So we'll piss off the neighbors in the place that feels the tears

Amelia let out a long sigh. She had put a decent amount of work into teaching Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin today, but there was still a lot of progress to be made on that front.

She took off her glasses and wiped them clean before putting them back on, and looking around the empty classroom that had been given to her to use for her lessons.

Vivian had gotten a taste of how troublesome difficult students could be. If Amelia was a pettier person, she might have taken some perverse pleasure in that outcome, but she was a better human being than that.

She hoped that this would motivate Vivian to be a little more diligent when it came to her own studies… but frankly, she doubted that education was at the front of the heiress’s mind right now.

It isn’t as though I should be surprised that Miss Carrington has no interest in studying, she reasoned, walking over to the window and looking out over the island below her. She let out another long sigh. After all, she already has her future set out for her. Will studying further make any difference in her life, then?

Amelia had a significant amount of family money herself. It could even be argued that her family had greater prominence than Vivian’s, given their history and peerage. But the Carringtons had certainly accumulated more wealth at this point in time.

For better or worse.

But, even when taking that into consideration, Amelia could not bring herself to endorse the heiress’s choices, or her view of education.

After all… educating oneself was important even if you did not need to get a job. It brought enrichment and value to a person’s life, and Amelia hoped that, someday, Vivian would be able to understand that fact.

Perhaps that could be learned from working with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin as well, Amelia thought, considering the complicated interaction between the two of them that she’d observed today.

Unlike Vivian, who, ostensibly, had little use for anything that Amelia could teach her, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was a perfect example of someone who benefitted from education and learning.

The mute assassin couldn’t even read or write. Things that had been used to enrich the lives of humans throughout their history, and she was yet to be capable of them.

It was the sort of thing that would bring a tear to her eye, if she was adept at expressing her emotions, but unfortunately…

That had never been Amelia’s strong suit.

“I wonder… why am I even here?” She murmured as she gazed out the window with a thoughtful expression on her face. A feeling of poignant whimsy rolled through her breast like a soft, gentle breeze as she contemplated her situation.

“Isn’t that the question?”

Mentally, Amelia flinched when she heard the voice of the woman standing behind her. But she was quite skilled at controlling her emotional responses, so she pushed those reflexes down and turned her head.

Echo was standing in the door way.

“…Good afternoon,” Amelia greeted her. “How may I help you today?” She tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she addressed the twisted woman. Antagonizing Echo wouldn’t help anyone.

“I was just passing by when I heard you ruminating,” Echo said, walking into the classroom and approaching the window. Her smile widened as she got closer to the professor. “Tell me something… if you had to make a guess… why are you a part of this show?”

Amelia’s eye twitched. “…Excuse me?”

Echo held up her hands. “I’m not trying to pick a fight!” She said, shaking her head. “I’m sincerely asking you, why do you think, out of all the women that the producers could have chosen for Nick’s harem, you made the final cut?”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s quite a conundrum, isn’t it? After all, you have no romantic interest in him, do you? You’re his stepmother. You raised him ever since he was a little boy- you’ve been in his life longer than you haven’t been.”

Those statements were factual ones. Amelia had no rebuttal for them. She pushed her glasses up her nose and stared calmly at the woman in front of her, thinking through her response carefully.

Obviously, Echo had been lying when she said she was just “passing by” Amelia was smart enough to understand that much. Which meant that Amelia should assume her presence here was calculated. Was she trying to throw her off for some reason?

It was certainly possible.

“…You are correct,” she said, nodding slowly. “I have raised Nicholas as though he were my own son.”

“Exactly!” Echo clapped her hands together. “And that’s why it’s so strange for the producers to bring you onto this show, don’t you think?”

“…Not particularly,” Amelia said, choosing her words very carefully. She was well aware of her tendency to cut corners when trying to express herself, and end up saying the wrong words. She had no intention of making that mistake when communicating with the woman in front of her and giving Echo more ammunition to use against her stepson.

Hence her brusqueness. If she didn’t give Echo anything at all to respond to, there was nothing that the woman could do to try and get one over on her, was there?

