A Royal Pain

T E N

"Wake up."

"Five more minutes..." Marinette mumbled under her bed covers, not at all awake, before her voice died back into soft snores. Luckily her lovely dream was not at all disrupted by the sudden voice telling her to wake up. Actually, was the voice even real? Maybe it just happened in her dream, yeah that's it, she's still sleeping. Sleeping...

HOOOOOOOONNNNNKKKKK

Marinette's ears were suddenly assaulted with the loudness of the foghorn blaring into her ear, making her shoot up from her bed faster than a rocket and scream over the volume of the foghorn. As she was severely disorientated from being suddenly and rudely woken up Marinette didn't register the amount of laughter, sounding suspiciously like her aunt and Lucas, coming from outside her door. Once she got over the ringing in her ears and the frantic beating of her heart, out of the corner of her eye she found her bodyguard standing off to the side of her bed with his left hand positioned behind his back while he held a foghorn in his right hand. Once he realised that Marinette had finally woken up and was now gaping at him with the most disbelieving and very much irritated stare, Jiānhùrén flashed her the slightest smirk and cleared his throat.

"Today will mark the beginning of your lessons and information of your royal duties Miss Cheng." He explained in what sounded like, in Marinette's state of drowsiness and confusion, the vaguest way possible. She could only cock her head to the side and reply with a confused "Huh?"

At that her bodyguard finally sighed in exasperation at her slowness this morning and firmly hoisted her up from her bed, steadying Marinette on her feet when she started to sway from the abrupt change in position. "Go freshen up now, we've got a long day ahead of us." He said as if it would be especially long on his part. Marinette narrowed her eyes at Jiānhùrén and crossed her eyes.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad." Marinette deadpanned, and at the same time, mocked Jiānhùrén haughty tone.

The reply she got from the stoic man was a terrifying grin that promised all of the pain that she should expect from the royal training.
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"As you don't have much experience handling a responsible position, your cousin will be joining us today." Jiānhùrén gestured to Liang sitting off to the side and completely immersed in a book that seemed to be about politics. Once he noticed the bluenette's presence, Liang gave Marinette a wave and a sheepish smile.

Once Marinette returned her cousin's friendly greeting, her nose scrunched up at her bodyguard's assumption that she had no experience whatsoever in being a responsible leader. Sure, class presidency couldn't possibly compare to the position of a princess but it was something!

"I'm not entirely helpless in that area-" She started to defend herself making Jiānhùrén raise an eyebrow at her. "-before coming here I was the class president of my class so I do have some leadership experience."

The bodyguard's expression started to look mildly impressed with Marinette standing up for herself and gave an acknowledging nod in response.

"That's reassuring. Then you'll know the qualities that a successful leader must have."

"Of course. A good leader must be fair and treat their subordinates equally, also valuing their opinions and inputs on certain matters." Marinette answered.

"And what would happen if the person in charge did not do these actions? Liang it's your turn." At the sudden switch, Liang jumped from his seat and almost dropped his book, clumsily setting it down before clearing his throat.

"U-um, if a leader doesn't give their subordinates the choice to make an input and treats them poorly the chances of an uprising or a revolution will rise until the subordinates will eventually overthrow the leader."

"What's one example of an event like that happening?" Without missing a beat Jiānhùrén gestured to Marinette, making her stumble over her words for a bit before composing herself.

"Was the French Revolution one of them? I mean since the leaders of that era were neglectful of their subjects, the middle and lower class were tired of being mistreated while noblemen and women were living a comfortable and high quality lifestyle." Marinette finished lamely, unable to recall more of the details of her home country's most prominent event. Yeah, history was never her best subject.

"Hm, adequate explanation but adequate is not a good enough standard if you are to become China's ruler. You must also be sure of yourself. If you make any of your statements sound like questions or you sound unsure of yourself then your enemies will mercilessly tear you apart." Marinette winced as the bodyguard continued to deliver harsh but helpful criticism for her answer. Liang noticed his cousin's discouraged expression and cautiously patted her shoulder as a show of sympathy. Marinette's eyes widened slightly as she turned to look at her cousin. Shocked meeting sheepish, the two cousins started to slowly familiarise themselves with each other in that moment. Finally, Marinette acknowledged Liang's attempts at comfort with a warm, appreciative smile, also gaining a tentative but equally warm smile in return.

"Liang, you can either stay here and continue your studies or you may join your cousin and I to the dojo." At that Liang's skin immediately paled and he fervently shook his head in refusal. Marinette rose an eyebrow, both in confusion and concern at Liang's apparent aversion at a dojo. In contrast Jiānhùrén hadn't bat an eye to Liang's refusal, instead he looked as if he anticipated that answer and only asked the boy out of obligation. 

"Well miss, let's go then."

"Huh? I don't get a choice?" Marinette questioned. 

"No you do not as you are learning to be a suitable ruler for China. Now, come along." Jiānhùrén's tone of voice left no room for no other argument and Marinette reluctantly got up from her seat, starting to follow the older man. Before fully standing up, Marinette gave a brief smile to Liang and started to trail behind Jiānhùrén.

Once out of the study room, Marinette turned to Jiānhùrén, a questioning expression plastered on her face. "So what's the deal with Liang and the dojo? He seems to avoid it like the plague."  Marinette scrunched up her face when her bodyguard let out an amused chuckle.

"The dojo is where you'll meet your downfall or where you'll become stronger from the experience."  

[A.N: nope still no wifi at my house so i have to resort to using my cousins' wifi.

but i still love you guys with all my heart and i wouldn't want you guys to think that i've given up on my miraculous stories.

plus i still have more drafts for new stories from different fandoms other than miraculous just to expand my circles a bit.

bye for now and love you guys]