The Prince's Cat
Insp.
...
"Another day, another failure, eh Chloe?" Alya laughed at the ruffled demeanor of the Lady Chloe. Her handmaiden Sabrina was diligently working away at her, trying to straighten her up as they rode by wagon to Chloe's estate.
Another failure indeed, it seemed to Alya. But one thing Alya both admired and loathed about Chloe was her unwavering determination to be wed to Adrien Agreste, a prince famous for his good beauty and infamous for his ill humor.
"Quiet, you." The blonde lady said, "I'll catch that infernal cat someday."
The cat in question was, of course, Chat Noir, one of the most infamous cats in all of Paris. The small black cat was rumored to be the companion of Prince Adrien, a man after whom many young maidens longed.
Young maidens such as Alya's best friend, Marinette, and their arch nemesis, Lady Chloe.
The cat was infamous for that reason. Hanging from his feline neck was a key. Not a real key; actually, the diminutive beast wore a bell that jingled merrily whenever he gave potential brides the runaround. And give them the runaround he did.
The rule was unofficial but no less rigid, and it was told as follows: "Only the fairest Lady, capable in mind and body enough to retrieve the bell hung around Chat Noir's neck and let its ring announce her love for the prince would be considered the Prince's Bride."
No one knew how the rule came to be, only that one day the prince's appointed knight, Sir Lahiffe, had brought it to their attention. When Adrien himself acknowledged the absurd rule, women from all over Paris clamored over themselves at a chance to be wed to the most eligible Parisian bachelor.
But the agile critter was far too evasive to be caught by any hand. And each attempt inevitably ended in failure. Some women have up, trying to dissuade the rumors by insisting it wasn't really Adrien's cat (the two had never even been seen in the same place, and what prince would let an apparently beloved companion roam about the streets of Paris?) While some would try taking other cats with other bells to the prince's abode (really, how can he tell them apart? They're all the same, right?), but none of their plots and schemes ever succeeded and it became truly evident that the only way to court Adrien was by getting a little golden bell from a little black cat.
"I still think you should give it a shot yourself, Marinette. Your pretty quick on your feet."
A humble baker's daughter and Alya's best friend, Marinette had confided her own desire for Adrien many times for as long as they'd known one another.
"Yeah, when I'm not tripping on air or spilling batter over myself."
Despite all of Alya's enthusiastic encouragement, Marinette never vied for the cat's bell.
Alya insisted that Marinette had as much chance as any other spry woman, but Marinette would simply reply, "Perhaps I'll call after that bard instead." Alya didnt understand why she would settle.
But at night, when the city of Paris grew quiet and serene, and Marinette family's shop slept like any other, Marinette climbed out onto her roof with a bowl of cream and scraps of meat, awaiting her own nighttime caller.
Faithfully, a sly black cat padded up to the girl from the northern corner, where it no doubt climbed the sycamore tree that grew there. And just as it always did, the cat leaned its furry head down to lap up the cream and take the scraps from her hand. His meal ended with Marinette gently petting him as he ate silently, and when the food was gone the cat slunk to Marinette's side.
He never touched her, save the occasional licks to her hands, but he would always sit calmly by her side. Still as a statue, silently offering her the golden bell that hung from his neck.
Yet Marinette, in her own self-doubt over, never took it.
"Why do you do this?" Marinette asked one chilly night as she sat upon her roof with her feline friend, "Why do come to me, when they're are plenty of ladies who have far more to offer than I?"
"Because they don't offer," came the unexpected reply.
With a a rather doggish howl, Marinette leapt to her feet -- and nearly went tumbling down the shingles as she did -- only to look around and see no one.
No one but the small tom cat with a cheshire grin and shining green eyes.
"Did," Marinette brought her hand to rest over her heart as she curiously inquired, "Did you just speak to me?"
"Meow." The cat said. And Marinette started to settle down again, ready to believe she'd imagined the whole thing. But then she realized that the sly creature had not mowed, it had said the word 'meow.' As if it were a human trying to speak like a cat.
