Nathalie walked with her down the long hallway, the two women hardly spoke, Marinette's mind was racing... She was about to meet the women she'd only heard rumours about. Could they be friends or would they hate her? Would they be grateful for her? Or resentful?

Nathalie cleared her throat, "Stay here, I'll go announce you." Right announcing you that was a thing. "Ladies, I would like to introduce you to a new member to the Harem, Marinette, Lady of the Ladybug." Marinette walked out to meet her new friends she hoped.

"Hello fellow ladies," She curtsied. 

"Meet the first "wife", Chloe Lady of the Bee." Chloe stood with her golden hair piled high and a simple elegant yellow dress. Marinette figured the girls must all be in their simple evening wear as they weren't dining with the Crown Prince. But Chloe's was still the most elaborate, it had a slip that should off her figure well, and shimmered as she moved. 

She looked at Marinette with a sharp eye, after a moment her face relaxed into a soft smile. "Hello Lady Marinette, I look forward to getting to know you better." 

"Meet his second "wife", Alya Lady of the Fox." Alya quickly ran and embraced Marinette. Her dress was the simplest of the bunch, it was a coral-coloured dress that was had a golden belt that highlighted her waist. Her hair was up in a proper bun with golden beads woven in her hair. 

"I am so grateful you here!" Her smile made Marinette feel safe.

"And finally meet Kagami Lady of the Dragon." Kagami smiled and bowed her head to Marinette. Her dress was the only full long sleeve dress, it was a light cream colour with beautiful embroidery all over. Her hair was short but still styled well. Marinette felt self-conscious about her hair being down.

Nathalie then left the women to talk while they waited for dinner.  "So what Noble family are you from and how did you get here? I don't recognize you." Chloe's question didn't seem mean, but Marinette didn't want to assume. She made a choice not to admit she was a pleasant girl.  

"The Dupain family. My grandfather is the backer that brings baked goods from outside the castle." 

"He disowned his son before we were born, didn't he?" Kagami raised her eyebrow.

"Yes. So I didn't grow up as a Noble but my grandfather and grandmother brought me into the Noble world enough to understand it. But I was offered a peace offering.  For some great offence. I didn't expect to come here, I thought I end up in the kitchen or with the seamstress." 

Alya looked at the new girl with sympathy, "Oh my, so you know very little about this life then." Marinette nodded. "Well I can't speak for these two but I'll help you. After all, we need someone to make that boy a king so we can be free to go with our lovers." 

The other two girls giggled. "Wait the rumours are true? You all have someone else in mind? And are you all friends?" Marinette was shocked. 

"Well, friends might be pushing it." Chloe smiled at the other girls. 

"Ya, we were forced together in a wing of a castle, we could be enemies or we could at least get along, but that has only been in the past year." Alya laughed. 

"So after my first year was up, we figured it wouldn't be long before another new "wife" come but then a year went by and we just got used to being together and keeping each other's secrets or fighting with Adrien sorry Prince Adrien for each other." Kagami smiled to the other girls, "Whoever is his current favourite tries to say him in ways that help us all."

"Tell me your stories?" Marinette asked as the food was brought to them, oh this was weird she didn't have people serve her ever. This was odd.

"Well, I'll go first since I am first in line." Marinette gathers that Chloe had the most pride out of the three. "Well, You know who Queen Emillie passed when Adrien was 15?" She nodded. "Well Lady Nathalie become the King's confidant in a few years and this did not go well in the court and my father who is the Kings voice in the court so since there were no peace treaties needed renewed so why not take a "wife" for his son from the court and since Adrien, Felix and I grew up together I was a logical choice from the court. So I was brought here to be Adrien's first "wife"." Her face fell as if she wanted to be his only. 

"So after a year, my kingdoms treaty needed to be renewed with the Miraculous Kingdom but my King had no daughters to offer to the King so my father who was an ambassador offered me to the king. He had been a friends with Felix's father's who was the ambassador before he died and passed that position on to Felix. So I became the crown prince's second "wife".

"I born a noble here in the Miraculous Kingdom, and my great grandfather was a skilled fencer and it earned my family in place high in court. So when mother was looking for a match for me she reached out to the King and he took our offer."

"Oh okay, will you tell me about your other lovers? How does the Crown Prince feel about that?" Mariette started at the food and plates she was eating off of. This was so much. 

"Well, I'll go first because I don't have a lover. I found a companion, someone to talk with and my case train with, no romance required. Because I find it unnecessary. And my companion is helping me take on my dream of being the first noblewoman to be a royal bodyguard, I thought Adrien and I were perfect for each other but were are two different. So I want to be the bodyguard for the queen and Armand D'Argencourt helps me do that, so whenever a baby is born, He and I will tour together and work to get a women's guard for the queen." Kagami smiled. "He's kind and very helpful. He's older than me but if I'm not going to queen I don't want to be some noble babymaker I want to live my life and do something with it."

