I Am Better Than Them
After getting their ice cream without incident, Luka and Marinette continue their walk. At her request, they decide to cycle around the block rather than going straight into the Louvre; similarly, they stop when she notices that a display of TVs is playing one of Nadja's interviews, featuring Ladybug, Chat Noir, and somebody Luka doesn't recognize.
The stranger turns out to be Heinrich, Ladybug's latest paramour, who professes that he fell in love with her at first sight. Heinrich also happens to be the heir to the Stolt-Guchrests, who made their fortune in cosmetics. After presenting her with a dazzling black opal necklace, he announces that his family is launching a new Ladybug-branded makeup line. She, in turn, declares that they'll be dining at the Le Grand Paris tomorrow, having the kind of romantic date she's always dreamed of!
Marinette notes that this is likely a secret message to the mayor. If he betrays her now, she can claim that she got food poisoning at his hotel's restaurant. And if he ever tries exposing her corruption, she can point to how he paid her to wear his logo on her uniform. The more they pay her, the more power she holds over them.
Nadja asks Chat Noir if he's bothered by his partner dating somebody else. Chat makes a show of casually draping his arm across her shoulders while declaring that he's confident his Lady will eventually come back to him. She's had plenty of boyfriends, after all, but so long as he never gives up, he knows they'll wind up together.
Marinette snorts at that; at least Chat never changes. Just as they're about to leave, however, someone calls out to them, and they're surprised to see it's none other than Nadja Chamack herself! As she explains to them, that show was prerecorded, and she'd like to talk to both of them. Privately. Inside. Luka isn't sure about this, but Marinette declares she'd like to hear what Miss Prime Queen wants from them.
As it turns out, she heard the exact same rumors Mayor Bourgeois did, from her own daughter. And just like Andre, she's desperate to know if they're true. Once again, both deny it... but Marinette asks her why she's so interested. Why would she need the old Ladybug, when the new one gives her interviews every single day?
Nadja blurts out that the old one could help her prove that their new heroine is nothing more than a fraud. Not because she's not fighting akumas; oh, she's still doing that... but she's also endorsing trashy restaurants in exchange for bribes, and all her of her 'boyfriends' are only dating her (and paying for the privilege) to get their family names in the public eye and promote their family businesses.
Still, Marinette points out, she doesn't actually need the old Ladybug to help her expose all these things. She's got her own news program, she's a reporter... can't she do some reporting?
Not an option, insists Nadja. Her superiors won't let her criticize, contradict or challenge Ladybug in any way, and they all know what happened to the Ladyblog. Sure, she allows, it's possible the new heroine actually didn't have anything to do with the way Alya crashed and burned, but she also didn't do much to defend the poor girl. No, if she's going to get anywhere, she needs backup — and the best backup she could get would be the original Ladybug.
Shaking her head, Marinette reminds her that she opened her very first interview with the new Ladybug laughing about how much the original one sucked. Nadja defends herself, claiming that nobody can really blame Paris for turning against her after she lost so many Miraculouses to Hawkmoth. And surely, surely she'll understand, because she was a hero, and—!
But why, Marinette presses, did she have to talk about those things at all? After all, what really mattered to her was ratings, right? And the new Ladybug is ratings gold! People love her! And they love Nadja's 'All Things Ladybug!' show!
Yet Nadja disagrees; ratings aren't everything. Reputation also matters. And hers is tanking outside of Paris. She's even tried looking for work outside the city, but nobody's willing to hire her, seeing her as a purveyor of puff pieces promoting Ladybug. What's worse, she's certain Ladybug knows about that, and took the time to subtly taunt her during the interview they'd held right after she'd been rejected.
Despite her lamentations, Luka holds firm: they don't know who the old Ladybug is. Defeated, Nadja then asks if Marinette can at least babysit for Manon, only to be turned down. She has other plans, after all, and she doesn't need any of her money. Not when she's busy designing for Luka's concert performances, along with other musicians.
As they leave the studio, Marinette remarks that she should get started on one of those costumes later, and how nice it is to finally have time for her own projects. Luka agrees; her designs are beautiful, and well worth the time.
Still, he can't help but worry. Having two different people ask about the same rumor makes him wonder just who is spreading this rumor and how far it could be spreading... and what if the new Ladybug hears about them? What if she gets concerned about what he might or might not know...?
She needed to tell somebody, her letter explained. Needed to tell him, because deep down, she felt like Luka was the only one who cared about her. The only one who treated her like a person, unlike Nadja, who'd invited her on and humiliated her as a ratings stunt — one that worked.
And she knew — she knew it was wrong to stop caring, to look at Nadja and her viewers and everyone with contempt, but she couldn't help it. After all, if she could keep her emotions in check despite the constant calvacade of crap she endured day after day, always risking her life and swallowing her emotions, why couldn't any of them manage it? And she wouldn't... wouldn't even mind it so much if somebody would just do something to try and help her!
