her daughters, only to be stopped by Nathalie, who set one hand on her shoulder in a touch Adrien knew well. It looked seemingly harmless, but Nathalie's grip under her glove was like iron. Madame Rossi stopped short. As they all watched, she was led forcibly back to the couch and sat down again as she returned her eldest daughter's glares. Chloé didn't break eye contact, but held her sister tightly and said
"Your highness, I believe you'll find more concrete evidence in the papers."
Adrien turned back to the box and reached into it, noticing a familiar shape on top of them. He picked up the box and opened it to reveal the glittering ruby earrings. He looked Madame Rossi dead in the eye as he set both the shoe and the box into the bag still slung over his shoulder. Then he picked up the papers and looked at them quickly before freezing.
"Miss Bourgeois, what is all this?"
"It's memos." Chloé said, looking at him once more, her face graver than he'd ever seen it. "Every time I could think of when my mother treated Marinette like a servant or worse. I've only been writing them up for a few days now, but it looks to me like it's already more than enough. I would go so far as to say that Marinette has been abused in this household, and I take full responsibility for my own actions in that. I was… I still am sometimes, a mean and spoiled girl, and it's only in the past few weeks that I've really come to understand what I was doing to her."
Chloé looked back at her mother with a triumphant and smug smile, seeming not to be fazed by her mother's expression.
"You taught me well, Mother. I never lied to you once during this whole charade. You thought Marinette was the one who took the jewelry back that night. She was, but I saw her leave your room. Turns out, she was so upset she didn't notice what was in the rest of the box."
She looked back at Adrien, who was still staring at the pile of papers in his hand. He forced himself to read a few more.
"Mother slapped Marinette for forgetting the sugar bowl at breakfast about three weeks ago. No other reason. No previous record of Marinette doing this."
"Two, three weeks ago? Can't remember: Marinette was forced to give up dinner due to 'tardiness'. Her 'tardiness' was due to the fact that she was doing extra laundry for us instead."
"Five days ago. Mother screamed at Marinette for taking jewels that once belonged to her mother. Looked like she was about to throw her to the floor before I took the blame. Glad I did go into her room last night."
"Four days ago. Marinette was 'asked' to make gowns for us, tried to defend herself and ask for respect and was seriously threatened and slapped by mother."
And finally, at the end of the pile, was a paper that looked like it had been penned in a hurry and hadn't been allowed to dry completely. A few of the letters were smeared, but it was still entirely legible.
"Mother believes Marinette is Ladybug. Tried to get her to admit it this morning, Marinette didn't fall for it. Instead wants me to try to call her out tonight. Gave me earrings - where did she get them? - and wants me to wear them tonight to get attention. Might serve the purpose. May convince Marinette to go to the police?"
Chloé noticed Adrien's shaking hands and gestured to the bottom of the box.
"There's a smaller compartment in the jewelry case, your highness. I think you should take a look at it."
As Adrien peered down into the velvet lining, he did, in fact, see a small crevice and a tiny ribbon sticking out of it. He pulled on it gently, revealing a fake bottom and yet another document. He picked it up and realized it was signed and sealed. He looked at it carefully as he opened it, then his eyes widened as he took in the title of the page.
"The Last Will and Testament of Thomas Dupain"
He gestured to Nathalie, who looked at Lila for a moment and then moved toward him. Adrien held out the paper to her and Nathalie scanned it quickly.
"Has this been tampered with?" Adrien asked quietly, keeping his eyes on Madame Rossi, who was in turn keeping her own eyes fixed on him, her face set but her eyes now showing fear behind her defiance. Nathalie looked at it more closely and narrowed her eyes.
"I can't entirely tell. It looks right at first, but there are a few inconsistencies in the handwriting. It would have to be analyzed by experts, but it's enough to make it null and void in the meantime."
Adrien looked at it again and scanned the pages for the familiar name. And there, in the middle of the document, was the paragraph.
"My beloved Marinette, I leave you in the care of her stepmother, Lila Rossi, until your marriage or until you come of age. On that day, I leave you all the possessions of your mother and my first wife, Sabine Cheng, in the knowledge that our beloved daughter will care for them and remember us through them. I pray that you will forgive me for leaving you so early, but I pray also that you may find consolation with your stepmother and stepsisters and that you may support each other when I am gone."
Adrien looked up, holding his temper by a tight leash as he met Madame Rossi's eyes once more.
"Is there something you'd like to say, Madame? Because even the most cursory reading of this tells me that you are guilty of both abuse of a minor and gross misuse of a legally binding document."
"I don't understand!" Madame Rossi said, but her eyes betrayed her. Chloé just held her sister's hand tighter and said
"Forget it. You're not getting out of this. You think I haven't been in contact with Dupain's lawyer? He's the one who suggested I keep a record of this. You're done, you're not getting out of this."
By this time, Adrien was almost having to physically stop himself from running out of the house to look for his princess, but he knew this had to come first. He looked at Madame Rossi and said, in a voice that sounded terrifyingly like his father's,
"Lila Rossi, I have enough evidence here to call for your immediate imprisonment as we look at the case. You will be taken back to the palace with Madame Sancour and placed under arrest until a verdict has been decided."
"What?!" she screamed back at him as Nathalie approached her, backing away as she did so. "You can't do that! Do you know who I am? I have connections everywhere - no! There has to be some kind of mistake here, please! Don't lock me up, I'm just a poor widow who didn't know any better!"