"Woah...." Marinette was impressed. 

"I meant Lord Nino on the first trip Prince Adrien took me on, he's Prince Adrien's main bodyguard, he's Lord of the Turtle and we hit it off the right way, and we have Adrien and I are not a good pair romantically, so we made a plan for if I gave him the baby. Because Lord Nino and I are in love." 

"Ohhh.." Marinette started to notice that no one answered her question about how the Crowned Prince felt about all this. 

"And I have been in love with Adrien since I was 13 but after everything that happened, Felix kept asking me to join him for walks occasionally and then after a while, I said yes, because Adrien was focused on another woman and it had been three years and I hadn't given him a child so why keep waiting for him? So Felix has already asked for me if I don't bear him a child." Chloe shrugged. 

"Oh, so your not mad that I'm here then?" Marinette couldn't finish her meal it was more food than she had in a day. So she pushed the plat away and her plat was taken from her. Wait people were watching them, did they listen? She was gonna have to get used to this. 

"Mad no? It gives us a chance at the life we want. We will help you get used to court life and make sure you become Adirens favourite." Chloe smile. 

"What do you get out of it?" Marinette did not buy that this was a selfless offer. 

"We want Adrien to allow us to have our partners into our rooms," Chloe spoke and she and Alya shared a look. 

"I just want to stop sleeping with him, I don't enjoy it." Kagami shrugged. 

The girls quickly quieted as Lady Nathalie walked in. "Lady Marinette your room is ready for you and your ladies are ready to meet you." 

"My ladies?" Marinette was lost.

"Yes Lady Marinette, we all have a few ladies in waiting to help us do well everything." Alya smiled at her. 

"Oh." All she wanted was to be alone. She followed Lady Nathalie. After they were a bit away from the girls, "Lady Nathalie, can I be alone ever here?"

 "Yes, just simply dismiss your ladies, there is a guard at the Harem door and a few trusted men that do walk through at night just to keep you safe, but they don't enter your room. Which is here." Nathalie opened her door. 

"Woah!" Marinette looked everywhere. The bed wasn't a mat on the floor, it was raised up, and she touched it, it was soo soft. She had soft lavender-coloured curtains on over her windows. There was a huge closet filled with gowns and more shoes than she ever thought possible. Then there was a dressing room that had more make-up than she thought she could ever use. She had her own bathroom? Other than her bed there was a table and a chaise. Then a door that led outside. 

"That door leads to the Prince's courtyard. You and all the ladies share it, and the Prince can see into the yard from his room and he too has a door to access it. However, you have a small space that is yours, don't enter there without permission and they won't enter yours." Marinette nodded. "Lastly the Harem and the courtyard are the only places you can go without a bodyguard. If you leave this and want to see the castle you need the Prince your a guard to accompany you." 

"Okay, may I meet my ladies?" Marinette was exhausted from all this, and she wanted a bath and bed. But mostly she wanted to cry. 

"Of course, meet Mylene and Alex." Mari smiled at the two shorter girls. They both bowed. "I'll leave to let you get acquainted." 

"Hi Lady Marinette." Mylene smiled.

"How can we help you tonight? Looks like you've had a rough day!" Alex helped her sit. 

"I'm sorry this is all so much, this morning I was free and living with my parents in the village and now I'm here, and I use to want to wash the road trip off and lay down." 

"We know, we remember seeing you in the village before we got jobs here. We already drew a bath and laid out a nightdress for you. We aren't going to force our help on you Marinette, we want you to be as happy as you can. So we will come to wake you in the morning so you can be ready for breakfast, alright?" Mylene spoke softly. 

A bath? She had been expecting a warm bucket of water and a cloth, but she supposed that noble had servants  "Thank you both so much." She without thinking hugged both girls. They didn't say anything. 

"That bell connects to our room, just ring if you need anything." Alex patted her hand. "We will take care of the water in the morning unless you call us." 

With that Marinette was finally alone. 

***

Adrien walked into his father's grand dining room. "Greeting Father. How was your day?" 

"The day was eventful and productive. Come enjoy dinner with me before you leave tomorrow morning." The two men exchanged a smile. 

"I do wish you would come with us. I would love for you to see me compete." Adrien smiled at the servant who brought him his food. 

"I know son, but I can't however, we are hosting the next one in a few months so I will be there to see you." He smiled. 

"Oh! I hadn't known that. Good, is that what made your day productive?" 

"Oh no, Rolland Dupain came by today." 

"The baker?" 

"Don't interrupt your king son." His father teased. "Yes the baker, anyway he'd gotten himself in some trouble and offered his granddaughter to me as a way to smooth things over." 

"Oh, what are you going to do with her? Wait he has a granddaughter?" Adrien hadn't remembered meeting her. 

