I Know They'll Call Me Evil
Wandering around the Place des Vosges, the couple wonder what they should do next. Marinette suggests ice cream, much to Luka's amusement; they just had opera cakes, after all. But given how much she had to sacrifice during her years of service as a superheroine, he can't help suspecting that she's making up for lost time, so he declares that he'll track down Andre's cart and buy her the fanciest ice cream cone in all of Paris.
While he checks his phone, she goes to get a drink from one of the nearby water fountains. When he looks back up, his eye catches on all the signs and flags strewn across the storefronts, all proudly declaring their support of Ladybug. He recalls Juleka mentioning that Ladybug had her own store online selling such things; while Ladybug had joked that nobody needed to buy them directly from her, in practice, well... not having some token to show their support would seem strange. Recalling a history lesson about Soviet Russia, and people clapping extensively whenever Stalin entered because nobody wanted to be the first one to stop, he feels a chill run down his spine.
Then he finds Marinette talking to Theo. Despite the sculptor's cool reception, she gushes about how excited he must be about being chosen for this project. After all, he was a huge fan of the old Ladybug, and wanted her to recognize his talents... and now his works will be the centerpiece of a massive monument to the new Ladybug! What an honor~!
Theo scoffs. He wasn't their first choice — the first artist they chose made a test statue that didn't meet Ladybug's approval. She lamented the results while on Nadja's show, declaring they'd made her look "fat and homely", and the outrage drove his predecessor out of town. Her interest could destroy his career if she wasn't satisfied!
Marinette claps him on the back, making his chisel twitch. As he frantically inspects the marble to make sure it wasn't marred, Luka leads her away, off to find Andre. She notes that he looks lost in thought; he remarks that he needs to figure out what they can do after getting ice cream.
Inspiration comes in the strangest places. While picking up some garbage that had been left strewn about, he finds a flyer advertising a new exhibit at the Lourve: one focused on historic Ladybug holders. Marinette isn't enthused about the idea, and when he suggests it "could be useful", she demands to know what he means by that. Is he thinking that... that they need to do something about the new Ladybug? Because they can't. They can't! Because that responsibility always, always falls on her shoulders, and she can't, she can't—
Luka hastily reassures her that that wasn't what he meant. Not even remotely. She's done her time; she served the city for years, and she doesn't need to save Mayor Bourgeois or anyone else from the hero they thought they wanted.
No, if somebody does need to do anything about the new Ladybug, then somebody else can step up. Like, say... another former hero...? Somebody with a laundry list of admirable traits, who charmed the greatest heroine in Paris into trusting him with her heart, along with the power to go back in time...
Though she laughs at his preening, Marinette admits that she's also worried about the possibility of him getting hurt. Luka promises that he'll be careful; he's not about to go charging into battle and deck her in the face. He's just... concerned about what might happen if her behavior escalates. If things ever reach the point where they need to recover the Earrings, then even if all he can do is pass information on to Chat Noir or Bunnyx, well, that would still be something, right...?
Nodding reluctantly, Marinette asks if that's really his own reason. When pressed, she admits being afraid: after all, her power wasn't stolen. She gave it up voluntarily. Surely he has to be questioning her judgment, right? She was already being selfish by appointing her own successor, and she's terrified that he might think she did something even worse.
They note how the akumas have changed over the last three months, becoming showier, artsier than before. This came after a blistering boss rush, where Hawkmoth was recreating three to four akuma every day, forcing Ladybug into fight after fight. One of them even attacked Gabriel Agreste's funeral, smashing his coffin apart and leaving his body splattered with mud in a half-dug grave.
Ever since then, it seems as though many of the akuma are focused more upon spectacle than success, and Marinette admits that she's afraid Luka might suspect she cut some kind of deal with Hawkmoth. He dismisses the idea as patently absurd; Hawkmoth wanted the Earrings and Ring above all else, so why would he make a bargain that didn't involve getting what he desired? And besides, he knows Marinette well enough to know she'd never do such a thing.
Undeterred, Marinette keeps suggesting ways that she might be held responsible for the strange shift, with Luka shooting down each and every theory. She can't have gotten Hawkmoth's Miraculous and handed it over to her successor so she can stage her own fights; otherwise they'd see the new Ladybug giving orders. And they can't be illusions, either. As far as he's concerned, she just picked the best fighter she could find to succeed her, she turned out to be kind of a jerk, and Hawkmoth is adjusting his strategy since the old one clearly wasn't working.
Why is she so worried about this...? Because Luka is the only person she cares about. Which also makes him the only one who could hurt her. She doesn't care about the mayor, or Roth, or anyone else, but if Luka turned against her... she doesn't think she could take it.
