Chapter 3

No one was in the palace at the time. Expect for him. Marinette was determined. Tikki had been in the most sour mood ever since Chat Noi- Adrien came here, and she knew exactly why. She stormed up to the guest bedroom and knocked on the door. Judging from the sounds coming from the other side he was sleeping and scrambling to get to the door. He appeared, groggy and not wearing a shirt.

Don't look at him, don't look, don't you dare.

She was hoping and praying to god that her cheeks weren't hot.

You're engaged

"What is it?"

He said scratching his head.

"Where's Plagg?"

She said, looking behind him in his room. Anywhere but his bare chest.

"He's sleeping, just like I was until you barged in unannounced"

She spotted a tiny cushion by his bedside and a tiny black tail. She plucked him up from his resting place and shook him.

"Hey hey hey what's going on!"

He mumbled

"Who do you think you are!"

Marinette said yelling in the kwami's face.

"Who do you think you are! You're the one that woke me up and starting screaming!"

"Tikki has been nothing but a sad sack because you haven't spoken to her for oh I don't know 18 YEARS!"

He flew out of her grasp, shaking out whatever sleepiness he had left in him.

"You've got it all wrong-whoever you are, Tikki is the one that's not speaking to me"

"I'm princess Ladybug for gods sake"

She said, squeezing her temples.

"We talked last night and got into a little spat, I want to renew our vows and she said there's too much going on and the focus shouldn't be on us"

Marinette tried to come up with something to defend Tikki, but she couldn't find any reason to. Marinette wanted to focus on anything but her current situation. A cute little ceremony would be the perfect distraction.

"Can I go back to sleep now?"

Plagg mumbled

Marinette huffed and stormed out of the room.

Mainly to get away from Adrien but now she needed to talk to Tikki.

She woke her up the same way she did Plagg.

"Hey, what's going on?"

She squeaked

No wonder their married

"Im not more important"

"What? Oh, you must've talked to Plagg"

She said rubbing her eyes.

"Marinette there's too much to do, you're addressing the royal guard today! That's a big deal!"

"I know, but if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here, addressing the royal guard, getting married, becoming queen, being Ladybug!"

Tikki flew up to her keeper and took her face in her tiny paws.

"We have better things to do Mari, please understand that!"

There was no fighting her. Tikki looked desperate and she didn't want to make her any more upset than she already was. There was a knock at her door.

If this is Adrien I swear I'll-

"Marinette?"

King Fu thank god.

"Can you come out, there's something we need to discuss before the ceremony today."

She wasn't even dressed yet, if she walked out with her pajamas still on he'd have a conniption. Marinette ran over to her closet and threw on the stable wear that was picked out for her.

"Tikki spots on!"

She said in a hushed, excited tone.

Marinette emerged from her room as though she was ready the whole time, definitely not talking to a shirtless Chat Noir. Never.

"Come I need to show you something"

He offered his arm.

"What is it?"

"Well I'm sure you can tell that today you'll be riding a horse while addressing the royal guard"

"Yes"

"And you'll need to ride side saddle"

"What?"

Side saddle is the most uncomfortable thing in the entire world.

"I know I know but I have a solution for you"

They strode up to Nino who was holding something long across his arms, it was covered.

King Fu pulled back the cloth to reveal a leg. A prosthetic.

"What-what is this?"

"We simply strap this onto the saddle of the horse and then you drape your dress over it. It will look like you're riding side saddle but in reality you're sitting comfortably"

Marinette was skeptical, but if it helped her while riding then why not.

"Okay show me how to use it"

The ceremony was bigger than she expected. Nathaniel was there, glowing. Marinette couldn't tell if it was acting or if he genuinely cared about the boring event. It didn't matter, if it was acting or not, she had to spend the rest of her life with him.

You don't love him

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

She said while mounting the horse

"Yes, just stay steady and don't frighten him"

King Fu warned her

Meanwhile, Mr. Hawk had ideas of his own.

"Excuse me young man"

He said to the jockey escorting Ladybug and her horse.

"I heard that princess Ladybug's horse is terribly frightened of snakes"

He said as he pulled a rubber decoy from his coat pocket.

The jockey looked skeptical at first until Mr. Hawk slipped him a crisp 50 euros.

"Good man"

The ceremony was going quite well. Ladybug was being the perfect imagine of a strong, admirable princess. The jockey kept fiddling with something in his feed bag and it was distracting Marinette as she nodded at each guard she passed by.

The jockey revealed the snake and kept shaking it to create the illusion that it was real. Marinette was too busy acting as perfectly as possible when her horse bucked and she held on for dear life.

"Woah! Stop! Stop!"

She yelled gripping the reins.

There was a gasp that swept through the crowd. Marinette was horrified to look down and see that the prosthetic leg had fallen off the saddle, revealing her little white lie. Her face got hot and tears started to well up in her eyes.

I can't cry in front of these people. Especially these people.

Marinette snapped the reins and she was off, not even bothering to address the rest of her guards.

Mr. Hawk was seen laughing in the crowd with Chat Noir who stood stock still next to his father.

"You're such an idiot"

Marinette mumbled to herself.

She kept going over the events in her head. Embarrassing herself in front of all those people who looked up to her. She was a fraud. A fool. She wanted nothing but to sit in that stable house forever and wallow in her self pity.

