CHAPTER 107: THE TWINS

Having successfully befriended Sophie, Aegis turned her attention to the twins. One down, three to go, and she had a week before the Crystal Masquerade to figure them all out.

[The twins should be... interesting. Can’t exactly take them on a date and make out in an alley.]

"NYAAAAA!"

She was still thinking about her approach when Kai’Lin dropped from the ceiling like a very angry cat.

Aegis had just bitten into her toast. She managed to roll sideways, barely avoiding the claws aimed at her throat.

"Morning to you too," Aegis said, spitting out bread.

"Die, nya!"

Kai’Lin lunged again. Aegis grabbed her tray, using it as a shield. Claws scraped against metal with a sound that made everyone in the dining hall wince.

"Can we do this after I eat?"

"No!"

"Rude."

Mei’Lin appeared from under the table, grabbing Aegis’s legs. They went down in a tangle of limbs, Aegis’s breakfast flying everywhere.

"My eggs!"

"Your life, nya!"

"I was actually going to eat those!"

The twins pinned her down, Kai’Lin sitting on her chest while Mei’Lin held her legs. Victory gleamed in their eyes.

Then Professor Nazraya walked by, coffee in hand.

"Girls."

The twins froze.

"Morning exercise?" Nazraya asked mildly.

"We’re... stretching, nya," Mei’Lin said.

"Stretching."

"Yes."

"On top of Miss Starcaller."

"It’s... partner stretching?"

Nazraya took a long sip of coffee.

The twins immediately scrambled off Aegis.

"This isn’t over, nya!"

They vanished in twin puffs of smoke.

Aegis sat up, covered in breakfast food.

"I really wanted those eggs."

---

The second attempt came during Political Intrigue class.

Aegis was debating tax policy with some noble when something sharp pressed against her back.

"Got you," Kai’Lin whispered.

"We’re literally in the middle of class."

"So?"

"So there are thirty witnesses."

"They’re all focused on the debate, nya."

She had a point. Everyone was watching the noble dramatically gesture about grain subsidies.

"If you stab me now, I’ll bleed all over Duchess Valemont’s carpet."

"Good."

"She just had it cleaned."

"Even better."

"It’s imported from the Eastern Kingdoms."

Kai’Lin hesitated.

"So?"

"So she’ll make you pay for it. Do you have fifty thousand gold?"

"..."

"That’s what I thought."

The blade withdrew slightly.

"This still isn’t over."

"Never said it was."

Kai’Lin slunk back to her seat. Aegis went back to demolishing the noble’s argument about agricultural infrastructure.

[They’re getting desperate. But why?]

---

The third attempt was more creative.

Aegis opened her dorm room door to find both twins standing there, holding a cake.

"We made you apology cake, nya!"

"That’s poisoned."

"No!"

"You’re terrible liars."

"It’s not poisoned! It’s just..." Mei’Lin fidgeted. "Heavily seasoned."

"Did you make this yourselves?"

"Yes, nya."

"It’s pretty."

"Thank you!"

"Still not eating it."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Still no."

"We spent three hours on it!"

"Should have spent them on a non-poisoned cake."

The twins’ shoulders slumped.

"Fine. We’ll just... throw it away then."

They looked so genuinely sad that Aegis almost felt bad.

[Okay, I need to actually figure this out.]

---

Aegis sat in the library, thinking through what she knew.

These twins had been trying to kill her for weeks now, but they were terrible at it. Not because they lacked skill—she’d seen them fight in Combat class. They were genuinely dangerous.

So why were they so bad at killing her specifically?

[Obviously, they don’t like me... But they’re not the ones who actually care. Someone else is making them do this.]

She pulled out parchment and started writing.

That evening, Aegis made her way to the seedier part of Rosevale. The Crimson Blade had a small office there, barely more than a room above a tavern.

She knocked.

A scarred man opened the door, took one look at her, and tried to close it.

Aegis caught it with her foot.

"I have a proposition."

"We don’t deal with academy brats."

"You deal with money."

"...How much money?"

"Enough."

He let her in.

---

Twenty minutes later, she walked out significantly poorer but with exactly what she needed.

The next morning, the twins struck during her morning run.

They came from both sides this time, coordinated and serious. Aegis barely dodged Kai’Lin’s claws, only to run straight into Mei’Lin’s tackle.

They hit the ground hard.

"Finally, nya!"

"Good job, sis!"

They had her pinned properly this time. No professor around. No witnesses. Just the three of them on an empty trail.

"Any last words?" Kai’Lin asked.

