History Fanfic / TheKarmaOfLies

* ConMan: Lila is portrayed as one of these. For instance, she manipulates Nathaniel into giving her hard-to-obtain passes to art galleries (which she then resells) by conning him into believing that his work is being looked at by an editor friend of hers at Marvel and then exploiting his gratitude. She also manipulates the class into giving her fancy dresses and outfits Marinette made for them by not only pretending that she would give those clothes to charity, but also by tricking them into thinking that a famous fashion mogul would see the class's donations and be impressed. [[spoiler: Her ultimate con is tricking Adrien into trusting her, and using him to drain the Agreste family's emergency funds and leave Paris for good.]]

* NitpickyAboutLivingArrangements: At the end, Adrien complains about being stuck in an upper-middle-class apartment that's "smaller than his old closet".

* BrokenAesop: Potentially.
** The story revolves around the concept that evil wins when good people do nothing -- Lila did incredible damage thanks to Adrien's refusal to act against her. However, part of Marinette's KarmicJackpot stems from her opting to cut ties with him and the rest of her ungrateful classmates, which includes no longer going out of her way to oppose Lila. While probably good for her mental health, this could also be interpreted as "Oppose evil, but not when evil heaps consequences upon the complicit."
** The class losing their dreams and valuables to Lila is framed as LaserGuidedKarma for how they [[AllTakeAndNoGive constantly took advantage of Marinette]], sending the message that taking people for granted and exploiting them doesn't pay in the long run. However, the fact that they have no hope of gaining restitution, even for work they did honestly before Lila stole it from them (not to mention Adrien [[spoiler:losing the Agreste emergency fund solely due to terribly poor judgement on his part]]), could be interpreted as saying that people who are victimized by scammers and con artists ''deserve'' to be taken advantage of for being stupid/greedy enough to fall for their lies.

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* UninvitedToTheParty: Combined with a PartySchedulingGambit. Marinette spent a week planning a party for everyone after Ms. Bustier essentially told her that she had to ''earn'' her friends back, only for nobody to show up because they were throwing a surprise picnic for Lila instead ...one they didn't bother to invite Marinette to or even tell her about. They weakly try to justify this by claiming they know Mainette doesn't get along with Lila and were trying to keep events involving the girls separate. Then, they rub salt in the wound by claiming that they were going to finish up the picnic and come straight to Marinette's party after, but they just lost track of time because they were having too much fun with Lila. Of course, Marinette won't mind [[EntitledBastard putting her party on hold until they finally show up]], will she?

** Discussed after Luka realizes that Juleka is one of the people who hurt Ladybug's civilian identity and again when Marinette makes the decision to cut ties with her classmates. In both cases, he's pained by the tension between his sister and his crush, both of whom he sees as good people, but he agrees to respect Ladybug and Marinette's feelings. Marinette, in turn, makes it clear that she respects Luka's love for and desire to help his sister and won't try to stop him from reaching out to her, but she doesn't want to get involved with Juleka personally. [[spoiler:Thanks to Juleka passing Luka's improvised SecretTestOfCharacter, the two girls are able to reconcile and start rebuilding thier friendship, easing Luka's conflict over the matter.]]
** Adrien is just as disgusted with Hawk Moth's crimes as the rest of Paris, but since Gabriel is the only family he has left, Adrien decides to do whatever he can to reduce his father's punishment, rationlizing that they'll get through it "as a family" and ignoring Plagg's warnings that what he's planning isn't a good idea.

** Adrien tries this after his father is revealed as Hawk Moth, believing that Marinette will glady advocate for him to get off lightly because she likes helping people, and especially her crush. He's genuinely shocked when Marinette bluntly shuts him down.

** Most of Marinette's classmates are completely blind to how badly they hurt her by abandoning her in favor of Lila, but conplain bitterly when Marinette gives them ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine by refusing to [[EasilyForgiven welcome them back with open arms]].

** Adrien's sheltered, pampered upbringing works against him when he sees Lila scamming his classmates, as his father's immense wealth means he simply [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense doesn't see their monetary losses as significant]] and in his world possessions are easily replaced. Lila's clothing scam in particular highlights his complete LackOfEmpathy for resource-related struggles, as he sees no problem with his classmates giving away their best clothes even when it's pointed out they don't have massive wardrobes like he does and then claims in all seriousness that Marinette can simply make replacements, demonstrating no understanding of how much time, effort, and money it would actually take for her to recreate all those bespoke, custom-made outfits. In addition, his sheltered upbringing has left him with the serious belief that ProtagonistCenteredMorality applies to him as one of the heroes of Paris, meaning he feels [[EntitledBastard completely entitled to a happy ending and everything he thinks should come with it]], even though he hasn't actually done any good deeds to ''earn'' that happy ending for himself.

