1 Chapter 1

The sound of heels tapping against the cold brick floor echoed through the castle. A young woman marching her way to the throne, her raven hair bouncing with each step. Although some people at the castle would say she was scary, under her monotone expression is a terrified little girl afraid of failing. As she approached the gigantic wooden door she was able to hear muffled conversations between what she assumed was staff members, she let out a sigh of discomfort. The wooden door creaked open as she entered the room, light pouring through the hallway. She squinted from the sudden light. " Ah, Mrs Young! I'm glad you made it!" She looked to where the voice came from, she smiled and bowed to the queen. " Good Afternoon your highness, I am here on request". A tall man entered her vision, everyone in the kingdom knew him.. The king. "G-Greetings your highness.." She couldn't help but stutter. The king made his way to the throne, leading her with him.

" Mrs Young. As a servant you are asked to clean the west library, The night of the Masquerade there was an incident between Prince Daniel and an intruder."

His voice boomed like thunder, " No wonder everyone is scared of him" She thought.

"Of course your highness I'll clean up as soon as I can" She said as she bowed. As she walked out of the room one of the staff members stopped her. "Do be careful Mrs Young, there is broken glass everywhere." He said with a concerned look on his face. She smiled at his concern "Don't fret Ben I'll be careful, and please we're friends! Call me Marinette!".

Marinette finally entered her home, the sky had turned pitch black as it was closing to midnight. She let her sore feet drag her inside and dropped her purse on the counter of the kitchen. As she let herself fall on the couch she heard a much loved and familiar voice calling out. "Marinette dear, is that you?--" The voice stopped midway between his sentence "Long day, Huh?" Even when her head was buried in the cushion she could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Very funny Virgil." She said in a sarcastic tone, verbally giving him the cold shoulder. The couch deepened as he sat next to her " Oh come on! I was only joking!" He laughed. Marinette lifted herself up, realizing she was face to face with Virgil, He held a flirty grin on his face. She rolled her eyes "even being married for 3 years you can't help but tease me!". He couldn't help but laugh, he kissed her forehead as he got up " and you can't deny that you still love it!" She squeaked as he lifted her up in bridal style and carried her to their bedroom. He gently placed her on the bed and layed next to her. "Tomorrow I'm cleaning the west library..yay.." she said as she dramatically placed her arm over her eyes. Virgil joined in on the situation "Oh dear! My loving wife is in agony! How will I go on with life!?". They both burst out laughing as she reached over and grabbed his long braid and began taking it out. She would always admit to Virgil that his hair was amazing, I mean his raven hair reached his thighs when undone! She was amazed how he kept it in healthy condition..Totally not looking at how he looks after himself especially his sleeping schedule. Once his hair was out she started to brush it with her fingers. The room was filled with comfortable silence as they slowly started to drift away to sleep . "tomorrow is going to be interesting.." she finally thought as she drifted away to sleep..

Marinette groans as the morning sunlight hits her face, "you forgot to close the curtains, didn't you?" she barely got out. She could feel her husband roll up against her and slowly wrap his arms around her waist "it seems that I did.." He laughed sleepily.

After the very groggy morning Marinette finally made her way to the storage room of the castle, she proceeded to grab all cleaning supplies needed. As she made her way up to the west library she jumped as she heard some loud noise behind her like someone was charging at her as that entered her thoughts she immediately whipped her head quickly towards the sound. "Oh my goodness Benjamin!! Don't scare me like that!!" Behind her was a tired Ben, his curly brown hair was all over the place like he was in the middle of a wind storm, she noticed how sweaty he was "were you running?" she asked ignoring the fact that he was red-faced and panting "No of course I wasn't!" he said sarcastically. After a minute or two after he caught his breath he explained how he wanted to help her with the clean-up, she felt a bit guilty that Ben wanted to help even if it wasn't his job but after some convincing she agreed, "spending the day with Ben will be an experience" she thought as they started. Marinette was surprised at how messy the room was. There were glass scattered everywhere! Books practically flying everywhere, Tables flipped over so the table legs were sticking out in the air but what she didn't understand was if Prince Daniel was attacked and taken there was no sign of forced entrance since all door entrances are guarded by the royal castle guards and no one could enter without being allowed in, it was almost as if everything was placed…

"Marinette are you okay?" Virgil's voice filled with concern, he noticed as soon as she entered the house that something was off. Marinette looked at her husband before looking back at her photographs taken at the scene of the"crime". " I don't know… Today at work while I cleaned the west library I noticed something very strange.."  He was now sitting next to her showing physical signs that he is listening. She raised her hand to her chin and began to explain. 

