CHAPTER 53: STAGE PRESENCE 3

Professor Loralei dragged Aegis back to class twenty minutes later, still vibrating with excitement.

"We did it! We actually did it!" She deposited Aegis at her desk. "The play lives! Art triumphs! Love conquers bureaucracy!"

"Congratulations," Nazraya said without looking up from her tome. "Perhaps now you’ll let me continue my lesson?"

"Of course, of course!" Loralei floated toward the door. "But Aegis, darling, come find me after classes! We have so much to prepare!"

She zoomed out, leaving a trail of sparkles and confused students.

Lune leaned over from the next desk.

"What was that about?"

"The play got approved." Aegis couldn’t hide her grin as she said that. "Auditions start next week."

"OHHHH! The Queen Rosanna one?" Miheyra twisted around from the row ahead. "The one with the kiss that lasts a whole minute?"

"Where did you even hear that?"

"Ellis told me. And, well, he heard it from Tam who heard it from—"

"Focus, please." Nazraya’s voice cut through the chatter. "Unless you’d all prefer to discuss theater during detention?"

The class went silent.

[Right. Magic fundamentals. Much less fun than planning my theatrical debut, but whatever. Don’t wanna piss Nazraya off... Or do I~?]

But as Nazraya began her lecture on aether manipulation, Aegis’s mind wandered. She had a week to prepare for auditions. A week to make sure she and Liora got those lead roles.

[Time to turn up the charm.]

---

That evening, the dining hall buzzed with more energy than usual. Word about the play had spread faster than a plague spell, and everyone had opinions, everyone had guesses as to who would end up starring, and everyone was salivating over what they imagined the play would be like.

"I heard they’re doing full costume changes on stage!" someone shouted from the noble tables.

"My cousin said there’s a sword fight in Act Two!"

"Nude sword fight!"

"That doesn’t even make sense!"

"It does if the stars of the play are both fertility-cursed, haha!"

Aegis sat with her usual crew, trying not to look too smug. Scarlett had claimed the seat to her right, muscular arm draped over the back of Aegis’s chair. Lune sat across from them, quietly sketching while the scholarship students filled out the rest of the table.

"So you really got Valdris to approve it?" Ellis adjusted his spectacles. "How?"

"Lots of natural charisma and feverish determination." Aegis took a bite of bread. "Plus four hundred signatures."

"Four hundred and thirty-seven," Tam corrected in their whispery voice. "I helped count."

"You’re really gonna audition?" Scarlett asked. "You don’t strike me as an actress. No offense."

"None taken. And yes, I’m auditioning." Aegis glanced at Lune’s notebook. "Besides, how hard can it be? Just pretend to be in love on stage."

"Sounds mortifying," Jona said, ink-stained fingers drumming the table. "All those people watching you be romantic? I’d rather die."

"You get used to it." Aegis leaned over to peek at Lune’s drawing.

It was her again, of course. That much was expected. What wasn’t expected was what Lune actually drew: Aegis mid-bite, with a noodle dangling from her lips and sauce on her chin.

The sketch was almost photorealistic in its... unflattering accuracy.

"Oi, oi!" Aegis pointed at the offending artwork. "C-Change that! I don’t eat like that!"

"You literally have sauce on your face right now," Lune said without looking up.

Aegis wiped her chin. Her hand came away red.

[Betrayed by marinara.]

"Delete it from existence!"

"No." Lune added more shading to the noodle. "This is for my personal collection."

"Your personal— how many more drawings of me do you have?!" Lune opened her mouth. "A-Actually, don’t answer that." Lune closed her mouth.

Scarlett laughed so hard she nearly fell off her chair.

"Oh man, Mouse, your face! You look like someone just told you training was canceled forever!"

"This is character assassination!" Aegis muttered as she made a grab for the notebook.

Lune pulled it away casually.

"It’s art. You said you appreciated art, right?"

[Is LUNE SOLANA teasing!?!?]

"Not when it makes me look like I was raised by wolves!"

"I thought you were raised on a farm?" Miheyra asked innocently.

"That’s not— I don’t— ugh!"

The table erupted in laughter. Even Tam was giggling behind her hand.

[These bastards. I love them, but they’re all bastards.]

"Fine!" Aegis crossed her arms. "But when I’m the lead in this play, you’ll all be begging for my autograph!"

"Sure, Mouse." Scarlett ruffled her hair. "We’ll be your biggest fans."

---

Later that night, Aegis made her way to the Sky Piercer for her regular training with Rosanna.

