I woke up as the villain named Lila Rossi

Chapter 18

Alix has some books in her hands which she borrowed from her father. When she had asked Alim about the Cult of the False Angels on the day Mme. Baudelaire first brought it up in class, he had said he had some old materials on the group. Now, Alix headed to Marinette's place to talk about it.

It made Alix curious why Adrien seemed to know so much on it, something about it was suspicious to her. On a return from his business trip, Alim has procured two books for Alix which she was determined to bring to her friends immediately.

"Hello, Alix dear," Sabine greeted, smiling from behind the counter of the bakery.

"Hi, Mme. Cheng," Alix said, coming to her. "I'm here to see Marinette. We're – going to go over some stuff for school." She held up the two books as evidence, although she made sure to obscure their titles.

Sabine nodded, gesturing to the staircase. "Everyone else is already waiting for you."

The girl squad is gathered in Marinette's pink attic bedroom. Juleka and Rose sharing the chaise lounge, Alya standing over Marinette sitting in her desk carpet, Mylène cross-legged on the carpet. They cheered as Alix lifted the trap door and climbed in. Alix made sure to shut it tightly after she ascended.

"Hi, Alix," Marinette said softly. "Thanks so much for coming."

"Of course," Alix said, nodding. "This is important."

"what those books about?" Mylène asked curiously, staring at the books in Alix's hands.

"um I was doing some of my bit of my own research on something." Alix took a seat on the carpet beside Mylène and laid the book before them. The other girls came closer to form a circle around them.

"research on what?" Juleka asked "I'll tell you later." Alix said

Marinette took a deep breath and sighed looking at her friends. "Girls – I'm afraid we've made a terrible mistake, and I've led you all in the wrong direction."

Rose blinked innocently. "What do you mean, Marinette?"

Marinette looked nervously at Alya, who nodded determinedly back.

Marinette sighed. "Since the beginning of the term, we've been unfair to Lila," she said, and Mylène frowned, looking confused. "We've tried to get her expelled, we've done all sorts of horrible things – that she didn't deserve. We thought she was responsible for Adrien's changed personality, but she is the biggest victim of it all."

"...what do you mean?" Alix asked.

"It means that removing Lila from Adrien isn't going to bring our friend back. Rather, it's Adrien we should be taking away from Lila, before he hurts her..." Alya explained.

The Girl Squad gasped.

"No way!" Rose exclaimed.

"Why would you think that?" Juleka asked.

"Because he's not Adrien anymore," Marinette said grimly. "...it's someone else in his body. Adrien would never be so aggressive, so violent–"

"Adrien isn't violent," Mylène argued. "He may have been cold and stand-offish, but violent?"

"...Adrien slapped me," Marinette said, and the girls rear back. "When he thought – well, I was making trouble for Lila, but he was violent with me."

"...no way," Alix said. "I don't believe it."

Alya nodded grimly. "It's true," she said. "And that's not all. We have evidence that Adrien isn't who he is anymore. Show them the picture, Marinette."

"When Adrien slapped me," Marinette said, reaching for her phone. "I saw something appear behind him... back then, I dismissed it as a mirage or something. Or I thought I was in so much shocked, I was seeing things. But a couple of days ago, on the New York trip, while Adrien was dancing with Lila, I saw it again. And I was quick enough to snap a photo of it. See?"