"Yeah. Your score is settled."

Both twins blinked.

"What?"

"Your contract. The one requiring you to kill me. It’s been settled."

"That’s not possible, nya!"

"I talked to your handler yesterday."

The twins exchanged confused glances.

"Handler?"

"Markus Redblade. Big guy, scar across his nose? Runs the Crimson Blade’s western operations?"

"You... you talked to Markus?"

"Paid him, actually. The blood debt for interfering in the Lady Roseheart contract has been officially transferred."

"To who?"

"The original client who ordered the hit."

The twins stared at her.

"But that’s..."

"Lord Verin. Who, coincidentally, was executed last week for treason. Hard to collect a blood debt from a dead man."

"That’s not how it works, nya!"

"According to Markus it is. He even gave me this."

Aegis pulled out a small token. The Crimson Blade’s seal, marked with specific runes.

The twins scrambled off her, staring at the token like it might bite them.

"You... you actually..."

"Your obligation is complete. Officially. You can stop trying to kill me now."

Mei’Lin’s face went through several emotions at once. Confusion. Relief. Then, suddenly, anger.

"I DON’T CARE, NYA! DIE!"

She lunged again. Aegis rolled aside.

"What? But I just—"

"You think you can just buy us off, nya?"

"That’s literally what I did!"

"Well I don’t accept it!"

"That’s not how contracts work!"

"I don’t care about contracts! You’re annoying!"

"I’m annoying? You’ve been trying to kill me for weeks!"

"Because you’re so smug about it!" Mei’Lin’s eyes were actually tearing up. "You just stand there and let us attack you like we’re not even threats!"

"You’re not threats! Professor Nazraya literally told you not to kill me!"

"That’s not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

"The point is—the point is—NYA!"

She lunged again. This time Aegis caught her wrists, using her momentum to spin them around. They ended up against a tree, Mei’Lin pinned.

"Stop."

"Make me!"

"I’m trying to help you!"

"We don’t need help!"

"You’ve been trying to kill me with poisoned cake! Clearly you need something!"

Kai’Lin stood to the side, watching with an unreadable expression.

"Mei’Lin."

"What?"

"She settled the debt."

"So?"

"So we can stop."

"But—"

"We can stop."

The fight went out of Mei’Lin suddenly. She slumped against the tree.

"But then what do we do?"

"What do you mean?"

"If we’re not trying to kill her, then what? We just... ignore her?"

"You could try being normal?" Aegis suggested.

"SCREW BEING NORMAL, NYA!" Mei’Lin replied. Mei’Lin immediately sat on the ground, pouting. "This sucks."

"Me being alive sucks?"

"Yes. And not having a purpose sucks."

"Your purpose was killing me?"

"It was something to do!"

Aegis looked between the twins. They both looked genuinely lost.

"Well... Hope you figure it out!" Aegis said, before sprinting away.

---

She made it back to the dorm to find Lune painting.

"How did it go?"

"I... I’ll get back to you on that."

Lune glanced at her briefly.

"You’re smiling."

Aegis touched her face. She was smiling.

"Huh."

"Want to tell me about your day while I paint?"

"Sure."

She flopped on her bed and started explaining the whole situation while Lune painted. It felt nice, just talking. No ulterior motives. No grand schemes. Just two friends sharing a weird story about a weirder day.

Maybe Lune had been right about the whole vulnerability thing.

[Not that I’m going to tell her that. She’s smug enough already.]

---

The next morning, Aegis sat in the dining hall, watching Serilla and Darius from across the room.

Serilla was holding court with several nobles, gesturing dramatically about something that had them all laughing. Every so often, her eyes would flick to where Liora sat with Talia, sharp and calculating.

Darius was at another table, surrounded by his own circle of sycophants. He kept glancing at Talia too, but with the satisfied air of someone who already considered the game won.

[The twins just need friends. Simple enough. But these two...]

Serilla needed to win. But win what? She’d already kissed Liora... a lot. Already made her interest clear. How could Aegis get through to her without conceding Liora?

Darius needed... what? Money? Power? He already had both. Status? He was marrying into royalty.

[No. They both need something else. Something deeper.]

She thought back to Lune’s words about vulnerability. About what people really needed versus what they wanted.

[Serilla wants Liora. But what does she need? Darius wants Talia. But what does he need?]

The answer was there, just out of reach. She’d have to get closer to figure it out. Which meant more time with both of them.

[Great. More detention with Serilla and more political maneuvering with Darius. This week’s going to be exhausting.]