** Adrien defended letting Lila get away with conning his classmates because "no one was getting hurt" and they weren't giving away anything they could afford to lose. This rebounds on him in an ironic way after his father is arrested and the Agrestes' assets are all frozen by the police, and then [[spoiler:Lila cons Adrien out of the Agrestes' multi-million euro emergency fund]]. Adrien isn't broke -- even without his father's wealth, he has his earnings from years of modeling -- but all of his money is locked away in accounts he can't touch until he's eighteen thanks to his ControlFreak father. Thus, as Marinette points out, he technically hasn't lost anything he can't ''afford'' to lose.

** Plagg spends most of the story telling Adrien that karma is coming for him and he needs to put some serious work into fixing his mistakes if he doesn't want it to hit him hard, as well warning him against actions that will make his already-bad situation worse. Adrien ignores all of these, to the point where Plagg finally gives up. When Adrien notices and asks why, Plagg bluntly informs him that [[spoiler:even if he would listen, he's wasted all his chances and his bad karma is now completely unavoidable, so there's no point.]]

* ImpoverishedPatrician: After Gabriel's arrest, the police immediately freeze all of his assets, and it's heavily implied they'll be seized by the government once he's convicted for his crimes as Hawk Moth. Adrien experiences a twist on this trope after he's placed in the care of his aunt. Though she's as wealthy as Gabriel was, she refuses to furnish Adrien with any of the luxuries he's used to, instead moving him to a middle-class apartment that he complains is smaller than his old closet. Also played with in that Adrien his wages from years of modeling, but they're stored in an account his ControlFreak father has him completely locked out of; that money is out of his reach until he turns eighteen.

** Zig-zagged later on when the city starts putting together a reward fund to thank the superheroes for finally defeating Hawk Moth. Adrien seizes on this as a solution to his financial woes after Lila robs him and [[spoiler:his father loses his company]], as he is initially set to receive part of the reward. However, the actual payout keeps getting delayed becaue more and more people keep showing up and wanting to contribute. In the meantime, Adrien's [[LackOfEmpathy callousness toward the suffering of Hawk Moth's victims as Chat Noir]] reveals to the public that he's ThePoorlyChosenOne and a NominalHero, prompting people to reconsider whether he really deserves part of the reward. [[spoiler:He's ultimately excluded from the benefits after his identity is revealed in a way that strongly implicates him as his father's accomplice.]]

** Downplayed by Chloé. In sharp contrast to Marinette's [[FairWeatherFriend classmates, teachers, and Adrien,]], she ''doesn't'' immediately start sucking up after everyone finds out Marinette is also her idol, Ladybug, and at one point acknowledges in front of Marinette that she still doesn't really like her personally -- but she's sticking with Marinette because she genuinely wants to change and improve, and she knows Marinette will [[HonestAdvisor tell her off instead of enabling her]] when she starts acting like a SpoiledBrat.

** When Audrey offers to let Marinette and her family move into [[spoiler:the former Agreste mansion, now the Style Queen Fashion Estate]], Marinette is leery until Audrey explains that it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. Marinette’s family will get a nice place with good security for reasonable rent, and Marinette will get a well-stocked workspace to push her limits with her designs and kick-start her career in the fashion industry. Meanwhile, Audrey will benefit from the positive publicity of directly associating with Ladybug, [[spoiler:will not have to go through bankruptcy proceedings for newly-acquired Agreste Fashions, which has the side effect of saving thousands of people from losing their jobs]], and will get the right to sell some of Marinette’s designs under her own brand (with Marinette getting a cut of the profits, of course).

