Disclaimer: Don't own and never will

AN: Based on a prompt by mod Emmalylsis on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord. Also, another entry for AU-April, this time as a Cinderella AU.

Once upon a time, in a far away land known as the kingdom of Paris, there lived a girl.

To some people, this girl was unlucky. Her parents had long since died and all she had left were her adoptive family. A mother who many would generously call demanding when they were being nice and a bitch when they were not. Her older daughter was (or so people said) of the same mould. An adoptive father who was always too busy and too distracted to notice. And a younger daughter who nobody mentioned in polite company.

The very same adoptive family that were in fact, currently demanding breakfast.

In the kitchen of the Grand Paris, bells were ringing. Demanding, nagging bells from the family.

"Coming Chloé," Rose said to one of the bells as she danced around the kitchen. "Breakfast is on it's way, with a little bit of love and kindness and just a touch of charm."

The croissant's were almost ready and the kettle was whistling. She poured out three steaming cups of coffee and placed them on the trolley. Then she grabbed the croissants with a pair of tongs and with practised ease, she put them on their respective plates.

A bird tweeted away happily at the window and Rose gave the bird a bright smile.

"Hello mister birdie! How are you this morning?" she asked and the bells began ringing once more. "Sorry, I can't stay. The family get cranky without their breakfast in the morning!"

The bird tweeted away a little more and Rose put down a few seeds for him to eat.

"Morning Rose," Marlena said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning Marlena," Rose said in her ever cheerful voice and Marlena gave her a small smile.

"Good morning Rose," she said and Rose gave her a cheerful smile. "It's good to see you looking so happy."

"It's a wonderful morning Marlena," Rose said brightly. "The Sun is out and the birds are singing and the kitchen smells wonderful!" she said cheerfully, before twirling around, grabbing the tray with the family's breakfasts on and practically skipping out of the kitchen.

With practised delicacy, Rose made her way up the stairs to the room of Audrey Bourgeois.

"Good morning Audrey" Rose said cheerfully as she walked into the room and placed Audrey's breakfast down on the table. Audrey thankfully ignored her as she continued to rant down the phone at some unfortunate employee of hers.

"How dare you tell me that I cannot commandeer the whole Louvre Pyramid for the week! Do you know who I am?"

There was an indistinct voice over the phone and Audrey screeched with rage.

"How dare you!?" she screamed. "I am Audrey Bourgeois! You're fired!"

Rose wandered if she should say anything, but before she could, Audrey rounded sharply on her.

"What are you doing here!?" she demanded and Rose stepped back slightly.

"Breakfast!" she said cheerfully, forcing a smile to her face. Audrey looked contemptuously at her, as though Rose was beneath her. "Maybe you'll feel better after you've eaten? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all!"

"How dare you!?" Audrey snapped, before jabbing a finger at Rose. "Do you have any idea who I am? You're fired!"

Without a word, Rose continued on her way. It was the same routine every morning really and if Audrey didn't try to fire her at least once a day, it would actually be a surprise. She continued on her way and soon she was at Chloé's room. She knocked on the door.

"Well it's about time loser," Chloé sneered as she filed her nails. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to show up?"

Rose gave her another bright smile. Chloé was always so grumpy, especially in the morning and having her mother at home only made her worse. A bright smile could only help in Rose's opinion. (She knew better than to try hugging the taller blonde. Chloé had made it perfectly clear THAT was not acceptable to her.)

"I brought your favourite honeyed croissants up with your breakfast!" Rose said cheerfully "And I toasted them exactly the way you like them. And I picked your favourite kind of plate, with flowers in bloom surrounding the edges. I thought that you might appreciate a little cheering up!"

Chloé gave her breakfast an almost contemptuous look, but Rose could see a glimmer of happiness in her eyes. Almost as though Chloé couldn't believe that anyone would actually care enough to notice.

"Hmph. Well I suppose that it's not a complete loss," Chloé said and Rose left with a spring in her step. It might not sound like much, but from Chloé, it was practically a heartfelt thank you. A very hard to find, easy to miss thank you, but a thank you nonetheless.

Finally Rose came to the last member of the family. A girl with short blonde hair with a pink stripe in it.

The girl gave her a small smile as she looked up at her. Rose smiled back. It was nice to know that someone in the family was pleased to see her.

"Hi Rose," Zoe said with a small smile as Rose handed her breakfast.

"Hello Zoe," Rose said with a bright smile. "Good luck with your audition today. You can do it, I know you can!"

"Thanks Rose. You're sweet," Zoe said with a smile. Rose beamed and hugged Zoe before continuing on her way.

She walked back downstairs to the kitchen and quickly assembled her own breakfast. Some more birds landed on the window and Rose gave them a handful of seeds. One bird landed on her finger and began chirping away briefly, before flying away with the others.

The bells began ringing once more, demanding to be heard, demanding to be answered. She smiled at them as she set aside her empty plate. Grabbing her tray, she walked upstairs.

MLMLMLMLMLMLML

King Andre of the Bourgeois family was a worried man.

Granted, being the king of a small country was a stressful task in and of itself. Laws that needed to be read or changed, nobles to appease and wrangle, diplomatic relations to maintain (especially with their immediate neighbours like the Republic of Nice and the kingdoms of Achu and Agreste.) A task made harder by his demanding wife and oldest daughter. There were many demands for his attention and so many things that could go wrong.

But this, well this was something he had dreaded from the moment his daughter had turned sixteen.

The messenger raven cawed at him as it settled onto his desk. He could hardly ignore the letter. Aside from the fact that this was an important diplomatic missive, he knew full well that Chloe would never forgive him if he ignored it.

Besides, the sender already knew that he had received the message. He ruefully looked at the glowing tail feathers of the raven. Of course they knew. It was why they had used a spell-tracked, secure messenger raven after all.

And while the Kingdom of Paris was technically an independent state and the Kingdom of Achu was unlikely to consider this an act of warâwell he didn't want to provoke them if possible. Especially over something as relatively minor as this.

He looked at the message once more. There was no hiding from this. His daughter was almost eighteen and he wasn't getting any younger. He just didn't want to admit that his daughter was on the verge of becoming an adult.

Still, he had three daughters who could go. His darling Chloé, her half sister Zoe and the third one, the adoptive sister who's name he couldn't remember.

Yes, it was probably for the best that he sent all three. The other two could make his darling Chloé look better and distract away any unsavoury elements away from her. God forbid his darling marry beneath her and with someone who couldn't afford to treat her the way she deserved. She was a princess and deserved to be treated like one!

He looked at his secretary, a man whose name he could never remember. Not that it particularly mattered. He was just another faceless bureaucrat of many.

"Draw up an official acceptance letter to Achu," he said as he handed over the invitation. "Tell them that the Royal Family of Paris thanks them for their gracious invitation to the Diamond Dance and that the three royal daughters of King Andre Bourgeois will be in attendance."

"Very good your Majesty," the man said as he began to write.

"And arrange a time for the Royal Dressmaker to come and make a dress for my darling Chloé," he continued, before frowning slightly. "And something for the other two of course. But make sure that Princess Chloé is the best dressed of the three."

"Yes, your Majesty. Do you wish for me to add it to your schedule, or should it remain between your daughters and possibly their mother?"

"Just my daughters should be fine," he said, resisting the urge to shudder. He didn't want any more reminders that his daughter was growing up far too fast. Much, much too fast.

And dress shopping with his beloved wife would test the patience of a saint.

No, far better for him to avoid it altogether.

Besides, he had a kingdom to run!