*Marinette's POV*

People lie and people cheat. That's life, politics, and what comes with being Royal. But, fortunately, there are good people too.

~~~~~

We rose early in the morning to prepare. I lifted my heavy eyelids; the sky was a bluish-purple and a thin line of orange peeped out on the horizon; Adrien hadn't risen yet. I watched him; his golden hair was messy and spread out on the pillow, and his eyelashes brushed gently on his cheeks. My hand instinctively made its way to his face while I watched his delicate, sleeping body. I wished for him to wake; his chest rose and fell gently with each breath.

After a moment his eyes sleepily opened, he stretched and yawned while I chuckled to myself.

"Good morning princess!" Adrien spoke softly but enthusiastically. His pulled himself up to a sitting position and sat rubbing his eyes. I found myself becoming shy when my eyes met his bare and muscular chest; his whole figure was fit and toned and his eyes complimented his hair.

He broke my thoughts: "See something you like Mari?" He smirked.

"Ha!" I replied and I threw a pillow at him.

After fighting with ourselves to get up, we finally rose and got dressed.

"Where are we going today, Mari?" I grew flustered at the nickname. Adrien had never called me that before until today.

"Well, kitten, we're going to make alliances. I'm gonna try and convince some neighboring kingdoms to help us."

We made our way to the stables where the general and some ten knights had prepared our horses. After mounting, we went to the friendliest person I could think of: Rose.

-----

After hours of riding, we finally arrived at Rose's castle. We gave our horses to the stable hands and made our way inside.

"Marinette? Adrien?" Rose emerged. "What are you doing here?" The kind princess spoke in a sweet voice.

"Hello Rose. We want to discuss some business with you, can you talk?"

"Of course!" Rose led us to a room. Her royal counsel and general joined as well.

We stood silent for a moment, until I broke it:

"Rose, we need your help."

"With what?"

"We-- I ask if you can spare soldiers for our army? Chloe declared war on us, and we need all the help we can get. I get it if you don't want to fight, I do, but right now, as your friend, I am asking you to please help me. We both want Chloe to realize she can't treat others so cruelly." I paused, every second felt like an eternity; the moments leading up to her verdict were harsh and nerve wracking.

"Hmmm," Rose finally spoke. She turned to her advisors, no head shakes indicated their position, it was a guess as to what they were thinking.

"Ok. We'll help!"