Echo seemed to be aware of this herself. She eyed Amelia carefully, and Amelia could tell that she was trying to get a read on her response- so she could figure out a way that she could use it against Nick somehow.

But Amelia would not allow that.

“Not particularly…” Echo tapped her fingers against her lips. “What could you mean when you say that, I wonder…?”

She scrunched up her face like she was thinking very hard about what Amelia had just said. Meanwhile, Amelia kept her lips pressed into a tight line, not giving her an inch.

“…Is it because you want to fuck him?” The redhead asked gleefully. “Is that why this situation isn’t strange?”

Amelia narrowed her eyes into a glare. “That statement is absurd, of course.”

“Oh, is it?” Echo leaned back against a desk and crossed her arms over her chest. A demonstration of rebellious behavior that she would have found to be scandalous and disrespectful back when she used to be Mary. “Then why are you being so cagey about your real assumptions? No, I think you’re scared of what’s in your heart, Amelia, and that’s why you’re putting up such a guarded wall around yourself, to keep your feelings safe.”

She skipped forward, leaning down and gazing up into Amelia’s eyes with a gleeful expression on her face. “Take it from someone who knows what it’s like to repress that side of yourself better than anyone… …You aren’t doing yourself any favors, fufufufu…”

Amelia let out a cool breath and shook her head. “The reason I am not particularly surprised by your superiors’ choice to put me onto this show is because I understand the way people like them operate,” she stated. It had taken her quite a bit of mental strain to formulate such a coherent and thoughtful sentence, but she didn’t regret it for a second.

Echo blinked. “…Oh?” She was equal parts shocked and intrigued by the other woman’s response. “…Elaborate.”

“Do I need to?” Amelia asked. “You are well aware of my meaning.”

“Oh, well, I suppose that isn’t inaccurate,” Echo conceded. She shrugged and flashed a smirk at the older woman. “It’s entirely possible that the producers wanted to pick an option that could fill several checkboxes. Hot older woman? Check. Familial relationship, without being TOO familial? Check. Sexy teacher? Check, check, check.”

She doubled over with laughter as Amelia simply regarded her with calm composure, not pushing any further or otherwise engaging with the absurd farce before her eyes.

Then Echo sobered up and nodded her head. “Yes, you’re probably right,” she conceded. “The producers probably included you simply for the demographics… and, of course, because of your presence at the wedding. You got a lot of fans from that little cameo, did you know that?”

“I am surprised that you are aware of that,” Amelia responded. “Would you not have broken off from Mary long before those events transpired? Or have I gotten the timeline of this season wrong, perhaps?” She wondered.

Echo’s smile slid off her face like oil. “…I see, so you’re trying to goad me, is that right?”

“Goad you?” Amelia asked, feigning innocence.

Echo decided not to bother. “…You’re right, I was no longer a part of Mary by that point, but I refreshed myself on everything that happened before on this season, like a good host should. And I’ve got to say, going over the tape again…”

She took her cane out from under the crook of her arm and tapped it on the floor. Immediately the blackboard turned into a screen projector, and an image from the wedding filled the screen.

“Ooooohhh! AAHHHHHHNNNN!”

Mary’s moaning voice filled the room, echoing off the walls as the graphic sex that she’d shared on her wedding day was broadcast to the entire classroom.

Echo whistled and shook her head.

“Naughty, naughty,” she said, like she was in any position to judge Mary for her sexuality. She skipped over to the board, watching it intensely like she was a football captain going over the game from the night before to use for reference.

Given that she was watching another version of herself having sex with her husband, that was a rather apt comparison, actually.

But, then again, Echo’s eyes were everywhere BUT on the bed set up at the altar. She scanned the crowd with a discerning eye, and tapped her cane to pause the video when she found the right scene.

“There, right there, that’s you, isn’t it?” She asked, pointing her finger at the screen while looking up at Amelia, as though she were shocked an amazed by what she was seeing. “Yes, right there! That’s you, getting all hot and heavy watching your own stepson have sexual intercourse!”

