Chapter 4

Life changing experiences, like a coming of age for example, should be exciting. After all, it's opening oneself to the world of adulthood. New opportunities arise, and new doors are open to one finally becoming a grown-up. It's also something to be expected since everyone has to grow older at some point. Reaching the coming of age can be a happy thing, so why is Marinette anything but?

Of course she knew why. Since she was a princess entering adulthood, nobles from around France, and some of its bordering cities from foreign lands, will be attending to offer their son up for marriage. Lord Agreste will more than likely be doing the same with either Adrien or Felix, though she was hoping for Adrien more than Felix. Alya, while always a great friend, is likely to tease her about boys seeking the royal blessing. Adrien would be constantly protecting her from the prying arms of the numerous potential suitors yet also continue to shamelessly flirt with her in the process. And now she has a And now she has a kwami friend named Tikki who she has to keep secret.

Why can't life be so simple for the princess of Paris?

"Marinette, mother says you need to hurry up," the bluenette heard Manon say from the other side of her bedroom door.

"Just a minute," Marinette replied as she finished getting around.

Once her attire was complete, she took a second to admire her look in the mirror. The dress was one of her own design, adorned with red and black yet still maintaining the regal look. Her makeup was done in a way that accented her eyes best without clashing with her red lipstick. Her hair was pulled back in an elegant French braid with a rose pin holding it in place. She could tell that the look would do wonders for her, but she wished that it was all done for a different circumstance.

Thankfully she had her new friend Tikki supporting her, though the small creature elected to remain hidden within the earrings. That part wasn't very surprising since appearing from the jewelry was how they met. What did surprise the young princess was that the little kwami was able to communicate through her via thoughts. Which was why she almost yelped out when she heard Tikki say in her head, "Don't worry. You'll knock them dead."

How is this possible? Marinette thought, Am I going crazy or something?

"Sorry," Tikki replied, "I forgot to mention that since you were chosen to bear my miraculous, we are able to speak telepathically."

Before the two could delve deeper into this new topic, Marinette heard Alya from the other side of the door call out, "I'm coming in whether you're ready to go or not."

And with that statement, Alya barged into the princess's chambers. It was something that the redhead had done before in the past, such as how the girls first met. Alya swore that she heard someone in distress at the time even though Marinette was perfectly fine. The only issue was reinforcing the door for when it would happen again. It was shocking how much damage that girl could do to a door.

Nevertheless, Alya managed to still make an impacting entrance without damaging the door this time. However, her entrance was prepared to be followed by scolding for being late, until she noticed Marinette's current attire. Soon her face went from being frustrated to being adorned with an impresses grin as she said, "Damn princess. The guests will absolutely love this."

"You don't think it's too much?" Marinette asked as she glanced at herself in the mirror once again.

"Are you kidding?" Alya replied, "I feel like marrying you myself."

Both girls laughed at the remark until they heard one of the guards clear their throat. Which had reminded them that they needed to make their way to the throne room as soon as possible. After Marinette thanked her friend for not destroying the door this time, she joined her little sister on their way to the throne room. Once they had arrived, Marinette was immediately met with concern.

The throne room, while very large, was packed with visitors from across the lands. There were even nobles from outside of France itself. Thankfully she was able to spot a few familiar faces from the crowd, though Adrien was nowhere in her sights. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said about his father, and his cousin Felix. One face that she never expected to see was that of her childhood friend Nathanael Kurtzburg.

Nathanael's family moved to Paris from Vienna when the boy was around three. He, like his parents, was an artist who made a living painting portraits and scenery for decorations, a few of which currently hung on the walls of the palace. The two met when his father had painted a picture of Marinette on her fourth birthday, and became close friends. They did have an awkward moment when the young artist had confessed his infatuation with the princess which was only one-sided to the boy's dismay. But their friendship ran into issues when he moved to Germany after he met Adrien since it was evident to him that the knight and princess had liked each other.

Marinette wanted to go down to speak to Nathanael but was stopped by Nathalie who gathered the attention of the guests, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen. We present to you Princess Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Suddenly all eyes were on the princess who nervously approached her parents. Her heart was beating so loudly that she couldn't hear her father's speech to the guests. Her eyes were scanning the room at the people who almost all looked around the age of her parents. However, there were younger folk who looked to be around her age, mostly men and all holding flowers which she knew would be for her as a sign to ask for her hand in marriage. Finally her eyes stopped wandering when she spotted one person she had secretly been hoping would show: Adrien Agreste.

Rather than wearing his usually knightly attire, he was dressed in fancy black clothing. The outfit was obviously designed by his father but it still did wonders for his appearance. The green accents on the coat made his eyes seemed to bring out his eyes, which had been locked with hers. She could see in his face that he thought she looked absolutely beautiful. And at the same time, she was hoping that her makeup would hide her rising blush at the thought.

