To My Dearly Detested | ✎

11 | one bed

"This is an absurd idea."

Marinette grinned up at him from underneath her black hood, her features concealed by the darkness of the night and her oversized hood. They were currently standing outside the palace gates by the stables, secretly readying their steeds. Thankfully, they hadn't run into any of the overnight stable hands who tended to spend the night in the stables to avoid horse thieves.

They were also able to avoid all of the guards on their nightly patrols. To say that was a coincidence wouldn't have been true. Adrien had a pretty good feeling the only reason they hadn't been caught yet was because Marinette had practice in sneaking around.

"Yet you agreed to it," she winked at him, then more seriously, she added, "But you need not worry about getting caught. Just follow my lead and you will be fine."

Adrien wanted to believe her... but that didn't ease his worry.

"Would it not have been better for us to head to the village in the morning?" Adrien asked her, his eyes widening in awe as she swiftly mounted her horse with ease. To say he was impressed would have been an understatement.

"It would have been harder for us to sneak out to the village during the daytime considering both your knights and mine will be wondering where we are." She said from atop her horse, her expression serious despite her visible smile.

"But I thought you wanted to observe the people? Will they not all be asleep?"

Marinette's smile widened, "How would you feel about spending the night like a commoner?"

Adrien's eyes simply widened at that. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, stunned, "You want to stay out all night? Where will we sleep?"

"In an inn, of course." Marinette snickered.

Adrien wasn't sure how he felt about that. Marinette expected him to spend the night in an inn—a resting place for traveling commoners? The conditions of a place like that had to be extremely dirty.

"I do not know, Marinette. What if we are caught?" He gripped onto the reigns of his horse, still hesitant to mount. He wanted to step out of his comfort zone and try new things... but this was a dangerous risk. What if his father found out?

What if Kagami found out?

He had never snuck out of the palace before, and he certainly hadn't taken a horse from the stables to attempt a trek down to the village with the intention of spending the night in an inn out of all places.

He could only imagine the conditions of such a place. The thought made him shiver.

"I do not plan to get caught, but I will take all the blame if we do." Marinette assured him softly, "Our story will be simple: I forced you to abide by my will."

Adrien couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Sounds believable enough, although I am not sure if my father will believe that you forced me to do anything."

"I doubt my father will believe such a story either." Marinette chuckled, "But if I lived my life worried about everything my father thought, I would never live, so get up on that horse, will you?"

Adrien's hands fumbled with the reigns hesitantly. He wanted to take Marinette's motto by both hands and simply apply it to his own life... but his relationship with his father was just starting to take a better turn.

Did he really want to risk such progress to go on some midnight escapade with the woman he was maybe/maybe not starting to feel attracted to?

Even with the risks, he couldn't help but still think yes.