Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 249: The Long Game*

The next few days fell into a rhythm.

In public, Aegis was cold and distant.

When Talia sat next to her at meals, Aegis gave her short answers. When Serilla draped herself over Aegis’s shoulder in the hallway, Aegis shrugged her off with a tired sigh. When nobles approached her, she was polite but clipped, the bare minimum of social courtesy before finding an excuse to leave.

With the commoners, though, she was different.

She laughed with her study group, helped Miheyra with her aether channeling exercises, walked with Ellis to the library, and made time for Tam when she had questions she was too nervous to ask the professors. She ate lunch with them, studied with them, joked with them.

The contrast was obvious. Aegis made sure of that.

And Sylceris, who was always nearby now, always watching from the next seat or across the hall, noticed all of it.

No new hearts. Not yet. But the questions Sylceris asked between classes got a little less pointed and a little more curious. "How long have you known those scholarship students?" instead of "What’s your angle with the commoners?" Small shifts. Slow ones.

[She’s warming up. I can feel it. Just gotta keep this pace and not push too hard.]

The hardest part, honestly, was the Talia thing.

Not because Aegis struggled to act cold toward her in public. She was good at acting. The hard part was watching Talia’s face every time she did it and knowing that even though Talia understood the plan, even though she’d agreed to it, something about being publicly brushed off by her own wife still stung.

.... Naturally, however, the "sorry for being a bitch" sex was incredible.

---

"Harder."

Aegis slammed her hips forward and Talia’s back arched off the mattress, her fingers clawing at the sheets. The married quarters had thicker walls than the old dorms, thank Lune, because Talia was not being quiet tonight.

"You were so cold to me today," Talia gasped, her yellow eyes half-shut, her legs wrapped around Aegis’s waist. "In the dining hall. You barely looked at me."

"I know." Aegis thrust into her again, deep, and Talia’s head tipped back. "I’m sorry."

"You’re not sorry."

"I’m a little sorry." Aegis leaned down and kissed her neck, her hips grinding forward. "I’ll make it up to you."

"You’re making it up to me right now." Talia pulled Aegis down by the back of her neck and kissed her, hard, biting her lower lip. "Don’t stop."

Aegis didn’t stop.

She fucked Talia into the mattress until Talia was shaking under her, both of them covered in sweat, the headboard tapping against the wall with every thrust. Talia came with her nails dug into Aegis’s back and Aegis followed a few strokes later, buried to the hilt inside her.

They collapsed together, breathing hard, tangled up in each other. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"I hate this plan," Talia murmured against Aegis’s collarbone.

"I know."

"I’m going to freeze Sylceris’s eyebrows off when this is over."

"That’s fair."

A knock on the door.

They both froze.

"Aegis." Liora’s voice, muffled through the wood. "Open up. We need to talk."

Talia and Aegis looked at each other. Talia was naked, Aegis was naked, the room smelled like sex, and neither of them had the energy to pretend otherwise.

"One second!" Aegis called out.

[Shit. She sounds pissed.]

She grabbed a sheet, wrapped it around her waist, and opened the door.

Liora stood in the hallway, her brown curls slightly messy, her blue eyes blazing. She pushed past Aegis into the room without waiting for an invitation.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Liora said, turning on Aegis with her hands on her hips. "I’ve been watching you all week. You’ve been treating Talia like garbage. In the dining hall, in class, in the corridors. Do you have any idea how that looks? How that makes her feel?"

"Liora—"

"She’s your wife, Aegis. She fought for you. Her mother tried to marry her off to someone else and Talia chose you, and now you can’t even be bothered to—"

A hand reached out from the bed and grabbed Liora’s wrist.

Liora turned. Talia was sitting up, completely nude, her black hair messy, her cheeks still flushed, and she was smiling.

"Get in here," Talia said. "We’ll explain."

"..."

Liora looked at Talia. Then at Aegis, wrapped in a sheet with bite marks on her neck. Then back at Talia.

"... Were you two just..."

"Yes," they both said.

Liora’s face went red.

Talia tugged her wrist and Liora sat on the edge of the bed, still flushed, while Aegis closed the door and gave her the short version. The shadow mages, Sylceris, the plan to infiltrate them by appearing cold toward the nobility and sympathetic to commoners. The whole thing.

By the end, Liora’s expression had shifted from angry to concerned.

"So, all of this, the cold shoulder, the distance, it’s an act?"

"Every bit of it," Aegis said. "Talia’s in on it. So is Serilla. I just... hadn’t told you yet because the fewer people who know, the better."

"You should have told me," Liora said, her voice soft now.

