Gabriel passed around his office again. The tournament had been last week, his son had done amazing, winning the right amount to be tasteful but not letting his guest go away empty-handed, the dinner and ball had been a high light for everyone. The kingdomes seemed to approve of Adrien's mock court even the members of his court seemed to like it and approve. But he was panicked, this was month six since Marinette's arrival, even if the court and villagers loved her, he would soon be getting overs for a fifth "wife". He would need to act soon. The Great Hunt was coming up at the end of the month it would be his best time to act. Adrien would be gone for ten days. 

His thoughts were interrupted by Nathalie bring Mariette in for their weekly tea. She was wearing a dress he designed, a simple pink gown (again think Belle) she made a point of doing this when she wanted to ask him something she thought he would say no to. After chatting for about an hour he finally cut to the chase. "Alright Marinette my dear, what do you want to ask me?"

"How did you know I wanted to ask something, Gabriel?" She had to admit it was still odd to call him Gabriel but it's what he had asked her to call him and who was she to tell the King no?

"The way you sit, how you fidget, the way you won't look at me for more than a moment and lastly, I designed that dress for you, and you always wear it when you have something big to ask of me." He smirked. 

"You read people too well." She blushed and rolled her eyes. She and the King were that close that he didn't even get mad at her for it. 

"Just you, my dear, so tell me what is it you want from me?"

"Well... my parents and I were talking and Adirens never been outside of the castle before, and seeing how starting this week the prince will need to abstain from sleeping with any of his "wives" for the great hunt, I was hoping that I could take him to spend the day in the village? Lord Kim and I have already thought it all out, I have made Him a set of clothes that would blend in, Kim could go visit his mother and drop me off to see my parents saying that a distant relative of my father has come to visit and wants to impress him by having him meet his daughter who is the Crowned Prince's favoured "wife". That would explain the sight of a man with too fine a fabric for the village. We would leave before the sun is high in the sky and come back it has set. No one would now, Nino and Felix would leave at the for a day of practice hunting with Felix dressed like Adrien, no one would be the wiser." 

"You really have thought of everything, haven't you? Have you told my son of this plan?" 

"No, I didn't want to get his hopes up, if you said no but please say yes!" She had her hands clasped together under her chin, her eyes begging him. 

"Who can say no to such a face? Alright but tell no one. Say that you are going with Adrien to hunt to watch him because you've never seen a great hunt and want to know what goes into it. Don't even tell him until you are on your way to the village understood?" 

"Oh Yes! My King thank you so much!" She hugged him something she'd never done before. 

As he sent a servant to get Kim, the only Gaurd who knew she met with the King he warned her, "Don't forget Lady Marinette every favour comes with one that must be given in return." 

She curtsied, "I remember my King. We will go this Saturday." She smiled brightly as she left. 

"A favour must always be paid," he muttered to himself. 

***

Saturday morning came and Marinette dressed herself in a simple blue dress with her hair tied back with a matching bow, (think Ariel) She then slipped into Adrien's room thanks to Nino's help and woke him up, "Adrien wake up." 

"Princess? What are you doing here? We aren't leaving until the sun is up we agreed we'd skip our meal this morning?" he sat up and saw she held a package. 

"I may have lied, Here put this on, I made it for you and Kim and I will meet you in the stables." She kissed his cheek. And slipped away.

"What was is she up to?" He asked his empty room. He looked at the simple clothes and realized the sun wasn't even in the sky yet. He slipped them on. They were even more simple than his travel clothes. A loose-fitting white shirt, no buttons but a wide collar he slipped on the dark blue pants with a red belt, he tucked the shirt in to give the look a bit more shape. (You got just like Eric) The clothes she made felt almost like magic. As if he could feel the love she sewed them with. He soon met her and Kim in the stables. He helped Marinette into Kim's personal carriage one of the few items he bought to make it easier to visit his mother. "My Lady, will you now tell me where we are going?" 

She giggled and waited. And put a finger to his and her lips. "Halt who goes there?" he heard the guard at the gate call. 

"It is I, Lord Kim, I am heading to the village today to surprise my mother, I'm hoping to get the bakery's freshest bread for her." Adrien could practically hear the smile on Kim's face, he loved his mother. 