How peculiar, she thought.
"So you can speak, then?" She supposed it wasn't the weirdest thing. She would almost expect a talking cat to be rather rare and valuable, but she would equally expect a prince to have such a rare and valuable cat she supposed. "Why are you only speaking now?"
"Well," began he, "You've never really spoken to me before. Not in a way that required more than a pleasant ear."
She thought back to all the times she had spent with the animal. From the first time the cat had shown up -- she had been upset from an incident with a painter and the noble thing had offered her silent comfort -- she had never really held a conversation with it. She always chose to either ramble about her day, or her family, or herself... or Prince Adrien.
A luminescent fluster worked its way onto Marinette's cheeks, "Well, I hadn't known you could you could offer it, you manipulative minx."
"Ah, M'Lady," the cat purred, adopting a sly look as it trudged forward to lick at her hands, "You wouldn't want to insult me, would you? What about your Sweet Prince?"
Under the moonlight and through a cat's eyes, the maiden's blush seemed all the brighter.
"You'd better not tell him any of this, or else I won't have any dinner for you next time."
"Very well, M'Lady. Though, if you'd be so kind as to answer one question I've had since the first time you've mentioned him?"
She sighed, "Very well, one question."
"If you truly love Adrien as you say you do, why do you not take my bell?"
The girl stared at Chat Noir, who gave her a very slow, leisurely blink as he patiently waited for her response.
"Cats are very curious creatures, you know."
So Marinette told the cat of what she admired of Adrien, from his fencing skill to his gentle demeanor to his noble attitude, and Chat Noir listened silently, slouching beside her.
And as she finished, she added, "But I? I am a simple baker's daughter. I've nothing to offer him just as I've nothing to offer you."
"You offer me a sweet meal every night." He said simply.
Marinette laughed, "Yes! I'll offer dowry of cream and beef! That will surely be worthy of the king's only son."
"The king cares not much for Adrien," the beast said sadly, slouching further onto the roof tiles, "And he cares not much for his bride, either. Only that he finds one."
Marinette bit her lip, empathy bringing tears to her own eyes, "But I won't be enough for him. I'm clumsy and plain and--"
"Marinette," came the cat's voice, interrupting her. He stood proudly and swaggered to her front, his bell tinkling softly, "Take my bell. I assure you, I believe you're far more deserving than you make yourself out to be.
"You're kind, clever, and beautiful. You never once tried to chase me like those ruffians, instead you befriended me. You gave me food, and let me stay here with you, even bringing me blankets in the winter or cool water in the summer. If you would do all of this for a simple cat, I'm sure whatever you'd do for Adrien would be far more enchanting. And I know he would do just as much for you, if you'd let him."
The cheshire grin was back, "Verily, M'Lady, I think you're purrfect."
The maiden blinked, the shimmering tears receding for a moment, "Was... did you just tell a pun?"
"Yes. I rather claw-ver one, too."
Something clicked in Marinette's head, "Oh, Adrien's humor is just as dreadful as yours, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid Adrien rarely goes this long without making a joke." Chat Noir chuckled when Marinette hung her head with a dramatic sigh, "But you love him anyway, don't you M'Lady?"
And with he resigned nod, Chat Noir padded to her lap. "Please take the bell and be Adrien's bride."
Hesitantly, Marinette took the ornament from his neck, and Chat Noir slinked back to admire her.
She stared at it, her doubts not abating. "What if he disagrees with you?"
"Impawsible." He replied.
"Are you so sure?"
Then Marinette gasped as, right before her eyes, the prince's cat leaned up, kneeling on hind legs that shouldn't have bent that way. The small, slinky body grew, the cat's shining green eyes never leaving her own deep blue ones. Slick fur gave way to silk, and paws gave way to hands. The face changed, shifting and shifting until the remarkably human face of Prince Adrien Agreste of France was there, kneeling before the humble baker's daughter.
"My Lady," he spoke with conviction, his deeper human voice sending chills down her spine, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
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