The Princess and the Knight

Stranger from the Woods

Marinette's POV

I woke up by the chirping birds by my window. I looked through my window and watched as the sun rises. Today is going to be a great day. I went down to the dining hall and ate my breakfast. Yes, breakfast was yummy indeed. I was just about to leave the table but my mother called me.

"Marinette dear, I have news!" she happily said.

"What news?" I said while sipping the cup of water.

"Well, your father and I have decided that you are going to marry a prince." she said.

I squirted the water out of my mouth.

"WHAT!?"

"Yes, you seemed to be in the right age." My father said.

"What?! I am only 18!" I yelled.

"I am sorry dear, but there is no turning back. We already agreed with other kingdoms." said my mother.

"And we will have our royal dinner with other kingdoms by tomorrow and of course, you can choose one and only one prince." my father continued.

Before I was going to protest, I turned around and made my way to my room. I am not ready to marry a prince yet. And what's worst? I don't even know a single one of them. I decided to go for a ride to keep my mind off about things. I changed my outfit and made my way to the royal stable.

"Good morning girl, how are you doing." I greeted my horse, Tikki and replied me with a neigh.

I chuckled and fed her a little bit of hay and blasted off.

Riding with Tikki is one of my favorite things to do. You can feel the fresh wind, discover new places and meet new people.

Tikki and I ended up in the woods. I slowed her pace down and unexpectedly, an arrow was shot at her left leg which made me loose my balance and fell. I stood up and cleaned the mess on my clothes.

"Hello?" I shouted and saw nothing.

"Hello?" I said again but this time, I saw men approaching me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Well if it isn't Princess Marinette of Gayala." said one of the men.

"What do you want?" I repeated.

"Let's see . . . that's right, you." Then they began to slowly approach me and displayed their weapons in front of me. Frightened, I moved a few steps backward but tripped. They were going close to me until a masked guy appeared in front of me.

"Well if it isn't the great and powerful Chat Noir." one of them sarcastically said.

"Aye, it's me." he smiled.

"If you don't mind, can you please step out of our little business?" one of them asked.

"And what's this 'little business' of yours?" The masked guy asked.

"Don't even get me started. Move out before I could tear you into pieces you ungrateful little swine!"

"Now that's a bit rude, especially that I have a little surprise for you guys." He simply pulled the vine in front of him. Suddenly two of his opponents were knocked off.

"What the-"

"Surprise!"

"Go after him!" one of them boiled in rage.

The masked guy effortlessly fought against them.

They began to run for their lives leaving me and the masked guy. He chuckled and came to help me up.

"Are you alright, Your Highness? Anything broken?" he asked while lifting me up.

"I'm perfectly fine. Thanks a bunch." I said.

"That's no problem, Your Highness," he smiled. "But what are you doing here in the woods? It's too dangerous."

Before I could answer, he saw the arrow on Tikki's leg and slowly took it off. He got bandages from his bag and wrapped them around on the affected leg.

"Feeling better?" he began to pet my horse. Tikki just replied with a neigh.

"You are lucky that the arrow didn't go that deep in her skin. For now, your horse can't run or walk and it will take like 5 days for it to be treated." he said.

"I don't know how to thank you." I said.

"It was nothing, Your Highness." he gave me a little bow.

"So, to who do I owe my life to?" I asked.

"It's Chat Noir." he said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Chat Noir, I am Princess Marinette of Gayala if you didn't know." I said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Your Highness." he said courtseying me.

"Don't need to be formal Chat Noir. Call me Marinette or anything you would wish to call me. Just as long as it's not offensive." I said.

"As you wish, Princess." he said.

Then I noticed the mask he is wearing.

"So, do you mind telling me why you're wearing a mask?" I asked with curiosity.

"It's a long story." he said.

"I have plenty of time." I said.

He let out a defeated sigh. "Your royal guards are after me because I did a certain crime. And so, I made a mask so that I won't get recognized." he said.

"Like what certain crime?" I asked.

"Stealing? But it was for the living of my family and my survival. I don't have money and my family. . . is dead." he reluctantly said.

I felt guilt running through my veins. He doesn't have money and most importantly, a family.  I wish I could give him some of my wealth.

"Don't worry, I will take care of the rest." I said.

"Really?" his eyes lit up.

"Sure, anything to repay my debt." I said.

We were then stuck in the middle of silence.

"Now what? I can't go home because my horse's leg is wounded and here I am, stuck in the middle of nowhere." I said breaking the silence.

"Follow me." he said.

Hey guys! Sorry for late publish, whatever is that called. I was busy and I was still working on the cover of the book. So what do you think of the cover? Is it fine? 

Anyways, I wanna give a shout-out to:

-jasmine_niquet for voting in my previous book "Adrienette: Bestfriend" to those who didn't read my previous book yet, go check it out.

-Charlotte_Nightmares hey there my friend! She made an Adrienette book so go read it. Also follow her if you want to.(LOL)