"Ah good old Kim, no matter how important he gets he always goes home to see his mom, when will you be back today My Lord?" Adrien did not realize how much his men respected the young Lord. 

"Late my good man, the village holds a celebration on this day and I promised my mother I would attend with her this year. I missed last year." Was this true? Adrien wouldn't have kept home from it?

 "Alright see you tonight then! We are just about to change guards!" 

As the carriage started to move again, Kim called out, "Get some rest today my good men." As they heard the gate close Marinette removed her finger from his lips.  

"Does that answer your question?" 

"Wait we really are going to the village?" He could hardly contain his excitement. "I've only ever seen it form a carriage!" 

"I know my love, that's why I planned this day for you. And it happens to be on the day of the carnival. So there will be lots of people there and fathers been telling everyone that one of his distant relatives is coming to visit and that I'm coming home to help entertain him, you know to impress him and all that jazz. So if anyone asks you grew up in the next kingdom over and you came to visit your relative because you heard about his daughter success in court." 

"Won't they find it odd that I am so much younger than him?" He couldn't believe she'd gotten his father to say yes to this. 

She giggled, "Clearly you don't know my grandmother's reputation... She has taken many young lovers over the years. My fathers have many half brothers and some of them have children now so no not really, so they might think you are his nephew or one of my grandfather's nephews. Anything is possible with those two. So at the carnival, you can't act like you don't love me, but we can still dance, many of the kids will want to see how to court people dance." She giggled again. She was practically shaking with excitement. Adrien couldn't help but find it cute. 

"So what is the carnival for?" He couldn't think of any holidays. 

"Oh, it's something we do to celebrate the harvest. We have a few games and food stands and some of the local musicians play music and people dance." She shrugged, "Nothing like the parties your use to." 

"Maybe that's a good thing." He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. They pulled the blinds away from the window and watched the sun light the sky with pinks, purples and gold. 

Soon they pulled into the village, Kim's mom lived on the edge of the village so Kim could easily pull in into his mom's backyard. His mom met them in the backyard, "Kim my boy!" He hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I missed you so much!" 

"I know Mama I missed you too!" 

Adrien helped Marinette out of the carriage. "Marinette, my dear girl you look so pretty! The castle is treating you well. I'm glad your husband would let you away for the day, is this your father's family member?"

"Yes we met him and my grandfather's house, he wants to see how my father runs his bakery so we should get going. See you tonight!" She waved and guide Adrien away. 

Adrien watched as Marinette led him through the village, she hadn't been here in months and yet she moved like she'd been there yesterday. Finally, they made it to a small building that had a cute sign above the door. "I designed that." She said with a smile. 

"You are very talented." She smiled as she opened the door.

"Mama, Papa! We are here!" 

Now Adrien had met Tom and Sabine before but that was when he was in the castle; here he was in their space, they were both covered in flour. "Welcome to our bakery young man!" Tom gave him a bone-crashing hug. 

Sabine gave him a strong hug but a less bone-crushing hug. "We are glad you are here. Would you like to help Marinette bake something for the carnival tonight? We haven't made cookies yet cause they are her favourite to make and we thought you might like to try your hand at something new?"

"I've never done that before, but I'd love to learn."

"Thanks to the King he's got me a small stove for my space outside my door so I'm not out of practice." She smiled. "Come along my prince welcome to my world." Her old apron like she never left and she tossed him the spare they kept around.

"I look forward to it princess." He winked and the too got to work. 

"We'll be upfront selling for the morning but we are closed for the afternoon so that we can visit. and get ready for the carnival. 

By the time the mid-day meal rolled around Adrien and Marinette had made cookies with minimal mess. They'd even set some aside to take some for his Father. They ate one of the best meals Adrien had ever had. Maybe it's because he saw how it was made or because he could see the love that was shared in this family. 

Eventually, a young man with blue hair wandered into the house behind the shop. "Luka!" Marinette got up and hugged him. 

"Hey, Ma-ma-ma-Marinette! You look great! I'm glad you could get away for the day, it would have been the same without you."

"I'm glad I could get away too. Are you playing tonight?" 

Adrien watch the two interact, the vest Luka wore, he could tell was made by Mariette, even though this was the first thing he had worn she had made, but he had seen the dresses she made herself. He wondered what their history was. He would ask her later. 

"Luka this is my father's family member Andre. He is here visiting." 

