"Ladies and Gentlemen! May I present to you, Czar Gabriel Agreste with his son, Prince Adrien!"

Everyone in the huge ballroom applauds as the two royal highnesses saunter down the stairs. Almost every royal from around the world came to Russia to celebrate the 11th birthday of the beloved Prince of Russia, Adrien Agreste.

Although it was his birthday, Adrien couldn't stop his feeling of nervousness. After all, it was his first time to be forced to mingle with other royals, and it was also his first time to meet other princesses and see which one could be his future queen.

"Remember my son," his father whispers gently to him, making sure that none of the guests could hear their conversation. "you have to look confident in front of our guests tonight."

Adrien couldn't help to feel more nervous after hearing what his father said to him. He looked at all the guests first. He was relieved to see that they were busy gossiping amongst theirselves. Some were grabbing desserts from the long table of food, none of them had their attention on the two of them. Prince Adrien took this as the chance to talk to his father. "Father, I'm scared."

After hearing his son's sudden confession, Czar Gabriel kneels down to be the same level as his son. He grabs his son's tiny hands and gives them a light squeeze. "You shouldn't be scared, Adrien. I'll be right by you..."

Adrien nods timidly at his father. Czar Gabriel fixes the crown on his son's head, suddenly realizing that the crown is still somewhat big on his son's head. Instead of saying a comment on the Prince's crown, the Czar just smiles at his son and kisses him on the forehead. "I forgot to greet you a happy birthday, son."

Adrien lightly laughs at his father and shows him 5 fingers. "This is your 5th time to greet me today, father."

"Oh, really? I guess that I am getting old already or maybe I am just really happy for you, Adrien. What do you want for your birthday? I haven't given your birthday present yet."

"Hmm..." Adrien's finger taps his chin as he thinks hard for the perfect gift he wants to receive from his father. "Will you allow me to not talk to anyone yet? Specifically a princess? I want to talk with Mari first at the moment. I've been looking for her all night." Adrien puts his hands together and shows his father a pleading look on his face.

"Is that what you want for your birthday? Just that?" His father asks, feeling skeptical. He wants to not talk with princesses yet because he has to see his kitchen friend? Czar Gabriel had such thoughts in his head but he couldn't deny his son's wish, it was his birthday after all.

"Go see Mari first but make sure that when your mother arrives, you will be back here to welcome her. That woman is taking a long time to fix her second face for tonight, and I keep on reminding her that she is beautiful even without make-up! But her stubbornness makes her so attractive for me too." The Czar sighs dreamily then pats Adrien on his back. "Go ahead, I'll take care of the guests."

"Thank you father!" Adrien wraps his arms around his father's body before gracefully walking up the stairs.

Once he arrived at the top of the stairs, he takes long strides to reach the top side of the ballroom. He made sure that he was hidden well enough from the guests downstairs before dashing through the hallway, looking for one of the doors that leads to the kitchen.

Adrien took some time to find the right door. When he stood in front of one door, he could smell newly-roasted chicken and the fresh smell of grilled shrimp from it. Without any hesitation, he pushes the door to let himself in.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of rush and stress radiating from every employee in the kitchen. The chefs were plating the dishes for the second round of food for the guests, the employees in charge of the pantry were washing the dishes in a fast pace and the bakers were growing impatient as they waited for their sweet bread to finish being baked.

Adrien watches them in awe and was fascinated with their system of work.
One of the employees gasps in surprise as she notices  the young prince, inside the kitchen, watching them work. She immediately does a curtsy and slowly all the employees notice the Prince's presence in the kitchen. One by one they bow or for the women, curtsy at the Prince. "Your Highness." They all say in unison.

Adrien gives them a bow and asks them one question that has been running in his mind throughout this whole time, "Where is Mari?"

"I'm here, Adrien!" A cute and sweet little voice answers his question and suddenly, a girl surely shorter than the Prince runs to his direction.

Adrien smiles as he sees his best friend and tells the employees to go back to work.

Mari, also known as Marinette, is 6 months older than the Prince. Her father, Tom Dupain-Cheng, is in-charge of making the dough for bread and the both of them have been living in the palace ever since Marinette was born. Although Mari is older than Adrien, she definitely acts like a 5 year old around the Prince.

Mari hugged the Prince as she ran to him. "Happy Birthday!!" She gushes, feeling very excited for the Prince. "I made my dress for tonight! I had to make sure that this dress was perfect!"

Adrien looks at her dress from top to bottom but he didn't really think that it was well made...

"How did you make it?" He decides to ask her instead of commenting on her dress.

"The white cloth is from the palace's old curtains that you don't use anymore! And I drew polka dots on it using the crayons you gave me for my birthday!" She twirls around to show Adrien the whole dress.

"You should have worn blue so that it could match the blue highlights on your hair!" Adrien utters as he gently pats the head of Mari.