** The entire story can be framed as answering: if Adrien stuck by the enabling position he expressed regarding Lila in "Chameleon,"[[labelnote:*]]"[Lila's] a liar. Yes. I know. But do you really think exposing [Lila] will make things better? As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter?"[[/labelnote]] what would be the logical consequences? What would this choice say about him, and what would be its effect on him? [[spoiler:The answer is that this position shows itself to not only be wrong, hurtful, and destructive in a myriad of ways, both moral and practical, but also selfish if continued even when the effects are too obvious to deny, and that, if given enough time, not only will the downsides of this position eventually hit Adrien as well, but by then he could easily have burned so many bridges that he will no longer have the social support to help weather life's difficulties, be they self-incurred (by enabling Lila) or circumstancial (through his father being Hawkmoth).]]

** The entire story can be framed as answering: if Adrien stuck by the enabling position he expressed regarding Lila in "Cameleon,"[[labelnote:*]]"[Lila's] a liar. Yes. I know. But do you really think exposing [Lila] will make things better? As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter?"[[/labelnote]] what would be the logical consequences? What would this choice say about him, and what would be its effect on him? [[spoiler:The answer is that this position shows itself to not only be wrong, hurtful, and destructive in a myriad of ways, both moral and practical, but also selfish if continued even when the effects are too obvious to deny, and that, if given enough time, not only will the downsides of this position eventually hit Adrien as well, but by then he could easily have burned so many bridges that he will no longer have the social support to help weather life's difficulties, be they self-incurred (by enabling Lila) or circumstancial (through his father being Hawkmoth).]]

** Ms. Bustier and Principal Damocles both enabled bullies at the expense of their victims, and Marinette in particular, and were generally lax and incompetent in their roles. Lila took full advantage of this to get all sorts of special treatment for disabilities she didn't really have, with the teachers going so far as to request extra money from the government to help them accomodate her. Once it comes out that none of Lila's "disabilities" were properly documented, Bustier and Damocles get into trouble for trying to defraud the government, which costs both of them their jobs. Bustier is fired outright, while Damocles is allowed to [[ResignedInDisgrace stay on until the end of the school year before stepping down]]. Notably, [[spoiler:Chloé is the one who reported them, having realized in the course of her HeelFaceTurn that they were horrible enablers who encouraged her bullying ways for years by letting her go unpunished.]]

** Adrien showed no sympathy when his classmates were being scammed; when he's later robbed himself, Marinette shows [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine just as little sympathy for him]], laughing in his face when he asks her to "pull some strings" for him. [[spoiler:His classmates are initially supportive, but lose all sympathy for him after learning about his BetrayalByInaction, considering the loss of his money and home his just desserts for letting Lila ruin their futures]].

** Putting in the work to truly change is hard, but it will pay off and you'll be better off for it in the long ru

* AllForNothing: PlayedWith. Adrien spent months shielding Lila from the consequences of her lies, largely because he didn't want to deal with the side effects and fallout of her exposure. When Hawk Moth is exposed and arrested, signalling the expiration of both Adrien and Lila's {{Karma Houdini Warrant|y}}ies, Adrien continues trying to protect Lila -- [[spoiler:which enables her to dump all of her karmic backlash onto him and get away scot-free while Adrien takes the fall for her crimes]]. Adrien succeeded in protecting Lila just like he wanted...but failed to salvage his reputation, his partnership with Ladybug, or any of the other things he really wanted to maintain by helping her.n.

* AFriendInNeed: Adrien's classmates stand by him as the public's opinion of him sours and his family's fortune is seized by the government after his father is outed as Hawk Moth, even though their reputations suffer by association. [[DramaticIrony They're blissfully unaware that Adrien stood by and did nothing when they were taken in by Lila's scams.]] [[spoiler:Once they learn about his BetrayalByInaction and that they threw away their reputations for a FalseFriend, they call him out and refuse to have anything else to do with him.]]
* AllForNothing: PlayedWith. Adrien spent months shielding Lila from the consequences of her lies, largely because he didn't want to deal with the side effects and fallout of her exposure. When Hawk Moth is exposed and arrested, signalling the expiration of both Adrien and Lila's {{Karma Houdini Warrant|y}}ies, Adrien continues trying to protect Lila -- [[spoiler:which enables her to dump all of her karmic backlash onto him and get away scot-free while Adrien takes the fall for her crimes]]. Adrien succeeded in protecting Lila just like he wanted...but failed to salvage his reputation, his partnership with Ladybug, or any of the other things he really wanted to maintain by helping her.