...But they don't. They never do. And that makes her think that she... that she hates them.
This chapter contains examples of:
- Advertising Disguised as News: Ladybug uses 'All Things Ladybug!' and other programs that feature her as a platform to promote herself and other products. Such as companies connected to her current boyfriend.
- Bad "Bad Acting":
- Heinrich is clearly uncomfortable and unprepared for the interview, and is slow to catch on to Ladybug's hinting or his 'cues'.
- Nadja also struggles to maintain an upbeat and interested facade throughout the show, slipping into a nearly robotic tone at one point while remarking on how nice it must be for Ladybug to have so many cute boys fighting over her.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Nadja wanted to make Ladybug play along with her invasive, prying Paparazzi tactics, and got akumatized when Ladybug stormed out on her. The new Ladybug is more than happy to sit down and gossip about herself every single day, and she's great for ratings... but her professional reputation, not so much.
- Betrayal by Inaction: Even if the new Ladybug didn't have anything to do with Alya's downfall, Nadja declares that the fact she didn't do anything to help or defend her is telling in its own right.
- Betrayal Insurance: Marinette suggests that this is part of why the new Ladybug is making such a big deal about her latest paramour taking her to dine at Mayor Bourgeois' hotel. If he tries to expose her corruption, she can use the fact he hired her to shill his business and campaign as leverage against him; if he tries to do it soon, she could even fake a case of food poisoning from eating at his restaurant.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Marinette notes that no matter how much people pay or support the new Ladybug, she always contrives it so those people just become more and more in her power.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Chat Noir declares that he doesn't mind the way 'his Lady' keeps dating others; as far as he's concerned, so long as he sticks it out, she'll eventually realize that they're "purr-fect soulmates".
- Double Meaning: After Nadja's attempt to get hired by a national broadcaster fell through, the new Ladybug spent their next interview together talking about the importance of integrity. While she framed it as referring to herself, she fixed the reporter with a knowing smile that seemed to hint she knew about her failure and was intentionally rubbing salt in the wound.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Ladybug calls Heinrich 'Heiny', which is a slang term for butt.
- Exact Words: Luka tells Nadja that while he was a temporary hero as Viperion, Ladybug "never let me know her identity then." Which is entirely true; Marinette didn't share that information until he got her letter.
- Fake Relationship: According to Nadja, all of the new Ladybug's relationships are fake. All of her boyfriends come from affluent families, and Nadja believes that they're paying handsomely for their sons to briefly 'date' the superheroine so that they can gain the public relations boost that comes with publicly supporting Ladybug and so that she can help shill their family businesses.
- Foil:
- While Marinette was frequently irritated by Chat Noir's pushy, Entitled to Have You attitude, the new Ladybug simply laughs at his posturing, playfully pushing his arm away before tugging him in right alongside her new boyfriend while gushing about how "Everyone loves me!"
- Nadja, like Mayor Bourgeois before her, wants to know who the original Ladybug is so she can enlist her help. Both feel trapped and helpless, unable to deal with the new Ladybug by themselves; however, Nadja has actually made some effort to extract herself from the situation, unlike the Mayor. Both also reference somebody who's suffered due to the superhero shift, with whom they share some common ground; the mayor revealed what happened to the equally rich and corrupt Bob Roth, while Nadja alludes to what happened to Alya and her Ladyblog.
- Foreshadowing: More hints are dropped about what happened to Alya; Marinette specifically refers to there being 'evidence' of something before Nadja insists that said evidence is irrelevant.
- Girl of the Week: Gender Flipped; the new Ladybug tends to date a given guy for a few weeks before dumping them for somebody new.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After her incredibly unprofessional treatment of the original Ladybug, whom she hounded about her supposed 'relationship' with Chat Noir, Nadja finds herself saddled with a Ladybug who happily plays to the cameras. She's no longer able to play the Intrepid Reporter, typecast into sitting there and smiling while their heroine preens and shills. Her reputation is in tatters, her superiors won't let her risk Ladybug's wrath, and she can't find work outside of Paris.
- Love at First Sight: Heinrich claims that he fell in love with Ladybug the moment she saved him.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Marinette refers to Nadja as "Miss Prime Queen," indicating that she still at some level thinks Nadja should be associated with her akuma form.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Much like with Mayor Bourgeois, Marinette 'reassures' Nadja while making several pointed jabs about how badly she treated the original Ladybug. Such as remarking on how much better the new one is for ratings, and how that was clearly the only thing she cared about before.
- Take That!: In case there was any doubt left that the new Ladybug is a Con Artist, Nadja mentions in passing that she's shilling "some kind of NFT".
- Yawn and Reach: Chat Noir doesn't bother with the yawn, but still tries to 'discreetly' rest an arm behind Ladybug while bragging about how he knows she'll eventually turn back to him.