"I could color my whole dress with the blue crayon!" Mari says but then starts to sulk, "But I don't think my blue crayon would be enough for the whole dre-"

"No Mari!" The Prince interrupts her, "I will give you a new blue dress!"

"Really?" Mari says with excitement and her eyes sparkle with happiness. "Oh thank you, best friend!" She hugs Adrien again. Adrien's cheeks turn red as he hugs back Mari.

"I'll ask father for money to buy you that dress, but don't tell anyone about my gift for you, Mari." Adrien continues, breaking their hug. "My father allows me to see you but he would get mad if he knows that I give you gifts. I'll just lie to him and say that I need the money to buy more art materials. He said that I can only give gifts to princesses..."

Mari looks down as sadness takes over her happy feelings, "I know...I wish that I was a princess so that you could hang out with me without hiding from your guests. Or, I wish that I was a Queen! A Czarina!"

"And I will be your Czar, my Czarina?" Adrien bows at Mari and she giggles before doing a curtsy.

Adrien stands up straight as he remembers that he has to go back to the ballroom at this instant. "And speaking of Queens, Mari. I have to go back to the ballroom!"

"Why?" Mari asks, holding Adrien's arm.

"My mother must be done putting make-up by now. She might be waiting for me! I have to go!" He utters in a rushed manner before exiting the kitchen through the same door he used a while ago.

Mari couldn't even say good-bye to him as he ran out of the kitchen.

"Hm. I might as well go back to making bread." She whispers to herself before walking back to the baker's area in the kitchen.

Adrien just arrived in time to witness his mother walking down the stairs wearing a golden, off-shoulder gown that stood out from all the gowns in the ballroom.

Czarina Emilie Agreste smiles at all of the guests after they have bowed at her. "Please don't allow my presence to disrupt your fun!" She announces before the guests, "Go back to doing such activities you were doing a while ago! I would like to have some time too with my 2 favorite men in the world!"

The Queen turned to her only son and started to lovingly kiss him everywhere on his face. "Oh, my baby boy is so big now!!"

"Mother!" Adrien complains as his mother kisses him, but deep down, he enjoyed the feeling of his mother's kisses. After all, he is his mother's only child.

"Will I be getting a kiss from you, my dear?" The Czar quietly asks his wife.

"Oh darling, I've given you enough kisses that could last a lifetime!" The Czarina playfully rejects her husband's request but wraps her arm around his waist and gives him a peck on his cheek. "I have a gift for you, my little prince." She whispers to her son before calling over a butler that is carrying a small red box. The butler hands her the box and bows at her before leaving the family alone.

"It's actually a gift for the 3 of us." Adrien's mother says as she opens the box. Inside the box were three golden rings with diamond studs surrounding the whole shape of the rings.

"Wow!" Adrien exclaims in delight. "Is this really for the 3 of us, mother?"

His mother nods at him and grabs the smallest ring from the box. "This one is yours. If you look under, there is a word engraved on it." She shows the engraved word to Adrien.

"Pr-Prince?" Adrien asks, trying to read the word.

"Yes! This ring is only for you, my son, because you are the only prince in my life and in Russia!" His mother puts the ring on his finger and kisses him on the cheek before turning to his father.

"And for the only king in my life," she continues, "the word engraved on your ring is 'Czar'".

"I knew it since I am the Czar of Russia...but thank you, my queen." The King grabs the ring from his wife and places it on his ring fingers, right above his wedding ring. "So, this means that your ring has the word, 'Czarina', engraved on it?"

The queen wears the last ring from the box and finally gives the kiss her husband has been waiting for. "Of course. I am the only Czarina in the whole world, aren't I?"

"And the only Czarina in my life." The Czar finishes off by bringing his wife closer to him. "But you still look prettier without any make-up on."

Adrien admires the scene playing in front of him. I never want to forget this moment. He tells himself in his thoughts. He examines the ring on his finger before remembering his wish for Mari to have a new blue dress.

"Father-"

"My King!" Adrien gets interrupted by a palace guard running up the stairs to relay urgent news to the king.

The King steps away from his wife and straightens his stance, "What is it?"

The palace guard was out of breath as he pointed at the main door. "He...he's here..." He wheezes.

"Who is here? Speak up!" The king sternly orders and the queen rests her hand on his arm to remind him to calm down.

"Haw...Hawkmo-"

The palace guard was interrupted by the main doors of the palaces being slammed open. The guests gasp in shock as they see a tall man, wearing a sleek dark violet suit stride in the ballroom like as if he owns the palace. A silver mask covers his whole face except his eyes and mouth.

"My Czar..." The strange man sneers, stopping in the middle of the grand ballroom for everyone to perfectly see him. "You forgot to invite me..." He looks straight at Adrien and smirks at him.

And Adrien knew that his smirk did not mean any fun and games. His smirk meant something else, death.

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Hi! So I decided to tweak the plot a bit :)

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