Caught In A Storm

Chapter XXV

The sun was beginning to set in the capital, casting the castle, rooms and hallways in a burning, yellowish glow. The royal wedding was nearing and the palais and its workers were slowly starting with the wedding preparations. The maids were ushering inside the castle, cleaning every speckle of non-existing dust, wanting the castle to shine brightly under the spring sun of the end April. Every single silver fork, knife and spoon was being polished until you could see your reflection inside them. Outside in the gardens, the gardeners were watering the plants hoping that the garden would still be full of bright-coloured flowers fpr the wedding and recpetion that would take place there.

Meanwhile the Prince was in his chambers, more precisly in his bedroom, preparing for something that was going to change his life forever. He was sitting at his desk, hastily writing down on paper, before signing it at the end. He carefully folded the paper and stuck it into an envelope and licked its borders in order to seal it shut. He threw it into one of his desk's drawers, before going into his dressing room to pack. Taking the chair that was in a corner, he dragged it in front of the largest closet, he climbed unto the chair so he could reach the black travelling bag he had stored there years ago.

He hazardously threw some clothes inside, before taking out the mysterious box he had hidden and took out the black leather suit and after eyeing it with a huge smile, he carefully folded it before stuffing it into his bag. He took the black mask carefully, running his thumbs on the velvet, leathery material, careful to not damage the material with his nails.

It looked like the masks his mother had brought him back from Venice. She had left a couple of times to visit her family in Italy. Each time she would come back with a Venetian carnival mask for him as a present. He had stored them all in a large wooden trunk, stored under his bed. Sometimes when he was really bored, he would open the trunk and remember each time his mother offered them to him. He was so excited each time she came back.

It was currently the Sunday the 29th of April. He was to be wed in exactly two weeks, on May 13th.

His caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of the dark clothes-bag covering his expensive white and gold wedding suit. The tailors had finished it last Friday. His father had insisted his suit be done in advance, so they wouldn't have to worry of his suit not being ready for the big day. Now he was being kept on an even stricter diet, so he suit would still fit in two weeks. At this rate, they will have to alter the suit anyway, since they were practically feeding him nothing and was probably already losing weight.

Protocol ordered that he must not see Chloé until their wedding day. He sighed in relief at the thought. It is truly awful to see that a man can't even stand being more than a few minutes next to his fiancée, before losing his temper. At least he had been trained with his father to not show any emotions. Although now he had two free weeks of Chloé, if it was up to him he wouldn't have to see her after these two weeks.

He wouldn't see his father in the next two weeks either. His father had already discussed everything concerning his marriage and no words needed to be added. His father had left last week for business with a nearby duke. Of course the king had said that he would be back for the wedding of his son to which Adrien only wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained from as to not aggravate his father's constant terrible mood.

These two free weeks, well two weeks without any strict supervision, were god-sent. His father's secreatry had left by his side, so he had practically no supervision. His father was allowing him not to have any lessons for the following weeks in order to mentally prepare for his wedding.

Adrien quietly hid the large backbag above one of his wardrobe, before slowing walking towards his bathroom. He quietly entered and closed the door behind him. He halted in front of his sink, looking at himself in the large mirror. The bright lights in the bathroom made him look sicker than anywhere else in this castle. His golden skin had dulled to leave a sickly pale Adrien behind. The lack of sleep was painted as dark circles under his eyes. But the more that one specific date approached the more his smile grew.

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I hope you like the last chapters I updated :) I updated them in blocks since I already had posted everything on FF and AO3!

Have a nice sunday !

Eat chocolate !