Talk to Me, Princess | Marichat - Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter Thirty One - The Most Unlikely of Allies

"Pollen!" She exclaims, beaming at her Kwami. This soft side of Chloe isn't often showed, so I take a moment to appreciate it.

"Viperion and I need to leave, and you can't be seen with us. No one can know we have tricks up our sleeves, okay?" Chloe nods her head as I say this, her expression shifting back to being serious.

"What am I supposed to do once I get to the mansion?" She questions, finally giving a quick glance at Viperion again before snapping her attention back to me.

"Queen Bee is a pivotal point of our plan, and we'll explain that once you reach the Agreste mansion." I reassure her, giving her my best smile.

I turn to leave, but she quickly grabs my hand, forcing me to stop and look at her.

"I need you to know something." She says after a few moments like she's at war with herself. "There's this girl that goes to school here, and I think she's somehow part of Hawkmoth's plans."

I watch Chloe silently, giving her the time she needs to collect her thoughts and explain herself.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." She says after a moment, closing her eyes. Letting out a sigh, her eye lids flutter back open and begins speaking again.

"She's a good person. I don't think she has any bad ties to Gabriel Agreste. I know she would never do something so evil. There's this girl named Lila Rossi, and she's been stalking Marinette. I've witnessed it first hand. Originally, I never gave it much thought, I figured Lila was just trying to sabotage Marinette so she could date Adrien. I kept a close eye, because I'll be damned if I let a little snake like her date my friend."

"But then I saw the news, and how she easily manipulated Paris to believe you attacked her." Chloe continues, staring at me passionately. "She has something to do with Gabriel, I saw her going to and from the mansion multiple times. I'm worried that... that she's going to hurt Marinette somehow."

I nod my head slowly, visualizing some of the missing pieces to this puzzle. Gabriel was able to narrow down who I am, and that was completely unknown to me how he managed to accomplish that.

Lila Rossi. She figured it out first, somehow. She probably didn't want to give away her only leverage, so she suggested to Gabriel who Ladybug might be.

She probably gave Gabriel the idea to do something to Adrien, outside of an Akuma attack, to prove Ladybug is a devoted friend of his son.

She knew Gabriel would piece it together after that. Anyone with two functioning eyes, ears and half a brain could tell I'm in love with Adrien.

That damn-

"Thank you, Chloe. You just helped me figure out some stuff that I wasn't sure of. We'll talk more about this later."

"You'll keep Marinette safe, right?" She questions, chewing on her bottom lip.

"You will." I smile at her, watching her face morph into confusion.

"What the hell can I do? I'm not her friend, you do something." She gives me a disgusted look, as though her job ended once she warned me.

"You're a lot smarter than anyone gives you credit for, Chloe. I didn't even realize all this time that Lila had been shadowing me. Had I noticed, maybe a lot of this could have been prevented. But whose to tell? All we can do is finish this, once and for all." I nod at her, slightly enjoying the way her eyes widen at my confession.

"Marinette?" She whispers, and I just smile in response. She would have found out soon enough, might as well be now. Her cheeks redden even more, probably realizing she said such nice things about me right to my face unknowingly.