Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 179: Five Weeks

Talia had been pacing for thirty minutes.

Back and forth and back and forth across Aegis’s study, her heels clicking against hardwood, her hands cutting through the air like she was trying to physically fight the concept of planning a wedding.

"—and then she has the audacity to suggest ivory silk. Ivory!" Talia spun on her heel. "As if I’m some blushing virgin bride who’s never had her face buried between another woman’s thighs—"

Aegis leaned back in her chair, head moving up and down in an endless nodding motion to make it abundantly clear she was listening intently... and not just staring at her tits.

"—the seating charts alone are a nightmare. She wants House Goldspire’s delegation in the front row, obviously, but that means moving House Redbrook to the second tier, and Lord Redbrook has been feuding with Lady Pemberton for three years now over some land for a long, long time and—"

Her hair whipped around as she pivoted. Her yellow eyes were practically glowing with rage.

Really, Aegis could watch this all day. Actually, scratch that, she pretty much had been watching this all day.

"—and the venue." Talia stopped, pressing her palms to her temples. "The Grand Cathedral of the Eternal Flame. I hate that place. The incense gives me headaches and the priests look at me like I’m a sinner. Which I am, but that’s beside the point. I’d rather get married in a barn."

"You could always burn it down," Aegis offered.

Talia shot her a look and put a delicate index finger in the air.

"Don’t tempt me."

She resumed pacing.

"The flowers are wrong. The musicians are wrong. The guest list reads like a who’s who of people I actively want dead. And Darius—" She spat his name like it tasted bad. "—keeps sending me poetry. Terrible poetry. Rhyming couplets about my eyes being like ’twin moons in a velvet sky.’ I want to gouge his eyes out with a spoon and feed them to pigs."

Aegis snorted.

"Twin moons? Really?"

"Really."

"That’s rough."

"Thank you for your sympathy. It means so much."

"I’m just saying, if someone’s going to write bad poetry about you, they could at least be creative about it. Twin moons is so overdone. What about..." Aegis tapped her chin. "’Your eyes are like two angry suns that make me want to piss myself with joy every time I see them.’ See? Much more accurate."

"I hate you."

"Tough crowd."

Talia collapsed into the chair across from Aegis’s desk, and all the fight drained out of her at once. She looked exhausted. The kind of exhausted that sleep just couldn’t fix.

"Five weeks." Talia stared at the ceiling. "The betrothal ceremony is in five weeks. After that, it’s official. Breaking the engagement would mean war. Maybe literally."

Aegis nodded a little more slowly.

[Five weeks to become worthy of a princess. Cool. Cool cool cool. No pressure at all.]

"That’s not much time," Aegis said, helpful as always.

"I know." Talia’s voice was flat. "I’ve been trying to delay. Find excuses. Fake illnesses. Pretend to have religious revelations. Nothing works. She just schedules around my objections like they’re minor inconveniences." She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. "I don’t know what to do anymore. My mother won’t listen. Darius won’t give up. And I can’t just... run away. I have responsibilities. People who depend on House Stone." Her voice went tight. "I can’t abandon everything just because I don’t want to marry some insufferable pretty boy who thinks he’s entitled to me."

Aegis stood and circled the desk. She crouched in front of Talia’s chair, took her hands, and pulled them away from her face.

"Hey." Talia’s yellow eyes met hers, and fuck, even exhausted and miserable she was beautiful. "Look at me."

Talia did.

"I will remind you, I have a plan," Aegis said.

"You always have a plan."

"Aaaaand they always work, don’t they?"

"They work about seventy percent of the time."

"That’s passing! That’s a C! I’ll take a C."

Talia’s lips twitched like she was fighting back a smile. Victory! Aegis squeezed her hands and kept going.

"Five weeks is tight, but it’s not impossible. I’ve been building House Starcaller’s foundation all summer. Money, allies, reputation, it’s aaaaaall coming together. I just need to accelerate the timeline a little bit."

"How?"

"Quietly. Carefully. Your mother can’t know what I’m doing or she’ll crush me before I can blink. That woman scares the shit out of me, and I’ve fought actual monsters." Aegis grinned. "But if I can build enough power behind the scenes, make enough connections, prove that House Starcaller is worth considering as a marriage prospect... by the time she realizes I’m a threat, it’ll be too late to stop me."

Talia searched her face.

"That’s incredibly risky."

"I know."

"And arrogant."

"Also true."

"And probably doomed to fail."

"Possibly." Aegis stood, pulling Talia up with her. "But it’s the only shot we’ve got. Unless you want to marry Darius and spend the rest of your life reading terrible poetry about your moon eyes while he fumbles around trying to figure out where your clit is."

Talia made a face like she’d bitten into something rotten.

"I’d rather die."

"Then trust me." Aegis cupped her face, thumbs tracing along her cheekbones. Her skin was warm. "Five weeks. That’s all I need."

For a long moment, Talia just looked at her. Those yellow eyes searching for something. Doubt, maybe. Uncertainty. Some sign that Aegis was feeding her pretty lies to make her feel better.

She didn’t find it.

"Alright." Talia exhaled slowly. "Alright. I’ll trust you." A pause. "But if you fail—"

"I won’t."

"If you fail," Talia repeated, firmer, "I’m going to make your life absolutely miserable before I get shipped off to be Goldspire’s broodmare. I will haunt you emotionally. I will make you feel guilty every single day for the rest of your life. I will—"

Aegis kissed her.

