Thorns of Roses

Chapter 61 - It's you.

The door quietly closed and soft steps tapped against the floor - making their way to the baldachine bed. A sigh could be heard as she pushed away the blanket and slid into the bed beside him.

Although, the Prince was "sleeping" with his body facing the windows - so the Princess couldn't see that he was awake -, but he could feel her eyes staring at him. 

Torture.

Torture was the best word to describe how he felt at that moment, how desperately he wanted to turn around, to pull her small body into his embrace, to feel her heartbeat in sync with his, the soft touch of her skin when he planted a goodnight kiss on her cheeks or to notice how those enchanting icy-blues of hers peered into his before she would fall asleep.

But he couldn't do that.

Not when he needed her to believe he was already asleep. Not after he gave into the temptation to kiss her as Chat Noir - the moment she admitted her feelings for the Prince. Not when he disrespected the girl he loved - the girl who loved him back. 

No. He didn't deserve to feel her close to him. Not tonight. Not after what he had done.

He pressed his lips together to prevent himself from rolling to his other side - just to see a glimpse of her -, and remained still, waiting.

One hour.

He had to wait one felt-like-eternity hour - making him question the existence of the last fragment of his sanity by ever coming to such an absurd conclusion -, before the seemed-to-be asleep Princess started squirming next to him. 

Although he couldn't see he could tell by the sound of her movements that she sat up carefully - absolutely unaware of the Prince being awake - and walked to her desk. As quietly as possible, she opened one of her drawers and - after grabbing her coat from her chair -, she left their suite. 

The moment the door closed behind her, Félix rose from the bed - excitement reflecting in his eyes by the realization that his theory appeared to be right. 

"You better be aware for if we follow your princess to no avail, I will take revenge on you for waking me up from this cheesy dream!" Plagg groaned when Félix opened the wardrobe and gestured for him to hide in his coat.

"I will keep that in mind." the Prince smirked as he grabbed the codex as well.

Slowly opening the door, he peeked out to the hallway - catching the sight of Marinette's figure turning left by the corner.

"Let's find out where you are heading, my love," he whispered as he went after her.

~~~

A small part of him was still against the idea - or by now - denied the obvious fact. 

It was fighting with all its strength to convince him that the reason she woke up and sneaked out of the Palace in the middle of the night - right in the time the heroes used to start their patrols -, was because she needed some fresh air and just wanted to get out of these suffocating walls.

This part of him, be it his heart or his mind he couldn't decide, made him completely delusional - forcing him to cling onto the hope that he assumed it all wrongly.

Because there was no way they were the same person.

No.

It couldn't be possible.

Not even when every piece of evidence was claiming this fact, not even when deep down he had already known it for a while.

No. There was just no way of fate playing such a cruel game like this to make him fall twice for the same girl.