It was clear she was reaching the end of her string of lies, since none of these were even remotely believable, and she obviously understood this even as she finished speaking. Nathalie grabbed her by the upper arms and held them behind her back, while Madame Rossi just shut her mouth tightly and allowed tears to fall from her eyes.
Adrien didn't believe her reaction for a second, and neither did anyone else in the room. Sabrina, surprisingly, was the first one to move, rising from the couch she'd been seated on and walking to the door, holding it open as Nathalie led her mother through it. Adrien followed with Chloé, to find the hallway occupied only by Plagg. He looked smug as he saw Madame Rossi's position and nodded toward the front of the house.
"Someone came along and had to talk to Tikki. Adrien, it might be important. You should go check it out - I'll handle things here."
Sabrina and Chloé followed Adrien out the front door, walking close together and not looking at their mother as they passed her. Adrien blinked in the bright sunlight and then saw the horses, presumably dropped by Nino, grazing around the courtyard, and just down the stairs, a small group of people standing in a circle.
Tikki, Alya, Nino, and a young man with a head of messy red hair.
Adrien walked down the stairs quickly, racking his brains to think where he remembered the stranger from, but it was eluding him. He approached and they all turned to him, Tikki with a look on her face, half joy and half concern.
"Your highness, Marinette was here in the village this morning! She can't be far, we have to go after her quickly!"
Adrien nodded at her and turned to the stranger, who he assumed was the bearer of this information.
"This morning, you said? About what time?"
The stranger blanched and bowed - a rough and rudimentary bow, but a bow nonetheless.
"Err… well, your highness, that's a difficult question to answer…"
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Nathaniel Kurtzburg!" Alya shouted. "Just get on with it!"
Adrien suddenly recognized the young man - the cad - from the bridge, and felt his anger, still heightened, rising against him. Nathaniel turned bright red, his face approaching the hue of his hair.
"Alya! I - I ran into her after the festival last night. She was running away from Chloé, she said Chloé might have figured her out, and I walked with her out of the city. I stopped what I thought was the Rossi's carriage to give her a little extra time, but it turns out it wasn't. Marinette showed up at my house maybe a little over an hour later? She was carrying a bag and asked if she could stay with me for the night… I thought she was going to stay a little later in the day until she had a plan, but I left the house to see if there really was a royal group in the village."
He looked ashamed as he finished sadly
"She left without telling me. She asked me to go see where you were headed, and when I got back, she was gone. I tried to find you, Alya, I know you were a good friend of Marinette's for a long time and I thought maybe she'd gone to you, but then I had to follow you here, and when I saw Tikki, I knew something was wrong, and I-"
He suddenly seemed to notice the two pretty girls behind Adrien and he stuttered to a halt. Alya put a hand on his arm and shook him - hard.
"Nathaniel, focus! Did she say anything last night? Anything that might tell us where she went?"
Nathaniel shook his head.
"Nothing. She just came in and said she had left, then she wouldn't say anything else. But she looked like something more had happened after she got back. She tried to hide it, but she was limping a little and there seemed to be something wrong with her breathing, like she had a broken rib or something."
Adrien had had enough. He cut in and said fiercely
"I know enough to get going. Was she still limping this morning?"
Nathaniel nodded, and Adrien looked around at the people in the circle.
"I have to find her. I think I might know where she's going, or at the very least, I know where she might try to go in the future. I have to go now. Kurtzburg, when did she leave?"
Nathaniel looked intimidated by the use of his last name and the tone in which it was uttered, but he quickly answered
"No more than an hour ago, sir. Your Highness. Sir. Err… she left probably less than an hour ago."
"Right." Adrien said, starting down the drive. "I'd be faster on a horse, but she might be listening for that, so I'll have to go on foot. I know where she's going anyway, and it'll be more inconspicuous."
"Where are you going? Do you think you know where she'll be?" Sabrina asked frantically as they all followed after him. Chloé snapped her fingers, making the rest of them turn around, and said promptly,
"She's going to get the rest of her mother's jewels, isn't she? I thought she'd be going the other direction, but she'd never leave without them. She'll probably barter for what she can and ask for mercy for the rest!"
Adrien nodded and kept walking, saying over his shoulder
"I'll find her. And if she hasn't arrived yet, I'll ask the manager to send me a message when she does."
Tikki came running up behind and fell into step beside him, saying fiercely
"Let's go. If we run, we could catch her quickly."
Adrien stopped and placed a hand on her arm, looking down at the older woman seriously.
"No. I have to do this myself. I'll bring her back. I promise."
Tikki looked into his eyes, and nodded once.
"Thank you. But she might be more comfortable with the… other one."
Adrien laughed slightly.
"Is there even a difference?"
Greetings, lovely readers! A nice long conclusion chapter, Lila getting her just desserts, and our prince out to find his princess. And then next week will be our final chapter!
That's so sad to say, but I can't wait to share the ending with you. I hope you'll find it fulfilling and well excecuted. Hopefully I won't be late posting it - no later than Monday afternoon, I can tell you that.
As always, thank you all so much for the comments and love you show to me. I love you all, I'm sending virtual hugs since so many of us are still shut down, and I will see you all next week for the final chapter!