More progress had been made toward not remaining a mere insect in the magical realm, spurred on by the 50% XP gain increase from having Bondmarked Scarlett and Nazraya.

Intelligence: 35

The magical elevator carried her up in silence, the academy shrinking below.

She found the ghost queen standing at the platform’s edge, translucent hands clasped behind her back.

"You’re in a good mood," Rosanna observed without turning. "Something wonderful happen?"

"Got the academy play approved. The one about you, actually."

That made Rosanna turn. Her purple eyes sparkled with interest.

"Oh? They’re doing theater about me now?"

"A romantic drama, specifically." Aegis joined her at the edge. "About your rise to power and the people you loved along the way."

"How scandalous." Rosanna’s lips curved. "I assume they’re taking creative liberties, though? If they put every single thing I did with my lovers on stage... well, that would be their last play, hehe."

"No, we’re probably not covering everything you did. Though knowing Professor Loralei, she’ll still make it as dramatic as possible."

"Good. Real life is often disappointingly mundane." Rosanna studied her. "You’re auditioning?"

"For the lead role." Aegis grinned.

"Ambitious. Can you act?"

"Not really."

Rosanna laughed. It echoed strangely in the night air.

"Then we’d better work on that. Acting is just another form of manipulation, and manipulation requires grace." She gestured for Aegis to stand. "Show me your posture."

Aegis stood. Rosanna circled her slowly.

"Shoulders back. Chin up. No, not that high, you’re not trying to see the moon." Ghostly fingers adjusted Aegis’s stance. "Better. Now walk."

Aegis walked across the platform.

"You stride like a common worker. Soften your steps. Imagine you’re gliding."

"Gliding?"

"Like you own every room you enter but don’t need to prove it." Rosanna demonstrated, her ethereal form moving with impossible elegance. "Power is in the suggestion, not the declaration."

Aegis tried again. And again. And again.

For two hours, Rosanna corrected everything. Her walk, her gestures, the way she held her head. It was exhausting in a completely different way from combat training.

"Why do you know so much about this?" Aegis asked during a water break.

"I wasn’t born a queen, dear. I had to learn to play the part before I could become it." Rosanna’s expression grew distant. "I could turn everyone to ash with a flick of my wrist, but that wasn’t enough. The court is a stage, and every noble an actor. Those who forget their lines don’t last long."

"That’s... kind of deep."

"It’s true. Master the performance, and you master the game." She gestured for Aegis to continue. "Again. This time, pretend you’re walking toward someone you desire but can’t have."

"That’s specific."

"It’s also exactly what you’ll need for this play, isn’t it?"

[She’s not wrong.]

By the time training ended, Aegis moved differently. Smoother. More deliberate.

Grace +5!

Current Grace: 15

"Better," Rosanna said. "You might actually convince someone you’re me."

"Thanks. I think."

"Come back tomorrow. We’ll work on your voice projection."

"My what now?"

But Rosanna was already fading, leaving Aegis alone on the platform.

[Great. More homework.]

---

Two days passed in a blur of classes, training, and play preparation. Professor Loralei had distributed scripts to anyone interested, and the academy was collectively losing its mind.

"There really is a minute-long kiss!" someone screamed in the hallway.

"Page forty-seven! Right there!"

"And the sword fight IS in Act Two!"

"Told you!"

Aegis hadn’t read the script yet. She wanted to go through it with Liora, use it as an excuse to spend time together. Speaking of which...

[Where is she?]

Liora had been oddly absent lately. Not missing classes, but vanishing the moment they ended. Their singing lessons had been postponed twice.

[Time to track her down.]

Aegis checked the music rooms first. Empty. The library? Nothing. The fountain courtyard where they’d talked? Abandoned.

[Maybe her dorm?]

She headed toward the residential wings, script tucked under her arm. If nothing else, she could slide it under Liora’s door with a note. Something flirty but not too aggressive.

[Like "Want to rehearse the kissing scene?" No, too forward. "Thought we could read lines together?" Better. "Your future co-star awaits?" Ugh, too cheesy.]

She rounded the corner to Liora’s hallway and stopped dead.

There, pressed against the stone wall, was Liora. Her honey-blonde hair was mussed, her uniform askew, and her lips were very much occupied.

By Princess Talia Stone.

The princess had Liora pinned with her body, one hand tangled in blonde curls, the other braced against the wall. She was kissing her like the world was ending. Like she was trying to devour her whole.

And Liora... wasn’t pushing her away.

Her hands clutched at Talia’s uniform, pulling her closer.

[What. The. Fuck.]