The Huntress And The Knight

Chapter Five

Marinette's body ached as she sat up in bed: her entire body felt the repercussions of spending the day on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor, and the events of the previous night had not helped. The light of the sun shone through the window, and Marinette wondered why Juleka had yet to wake her, but when she looked around the room, she could find no trace of the head maid. She was thankful for this, for her body needed the extra rest, and after arriving home late last night, she wasn't sure she would be able to grant her body's wish. The events of the night had taken a toll on her, and she worried she wouldn't be able to pay it.

Marinette got up and winced when she put the full weight of her body onto her two feet. Hopefully, her riding skills would improve and her body aches would fade away, but for now, Marinette needed to make it through the day acting as though nothing was wrong. She limped over to the closet and pulled out her uniform, which had been given to her yesterday. She pulled the black dress over her head and tied the white apron around her waist before pulling up her hair into a low bun.

Not wanting to be seen as slacking off, Marinette grabbed her empty bucket and a rag and opened the door to the passage. If she remembered correctly, Juleka should be in the royal dining room today, but she wasn't sure. Plus, she had no idea how to get there. "You've got this," she whispered to herself as she closed the door behind her, the darkness now consuming her. As she walked, the wooden stairs creaked under Marinette's aching feet, and after a few minutes of walking around in the darkness, the confidence she once had about finding her way through the passage had all but faded away, replaced with a fear of being lost.

"Hello?" she whispered, hoping that another maid would be around to hear her. Marinette had no idea where the nearest passage exit was, let alone the exit to the royal dining room, so the only thing she was confident about was that she was truly lost. "Can anyone help me, I'm lost." She continued on in the darkness, running her hand along the wall to try and feel for a door handle, but it seemed as though her luck had run dry. She was stuck in the dark passages with nothing but an empty bucket and an old rag.

Suddenly, she bumped into someone and let out a startled yelp before falling backwards. But as she was about to fall down the passage stairs, a hand caught hers and pulled her up. "Who's that?" a voice asked.

"Mari," she replied, breathlessly. "I'm a new servant here and I seem to have lost my way in these passages. Can you help me?"

"Of course, Mari," the voice replied, and it sounded strangely familiar. "I wouldn't want the maid whom I appointed to be fired on her second day."

"Prince Adrien?" she asked, for when she heard him mention that he had appointed her, she had quickly made the connection. Though, she would not have guessed it was him by his voice. For some reason, she would have guessed Chat Noir.

"The one and only," he replied, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You're lucky that I'm the one who found you. Anyone else and you may have been fired. Now, where did you say you wanted to go?"

"The royal dining room, I believe," she replied. "I think that's where Juleka is. For some odd reason, she didn't wake me this morning. I was hoping that if I found her, she would give me my job for the day."

"Well then, right this way Mari." For a few moments they walked in silence, giving Marinette the chance to wander into her thoughts. Prince Adrien's voice had sounded a bit like Cat Noir's, but now she knew how silly that idea sounded. Prince Adrien was royalty, and although he seemed to have his heart set on helping the people of the village, she doubted he would go as far as to disobey his father by becoming a masked criminal set on stealing jewels to give to the poor. Besides, he was much too charming and refined to be the flirtatious and arrogant Cat Noir.