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.

Suddenly she stood in a void, watching scenes unfold in front of her like she was binging a drama at 3 AM.

There was Talia on the first day of classes. She sat three tables away from Liora in the dining hall, stabbing her breakfast with unnecessary violence while sneaking glances at the blonde girl laughing with other scholarship students. When Liora looked her way, Talia’s glare could have frozen lava. But the second Liora turned back to her friends, something else flickered across the princess’s face.

Longing.

The scene shifted. Two weeks into the semester. Political Intrigue class had just ended. Students filed out, but Talia grabbed Liora’s wrist as she passed.

"Stop avoiding me."

"I’m not avoiding you." Liora wouldn’t meet her eyes. "We just... we can’t be friends anymore, Talia. You know that."

"Says who?"

"Your mother. My common blood. The entire noble hierarchy of Valdria. Should I continue?"

Talia’s jaw clenched so hard Aegis could practically hear teeth grinding.

"I don’t care about any of that."

"You have to care. You’re going to be queen."

"Not for years."

"That doesn’t change—"

"It changes everything!" Talia slammed her hand against the wall beside Liora’s head. Classic kabedon. "We spent our entire childhood together. You’re telling me that means nothing now?"

"I’m telling you it has to mean nothing." Liora’s voice cracked. "For both our sakes."

The scene jumped forward. Three weeks in. The library at midnight. Liora sat alone, surrounded by textbooks, when footsteps approached. She didn’t look up.

"Go away, Talia."

"How did you know it was me?"

"You still walk like you own everything you see."

"Old habits." Talia set down a stack of books. "These might help with your Magical Theory essay."

"Talia, we talked about this."

"No, you talked. I ignored you." The princess dropped into the chair across from her. "Just like I’m ignoring you now."

Despite herself, Liora smiled. A tiny thing, but Talia caught it.

"There she is. The girl who used to steal pastries with me from the kitchen."

"We were eight."

"And now we’re eighteen. So what?"

"So everything’s different!"

"Not everything." Talia’s voice dropped. "Not how I feel when I look at you."

Liora’s quill snapped in her grip.

Another jump. The night before the gala. Talia sat at an ornate desk, writing on stationery that probably cost more than most people’s monthly wages.

"Lady Liora Vale is hereby invited to attend the Annual Autumn Gala as my personal guest. Do not tell her it was me who invited her, however, or she will not want to attend."

She signed it with a flourish.

The gala itself.

Aegis watched herself dancing with Talia, confident and seductive. But the camera, or whatever this was, focused on Liora The girl stood rigid by the punch bowl, knuckles white around her glass. Someone said something to her, but Liora wasn’t listening. Her eyes tracked every spin, every laugh, every moment Aegis’s hand touched Talia’s waist.

Aegis hadn’t noticed it, but it was clear now. The jealousy on her face could have powered a small city.

After the gala. After Aegis’s dress incident with Varyn. After everything. Liora knocked on Talia’s door at 1 AM.

"You invited me."

"You came."

"Why did you invite me?"

"You know why."

"Say it."

"Because I’m an idiot who can’t stop thinking about you. Happy?"

"No." Liora stepped into the room. "Not even close to happy."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want my best friend back. I want to stop pretending I don’t see you in the halls. I want..." Liora’s hands shook. "I want you to kiss me like you did that summer before everything went to shit."

"Liora—"

"Shut up and kiss me, you pompous ass."

Talia crossed the room in two strides and crashed their mouths together. It was desperate. Years of repressed want poured into that kiss. Liora’s hands tangled in black hair while Talia pressed her against the door.

"I hate you," Liora gasped between kisses.

"No you don’t."

Clothes started coming off with frantic urgency. Talia’s expensive dress hit the floor. Liora’s borrowed gala outfit followed. They stumbled toward the bed, refusing to stop kissing even when they nearly tripped over a chair.

"If your mother finds out—"

"She won’t."

"If anyone sees—"

"They won’t." Talia pushed Liora onto the silk sheets. "I’ll kill anyone who does."

"That’s not very princess-like."

Talia’s mouth moved down Liora’s neck, leaving marks that would need to be hidden tomorrow. Her hands explored familiar territory, relearning curves she’d memorized years ago. Liora arched beneath her, quiet gasps turning into desperate moans.

"I’ve wanted this for so long," Talia whispered against her skin.

Talia’s fingers found their target.

"Oh fuck— don’t stop—"

The scene blurred into a montage of secret meetings.

Quick kisses in empty classrooms. Talia sneaking into Liora’s room after midnight. Liora wearing Talia’s jewelry hidden under her uniform collar. Shared looks across the dining hall.

Arguments that turned into makeout sessions. Talia pressing Liora against a bookshelf, swallowing her moans. Liora straddling Talia’s lap during a "study session," grinding down while the princess tried to maintain composure.

"We’re going to get caught," Liora would say.

"Worth it," Talia would answer, before pulling her back down.

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.]