Cat's Eye (Lukadrien)

Volume 3, Chapter 1

When Lila moved to France, she was determined that things were going to be different.

Very few people know her full story. Not even her mother. The only person Lila had ever trusted with her whole truth had been her father. Not that he was up to date with her story, being 6 feet under and all.

Liar though she may be, almost all her lies are routed in truth. Or a truth. She was born in Italy, the child of a burgeoning Italian diplomat and her Korean lover. As mother's career began to skyrocket, the makeshift marriage fell apart like tiny Lila's glue less macaroni art.

So, unusual though it was, her dad took full custody. Since Lila's mother was unable (or unwilling) to spare time for her spouse, there was no way she would for Lila. So, they left for Korea.

Lila talks now as though those were the best years of her life. It is true, after all, they were the best years of her life. But not for the reason she advertised. If you asked anyone she knew now, they would tell you of how her mixed beauty enraptured her Korean classmates, and how her international background made her one of the most popular girls in school.

That is the lie. Lila's Italian mother had given her little, but what she did give was mostly in appearance. Somehow, Lila was darker than every other Korean girl. She was certainly noticed for her mixed traits, that much was true. Praised? Quite the opposite, really.

So, why were they the best years of her life? She had not a single friend in school, after all.

Well, those were the years where Lila had a dad.

When he passed, that was the end of her happiest days. Having someone you trust completely, who will always have you back to support you, was something she would never experience again.

The most logical thing, of course, was for her mother to take her in. Mrs Rossi would've almost certainly pawned Lila off on a grandmother if she could, but alas they had all passed long since. Lila bets that if she could, she'd have put Lila up for adoption. It would've been poor face amongst her colleagues, though. Hence, Lila returned to Italy, living in a flat that Mrs Rossi only ever spent time in to sleep.

So, Lila stole a leaf from her mother's book. She had no one, and being herself in Korea had led her to social ruin. Why be herself, when she can pretend to be someone so much cooler? Her mother had always said that social currency was the only thing in life worth having.

So, she started banking. Lie after lie bought her renown in her new school. They were small enough at first, only half truths about her life in Korea. Easy to believe, really. The rush to the top of her Italian school's hierarchy spun her head though, and before long the lies started to grow too big for her boots.

Maybe if her dad were alive, he would have called her out. Warned her that lies had consequences. But he wasn't. And Mother was certainly not in the business of babysitting.

So, she spiralled. Eventually telling a lie too big to believe without truth. So, people looked for truth and found not a single shred of evidence. From there, everything crumbled.

She was saved by the move, though. Having fallen so far from grace, who knows whether she would even be alive if not for her mother's new ambassadorship in Paris. Lesson learnt; Lila swore never to lie too big again.

Except she flew too close to the sun. Again.

In her first week at Francoise Dupont, she'd somehow slipped up and lied that she was best friends with Ladybug. She'd panicked of course. Who wouldn't? She'd lost her entire credibility last time on a lie too big. She'd just been trying to be cool in a new school that she was desperate not to end up at the bottom of. She couldn't survive that. Not again. That night Lila had gone home and prayed nobody would take it too seriously, and that Ladybug would be far far too busy to even entertain rumours in some random Parisian school. She had an entire city to watch over, and a supervillain to fight.