"I know. I’m sorry."

"..."

Talia, still naked, scooted closer to Liora and rested her chin on her shoulder.

"I’ll have you know, she’s been apologizing all night. She’s very good at it."

Liora’s blush came back.

"I can see that."

Talia’s hand slid to Liora’s thigh.

"You know, you came all the way over here to defend my honor. That’s very sweet." Her fingers traced upward. "I think you deserve a reward."

Liora’s breath hitched.

"Talia..."

"Aegis was just making it up to me. But I think she’s got enough left in her to make it up to both of us." Talia looked over at Aegis. "Don’t you, darling?"

[Do I? Yes. Absolutely yes.]

Aegis dropped the sheet.

Liora looked at Aegis’s cock, already half-hard again, and her blush spread from her cheeks down to her neck.

"I, um." Liora swallowed. "I came here to yell at you."

"You can yell at me after," Aegis said, stepping closer.

Talia was already pulling Liora’s shirt over her head, kissing her shoulder, and Liora stopped protesting. Talia guided her down to her knees at the edge of the bed and knelt beside her. The two of them looked up at Aegis, Talia with that sharp, hungry look she got when she was in the mood to share, and Liora with wide blue eyes and parted lips.

Talia took Aegis’s cock in her hand and licked from the base to the tip, slow, keeping eye contact. Then she angled it toward Liora.

"Your turn."

Liora hesitated for exactly one second before her mouth was on it.

She was gentler than Talia, slower, her tongue circling the head while her hand held the shaft. Talia watched, then leaned in and ran her tongue along the side, and Aegis’s hand went to the back of both their heads as they worked her cock together, their tongues meeting around it, their lips brushing against each other.

[This is, objectively, the best apology I’ve ever given.]

Liora took Aegis deeper, her cheeks hollowing as she bobbed her head, and Talia moved lower, sucking on Aegis’s balls while her hand stroked what Liora’s mouth couldn’t reach.

The combination made Aegis’s knees buckle. She braced a hand on the edge of the bed and looked down at the two of them, Talia’s yellow eyes and Liora’s blue ones both looking up at her, and her cock twitched in Liora’s mouth.

"Fuck," Aegis breathed. "You two are going to kill me."

Talia popped off her balls and smirked.

"Would serve you right."

She pushed Liora’s head down further and Liora gagged, pulled back, gasped, and then went right back to it. Talia kissed up the shaft to meet her, and the two of them took turns, one sucking the tip while the other licked the base, switching every few seconds, sloppy and wet. Spit ran down Aegis’s cock and dripped onto the floor and neither of them cared.

Aegis’s fingers tightened in their hair. Her hips rocked forward and Liora moaned around her, the vibration making Aegis’s abs tense.

"I’m close," Aegis said.

Talia pulled Liora off and wrapped her hand around Aegis’s cock, stroking fast. She pressed her cheek against Liora’s, both of their mouths open, tongues out, waiting.

[Oh, fuck me.]

Aegis came hard. The first shot hit Talia’s tongue, the second landed across Liora’s lips and chin, and Talia kept stroking, milking every last drop out of her until cum was dripping down both their faces. Liora’s eyes were glazed, her chest heaving, her lips shiny and white.

Then Talia turned Liora’s face toward hers and kissed her.

Open-mouthed, slow, Aegis’s cum passing between their tongues as they made out on their knees. Liora whimpered into it and Talia held the back of her neck, licking into her mouth, and Aegis stood there watching the two of them swap her load back and forth, their lips slick and messy.

[I am never, ever getting tired of this.]

They both swallowed. Talia wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and grinned up at Aegis. Liora looked like she’d forgotten her own name.

"Apology accepted," Talia said.

---

The next afternoon, Aegis was back with the study group.

They were in their usual alcove near the library, going over Duchess Valemont’s latest assignment on trade negotiations. Jona was lost. Miheyra was trying to help him. Tam was taking notes. Ellis was leaning back in his chair, spectacles glinting, and his mouth was doing that thing where he wanted to say something but was picking his words.

"So," Ellis said, adjusting his glasses. "That Sylceris girl was talking to me again."

Aegis looked up from her notes.

"Yeah?"

"She’s been asking around. Not just about you this time. She wanted to know what I thought about noble privilege. Whether commoners actually had a fair shot at the academy or if the system was rigged."

"What’d you tell her?"

"The truth. That it’s rigged as hell and everyone knows it." Ellis shrugged. "She seemed interested."

"Can’t say you’re wrong."

Aegis nodded slowly and turned back to her notes.

[... I just have to keep passing her tests. That’s all.]