Then she admits that she doesn't really mind what the new Ladybug has been doing, recounting how she first met Andre Bourgeois after Chloe bullied her. Despite Chloe destroying her lunch, he brushed off the incident declaring that 'kids would be kids', and suggesting that she apologize to Chloe. So while she recognizes that the new Ladybug is extorting them, whenever she tries to feel bad about it, she recalls the way the mayor laughed off her concerns, and how Roth stole from Kitty Section, and all the other times they've been wronged by the rich and powerful.
Luka reassures her that he's not going to blame her for any of that. Sure, maybe it's not ideal that she's struggling to sympathize with them, but if the worst she's done is privately enjoy the fact that they're suffering some karmic backlash, then that hardly makes her a bad person. He still loves her.
Sniffling, she apologizes, admitting that she's still not used to people actually trusting her. Luka declares that it's high time they go get their ice cream before heading over to the Lourve, and she smiles, voicing her agreement.
In her letter to Luka, she reassured him that she'd found a way of guaranteeing Hawkmoth would never win, even after she'd quit. She didn't take any pleasure in her plan, and she was certain Chat Noir wouldn't accept it, either. That he and the other heroes would likely call her evil if they knew. But she didn't care anymore.
All she cared about what what Luka thought.
The successor she'd chosen should be able to fight as effectively as she could. She knew that she couldn't absolutely guarantee that, but she swore to Luka that no matter what, she'd ensure that Hawkmoth would never be able to seize both the Ladybug Earrings and the Black Cat Ring. He would never be able to make his Wish and rewrite reality.
She'd made certain of that.
This chapter contains examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Theo wanted to immortalize Ladybug's beauty, and for her to notice and admire his work the same way he admired her. Now he's been tapped to create an entire collection of marble statues celebrating the new Ladybug, and is fully aware that she's paying close attention to him... and if his work doesn't measure up to her lofty standards, she'll destroy his career.
- Blaming the Victim: Chloe once demanded that Marinette give her all the cookies she'd brought in her lunch. When Marinette refused, Chloe destroyed her lunch, then laughed at her crying. When her parents took her to meet Mayor Bourgeois, he blew off the incident and declared everything would be okay if Marinette apologized, even telling her to bring extra cookies to help her 'make up' with Chloe.
- Convicted by Public Opinion: Theo's predecessor on the monument project had to flee from the furious fanatics who were enraged by Ladybug's lament about the poor quality of their work.
- Death Glare: Theo gives Marinette one for interrupting his work.
- Freak Out: Marinette starts panicking about the prospect of Luka looking into the new Ladybug, afraid that this means he doesn't trust her. Even after Luka hastily reassures her that's not the case, she remains uncertain and wary.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Gabriel Agreste's funeral was crashed by Gigantitan, with the massive baby wrecking his coffin and leaving his body in a half-finished grave, splattered with mud, while Ladybug fought back the akuma.
- Kick the Dog: While reassuring Theo, Marinette claps him on the back hard enough that his chisel nearly strikes one of the marble blocks he'd been working on. Fortunately, the surface doesn't appear to be marred, but it still scares the sculptor half to death.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Gabriel Agreste, the former Hawkmoth, has been dead for three months. His funeral became the backdrop for one of the new Ladybug's many dramatic battles, with his coffin getting crushed by Gigantitan. His body suffered even further indignity when it was possessed by a sentimonster, turning him into SentiZombie — a violation on par with all the times he akumatized his own victims.
- Loved by All: While studying the storefronts, Luka notes that anyone who doesn't have some kind of token declaring their support of Ladybug would stick out like a sore thumb and be considered strange.
- Run the Gauntlet: Before switching gears towards a different style of akuma, Hawkmoth unleashed several of his 'greatest hits' in rapid succession, akumatizing three or four people a day.
- Sweet Tooth: Even after sharing several opera cakes with her boyfriend, Marinette finds herself craving ice cream. She defends herself by declaring "You can't expect a baker not to have a little sweet tooth! Or even a big one!"
- Technician Versus Performer: Marinette and Luka note that in the last few months, Hawkmoth's akumas have shifted towards being flashier, showier, and more theatrical in nature.
- Wham Line: While discussing how the new Ladybug had to face several of Hawkmoth's most powerful akuma in rapid succession, Marinette mentions witnessing Gigantitan's attack during Gabriel Agreste's funeral.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Luka reassures Marinette that he doesn't blame or judge her for not sympathizing with Mayor Bourgeois or Bob Roth's plights. He acknowledges that this isn't ideal, but hardly makes her a horrible person.
