Chapter Text
“As we all know, Marinette often lets her feelings for Adrien get the better of her.”
“One of the earliest examples of this was when she called out Lila for lying about being her best friend in front of Adrien, which led to her being akumatized into Volpina and later an ally of Hawk Moth.”
“Needless to say, this was one of the biggest mistakes Marinette made in her first year as Ladybug, but this doesn’t happen in every timeline…”
Marinette and Tikki are hiding as they listen to Lila talking to Adrien.
“...between you and me, Ladybug doesn’t even make the top ten.”
Marinette bites down on the book she had just retrieved in anger.
“My grandma gave me this necklace.”
“Wow, she’s good,” Tikki said, “Really good.”
Marinette’s first instinct was to transform and expose the Liar, but from Tikki’s reaction, it was clear the book was important. Shouldn't it be her duty to get it somewhere safe first?
Marinette struggled with her dilemma, but fortunately, she didn’t need to make a choice.
“Does Ladybug know you talk about her like this behind her back?” Adrien asked.
“What?” Lila asked.
“One second you're praising her, and the next you’re insulting her? You don’t seem like a very good friend.”
“She’s fine with it. We talk about each other like this all the time.”
“That doesn't sound like Ladybug… I mean, from what I have seen of her.”
“Oh, she's very different in private.”
Adrien stared at her for a few seconds.
“No, you don’t know her at all. Have you even met her?”
“What? How could you say that–”
“Save it! I’m a celebrity. I know about people who pretend to know famous people for their own benefit. I’m leaving!”
“Adrien! Please! I can explain!” She grabbed his arm.
“Let go of my arm,” he said in a low voice.
“But if you just hear me out–”
“I said, let go!” He yanked his arm free and walked away.
Once he was gone, Lila growled, “You’re not getting away that easy.”
Marinette shivered; she was worse than she thought, but at least Adrien was on to her; maybe she should have trusted Adrien more. He would never fall in love with a girl like Lila.
Gabriel was working on the computer when he noticed he had an alert from the Ladyblog. He monitored it in case Mlle. Césaire posted anything useful to him.
He selected the alert and watched the interview of Lila claiming to be Ladybug’s best friend.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Gabriel said with a sinister smile.