Talia made a surprised noise against her mouth, then melted into it, her hands fisting in Aegis’s shirt. Aegis pulled her closer, hands sliding down to grip her ass—because why wouldn’t she, it was right there—and for a few seconds the five-week deadline didn’t exist. There was just Talia’s lips and Talia’s body pressed against hers and the soft sound she made when Aegis squeezed.

Then Talia pulled back, already composing herself. Her cheeks were flushed. Her hair was slightly mussed.

"I need to go." She smoothed her dress, turning to check her reflection in the window. "Mother’s arranged another fitting session."

"The horror."

"Shut up." But Talia was almost smiling now. A real smile, small but genuine. "I’ll see you soon."

She left.

Aegis stood in the empty study for a moment, letting the weight of everything settle onto her shoulders like a very heavy, very annoying coat.

[Five weeks.]

She walked to the window and stared out at the manor grounds. The gardens Evelyn had hired people to maintain. The training yard where Scarlett and Kanna sparred every morning. The beginnings of something real. Something that might, if she played her cards right, become powerful enough to matter.

[I can do this. I’ve done harder things. Probably. Maybe. Okay, I haven’t, but there’s a first time for everything.]

A knock at the door interrupted her brooding.

"Come in."

Evelyn entered with a stack of ledgers tucked under one arm. Her expression was its usual state of mild disapproval at the general existence of things, which Aegis had learned to interpret as "neutral Evelyn."

"Lady Starcaller." Evelyn set the ledgers on the desk with a solid thump. "I’ve compiled the quarterly projections you requested."

"Already?" Aegis turned from the window. "That was fast."

"Efficiency is what you pay me for." Evelyn opened the top ledger and turned it to face Aegis. "Current holdings: the manor and surrounding grounds, Rosalie’s alchemy shop operating under House Starcaller’s patronage, and the monster-hunting contracts we’ve established with the Merchant’s Guild."

Aegis walked over and scanned the numbers. Income columns, expense columns, profit margins. The math was clean and organized, annotated with Evelyn’s precise handwriting in the margins.

"Monthly income has stabilized at approximately ten thousand gold," Evelyn continued. "Expenses—maintenance, wages, supplies, taxes—run roughly eighteen hundred. That leaves us with a net profit of eighty-two hundred gold per month."

"Which sounds good," Aegis said slowly.

"It is good. For a minor noble house less than a season old, it’s exceptional."

Aegis waited.

"However."

There it was.

"If your goal is to compete with Great Houses for Princess Talia’s hand..." Evelyn paused, and Aegis could swear she saw some sympathy. Almost. "It’s insufficient. House Goldspire’s monthly income is estimated at forty thousand gold, and they’ve maintained that level for generations. House Stone’s is higher. Even mid-tier houses like Redbrook or Pemberton operate in the fifteen to twenty thousand range."

Aegis winced.

"So we’re not even playing the same game."

"You’re not even in the same arena. They’re playing chess while you’re still figuring out how the pieces move."

"Okay, ouch."

"I’m not trying to be cruel, my lady. I’m trying to be realistic." Evelyn closed the ledger. "That said, wealth alone won’t determine the outcome. Political capital, military strength, magical resources—these factors weigh heavily in noble marriage negotiations. A house with modest finances but powerful allies and proven capabilities can compete above its financial class."

"So I need to be rich AND connected AND dangerous."

"Ideally, yes."

"Great. Easy. I’ll just do all of that in five weeks."

Evelyn’s expression didn’t change, but Aegis could’ve sworn she saw a flicker of amusement somewhere in there. Maybe. It was hard to tell with Evelyn.

"’Easy’ is not a word I’d use, my lady. But ’possible’?" A pause. "Perhaps."

She pulled out a second ledger—this one filled with names, family trees, territorial maps. Pages and pages of information, cross-referenced and annotated.

"I’ve taken the liberty of researching potential allies. Houses that might benefit from association with an upstart willing to challenge the established order."

Aegis grabbed the ledger and flipped through it. Names she recognized from the game, names she didn’t. Marriage alliances, trade agreements, old grudges and older debts. Evelyn had done her homework. More than her homework. This was a goddamn dissertation.

[This is good. This is really good. I could kiss this woman. Platonically. Professionally. A professional platonic kiss.]

Evelyn pulled out a map of Valdria and spread it flat across the desk. Major cities, trade routes, noble territories—all marked in different colors with her careful annotations.

"Here." Aegis tapped a region in the southeast. "House Morrow."

"The mining lords." Evelyn nodded. "They’ve been feuding with House Goldspire for decades over mineral rights. The dispute has cost both houses significant resources."

"Which means they hate Goldspire." Aegis grinned. "And the enemy of my enemy..."

"Is a potential ally, yes. Though House Morrow has little love for newcomers. They’re old money, traditional, suspicious of anyone who wasn’t noble three generations ago."

"But they hate Goldspire more than they distrust commoners." Aegis grabbed a pen and circled the location in red. "That’s something I can work with."

"Risky."

"Everything’s risky. What else?"

She kept marking. The Merchant’s Coalition in Dawnhaven—always hungry for noble patrons to legitimize their operations. House Vance in the north, who’d been snubbed by House Stone last year and might be looking for petty revenge. The independent lords along the eastern border, who valued strength over bloodlines.

Potential allies. Potential rivals. Neutral parties who might be swayed with the right offer.

Her hand moved faster as the picture took shape in her mind.

Trade routes she could leverage. Resources she could acquire. Favors she could call in and favors she could create. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

[I can’t be everywhere at once. I’m one person with limited time and a shit-ton of ground to cover.]

But she’d figure it out.

She had to.

Five weeks.

The clock was ticking.