"Secrets are just like lies: they both keep one from knowing the truth with the intent of deceiving the oblivious."

— Forbidden Love

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

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Silence filled the entire room. In fact, it was so silent, not even a cricket's chirps could be heard. The king's eyes met the ravenette's immediately, and Marinette was almost afraid to breathe.

"What do you mean you 'want' to marry this girl? We have already discussed this and agreed you would be wed to Miss Bourgeois." The king said in a calm, collected voice. Not only was Marinette surprised by the king's response, but the look in Chat Noir's eyes showed he was just as bewildered.

"We never agreed to anything, father." Chat frowned, and with a voice that almost mimicked his father's, he added, "You introduced us and practically said to me 'you do not have a choice, my boy, marry this blonde drama queen!'"

"Hey!" Chloé yelped from behind.

"You seemed alright with the decision. You did not once tell me otherwise." With his eyebrows knit together in frustration, the king signals for one of the servants to pull out a dining chair for him. He sat down once the maid had obeyed, and then with a wave of his hand, signaled for her to leave.

Frowning, Chat Noir scoffed loudly, "Please father, you would have done whatever you wanted despite what I felt. Even if I said no, you would have forced it on me nonetheless."

"Well, yes, of course I would have forced it on you, if you are going to become my successor you need a wife."

With one eyebrow raised as if he was challenging his father, Chat Noir took a daring leap and decided to test the rough waters. "And if I do not wish to take your place?"

The king chuckled quite loudly at that. "It is your duty to do so. You are my son."

The room once again fell into a bliss of silence. Chat Noir faltered, yet Marinette was there to squeeze his palm when he needed her comfort the most. There was not a day that went by where Chat Noir wished he could be someone else other than the king's son; the prince of the land; the man who was one day meant to take his father's place and rule an entire kingdom.

What Chat Noir wanted was more than just to sit in a throne. He wanted to find adventure, travel the world, be free, and spend his life with a woman he truly loved.

He deserved every single one of those things.

"I do not want to become king, and I certainly do not want to marry Miss Bourgeois." Chat growled slightly, his stance becoming stiffer as his hand slipped away from Marinette's grasp. Somewhat worried of what the outcome of this situation could be, the ravenette doesn't bother to reach out for his hand again. Chat Noir was angry– an emotion she rarely saw in him during her stay in his home, and an emotion she'd never seen so strong in the feline before. "I do not even love her!"

With a loud huff, Chloé folded her arms across her chest. Clearly, she was upset by the undying truth, but damn did it make Marinette feel glad.

"We have had this discussion already," The king sighed, his hand moving up to hold his forehead in frustration. "I told you that marriage is not the slightest about love."

Angered, Chat instantly opened his mouth to reply, but Marinette beat him to it. "Then what is marriage for, if not for love?"

The room fell incredibly silent. Chat whipped his head around to look at her, his eyes wide and pleading, almost as if he was begging her to not say anything more.

And then Marinette realized that speaking up hadn't been the best idea. She had spoken what she had been wanting to say ever since the moment she walked into the room, but she had also interrupted a conversation between the king and the prince without even asking if she could intercede.

However, she wouldn't turn back, and she certainly wouldn't take her words back either.

"I beg your pardon?" Came the king's response. And now, all three pairs of eyes had landed on the ravenette.

Since she had already opened her mouth, there was no point in not going ahead and finishing her point. Despite the look Chat Noir shooting at her, she asked, "Why marry if you do not love the person you are being wed to? To win a prize? To obtain the title of a married man? To have another person other than your servants to control and command?" Directly, Marinette asked the king this, and although Chat Noir appreciated her boldness, he also worried that boldness would not be appreciated by the king.  "Marriage literally revolves around the word love. Because that is all it is. We marry someone because we could not live our lives without them. No one should be in control of who you marry."

When Marinette finished, the room fell onto another moment of tension-filled silence. During her speech, Chat Noir's eyes had gone wide as he listened to Marinette's compelling words. Every word she spoke was the truth, and damn did it only make him more attracted to her. She was not afraid to speak her mind.

"Well..." Chloé broke the silence with a huff. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. The father is meant to choose the husband for his daughter or a wife for his son. That is just how it is! Changing those customs would be like spitting on your father's name."

Chat Noir stepped forward, ready to basically tell Chloé to shut up, before Marinette said something that had him turning to look at her with concern. "I would spit on my father's name any day."

