"If a man says 'I love you,' but doesn't show his love, he is a fraud." 

— Forbidden Love

CHAPTER THREE

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A loud knock on Marinette's bedroom door had her sitting up from her bed in an instant. She rolled her eyes and groaned aloud, rolling onto her stomach, and burying her face into her pillow. She hoped the person on the other side would take the hint and go away.

"Marinette?" It was Krissy. "Will you be coming down to have tea with us?"

Marinette groaned again and rolled onto her left side, her back now facing the door. "Absolutely not, Krissy. Now please, just leave me be."

Krissy stayed silent for a moment before Marinette clearly heard her sister heave out a heavy sigh. "Marinette, it has been two days since the ball. I do not recall Aunt ever grounding you to your room."

"Your recollection is correct. She never did ground me to my room." Marinette bit back quite harshly. "I did."

Krissy sighed again, this time seemingly frustrated. "Marinette, none of us have seen you. Emily is really upset."

Emily.

It had been Emily that night at the ball who had accidentally spilled to Aunt that Marinette had been talking to a man. Because of her little sister's obliviousness, Aunt had caught Marinette red handed being disrespectful to a man. Though she knew Emily was hardly the one to blame, Marinette was still very annoyed at her youngest sister.

"It was not Emily's fault," Krissy tried to explain. "How was she supposed to know you were in the middle of telling a man off? She does not know why you despise the whole male population."

Marinette huffed and rolled onto her other side, this time facing the door. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, Krissy was right. How was Emily to know what she had done was wrong?

But still, she did not want to see any of her family right now.

"I am not coming down for tea, Krissy, and that is final." Marinette said rather harshly, trying her best not to become soft due to her sister's words.

She heard Krissy sigh again. "Fine. Stay up here all by yourself then." And before Marinette could think of any witty reply along the lines of 'oh yes, well... well I think I will', the ravenette heard her sister's footsteps descend down the stairs.

Marinette felt slightly bad, but it didn't perturb her to a point of actually feeling guilty enough to apologize.

In the blink of an eye, a brilliant idea suddenly popped into her mind.

With her family busy drinking tea, and probably spilling some too, she could have her own little adventure.

Once Marinette was certain no one would come back up again to check on her, the ravenette leaped out from under her duvet and hastily rushed towards her wardrobe. Rummaging through the very back (where her aunt never dared to look), Marinette pulled out her men's clothing with a triumphant smile.

Marinette was not the type of girl who enjoyed wearing dresses as an everyday event. Since women were not allowed to wear anything otherwise, Marinette had hidden men's clothing and a pair of boots in the very back of her wardrobe to wear whenever she pleased.

And today was the day she would put them to good use.

Slipping out of the horrid dress that itched her skin, Marinette slipped on the trousers, the collared shirt, and the vest that was a bit oversized. Oddly enough, it was far more comfortable then what she was supposed to wear. Blah! Since when was it fair for a man to decide what a woman should wear?

Imagine if the women were the ones to decide what the men should wear.

Marinette snorted at that.

That would be a glorious day.

Once fully dressed in her masculine outfit, Marinette eagerly dived back into her wardrobe to gather together her collection of dresses, so that she could tie them all together, creating a long, somewhat substitute, of a rope. Once she was certain the line of tied dresses was long enough to reach the ground from her two-story manor, she opened up her window and tossed the clothing over the edge.

The line of dresses barely grazed the grass, but it would work.

Marinette grinned happily at her success and quickly climbed up onto the edge of her window sill. Making sure the other end of the line of dresses were tied to something strong and stable in her room, the ravenette slowly grabbed onto her homemade rope and began to carefully hoist herself down.

It only took Marinette seconds before her feet touched the ground. She smiled triumphantly at her accomplishment, and as she took one last glance at her rope made from dresses, she offered her far from humbled household a salute, and took off back into the forest.

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

Marinette was a sucker when it came to adventure. The forest was her favorite place to be because she always had something new to explore.

Until the wall always stopped her in her tracks, forbidding her from going any deeper into the woods.

She was standing once again before the stone wall, and she couldn't help but grow upset at the one thing that was blocking her way.

All she wanted was a new adventure. It was the only thing that made Marinette happy, and that stupid wall had to block her from her happiness.

Then, suddenly, Marinette had another fascinating idea. What if she was only to sit at the top of the wall?

Not climb over. Just to sit.

What harm could there possibly be in that?

She decided to take that chance. Her eyes scanned her surroundings until they landed on a medium-sized rock she was sure she could move. Marinette began to push it with her feet, loving how she was able to roll it so easily until it touched the stone of the wall.

Once she had the rock up against the wall, Marinette stood on top of it, and using her upper body strength, pushed herself up until she was able to sit on top. She thought that if she sat on top of this 'magical wall', it would make her feel a whole lot different, but, it was nothing spectacular.

It was just a wall. Why did she expect it to be any grander than any other wall built by man?

She then looked ahead, at the rest of the forest waiting to be explored behind the wall. To think everyone was too afraid to even come near the wall because of legends and myths was a silly thing to think. How could people live their lives peacefully, knowing there is still so much of their world to discover?

Marinette couldn't stand never knowing.

So, the ravenette took the next step she had always forbade herself to never do. Looking down at the grass on the other side of the wall, Marinette swung her legs over and pushed herself off of the stone from her sitting position. In one swift motion, she was throwing herself off of the wall, landing in a squatting position.

Which was a very unladylike position, but she honestly couldn't care less. That was the least of her concerns anyway.

She had just crossed over to the other side of the wall.

Aunt would kill her if she found out.

Thankfully, Aunt was too clueless to know the difference between a nail and a screw— which most women wouldn't know, but Marinette wasn't just any woman.

So, the old hag would never find out.

No need to worry.

Marinette couldn't hardy believe what she had just done herself. She crossed over to the other side of the wall— the one place that was forbidden for everyone.

And now, she had absolutely no idea on how to cross back.

But, right now, that didn't even matter to her. The ravenette stared in awe at all the new land she now had access to explore in. Marinette suddenly had a purpose. She would educate people about the wall and the forest behind it to prove to them that there was nothing 'magical' or dangerous about it.

That it was perfectly safe.

Suddenly, a crack of a twig and a rustle in the bushes had Marinette swirling on the heels of boots, instantly facing the new, and unexpected, sound. Her eyes quickly caught onto the movement that made the bushes come to life, and she slowly backed away from them.

Marinette continued to remind herself that there was absolutely nothing to be worried about, but she couldn't help but swallow nervously anyway.

It's probably just a small animal.

Yes. A small animal, like a rabbit or maybe even a squirrel. To be honest, she wouldn't even complain if it was a unicorn.

There was absolutely nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

Until the creature came out from hiding behind the bushes, it's emerald eyes piercing deeply into her worried blue.

Oh. Now. Maybe now she could worry.

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