The Queen of China {Book 3 of The Princess Series}

The Queen's ghosts

"Should we tell her what she will do?" one voice asked.
"I think we should," said another voice, but male this time.
"Unfortunately, young one, you do not have a choice in this decision since it is you who it will be impacting," explained a more elder voice.

The ghosts of the miraculous were all gathered, making a council decision. The first miraculous holder (the elder) would be the one to make the final decision on whether Marinette would be told of her actions or not.

"Personally, let her figure it out on her own. She deserves everything negative coming her way," scoffed Lila, folding her arms.
"Of course you would say that," said Adrien, rolling his eyes.
"Enough arguing, it gives me a headache," Gabriel said, putting his head in his hands.
"Gabriel, honey, ghosts don't get headaches," said Emilie with a smile.
"Well they're giving me one!" cried Gabriel.

"Enough!" boomed a loud male voice. He was the first holder of the fox miraculous. Everyone fell silent.
"The newbies are very loud," whispered a holder of the mouse miraculous.
"The council will now vote on whether Marinette Dupain-Cheng will learn of what she will do," announced the elder. "Please turn green if you think she should or red if you think she shouldn't and then stand to the left if you are green or right if you are red."

Everyone changed their colour and stood where they were told to. All except the elder and Adrien. He looked down at his ring and sighed.
"I understand young one, but you are not fully dead. Until you are, you can not have a say in this. And it impacts the not dead you. You will not remain a ghost forever," explained the elder.
"When do I get to go back?" asked Adrien sadly.

The elder sighed as she pulled at a globe. She pressed down on the location of Adrien. He was in the palace. A screen was projected after she pressed down and they could see what he was doing.
"You get to go back when that Adrien remembers everything. To him, you are dead as are your memories, which is why you are here. But when he remembers in a few days time, you will leave here and be restored to your body," explained the elder.
"I understand," said the elder.

The elder moved in the middle of the two sides and began counting.
"It is a tie. Please present your arguments and I will decide," said the elder with a sigh.

The third holder of the cat miraculous stepped forwards. Lila stepped forwards beside her.

"Lila, present why you think Marinette should not know," said the elder, taking her seat. Adrien sat beside her and glared at Lila.
"For many reasons, for one she killed me. But for the sake of people on my side, I will not push that any further. How will she learn if we told her? She needs to learn ways of being kind. She isn't a true Ladybug if she can't figure it out. As well as this, what good would telling her do? If we told her, she'd try and avoid it and by avoiding it, she would cause it," explained Lila before bowing and walking back to her side.

"Annabelle, why do you think Marinette should know?" asked the elder. Adrien watched in awe as he saw a former cat holder stand before him.
"We've told her what would happen before and she successfully managed to stop it from happening. Why would this time be any different? She deserves to know what happens to her lover. Would you really separate two partners after what happened to yours?" explained Annabelle. The elder looked at the floor sadly before nodding as Annabelle went back to her side.

"What happened?" asked Adrien.
"Young one, there was a time when I was alive. It was me and Alley Cat. That was his name. We were fighting the first Monkey Miraculous. She had been convinced to join The Peacock. Anyway, the battle lasted forever until Multiplier joined the fight with this machine... a horrible machine. As soon as it was used, I destroyed it and all blueprints for it and I burned them. It was a machine which could kill a person but also make it so that you would have no spirit in the afterlife. You would just be nothing. Just a memory. Alley Cat died protecting me," explained the elder, closing her eyes and recalling her past love.
"I am so sorry," said Adrien, not knowing about the history of the miraculous.
"Everyone is. But nothing can bring him back," said the elder with a sigh.

"I have decided that we will tell the guardian of her actions," announced the elder as everyone returned to normal and sat back down around the table.
"This is so unfair!" grumbled Lila.
"What is unfair is me visiting Marinette to check on her and then you combining with me to make me abusive," groaned Adrien.
"Oops," said Lila, rolling her eyes.

The council left and it was just Adrien and Emilie.
"Let's talk Adrien. We've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to talk to you," said Emilie with a smile.
"So you were a holder of a miraculous?" asked Adrien.
"I was. The peacock miraculous," said Emilie with a nod.
"It's been 3 years that I have been here. How come we're only talking about this now?" asked Adrien.
"Well.. you never asked," said Emilie.
"I s'pose that's my fault then," said Adrien with a chuckle.
"I am so proud of who you turned out to be Adrien. And you couldn't have made a better choice in partner," explained Emilie, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you mum," said Adrien, wrapping his arms around his mother.
"I love you too Adrien," she said, wrapping her arms around him as well and hugging him.