His eyes snapped to her in an instant, but she wasn't looking at him. Instead, Marinette was completely focused on Chloé. "My father did nothing but try to control his entire family, and his dirty deeds caught up to him. Little did we know that we would all be in the cross path of his consequences." Briefly, her blue-bell eyes found his, and the look he had on his face must've made her feel guilty, because she dared to offer him an apologetic smile.

And Marinette? Well, she almost felt guilty when she found that look on his face. She hadn't really told him about her family, and the look he was giving her clearly read that he was worried or hurt that she hadn't told him. But she ignored it. She could explain it all to him later. Instead, she turned back to look at Chloé. "I learned years ago that I am entitled to make my own decisions, and I will not be forced to abide to others like a slave."

"I agree with her, father." Chat suddenly piped in, though his voice was wavered and unsure. "Freedom is all I ask of. Please father, let me choose in what makes me happy."

The king remained silent, though his eyebrows were furrowed in a thoughtful expression. He rubbed his chin deeply in thought. "You know," he suddenly said, "Young lady," he met the eyes of the ravenette; a look in his irises no one in the room could quite read. "You remind me of a woman I dearly cherished in my heart– my wife, and the mother to my son, Adrien."

At this, Marinette's eyes widen. Adrien? She was not aware that Chat Noir had a brother.

"Father!" Chat growled, "I have begged of you to never use that name!"

"Oh, hush with that nonsense," grumbled the king. "It is your name, and I will call you by it."

Eyebrows now raised in shock, Marinette could barely wrap her head around the idea.

Chat Noir's actual name was Adrien?

Why had he not mentioned such a thing before? You would think that would be something quite important to mention.

"Adrien's mother was a lot like you, dear." Continued the king. He smiled kindly towards Marinette– something that was a lot more welcoming than her aunt had ever given her. All Marinette knew was that if she ever introduced a man to aunt, and aunt hadn't chosen him, aunt would make sure that the man understood she disliked him. Chat Noir's father was more heartwarming and kinder than she had anticipated, and much different from the way Chat Noir had spoken of him. He tilted his head slightly, "She knew what she wanted in life, and she certainly would not have allowed anyone to simply choose her fate for her."

With a roll of his eyes, Chat Noir folded his arms across his chest. "Yet, she married you." He mumbled.

Thank the gods no one had heard him.

Except for Marinette.

She sent him a warning glare, shaking her head slightly at him. He didn't falter a single bit, but he did send her a small, sheepish grin in return– a little habit he had developed whenever he was caught guilty.

Wait... how did she even know that?

"She never wanted to marry," the king sighed almost sadly, "But I somehow convinced her to marry me, for I never saw the reason why not to marry. Even to this day I am unsure if she ever loved me... nor am I certain if I ever loved her." Meeting the ravenette's eyes once more, the king nodded once. "But I am very humbled by your words. If my son makes you happy, and you make him happy as well, then I would gladly bless your marriage."

Chat Noir's eyes widened at that, and he whipped his head slightly to meet the gaze of Marinette's. The ravenette was sure the grin on lips reached from ear to ear, and the look in his eyes clearly read that he was internally grateful.

"This is outrageous!" Chloé cried, stomping her foot into the floor as a protest. She pouted like a child who got told no for sticking his hand in the cookie jar. "But you have to marry me! You just have to! I already had my dress made!"

With an unimpressed raise of an eyebrow, Marinette smirked slightly. "Oh, that is unfortunate."

Chloé suddenly glared at Marinette, her eyebrows furrowed deeply in disgust. "You slippery serpent! You have ruined everything for me! Curse you and your family!"

"Guards, please escort Miss Bourgeois out of the building." The king yawned, unimpressed and unconcerned for the blonde's drama. Practically screaming for the king to reconsider his decision, Chloé Bourgeois yelped in protest as two guards assisted in dragging her away from the dinner. Once the blonde had been escorted out, the king gestured to a seat by the table. "Come Miss Marinette, sit. We have much to discuss."

Gulping, Marinette reluctantly took a seat. It seemed Chat Noir's plan had only driven her into a deeper hole. A bigger problem.

Now the king expected them to be wed. Little did he know that the ravenette who he now approved of for his son was none other than a human being– one who'd crossed from the other side of the magical wall that divided their very different worlds.

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