Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 248: Lights, Camera, Action

The chapel annex smelled like candle wax.

Selene had set up in one of the smaller prayer rooms adjacent to the main hall, a quiet space with stone walls, a single window, and enough room for two people to stand comfortably but not much else.

Selene stood across from Aegis in her white armor, hands clasped behind her back, her expression pleasant but focused. The warmth was still there, in her voice, in her smile, but underneath it, Aegis could feel the edge.

This wasn’t a lesson. This was a test.

"Divine magic," Selene began, "is channeled through conviction and clarity of spirit. Unlike elemental or arcane magic, it doesn’t rely on raw aether manipulation. It requires the caster to align their intent with a higher purpose. If there is corruption in your pathways, divine energy will reject you outright. There’s no faking it."

"Understood!" Aegis said, with a bright smile.

"We’ll start with the most basic exercise. I want you to hold your hands out, palms up, and focus on drawing light into them. Don’t force it. Don’t shape it. Just invite it in."

Aegis did as she was told.

She held her hands out, closed her eyes, and reached for the energy the way Rosanna had taught her to reach for aether, cooperative rather than forceful. Not grabbing, but asking.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Then, a faint glow. Warm, soft, pooling in her palms like water collecting in a cupped hand. Not much. Barely a flicker. But it was there.

She opened her eyes.

Selene was staring at her hands. The pleasant smile was gone. Now, she just looked confused.

"Interesting," Selene said.

"Good interesting or bad interesting?"

"... To be determined." Selene stepped closer and held her own hand over Aegis’s palms, not touching, just hovering. Aegis felt a pulse of warmth from Selene’s fingers, divine magic scanning hers. "Do it again."

Aegis did it again. The glow returned, slightly brighter this time.

"Again."

She did it five more times.

Each time, Selene watched, tested, and said almost nothing. By the end, Aegis’s hands ached and her mana pool had taken a noticeable dip, but she’d produced light every single time.

"That’s enough for today," Selene said, stepping back.

"So? How’d I do?"

"You produced divine light, which means your aether pathways are not fully corrupted." Selene folded her arms. "But that doesn’t mean they’re clean, either. Partial corruption can exist alongside divine channeling in rare cases. We’ll need more sessions before I can say anything definitive."

[Translation: I passed the first test but she’s not letting me off the hook yet.]

"I appreciate your time, Selene."

"Same time next week, Mrs. Starcaller."

---

Before class, in the hallway outside the lecture room, Aegis pulled Talia aside.

"I need you to do something for me in there."

Talia raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Flirt with me. Hard. Be obvious about it."

"... Why?"

"Because Sylceris is going to be sitting next to me, and I need her to see me brush you off. If she thinks I’m cold toward you in private, it reinforces the story that our marriage is political, not personal. Makes me look more like someone the shadow mages can recruit."

Talia stared at her for a second. Then the corner of her mouth twitched.

"You want me to flirt with my own wife as part of an espionage operation."

"Yes."

"And then you’re going to ignore me."

"Publicly, yeah."

"This is the stupidest plan you’ve ever come up with," Talia said.

"It’s not that bad."

Talia rolled her eyes.

The class in question was Advanced Magical Theory. Nazraya hadn’t arrived yet, which meant the classroom was the usual pre-lecture chaos of students chatting, shuffling notes, and trying to cram in last-minute review.

Aegis was in her usual seat. Sylceris was next to her, because Sylceris was always next to her now, staring straight ahead with her arms crossed.

Talia walked over.

She didn’t sit in her own seat. Instead, she stopped right next to Aegis’s desk, leaned down, and brushed a strand of hair behind Aegis’s ear. Her fingers lingered on Aegis’s jaw.

"You left early this morning," Talia said, her voice low but not so low that the people around them couldn’t hear. "I missed waking up next to you."

Half the row turned to look.

[... Okay, Talia, I said flirt, not set the room on fire.]

Aegis glanced up at her with a flat expression.

"I had a meeting."

Talia didn’t pull back. She traced her fingers along Aegis’s jawline, tilted her chin up, and leaned closer.

"You always have a meeting. Maybe I should start scheduling appointments just to see my own wife."

A student two rows back whispered something to his neighbor. Sylceris, to Aegis’s left, had gone very still. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Talia." Aegis gently took Talia’s hand off her face and set it down on the desk. "Not here."

Talia held her gaze for a beat. Then she straightened up, gave Aegis a look that could have frozen the room (and for Talia, that was almost literal), and walked back to her own seat without another word.

The classroom was quiet for a solid three seconds before conversations resumed, all of them noticeably more animated than before.

[Perfect. Exactly what I needed. Sorry, babe. I’ll make it up to you tonight.]

Aegis turned back to her notes like nothing had happened.

A few minutes passed. Talia stood and excused herself to the washroom, walking past Aegis’s desk without looking at her.

The moment she was gone, Sylceris spoke.

"What was that about?"

Aegis didn’t look up from her notes.

"What was what about?"

"The princess just practically crawled into your lap in front of thirty people and you acted like she was bothering you."

Aegis sighed. She set her pen down, rubbed the bridge of her nose, and leaned back in her chair with the kind of exhaustion that she absolutely did not feel but that looked very convincing.

"You ever try keeping up an act every single day?" Aegis said, her voice quiet enough that only Sylceris could hear. "Smiling at people you don’t care about, pretending you’re in love at every public function, making sure you say the right thing to the right noble at the right time so nobody starts asking questions?"

Sylceris watched her, saying nothing.

"It’s exhausting." Aegis stared at the ceiling. "I married Talia because it was the smartest move I could make. She’s a princess. The political benefits are massive. But keeping up the ’happy couple’ routine..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "Sometimes I just don’t have the energy."

"..."

[Goddamn, I’m good.]

Sylceris was quiet for a long moment.

When Aegis glanced over, the girl’s expression had shifted. Not a lot. Not enough for anyone else to notice. But the hard edge behind her eyes had softened, just slightly. Like one small piece of a wall had come loose.

"I get it," Sylceris said. "More than you’d think."

[+15 Sylceris Wynne]

[Favorability: ❤️🤍🤍🤍🤍]

Aegis turned back to her notes and hid her smile behind her hand.

[That’s one.]