Luka gave him a look that told Adrien he knew more he should. But he said nothing. "Glad your visit could bring Marinette back to us for a day, she has been missed around here." 

"I'm glad I get to see the village through her eyes, I heard her say you play? I look forward to hearing you play, maybe Marinette and I can show off some court dance styles." 

"Oh, you'd better, I've heard the little girls already asking about it if Lady Marinette would dance like a princess tonight." Luka smiled, "Well the band and I need to set up I'll see you tonight on the dance floor." 

Adrien found life in the village so calming. No one asking him where to be or giving him things to do. It was nice no wonder she had been so sad to leave. Soon it was time to head into the carnival. Marinette and Adrien helped her parents set up their stand and then covering his arm they walked through the carnival. Adrien was amazed at the lights on the lamp posts, and the games that were out, the smells that came from the stands in front of shops and the music from what assumed was Luka's band. 

They played a few of the games and handed out their winning to the kids they met and enjoyed some wonderful food. Adrien had never seen some of these treats, Marinette explained "When you have nothing you learn to make amazing things out of nothing." after he had enjoyed a stew of what he learned was made of scraps and yet it was so tasty. 

As it got dark people moved to the village center and started to dance. Adrien and Marinette found a bench to sit on and watched some of the couples danced, Marinette explained who they were and how well she knew them. Then Kim and his mom danced and the villagers cheered, it seemed Kim and his mother had complained the style of court and the style of the village. 

As their dance ended a group of girls come running up to Marinette. "Lady Mariette! Lady Marinette!" come in layers and shouts.

"Girls, I'm still just Marinette, but how can I help you?" She giggled. 

"Show us how Princess dance! Please!" They had the adult's attention now and all seemed to be in agreement. 

"Well if Andre would mind helping me, he's been to court even more times than me." She winked and the girls giggled. 

Luka saw the girls gathering around Marinette so he switched to a slower song, Andre smiled telling him that he picked a good song. He watched as he stood bowed low and offered his arm and they walked together to the center of the circle. He let go of her arm and stood across from her. Each of them placed an arm behind their backs the other locked at the elbow and they slowly walked in a circle. Marinette's hand then went to her skirt and she held it out and he spun her. As she stopped spinning his arm when around her waist and hers clasped his hand that was behind his back. They moved like that for a moment then as it became the song was ending He lifted her up and slowly set her down and dipped her. He looked as though he wanted to kiss her, Luka had guessed it at the bakery, but that was the prince and Marinette had fallen in love with him. He kept this secret to himself. Who knows that this had cost Marinette to give him a day in this world and Luka would not ruin it for her. 

They bowed as everyone clapped. Adrien locked eyes with Kim who titled his head towards his house, it was time to go. They bid farewell to her parents and they walked back to Kims and got in the carriage and headed back to the castle. After they were out of the village, "My love?" Adrien asked as Marinette leaned into him. She made a noise. "The boy who came to see you, that vest you made it for him, I could tell. Who is he?"

She understood the weight of his question. "He was the boy I was to marry, we hadn't made anything public yet, but he was my father's first choice, so I'd made it for him as a gift and when I left we swapped gifts as forget me nots. Mine is my anklet I wear all the time. We'd grown up together." 

"Why have you never told me this before?"

"It seemed unimportant when I met you, it wasn't public knowledge yet, so it wasn't like you took me from him, and he clearly holds you in no ill regard, he said nothing about when he met you. He clearly noticed you were not my father's cousin. " 

"Did you love him?" He looked away, looked out the window. 

"Not as I love you, my prince. When I thought Luka was all I could ever have I loved him, then I met you. Not some royal stuck-up prince, but a boy who wanted to be loved not for his title," She pulled his face to hers gently, "but for who he is under all the royal trappings. Not the boy worried an heir, or worrying about "wives" and if his friends will keep their promises. But a boy who loves to hunt, fence, play music and read. The boy who never wanted to be royal." She kissed his hand. 

"My Lady... I... I wish I could kiss you to show you in action what your words mean to me." He took her hand, "But I can't do anything that would upset the gods, so let me try with words. I love you everything you have brought me. More than love, but light and life. Something I did not know I could want so badly. I will see to it that as soon as I am home from the hunt I go straight to your room and surely the gods will bless such a bond." 

***