"Marinette! Snap out of it!" Tikki whispered harshly.

Marinette blinked, snapping out of her daze. She glanced down at her red friend. "What?"

"You need to bring those ingredients to the pub, remember??"

Marinette's eyes widened and she slapped her forehead. "Shoot! That's right." She glanced at the pub which was overflowing with customers since the Prince had arrived.

She quickly bundled up her things and stormed into the pub with the items in hand. She dodged the customers and successfully made it to the kitchen.

Marinette ran into a flustered Alya.

"Girl! Where have you been?" Alya barked frantically, taking the food items from Marinette's hands. Alya then quickly jogged away, not even waiting for a response.

"Marinette!" a nervous voice exclaimed. She turned her head at Mylene who was having another baking difficulty.

"I gotcha," Marinette sighed, helping her friend. She pushed the dough into the oven with a sigh of relief.

However, the period of relief didn't last long. Alya rushed back into the kitchen, her face a red mess. "The Prince wants bread!" she exclaimed.

All heads in the kitchen snapped towards Mylene and Marinette.

"Oh, um... tell him it'll be out in a minute!" Marinette replied frantically, glancing at the oven.

Alya nodded and then quickly stormed out of the kitchen. Marinette kept her eyes on the oven and waited for the ding. It was hard to keep focus, though, with Alya rushing in and out of the kitchen, bringing more food to the Prince. "What more did he want?" Marinette thought.

Meanwhile, the Prince was sitting besides his father at the biggest and grandest table the pub had to offer. He sighed as the table slowly filled up with food. King Gabriel barked orders for more food with a twisted grin.

"Father..." Adrien mumbled. "I don't need all of this food."

King Gabriel clicked his tongue in disgust. "Oh, son. You have such a pure heart. But there's no need to show respect for these peasants. They serve you."

"But all I requested was bread," Adrien replied. "We shouldn't work them so hard like this."

"Son, you don't understand. Peasants are dirty and greedy people. How would you know how they are? This is the first time you've visited a peasant village after all."

"They don't all seem bad," Adrien mumbled, thinking of Marinette. Ah, Marinette. The girl with eyes as blue as the summer sky and a smile so genuine that--

"Adrien," King Gabriel snapped annoyingly.

Prince Adrien glanced up at his father quickly. "Yes?"

"Wave to your loyal fans," Gabriel mumbled, his eyes darting to the screaming girls surrounding them.

Adrien sighed. "Right." He faked a smile and waved to the peasant girls.

"Coming through!" Alya shouted, rushing an order of fresh bread to Prince Adrien's table.

She set the plate down and bowed to the Prince. "Enjoy." Alya then fled back into the kitchen where a nervous Marinette waited.

"I hope he likes it. Mylene and I worked hard to make sure it came out nice," Marinette mumbled.

Mylene smiled gratefully at her friend. "Don't kid yourself, Marinette. You did all the work. I was a mess."

Marinette laughed while Alya sighed. "I better go check on him to see how he likes it."

Alya fled the kitchen and left an anxious Marinette.

Minutes later, Alya came back into the kitchen with a nervous expression on her face. She gulped.

"The Prince wants to see the baker," she announced fretfully.

Mylene and Marinette shared a horrified look.

"You go!" Mylene exclaimed nervously. "You did the work!"

"No!" Marinette whispered back, clenching her teeth. "I'm a klutz!"

"I need someone!" Alya reminded them frantically.

Mylene shoved Marinette forward. Marinette gave Mylene a dirty look before unwillingly leaving the kitchen with Alya pulling her along.

Marinette followed her friend through the crowd of people and whispers escaped the lips of those watching. She bit her lip nervously and trained her eyes on the heels of her friend.

Luckily, she managed to bring herself to a stop as Alya halted. Marinette folded her arms behind her back and could feel her insides freeze as Alya moved out of the way.

Prince Adrien was intently looking at Marinette, his green eyes glowing with curiosity and contentment. He smiled.

"So you're the maiden who baked this bread?" Adrien proclaimed. "No wonder it tasted so sweet."

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up as she smiled like a fool. Other girls watching gasped in jealousy. King Gabriel watched the event unfold disapprovingly.

"Oh, t-thanks, your Highness," Marinette stuttered, glancing at the floor every now and then.

"Peasant girl," a deeper voice rang out, attracting the attention of Marinette once more. She met the dark and chilled eyes of the King; they were much more desolate than those of Adrien's.

"I sincerely hope you didn't poison my son," he said distastefully. Looks like he didn't like the bond the Prince and Marinette were sharing.

Marinette opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her eyes watered with embarrassment as words of prejudice spread throughout the room.

"Father-" Adrien began, but he was silenced immediately.

"No, Adrien. We're leaving," Gabriel ordered, standing up from his seat.

The guards escorted the King and Prince out of the pub while the wealthier spectators voiced words of disapproval at Marinette.

"Filthy peasant," one woman said.

Marinette had begun to feel overwhelmed by the harsh lies. She quickly ran out of the pub and all the way to her parents graves. She sat down beside them, tears streaming down her face. Tikki flew out and sat on Marinette's hand.

"Don't let them get to you!" she exclaimed. "They don't deserve your tears. You know what they said about you isn't true."

"But the King wrongly accused me in front of all those people. In front of Prince Adrien," Marinette weeped sadly.

"So? They'll feel like idiots when they're proved wrong, Ladybug," Tikki reminded her. "I heard of some trouble in the next village over, why don't we go check it out? Give Ladybug a test run?"

Marinette sighed and rested her head on her knees. "I guess. But I'll mess everything up."

"There's just a goat on the loose. Nothing too bad," Tikki winked. "Then, after that, we can start training for the real trouble."

"Okay," Marinette nodded, feeling a bit more confident. She stood up. "What do I say again?... Oh! Now I remember. Tikki, spots on!"

Immediately, Tikki was sucked into Marinette's earrings and pink glitter fluttered over her body, transforming her into Ladybug.

Ladybug smiled confidently. "Let's do this."