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

The Queen and Adrien's memories

It was a snowy night and Adrien was wandering around the palace, collecting as many little memories as he could. He couldn't remember anything big. Just a few sentences of a conversation. Most of them with the strange girl who took off suddenly and ended up being the Queen of China. He arrived in a room of the palace and lost his balance, tumbling to the floor as he closed his eyes and heard something.
"Now m'lady. That is not lady like."

He shook his head and stood back up. He was in the throne room. Was he even allowed in here? He stared at the throne for a while before seeing one beside it. One he remembered.
"I just want to be with my friends. I've been a princess for only a week or something and I'm tired of it. Eat like this. You must wave like this. Curtsey when meeting others. Talk in a posh manner! Ugh!" That's why he recognised the throne. The strange girl was sat there a long time ago. Years and years ago. When he was a teenager. The one who liked to be called m'lady. He walked closer to the throne and rested his hand on it.
Adrien grabbed her shoulders and she stopped in her tracks. He turned her so that she was facing him.
"Did I tell you that you look beautiful?" asked Adrien with a smile.
"Several times," he said, recalling her answer to his question. It was rhetorical, he remembered. But that didn't stop him. "Plagg?"
"What's up kid?" asked Plagg, flying out of his friend's pocket.
"The Queen.. what's her name?" he asked.
"Marinette," answered Plagg.
"D-Did I like her?" Plagg sighed as he flew and rested on the throne.
"You loved her kid. I never understood love. I mean, I love cheese. But humans and love was different. I think it's like how I feel for Tikki. And if it is, you most certainly loved her. And she loved you," explained Plagg.

Adrien knelt down and placed a hand on his head as another memory came flooding to him.
bed.
"What are you doing princess?" asked Adrien. Marinette shuddered at the last word to which Adrien noticed but decided not to question her on.
"You're awake," whispered Marinette, not hearing the remark she made afterwards.
"Of course I'm awake. I was listening out for you," Adrien said with a sigh whilst sitting up on his bed. He patted on his bed for Marinette to come and sit down. She complied and sat beside him.

"Any nightmares today?" he asked, concern entangled in his words
"No... not exactly," whispered Marinette.
"Does this mean they're going away?" asked Adrien with a hopeful smile. Marinette shook her head.
"Lila blocked a nightmare coming today," said Marinette.
"Well that was nice of her... for once," said Adrien, a sigh escaping his mouth as he did. Marinette shook her head.
"She came to talk to me," whispered Marinette.
"About what? Does she know?" asked Adrien.
"No. She came to London to follow the Princess of China. She wants to ruin my life," explained Marinette.
"Why?" asked Adrien.
"Because I ruined hers by taking you away," replied Marinette.

"Who's Lila?" asked Adrien.
"A very bad woman. Dead for 3 years. She committed suicide after shooting you instead of Marinette," answered Plagg, unknowing to what had really happened to the villain.
"She tried to shoot Marinette?" cried Adrien, shock apparent on his face.
"She wasn't right in the head, I'll put it. You loved Marinette so she wanted to take her out of the picture to have you all to herself," said Plagg, looking down at the floor.
"And Marinette had nightmares?" asked Adrien.
"You remember that? Yes, PTSD. She has it now except worse. An accident happened and she killed Hawkmoth. She didn't mean to but it haunts her to this day. As does Lila's death and as does what happened to you. Hawkmoth was your father," explained Plagg.
"Oh dear."

Marinette blinked the tears away as she snuggled up to her pillows. She had woken up from a nightmare.
"Adrien, I love you. Don't forget that please," she whispered.
"I love you too M'lady," Adrien said, interlocking his fingers with her. She turned around and went on her tip-toes to kiss him. It was only short but it felt magical. When standing at her normal height, she saw Adrien in tears and blood coming from his ribs.
"Adrien!" she yelled. He fell to his knees. "No! Adrien!! What happened? Adrien! Please don't leave me!"
"Marinette, h-how could you?" whispered Adrien, a tear falling from his cheek as he collapsed to the floor.
After that, Marinette woke up.

She heard a whisper. A whisper soothing her but scaring her a little. It was Adrien.
"I'm on my way my love." Her head shot up and she began to breathe heavily.
"Please don't play tricks on me! If you're there, show yourself!" snapped Marinette, scanning the dark room with her eyes, trying to detect the slightest of movement.
"Marinette, there's no one here except us," said Tikki, flying to the young queen's shoulder.
"I thought I heard.. never mind," Marinette said with a sigh of relief. A knock at the door made her freeze for a few seconds. The knock was heard again.

Marinette got up and turned the light on. She opened the door and saw Adrien standing there.
"C-can I help you?" she asked nervously.
"Well.. I got a gut feeling something was wrong and Plagg told me when that happened it usually meant you had a nightmare," he explained, blushing from embarrassment and nervousness.
"I'm fine," she said quickly, not wanting to bother him. He didn't remember, he wouldn't be able to help. And she didn't want to hurt him.
"Okay," he said with a sigh.
"Marinette, you are not fine," cried Tikki. Adrien stared in wonder as he saw the kwami fly out of her room and landed on his shoulder.
"Y-you're Ladybug?" he cried.
"Yes kid. Did I not tell you this?" asked Plagg. Adrien shrugged.
"So what have you been doing Adrien? It's late," asked Marinette, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as Tikki flew over to her shoulder and sat down.
"I was wandering around trying to collect as many memories as I can. Y-you came up in almost all of them," he explained. Marinette's cheeks went a slight pink. "Marinette, right?"
"Yes. I'm glad you remember that," she said with a smile.
"I had a nickname for you.. princess," he said uncertainly. The nickname sent shivers down Marinette's spine. She hadn't been called that by the real Adrien in a long time.
"That's right," she said sadly.
"I remember.. in London. You came to my room thinking I was asleep. You had nightmares and I stayed awake every night making sure I listened out for your nightmares. And you didn't have one. L-Lila. She blocked it from you because she wanted to send a threat. She was going to ruin your life? I think.. because you had taken me away," he explained.
"I remember," Marinette mumbled sadly. "Do you remember what happened afterwards?" Adrien shook his head. She let him in. He sat down at her desk chair and she sat down on her bed.

"After I told you about the dream, I told you that I would be returning to China because we had faced an akuma of hers there so it would be like we never left. You didn't want me to go on my own so said you would come with me. Well a few days later, I left without you knowing. It took me a day or two but I came around and we spoke again. We came to peace and we agreed to go back to Paris together. Everyone came back for me.. to protect me. Everyone from our class," she explained.
"It seems you hurt me a lot but I'm glad we made up," he said with a chuckle. Marinette felt like she had just been shot.
"Y-yes.. it does seem I hurt you a lot. Well, if you don't mind, I'm tired so I'm going to go to sleep. Goodnight Adrien," she said, looking at the floor with a monotone voice. Adrien left with a confused expression and Marinette went back to bed.

"I always hurt him," she mumbled to herself over and over again. Tikki felt sad for the guardian. Without knowing, Adrien may have led to his relationship's demise.