Eventually the speech ended and the celebration began, starting with the dancing. It wasn't long before the young men were readying to approach Marinette, occasionally shoving each other out of the way in the process. However all attempts had stopped when Adrien stood before her and asked in the most charming way she's ever heard, "May I trouble the princess with a dance?"

With his hand politely extended to her, she eventually stood up and gently grabbed it, answering, "Very well."

The two walked towards the center of the room and began dancing with the crowd. They both chuckled softly once they noticed Alya dragging Nino along to dance with her. While they danced, Marinette said to him, "Thank you for that. I thought things were going to get ugly for a second."

"Not while I'm around princess," Adrien said with a warm smile, "But if you want, I can try to hold still so Nathanael can make us both look good in his painting."

The pair both knew that Nathanael didn't like Adrien despite the fact that the knight didn't really give the red headed painter any reason not to. The dislike was mostly out of jealousy since they both really cared for Marinette, but that was the only thing about Nathanael that truly bothered Adrien. Not because he saw the artist as competition, which he did have a small issue with, but rather that he saw Nathanael as more of an equal. Adrien never wanted to lord his status over anyone and always made sure to treat the people, commoners and nobles alike, as if they were all superior to him. It was one of the many things that Marinette liked about him, even though she comments sometimes that his head is as big as his waist.

"I missed seeing him," Marinette replied as they danced on, "He was one of my closest friends."

"You can talk to him if you wish," Adrien suggested, "It wouldn't bother me if-"

Suddenly, one of the dancers had accidentally bumped into Marinette and caused her to nudge lightly into Adrien. It was nowhere near enough to knock them over, but it was enough that her head ended up leaning against his chest. Before pulling away, she could hear his heart pounding quickly, along with hers going at the same rate. As she slowly pulled her head away from his chest, the two ended up staring into each other's eyes, neither saying a word.

Soon the moment was interrupted by someone approaching behind her and saying, "Getting very hands on with your servant, are we princess?"

Marinette turned around to see that Felix was standing behind her. Felix appeared to be the side of Adrien if the knight looked more like his father. Though Felix was shorter and lankier in build than his cousin, he still had some physical qualities that some would find attractive. At least until people like Marinette end up meeting him, and learn that his personality is perhaps the ugliest in all of France. It still didn't stop him from following up on his comment, "When would I get my chance?"

"When Hell freezes over," Adrien answered as he put himself between his princess and his cousin, "Back away Felix."

Felix simply attempted to brush Adrien off and replied, "Now now cousin. There's no need to be selfish. Besides, if things go the way that they should, provided uncle uses his influence properly, soon you will be looking to me as king."

While neither one was paying attention, Felix had managed to place his hand on the princess's lower waist in a very inappropriate manner. Once both did notice, Marinette had backed away from Felix so that he couldn't reach her. Adrien, however, had very tightly grabbed Felix's thumb on the hand that touched Marinette and held it very angrily as he said in a seething tone, "You touch her that way again, and I will break more than your hands."

As Adrien held Felix tightly, Marinette noticed that his ring emanating a sort of black energy. It only went away when she gently put a hand on his shoulder which caused him to relax. Once he released Felix's hand, the delinquent fled away from the crowd in pain, for once not causing a scene this time. Eventually the two returned to dancing to pretend like what had happened didn't actually occur. As they danced, Marinette broke their little silence with a question, "What was that black energy from your hand?"

"I don't know," Adrien answered, "But whatever it was, it seemed to have Plagg concerned."

"Nice to hear that Tikki isn't the only one that can get inside the heads of chosens," Marinette let out a small sigh, "So why was Plagg worried?"

"He told me that angry chosens with the power of destruction is never a good sign," Adrien explained, "Guess you got lucky getting Tikki."

The two continued dancing until the king gathered the attention of the audience once more. This time, Marinette didn't even bother to listen to the speech. Mostly because she was keeping her eye out in case Felix tried anything again. However her attention was brought back to the current situation once she noticed nobles beginning to approach them. And suddenly, Marinette's heart began racing with complete fear.

Because she was officially of age now. Which means that she is now old enough to marry. And now the male nobles are readying to offer their hands in marriage. This began each young man's approach to woo the princess. Meanwhile, one thought repeats in Marinette's head, Why did this have to happen now?

This part of the celebration felt endless for both Marinette, and Adrien. In truth, as soon as Adrien heard news that this would be happening, he sent word to his father in regards to proposing to the princess himself. Proving to the world once and for all that his flirtatious compliments to the princess weren't simply just bluster. However, instead of receiving approval from his father like he expected, the only response he got was that the knight had to be patient as there was a plan in motion. He was unclear as to what the plan was, and at the moment he didn't really care. Until he noticed one thing that set his teeth on edge.

Felix was approaching the princess with the late Lady Emilie Agreste's sapphire necklace. He was preparing to ask for Marinette's hand in marriage with Lord Gabriel's permission.