** Putting in the work to truly change is hard, but it will pay off and you'll be better off for it in the long run.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: At one point, Ladybug says she's planning to reccommend that Gabriel receive the maximum possible punishment short of the death penalty for his crimes as Hawk Moth. France abolished the death penalty in 1981, so he couldn't receive that sentence anyway.[[note]]This could be hand-waved as Gabriel being tried by an American court for his actions during the New York special; while New York is not a death penalty state and the United States currently has a moratorium on federal executions, they might make an exception due to the severity of Hawk Moth's crimes.[[/note]]

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine:
** Adrien never cared about how Marinette was being bullied by Lila because [[ItsAllAboutMe it didn't affect him personally]], brushing off her concerns even when she tells him point-blank that Lila is making her miserable. After Lila robs him, Marinette bluntly refuses to leverage her status as Ladybug to help him, all but spelling out that she's abandoning him to deal with it on his own the same way he abandoned her when she needed his help.
** Similarly, the rest of the class shunned Marinette in favor of Lila, blatantly ignoring and ostracizing her while still expecting her to bend over backwards for them when they wanted something from her. After her identity is publicly revealed, Marinette cuts ties with them, going so far as to switch classes in order to ensure she has no contact at all with them, and ignores their efforts to get back into her good graces, showing them how it feels to be snubbed.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Adrien, frequently.
** When Marinette's classmates donate clothes she made specifically for them to Lila's FakeCharity, Adrien can't fathom why Marinette would be upset over this, insisting that "they're just clothes," and she can easily make more. He then compounds this by insisting that Lila's lies aren't hurting anyone, even after Marinette spells out that ''she's'' being hurt; he simply declares that [[BecauseYouCanCope she can handle it]], ignoring the fact that Marinette is clearly on the verge of breaking down.
** Plagg tries to get through to Adrien that his classmates don't have the same level of financial privilege as him and can't necessarily replace what Lila is stealing from them, Adrien shrugs it off, insisting that they would ''never'' give away anything they couldn't afford to lose.
** After Ladybug defeats Hawk Moth, Plagg warns Adrien that her victory is unleashing LaserGuidedKarma and that if he keeps trying to shield wrongdoers like Lila and his father, [[KarmicMisfire their karma could hit him instead]], ''on top of'' his own deserved punishments for ignoring Marinette's plight and slacking off as Chat Noir. Adrien completely ignores these repeated warnings, refusing to give the concept any credence at all until he's already in deep trouble. Even then, he only accepts the existence of karma because it allows him to insist that it's NeverMyFault and the Universe is just out to get him for no good reason.
** Marinette rejects Adrien, telling him that "I can't love someone who let Lila do what she did to me." Adrien somehow twists this around into Marinette being jealous of his FakeRelationship with Lila, convincing himself that he just needs to go let Lila down gently and then Marinette will happily fall into his arms.
** Chat Noir manages to shred his own reputation by crashing a live interview where Ladybug calls him out for his [[EntitledToHaveYou persistent and unwanted advances]] and then displaying his [[LackOfEmpathy callous disregard]] for the terror and suffering Hawk Moth caused. Afterward, he complains that Ladybug should have tried harder to explain that she wasn't interested ''before'' (ignoring Plagg pointing out that she did and he just has NoListeningSkills) and acts as though the public is being ''ungrateful'' for the way he fought to protect them.

