You Change

Chapter IV

A week later

As soon as Ladybug arrived at her house after finding out what had happened to Master Fu, she became transformed inside her room and concentrated on finding a hiding place for the Miraclebox. Since she couldn't think of anything that might work, she spent the whole night creating a secret compartment under her desk that was impossible to find if they didn't know where it was, and that used a key that she would carry with you all the time hanging from her low neck. her blouse.

Tikki smiled slightly at his efforts. Marinette had taken the role of Guardian of the Miraculouses very seriously now that Master Fu was missing.

Over the course of the next week there were at least four different akuma attacks in Paris, most in flashy and crowded places like Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Montmartre neighborhood, although Ladybug never saw Chat Noir or Papillon again. Noir, as the villain called himself now. The heroine had managed to defeat them with relative ease, although the absence of her partner was still very notable .

A week after Chat Noir Marinette's betrayal she had once again lacked the lycée on the pretext of being ill. It was actually because Ladybug had to go to the Palace of Justice to testify at the trial of Gabriel Agreste.

It seemed a bit cruel to the girl that she had to testify against Adrien's father, especially since the boy was there in the courtroom, staring at her with his huge tired and reddened green eyes, as if he expected Ladybug to say suddenly everything had been a mistake and that his father was innocent.

Ladybug turned her eyes to the boy and made a worried grimace. Poor Adrien, he really looked terrible. It had been a week since she had seen her, respecting her privacy and following Alya's advice to give her her space. Adrien was sitting in the front row of the courtroom, wearing an elegant suit and a perfect hairstyle, as always. The only flaw in the boy was his red eyes and the dark circles under them. He had a sad and tired look, as if he expected someone to blame him for what had happened. And unlike other times he'd encountered it, the boy didn't smile when he caught the heroine's gaze. Not that Ladybug blamed him: she had been the one to discover his father and testify against him.

Once Ladybug stepped off the stand, having recounted everything that happened the day Hawkmoth had been beaten and unmasked, the heroine took a place in the back of the audience, waiting for Gabriel Agreste's lawyer to speak to try to defend him.

-Well, I know that all Parisians owe a vote of confidence to Ladybug- said the lawyer- but his story is missing two pieces of evidence. One, it does not have the Miraculous in question, so the guilt of my client cannot be verified... -

A murmur of surprise ran through the room, and Ladybug was speechless. Was she implying that she doubted her words?

"Wait a minute ..." Ladybug started to say, but the judge rang his gavel.

-Silence in the courtroom - said the judge- the defense attorney is speaking-

-Second point- the lawyer continued, looking maliciously at the heroin- during all this week that my client has been in custody, guarded twenty-four hours, there have been at least five attacks of akuma in the city, which makes us think that we have caught the wrong person-

A murmur ran through the room, and Ladybug paled.

-So the conclusion is that my client should be released immediately- the lawyer concluded- there is no evidence that my client is Hawkmoth, except for the word of Ladybug-

Ladybug felt as if she had eaten a box of nails. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Could Gabriel Agreste be freed by the fact that Papillon Noir was still creating akumas?