To My Dearly Detested | ✎

3 | holding all the cards

"Two damn weeks."

Adrien paced back and forth in his chambers. Nino stood by the door, carefully calculating each step he took with uncertain eyes, while Kagami stood outside, leaving the prince no chance to rely on her to ease his anger.

The dinner had concluded hours ago, and it had been nothing but awkward. Due to his inappropriate behavior, he and Marinette hadn't spoken throughout the entire sitting, which he knew he was the reason for. Nonetheless, with a full moon setting over the kingdom, everyone had retired to their chambers for the night.

It would have been a peaceful night for him, too, had their parents not surprised them both with the unfortunate news that the princess of Kingdom Cheng would be staying under the same roof as him for two whole weeks.

"It does seem a bit lengthy... but do not worry. It should go by fairly quickly." Nino said in an attempt to appease the prince, but Adrien merely whipped his head around to face his timid knight, his rage entirely evident.

"'Fairly quickly?'" Adrien spat. "Do not talk to me as if I am a child. Your words might hold some relevant meaning if I was not being forced to marry her. I will have to live with her underneath the same roof for the rest of my miserable life."

Nino ignored the prince's minor temper tantrum with an unnoticed roll of his eyes. "Surely she is not as bad as you are making her out to be. You have had a conversation with her already, have you not? She must be... approachable for that to be possible."

"So what if she is?" Adrien threw his hands up, outraged, as he continued his pacing. "Even if we did have an appropriate conversation—which I will neither confirm nor deny because I have no idea what intentions lie behind her feigned friendliness—it does not change the fact that my father has yet again conspired behind my back."

"Well... you were not the only one who was left in the dark, now were you?" His knight's words caused the prince to pause—however brief it might've been. Now standing in one place, Adrien turned to look at Nino, his irises conveying his sudden interest in his knight's words.

Not expecting the pause, Nino cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly. "Ehem... did you, by any chance, happen to notice that the princess also seemed to be in shock? It seems her parents also conspired behind her back."

Adrien had noticed... but he'd been too preoccupied in his anger to really even consider how she might've felt. Although he didn't necessarily care how Marinette felt, he did have to wonder just how angry she was. She was the one who was being forced to stay here—under a roof that was considered to be her enemy's. Had their roles been reversed, he would've been incredibly on edge and upset with the arrangements.

With a hum of consideration, Adrien folded his arms across his chest and offered Nino a look of interest. "What exactly are you proposing?"

Nino looked squeamish, but nonetheless, he said, "Perhaps you would be willing to give the princess a chance? I know you believe wholeheartedly that the two of you are too different to ever work together, but you both already seem to have one thing in common..."

The prince arched a single brow at that. "And what might that be?"

"Parents who have decided your futures for you."

Adrien ran a hand over his face as he considered Nino's words. With a defeated sigh, he realized that his knight was right. He and Marinette may have come from two different kingdoms that had hated each other for centuries, but they did seem to share parents who wanted to dictate every aspect of their lives.

However, that didn't make them the same. So what if their parents shared common ground? That didn't make him and Marinette alike. So far, the only other thing he could think of that they had in common was that she didn't want to get married just as much as he didn't want to.