* NotHelpingYourCase: Adrien spends the entire story doing nothing but this.
** When he claims that he's overlooking Lila's lies to "keep everyone happy," Marinette counters by pointing out that ''she's'' not happy. Adrien completely ignores this, which convinces Marinette that he was a FalseFriend all along and provokes her to cut ties with him alongside the rest of her classmates.
** When he reports Lila's theft [[spoiler:of the Agreste emergency fund]] to the police, Adrien doesn't bother to consult a lawyer beforehand, reasoning that OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers and he [[ObliviouslyEvil hasn't done anything wrong]]. He then proceeds to admit that he knew Lila was a ConArtist for months and did nothing about it, putting his [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered mindset]] on full display and implicitly admitting that he has no problem with lying and stealing, as long as it's not happening to ''him''. His refusal to compromise or back down even when it's spelled out that all the available evidence contradicts his story only lands him in deeper trouble, [[spoiler:with the police eventually concluding that CassandraDidIt and Adrien is doing a very poor job of trying to use Lila as a scapegoat.]]
** Chat Noir missed the FinalBattle with Hawk Moth because he prioritized his reputation over his heroic duties. This gets him into deep trouble with Ladybug on its own, since she specifically told him he'd be needed for a big fight. However, he then makes it worse by crashing a post-battle interview he wasn't invited to, continuing to joke around and make unwanted advances toward Ladybug, trying to argue for a lighter sentence for Hawk Moth on the grounds that [[ResetButton since Ladybug fixed all the damage, it was like it never happened]], and very obviously focusing on the monetary reward the city is putting together for the heroes. All of this completely tanks his reputation and makes people suspicious of his weak excuse for missing the fight.
** Chat responds to the above by deciding to take down Mayura solo when she finally comes out of hiding, ignoring Ladybug's efforts to warn him off. [[spoiler:He then accidentally reveals his identity to Mayura with some careless words, and she takes advantage of this knowledge to convince him to give her a hand up when he manages to expose her identity. She then steals the Ring off his finger in a way that [[NotWhatItLooksLike looks like he willingly let her have it]]. The public reveal of his identity, coupled with his previous suspicious behavior as both Chat and Adrien, [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion cements his guilt in the minds of the public, leaving him]] HatedByAll.]]

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: While Adrien claimed he and Marinette were friends and that he was supporting her, Adrien didn't really treat her like one. Over the months that Marinette was suffering from Lila's actions, Adrien asserted that everything would work itself out, that Lila wasn't doing any serious harm, and that any action taken against Lila would only make things worse, leaving Marinette to shoulder the brunt of Lila's cruelties alone. [[spoiler:Marinette returns the favor when the situations flip by refusing to act in support of him, citing how, as someone he abandoned time and again to provide cover for her bully, she is not obligated to clean up the mess he made in doing so, that using her influence as Ladybug to tamper with an unrelated police investigation could make things worse, and that if Adrien goes through the proper channels, the problem may sort itself out. At least Marinette, unlike Adrien, is very honest about the fact that they're not friends and she is absolutely abandoning him to the [[HoistByHisOwnPetard hell of his own making]] that becomes his life since [[CassandraTruth he and the class now can't convince anyone that Lila's a liar.]]]]

** Alya and the majority of Marinette's classmates prove to be this, taking the various favors and kindnesses she's done for them completely for granted and expecting her to continue catering to them... especially after they learn she's not just their "Everyday Ladybug," but ''actually'' Ladybug. Out of the whole class, only [[spoiler:Juleka, Chloe and Rose]] realize how they wronged and mistreated her; the rest get upset over her standing up to them and refusing to do any more thankless favors for them.

** One of Adrien's problems is that he doesn't sympathize with the pain Marinette is going through on account of Lila isolating her from the class. He says that she is strong enough to handle it, so he doesn't feel the need to intervene. He also fails to consider the perspectives of others; as Plagg points out, while he's wealthy enough to easily replace things like clothes, not all of his classmates can say the same. The clothing scam in particular exemplifies his deficiencies -- as a wealthy model and heir to a fashion mogul who has hundreds of employees to do the work for him, Adrien simply can't understand that his classmates can't afford to replace the bespoke clothes Marinette gave them as presents, nor how much of an extraordinary financial burden, time constraint, and labor it would be on Marinette if she actually made the clothes again for free. As someone who has never wanted for any material resource, he simply cannot relate to his classmates' daily living constraints and so his self-centered perspective means he's developed no empathy whatsoever for any resource-related struggles. He sees no problem with letting the class give away their best clothes and implicitly demanding for Marinette to remake them all because he has no capacity to understand what this costs them, both materially and emotionally.

** Adrien suffers this the most, in ''soooo'' many ways. And it's even worse for him because aside from what he would bring on his own head he's also getting hit by the karma that should go to Lila. One of Adrien's defenses for why Lila's conning the class wasn't a big deal is that they weren't losing anything that they couldn't afford to, oblivious to how bad this really is because he has no view of how valuable money actually is. [[spoiler:He winds up conned out of the entirety of the Agreste emergency funds (which reach into the millions).]] Even better is that he's technically not broke because the Agreste family have numerous other holdings and accounts but he has no access to them, not even the money he legitimately earned modeling, because Gabriel's strict control over his life leaves him locked out of anything. [[spoiler:Which is especially bad with Gabriel exposed as Hawkmoth.]] He's not poor but he can't actually use the money either, so he hasn't lost anything he couldn't afford to in the most technical sense of the word.

* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Adrien has no earthly idea what it's like to potentially want for anything that money can buy, and doesn't care about his classmates enough to consider the idea that they ''can't'' just replace things easily.

** Lila sets Adrien up as her fall guy, setting it up so that it appears that ''Adrien'' is the one trying to throw ''her'' under the bus instead.
** She did much the same to Sabrina, stealing and selling off contact information under her name.

* ThickerThanWater: [[spoiler:When Gabriel is exposed as Hawkmoth, Adrien is as disgusted as the rest of Paris, but because the man is the only family he has left he decides to do what he can to reduce his father's punishment.]]

* RecursiveFanfiction: A couple other people created spinoffs of the original work, including ''Fanfic/TalesOfKarmicLiesAftermath'', which acts as a series of stories taking place after the original story, ''[[Fanfic/WhatGoesAroundComesAroundMiraculousLadybug What Goes Around Comes Around]]'', which acts as an alternate version of the original, ''Fanfic/DownTheKarmicHole'', which shows an alternate universe Alix and Fu being warned by Bunnyx that they need to act fast to stop the events of this story from happening in their world, ''Fanfic/KarmaOverbalance'', which takes a more critical view of the original, ''[[Fanfic/KarmasABitch Karma's a Bitch]]'', which acts as another alternate version of the original, this one incorporating Zoe Lee, and ''Fanfic/KarmicBacklash'', which acts as a sequel where Marinette is in for some bad karma of her own.

* AnAesop: It’s not the responsibility of victims to make life easier for those who hurt them, and acting like it is only enables the people doing the harm.

* BetrayalByInaction: Adrien was already flirting with this, but crosses over completely when he opts not to show up to what turns out to be the FinalBattle with Hawkmoth, leaving Ladybug and her other allies hanging.

* DisasterDominoes: This fic is a figurative one for Adrien. He'd put himself in an incredibly precarious position with his own unreliability quietly eroding the strength of his support base, but had no self-awareness of this. His last refusal to support Marinette pushes her to seek help from Luka, and the two bounce off each other to plot a trap for Hawkmoth. Once [[spoiler:Hawkmoth goes down,]] the consequences collide with the bad circumstances Adrien has put himself in through his many bad decisions. The effects of each mistake impact and destabilize the circumstances of the next problem with which Adrien's confronted, one figurative domino after another, [[spoiler:until every good thing Adrien took for granted has collapsed.]]

* ElderAbuse: Under various fake names, Lila volunteered at several senior care homes until she found Ms. Agnes Delacroix, a woman without any family left. She then 'helped' her set up a new bank account which she secretly registered for ''herself'', intercepting her ID card, and conned her into entering the minimal balance to keep the bank from closing it. Once Ms. Delacroix passed away, Lila was left with this secret account all to herself.

* TheFarmerAndTheViper:
** Adrien is willing to help Lila after [[spoiler:Hawkmoth's exposure]] because she tells him ''precisely'' what he wants to hear: that he was right all along to 'take the high road' with her. She takes the opportunity to manipulate him into suffering all the consequences that she should have experienced, [[spoiler: and robs the Agrestes' emergency funds]].
** In the final fight with Mayura, [[spoiler:Chat Noir offers a hand up to Nathalie and she promptly steals the Ring right off his finger]].

** One of the things Marinette needs in order to put her plan into action is money, in order to purchase the equipment necessary to pull it off.
** Adrien hopes to avert this by asking Paris to repay him for all the services he provided as Chat Noir.

** The entire story can be framed as answering: if Adrien stuck by the enabling position he expressed regarding Lila in "Cameleon,"[[labelnote:*]]"[Lila's] a liar. Yes. I know. But do you really think exposing [Lila] will make things better? As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter?"[[/labelnote]] what would be the logical consequences? What would this choice say about him, and what would be its affect on him? [[spoiler:The answer is that this position shows itself to not only be wrong, hurtful, and destructive in a myriad of ways, both moral and practical, but also selfish if continued even when the effects are too obvious to deny, and that, if given enough time, not only will the downsides of this position eventually hit Adrien as well, but by then he could easily have burned so many bridges that he will no longer have the social support to help weather life's difficulties, be they self-incurred (by enabling Lila) or circumstancial (through his father being Hawkmoth).]]