The Empress of Rome

Chapter 3

Marinette was awoken in the morning by a knock on her door.

"Enter" she said, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily. It was a young lady who entered, wearing a maiden's uniform.

"Good Morning your Highness" she greeted with a curtsy "I am to show you to the dining room where breakfast awaits you, your Highness."

"Do I have time to get dressed first?" Marinette asked the unnamed maid.

"Of course your Highness, do you wish for me to pick a dress for you?" She said, looking at her feet.

"No, I shall pick myself, you may wait outside" Marinette said, looking at the still unnamed maid.

"Of course your Highness" she gave another curtsy before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Marinette stood up from her bed and walked over to a door which she guessed lead to her closet, she opened it only to find a walk-in closet, filled with clothing. Marinette walked inside, looking a bit around, after a few minutes she settled for a bright blue set, hanging in the corner, once she was dressed she walked out the door and was lead down to the dining room by the maid.

A small breakfast stood at the end of the table, it consisted of a few pieces of bread, marmalade, fresh fruit and a glass of apple juice. Next to the plate was the morning paper, in French of course. Marinette's father had made sure that Marinette was taught French from a young age, so it wasn't a problem for her.

Marinette sat down and picked up the paper, looking at the headline.

Tragedy in Rome: The Roman Emperor and his wife, the princess of The Asian Empire, murdered under the festivities of their daughter, the Crown Princess of Rome and Asia's crowning!

Marinette put down the paper and began eating her breakfast, she didn't feel like reading about this right now, she was sure that she'd be told if anything was discovered. As Marinette ate her breakfast her new bodyguard entered the dining room, greeting her with a small bow.

"Good morning your Highness" he said and walked over to her "you begin at school tomorrow, until then you can relax and learn your cover story."

"Angus, what is my cover?" Marinette asked.

Angus pulled out a chair and sat down. Apparently Marinette posed as the daughter of a very rich businessman from Rome, who had decided to move her away after the incident with the Imperial family. He also handed her a small remote and told her that it would open a secret door in her walk-in closet where she could place her Imperial dresses, crown, literally anything connected to her being who she was, as well as every picture she had of herself and her parents.

Marinette used the rest of the day to catch up with everything that the class she would be joining had already gone over, luckily they were only a few weeks into the new school year. Marinette was a quick learner, she managed to catch up in no time, it also distracted her from thinking about her parents.

Once she went to bed she had problems falling asleep, not because of her parents, but because she was nervous about going to a real school, she had always had tutors, the only children she had ever meet was from her own family.

The next morning Marinette woke up the same way as the day before, she took a shower, put on a white dress, but not the one from her crowning, she even ate the same breakfast as the day before.

Just as she finished eating, Angus walked inside, bowing like the day before and following her down to the car, he opened her door and let her in before he sat in the driver's seat. He then drove her to school.

"Princess" he said just before they pulled up to the school "I'll be holding out here all the time you use at school and once your finished with your classes come down and get me, you and I are to have a talk with the principal, we feel that he and the staff should know who you are."

"Of course Angus" the bodyguard then exited the car and opened her door to let her out, Marinette noticed students staring at her as she walked out the car, but also at a similar car behind theirs, a blonde boy around her age steps out of it moments after Angus closed her door and bid her farewell.

Marinette entered the school just as the bell rang, but she had been told that it didn't matter if she was a bit late, which was good, for it took her sometime before she found the classroom she was assigned too.

Once Marinette found the right room she carefully knocked on the door, after a few seconds a voice called from the other side.

"Come in" the voice of a woman called.

Marinette opened the door and walked inside, the whole class was looking at her as she entered.

"Ah" the woman at the desk in the front said "you must be Marinette, I just told your new classmates that you would be joining us today" she said with a smile "I'm Miss Bustier, come over here and introduce yourself to the rest, would you."

Marinette nodded and walked up to the desk and faced the rest of the class.

"My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng" she began "I just moved from Rome, my father works there, he decided that it would be best if I moved to a different part of the empire after what happened a few days ago" Marinette stopped talking as one of the students raised her hand, she had reddish-brown hair "yes?"

"You speak very good French for a person who lived in Rome" she said "how can that be?"

"My father was born here in Paris" Marinette lied "I've been taught French since I was ten years old."

"Why don't you go and sit next to Alya Marinette" Miss Bustier said, gesturing to the girl with reddish-brown hair, Marinette did as she was told and went to sit next to Alya, Marinette also noticed that the blond boy she had seen earlier was in her class.

"Now" Miss Bustier started "as I was about to say before Marinette entered, today school ends early, as the whole empire will be mourning the loss of the Emperor and Empress" she then resumed to teaching them.

Once Marinette had finished her last class, she hurried out to find Angus before anyone had time to ask her any questions.

The two then headed towards the principal's office, Angus had already arranged an appointment with him.