"Hey"

Chat popped his head in the room.

"Go away"

She growled

"Look I just-"

"No, the only reason you came here was to make me feel worse about myself, so can you please just leave"

Marinette stood up trying to face away from him. If there was one person she didn't want to look weak in front of, it was definitely him.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay"

He said softly

This is just another way he's trying to trap me. It's just a game. This whole thing is a game.

Adrien contemplated resting his hand on her shoulder, but fought against it when Nino came in, stern as ever.

"Ladybug the king is here and wishes to see you"

He said, eyes burning into Chat Noir.

She put her head down and practically ran out of the stable house, trying her best to not sucker punch that Chat Noir in his smug little face.

"Please don't make me have to take action Chat Noir"

"I wasn't going to do anything, I was trying to be sincere I-"

Their conversation was cut short when Mr. Hawk entered.

"Come on son, we need to get you to that party"

He was jubilant at first, then scowled when he saw Nino.

"Chat Noir will you please go stand outside I need to talk to your father"

Mr. Hawk's expression turned to stone. He was trying to look unbothered.

"If you hurt my girl, know that I have diplomatic immunity in 58 countries, including France. And I'll do anything to protect the crown and my lady"

Mr. Hawk stiffened but still held his ground. He couldn't be frightened.

"You should know that the word fear is not in my vocabulary"

He barked

"Maybe not, but it's in your eyes"

Nino spat

"You forgot something"

He said slinging the fake snake over Mr. Hawks shoulder

Marinette was reunited with Alya at the party. It was nice to have someone there to comfort her after the events, Nathaniel aided as well but only when guests were around, the whole relationship was just for show.

During the past few days she'd been thinking about him, she tried to find a spark, a glimmer, something. Ladybug needed someone to take on the throne when she was gone, and that required.. certain events to take place. She tried to picture it but, no matter how many times she put herself in the mind set, she felt the urge to just vomit.

"It's alright girl, I'm sure a lot of people understood, riding a horse that way is no cake walk"

"Thanks Alya, it was just so embarrassing, it didn't help that Chat Noir came to check on me either"

Alya scowled at the mention of his name, she nodded across the way to where he was walking in.

With a date.

A sharp dagger of jealous struck her in the gut. She was surprised her face didn't turn green on the spot.

You're not jealous. You have a fiancé that's way better looking than him. For sure.

"Oh, well I'm glad he's found someone instead of chasing after me"

She swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat.

"No no no, Chat Noir doesn't have girlfriends, he has dates"

Nino said sneaking a sip of champagne.

Ladybug's pettiness kicked in and she was off to put Nathaniel on display.

"Nathaniel!"

"Yes dear"

He said, jumping up from his seat. He offered his arm and Ladybug dragged him towards where Chat Noir was laughing and walking with a tall blonde woman.

She decided to do the same with Nathaniel, which earned awkward glances but he finally caught on.

Chat Noir was in his sights and he turned on the charm.

"Ladybug! How are you!"

Ken doll mode was officially initiated.

"Great! And who's this lovely lady with you?!"

Ladybug said extending her hand.

"Chloé Bourgeois, very nice to meet you princess"

Marinette was gritting her teeth as she smiled as fake as she possibly could.

"She's really an extraordinary woman, did you know that Chloé is the national champion for archery?"

"No! Did you know Nathaniel was named artist of the year by Paris's most esteemed art critics?"

You could feel the heat between the two. It was a battle of the sexes, a fight for who's significant other was more admirable.

"Chloé owns 10 archery studios"

"Nathaniel owns 15 art galleries, all with 5 star reviews"

"Chloé is-"

"Nathaniel can-"

"Stop!"

Nathaniel and Chloé said in unison.

Ladybug and Chat were still locked in intense eye contact, not backing down.

"I assume we're in the middle of a pissing contest, Chloé let's go get some refreshments and let our gladiators cool down a little bit"

Nathaniel said, offering his arm.

She nodded and started with Nathaniel down the garden path. The two stood there not really sure what to say.

"He's really magnificent"

Chat said.

"Thank you"

Ladybug nodded

"It's a shame you're not attracted to him"

Chat said walking into the garden

"Yes well-hey! No no no I am very attracted to Nathaniel!"

She said chasing after him

"Oh really?"

Marinette's face turned pink, she had trouble looking for a reason.

"Yes! We're perfect for each other, he understands me and he's a great listener"

There you go, there's something

"Wow! Such passion! But you never mentioned love"

She was getting angry now. It's as if he could read her mind, and it wasn't amusing anymore.

"You're so jealous, it's like it's radiating off of you"

She spat

"Why would I be jealous of Nathaniel? He has to spend the rest of his life married to you"

That's when the rage peeked. She turned around and threw her strongest ladybug punch straight into his shoulder.

"I loathe you"

She growled

He threw back an equally hard punch and looked straight into her eyes.

"I loathe you!"

He screamed

"Well I loathed you first!"

She yelled, inches from his face.

He didn't know what it was, and he couldn't control himself as it happened, it even shocked him, but he grabbed Ladybug by the neck and slammed his lips into hers. And it was even more shocking when she didn't fight back, but wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer. She could even feel her foot pop behind her.

And in those moments she kept hearing sirens go off in her head, heat rush everywhere in her body, and butterflies explode in her stomach.

You don't love Nathaniel

You love him.