"A disowned son. He apparently worked out a deal to take her." 

"Or he just took her." Adrien knew that some nobles were nasty with their disowned children. 

"I hadn't thought of that, but she stepped in to save him, so I assume she went willingly." The King took a deep breath. "I sent her to Harem, I want you to meet her and see if she is a good fit for you. She wasn't raised in Court, she will need some help, and maybe some special attention but she is beautiful and very kind, so I thought you might enjoy her fresh perspective."

"Oh... Father, I don't know if I want another wife, should I just be focusing on the ones I have rather the splitting my time between four women?" How was he going to add one more woman to his days? 

"Son, the women who give you an heir is more than just the mother of your child, she will be your queen, the women who lead beside you, she needs to be someone you trust. She needs to be someone you bond with, not someone who will want to get a secret lover so they can have theirs." 

"Father, how did you..." 

"I know more you think I do son, it's my job as King, I also am a good actor. Look I'm not mad, my other "wives" did it too, it's why I didn't invest in them. But still married them off to the people they had fallen for." Adrien needs to fall for this girl. "She's also the Lady of the Ladybug." 

"That one as rare as mine right father?" Adrien loved being the Lord of the Cat, oh if only he knew the trouble it truly caused. 

"Yes, son. She might just be your soulmate son, give her a chance." Gabriel smiled at his son.

"Okay, I'll go meet her tonight." Adrien and Gabriel talked about kingdom business for the rest of the night. 

Adrien ran into Felix after his meal with his father and ended up getting to his room way later than he planned. He walked out to his courtyard, would his new "bride" still be up? He looked out his window, all three windows he was used to looking at, were dark, no candles lit, they must have assumed he would be with this new girl tonight. Her room was next to the servant's quarters. Odd he thought, but she wasn't a noble so maybe she had asked for that. 

He saw candlelight in her room. He should at least go say hi, even if he didn't stay there. He started to walk over, and her room door opened, he slipped into the darkness, he didn't want to bother her. But he kept walking so he could get closer to her to see her better.

"It is beautiful here." Her voice was so lovely. She looked amazing, She was in one of the simpler nightdresses on, it hid her figure but her hair was loose around her shoulders, he hardly saw girls' hair down, nobles simply didn't do that. As he got closer he realized she was crying. Should he let her know he was there?

She turned and walked back into her room. He noticed she opened her window. Did she not want to be warm? So he'd never done for his other "wives" he knocked on her window and sat down. He heard her jump. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Adrien." 

"Prince Adrien?"Her voice sounds broken like she wasn't breathing steadily. 

"Yes, but please just call me Adrien, I wanted to talk to you and meet you, but as I walking over I noticed you were crying so would you rather be alone?"

"Um. We can talk for a bit, but can we just sit by the window and not see each other? I'm ready for bed and don't think I'm dressed to meet the crown prince." She giggled and it was great to hear. 

"Of course, But my dear Lady I don't even know your name." he chuckled.

"I am Lady Marinette, Lady of the Ladybug." 

"Ah, what a lovely name. Marinette? Are you happy to be here? My "wives " don't normally cry when they get here, they normally want to become queen." 

"Adrien when I woke up this morning I was a simple baker's daughter, who had a seamstress business on the side. Now I'm one of the women who might become queen. All to save my family." She was hiding something he could feel it. 

"Oh, Father didn't tell me that." Adrien wasn't sure. 

"Your father didn't know. My dad has friends in court who support him because he is my grandfather's son, if my grandfather lost his standing in court it will end well for my dad." she let out her breath like she was trying to calm down. 

"You are a brave girl Marinette." even after this short conversation he wanted her to feel safe with him. He wanted to get to know her. 

"I'm tired Adrien, would you tell me about yourself? Not the royal life stuff but what you like to do, what makes you happy." She yawned.  She was cute, he'd already deiced. 

Adrien talked for a while about fencing and music, and his mom, his love of hunting because of the freedom he found in it. She sleepily mentioned that she wouldn't mind going hunting for a day. He chuckled, he'd have to see if she was serious when she wasn't half asleep. 

"Do you want to sleep alone tonight? I could stay with you till you are asleep?" He asked after few more stories. She didn't answer. So he looked through the window and found her sleeping on the floor wrapped in a blanket. He couldn't imagine sleeping on the floor, but she grew up in the village, something he knew nothing about. Had she ever seen a bed like the one in her room?

He decided he wouldn't let his new "bride" sleep on the floor or in a cold room. He quietly entered her room and closed her window and lifted her up, he was shocked by how small she was. It was cute. She seemed to curl up into his arms. He set her down on the bed. He kissed her forehead, "Goodnight my Lady." He smiled as her lips curled up into a contented smile. His father was right, maybe she was his soulmate.