Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner Chapter 54: Stage Presence 4

One.

Two... Three.

Four steps, and Aegis was now standing behind the corner, back pressed to the wall.

Her mind was blank. Behind her, she could hear lips smacking, soft gasps, and fabric rustling. She blinked, wondering if she’d actually seen what her eyes were telling her she’d seen or if she’d gone schizophrenic and the first hallucinations she was being subjected to were of her hospital bed fantasies.

She looked one more time, just in case. Talia had her tongue halfway down Liora’s throat and one hand rubbing Liora’s pussy over her dress.

Aegis turned away again.

[Yep. They’re kissing.]

Aegis was stunned. Completely, utterly mind-broken.

This did not happen in the game.

A breathy moan floated around the corner. Definitely Liora’s voice. The kind of sound she’d never make during their singing lessons.

"Talia... someone could see..."

"Let them." Talia’s voice was rough. Desperate. "I don’t care."

More wet sounds. The unmistakable noise of tongues sliding against each other.

[Okay. Processing. Give me a second here.]

Her HUD flashed.

NEW SCANDAL SHOP OPTION AVAILABLE

"Talia & Liora" - 25 Points

Current Points: 25

Aegis stared at the notification. That was exactly how many points she had. Like the System had been waiting for this exact moment.

[Of course there’s an option for this. Of fucking course.]

Another moan. Talia’s this time.

"Your room or mine?" The princess’s voice had lost all its usual ice.

"Neither. Not until after auditions."

"Liora—"

"You promised we’d be careful."

"I promised a lot of things. Right now I want to bend you over your desk and make you scream my name."

Aegis swallowed.

[Jesus Christ, Talia.]

Aegis’s finger hovered over the purchase option. Did she really want to know? Did she need to see how long this had been going on?

"Someone’s going to notice if we both skip auditions," Liora whispered.

"Fuck the play."

"You don’t mean that."

"Watch me."

The sound of someone being pressed harder against stone. Liora gasped.

[Fuck it.]

Aegis purchased the information.

The hallway dissolved like smoke.

The void shattered.

Aegis found herself back in the hallway. The wet sounds of kissing had gotten quieter. More intimate. Hands were definitely under clothes now based on the breathless gasps.

[Holy shit.]

They’d been doing this for weeks. While Aegis had been collecting legendary items and learning shadow magic, while she’d been planning her theatrical seduction, Talia and Liora had been sneaking into each other’s beds and fucking.

[Right. Because they’re not NPCs. They’re people.]

In the game, in most games, characters only existed when the player interacted with them. They followed their scripted routes, waiting for player input.

But here? While Aegis trained with Scarlett, Talia was writing love letters she wouldn’t send. While Aegis learned spells from Nazraya, Liora was letting the princess mark her thighs with her lips. While Aegis meditated with a ghost queen, these two were fucking like their lives depended on it.

[Everyone’s living their own lives.]

Her HUD flashed again.

ROUTE UPDATE

Talia Stone: SINGLE ROUTE CLOSED

Liora Vale: SINGLE ROUTE CLOSED

NEW ROUTE AVAILABLE: Ménage à Trois

Requirements: Seduce both targets simultaneously

Difficulty: EXTREME

Rewards: Double Bondmark, Unique Skills, Political Alliance

Aegis stared at the notification.

[A threesome route. The System wants me to... what, take them both? While they’re together?]

She’d read approximately five hundred fanfictions about this exact scenario. Half the Queen of Hearts fandom shipped Talia and Liora together, writing elaborate enemies-to-lovers stories that apparently weren’t that far from the truth.

[And now it’s real.]

Another moan drifted around the corner. Someone’s uniform hit the floor.

[Nope. Not listening to this.]

Aegis bolted. She ran through the hallways without any destination in mind, just away from the sound of her two romantic interests going at it like horny teenagers. Which, well, technically, they were.

[The play. Still have to audition.]

Right. She’d promised Professor Loralei. Even if her planned co-star was currently getting fingered by her academic rival in a semi-public hallway.

[Focus. One crisis at a time.]

She found her way to the theater wing where Professor Loralei had set up auditions. Students packed the hallway, scripts clutched in nervous hands, muttering lines to themselves.

"And then Rosanna said— no wait, that’s Act Two—"

"The sword goes in the left hand for this part—"

"How long is the kiss supposed to be exactly?"

Aegis leaned against the wall, trying to process everything. Talia and Liora. Together. In love. Having what was apparently incredible sex based on those sounds.

[The subject of a thousand fanfics just became canon.]

"Next group!" Professor Loralei’s voice rang out.

Aegis looked at her number. Three more groups until her turn.

She opened the script to review her audition scene, trying very hard not to think about what Talia’s hands were doing right now.

[Unreal.]