Minutes later with both of them informed about the strange events that occurred earlier. "That does seem odd.." Virgil says with a hint of confusion infused into his voice, he continued to try and reason why this might be to her. She zoned out, beginning to try and reason the situation until Virgil placed his hand on her cheek " Hun, Don't stress out too much, I'm sure this will make sense soon" He said in a calming voice which surprisingly always worked on her. She leaned against his palm, letting a tired sigh escape her lips "I guess..". A smile grew on his face as he led her to the bedroom "I think a nice peaceful sleep will help" He chuckled causing a small giggle from Marinette. Hours later in the dead of night Marinette laid in bed, the full moon's light illuminating her figure in the dark room as the cool breeze blew through the window, Virgil sleeping at peace beside her, his arm wrapped around her waist like he was ensuring she stayed put next to him, not in a demanding way but in a loving way, she always loved how he did this but also saddened about it. Only she knew of his past and how terrible it was, knowing that one man caused him pain unlike any other which is almost why he never goes back to his hometown, to avoid his uncle. She slowly slipped out of his grasp and moved towards the backdoor, attempting to not to bump into any of the floating plants they had hung up for decoration.

Marinette laid her arms against the fence of the wooden house outside causing the structure to creek ever so slightly. Her long raven hair flowed with the flowers of their backyard, flowing back and forth like a calm wave, the sound of crickets cripping in the trees as the wind charme rang quietly. She couldn't sleep, she was too stressed about the west library, it just doesn't make sense! She yelled at herself quietly. Back inside the house Virgil moved his arm back and forth, feeling nothing he sprang up on the bed, looking around the room as he was doing this his breath quickened, beginning to panic he jumped out of bed and ran around the house until he caught a glimpse of Marinette outside, he sighed in relief and made his way outside. Marinette felt a hand gently touch her hand, she looked behind her feeling startled. An apologetic smile grew on her face "Sorry, I couldn't sleep" She said quietly hugging him after noticing how distressed her husband was. "Don't worry, at least you're here.." He said as he hugged her back. He pulled away gently and looked down at his wife "Do you want to talk about it?" He said calmly. They spent nearly all night talking about it as the wind blew around them. The moon's light causes their eyes to "glow" at least that's what Virgil thinks, the light also causes their silver wedding rings to glint slightly.

"Your Highness. I believe something wrong happened in the west library" Marinette stated in a convincing confident tone although she was mentally screaming with fear inside. King Arthur lifted himself off the throne, walking slowly towards Marinette " What makes you think that." He said in a tone that didn't even seem to be a question more like a statement. Marinette slightly moved back "..F-from what I've heard, Prince Daniel was kidnapped" The king nodded coldly proving to the young woman that he did not like talking about his missing son " There was no sign of break in, there were no broken windows. Only broken glassware. The only way he would be attacked is if someone was in the palace and only people that the royal would allow in. So the attacker was a part of the royal peers." She finished confidently. Everyone around also listened to this and was taken back, Marinette looked around her, she made eye contact with Benjamin who was also shocked about her suspicions since he was with her, that would have meant he should've noticed. "This does seem correct, I was helping her clean the room and I, too, didn't see any windows broken" Benjamin stated calmly causing the king and queen to look at each other "This indeed does not make sense." The queen told her husband with confusion written over her face. "Correct. Guards!" The king Arthur yelled causing Marinette and everyone else except the queen to jump. "Yes, your highness." The two male guards responded "Go gather every staff member in the palace and investigate them." His deep voice rumbled. After the two guards left the room a voice broke Marinette graze from the door. " Miss, are you able to also investigate some of our staff?" The queen asked gently. Although the queen's husband was tall, big and intimidating she was calm, sweet and gentle with her subjects. The queen's pale blonde hair was pulled over her shoulder as she was talking to Marinette "Of course, your highness" Marinette bowed causing a small giggle erupting from the queen " Miss Young, you don't need to do that, your finding my son which means we are friends" The queen silently giggled "Of course!" Marinette nervously giggled, in their time royals weren't meant to be nice to their subjects or even Marinette who is both dark skinned and a woman. Marinette never understood why people saw dark skinned people as lesser especially women. But that's what is happening in our time. "Hey Benjamin, are you able to join me?' Marinette asked sweetly as she made her way to him "Sure thing, who are we going to first?" Benjamin asked while placing his broom down, Marinette looked through the piece of paper the queen had given her and began reading out the names " Timmothee Brodeur the gardener, Midori Brodeur the chef, Asteria Throndsen a fellow maid, Jane the warrior and Charlotte Johnson." She finished. "Well let's get a move on them" Benjamin said happily.