“…You are mistaken,” Amelia said, not even bothering to look at herself on the screen. She kept her eyes focused on Echo intensely. “What you are displaying, and misrepresenting, is simply my shock at such a sequence played out before my eyes.”

It was really taxing at this point to try and maintain her composure while also making sure that she was properly communicating all of her feelings with the woman in front of her. This was why Amelia disliked long conversations.

But she wasn’t about to let this wicked woman misrepresent her.

“…Shock? Really?” Echo sighed and rolled her eyes. “That’s really what you’re going with? You know lying is a sin, right?”

Amelia scoffed. As if the creature in front of her was in any position to criticize others for their conduct? Surely not!

Echo pinched her lips together in a smirk, seeing that she’d failed to get a rise out of the other woman in that case. “Well, it’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “Personally, I think you’re lying to yourself, but hey, if you want to pretend to be shocked and confused that two people would have sex on their wedding night, that’s up to you. Not even the other me would have been shocked to hear that was something that happens, but what do I know? Maybe you’re an even bigger prude than she is!”

“I do not recall having done that myself,” Amelia replied. She’d meant to explain that she’d never had sex in front of the entire wedding party at her own wedding to Nick’s father, but her concentration was starting to slip.

It had been a long and exhausting conversation, and one that didn’t seem to be ending any time soon, much to her chagrin.

Echo just rolled her eyes. “Your loss,” she hummed, skipping over to the older woman and looking up at her again.

“…Now, it’s just us girls here,” she said, keeping her voice low like she was sharing in some conspiratorial private girl talk, and not just trying to drive Amelia up the wall. “Honestly, you can tell me, since we both already know the answer… …You were getting hot and bothered, weren’t you? Seeing your stepson having sex for the first time? …The first time for you, I mean,” she quickly corrected herself. “Trust me, he’d had PLENTY of sex before his wedding, with lots of other women. …I have the tapes of those instances, too, if you would like.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Amelia brusquely replied, shutting down that entire avenue of thought before it could get started.

Echo smirked. “…Fair. I doubt the real thing could live up to your fantasies, anyhow,” she conceded with a shrug.

Amelia scowled in response.

“…But anyway, I think it’s great!” Echo continued. “To see you questioning yourself like this, and your place on the show. There’s a reason that you’re not all that popular with the audience, Amelia, you realize.”

“Yes, there is,” Amelia replied immediately. “And I don’t care. Are we done?”

She was getting really tired of having to couch her language and put so much thought into every last word that passed her lips. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to be done with the woman in front of her, and all the headaches she was causing.

Echo could see that.

And she loved it.

She smirked, and nodded approvingly. “…We can be done for now,” she said, taking a step back and holding up her hands to let the other woman know that she was surrendering. “I have no intention of getting on your bad side.”

Amelia didn’t respond to that, but the scornful look in her eye was answer enough. Echo was already on her bad side.

“Just keep in mind,” the host called over her shoulder as she walked towards the door, “that in your present position, Amelia? You really need to be putting in the work. Nick won’t wait forever, and neither will the audience! You’ve got to decide what your position on this show is going to be!”

After she left the room, she popped her head back in, like she’d forgotten to say something. As if the words that passed her lips next hadn’t been her entire reason for coming here in the first place.

“…Oh, and ‘I’m just his stepmother’ is not an answer we will be accepting at this time. Alright?” She winked at Nick’s stepmother. “Have a good rest of your day!”

Once the host was gone, Amelia resolved to not let her twisted words rattle her. But it was certainly easier said than done.

She did not, in fact, have a “good rest of her day” unfortunately.

Fortunately for Amelia, she had the Romantic Suite to herself that evening. Dawn was off with Dani and her stepson, so she could return to her room and settled down in peace and quiet, and read a good book if she chose to.

Unfortunately, nearly every book that she could get her hands on here was a form of literary smut, and she had little interest in reading trash like that.

She had really tried. Thumbing through a story that seemed to be a traditional romance, she had tried to muddle through. But the “traditional romance” was little more than window-dressing; a veneer to set the stage for the main story, which was how the elegant noble lady from a distinguished bloodline was passionately plowed by the handsome nouveau riché businessman for three-hundred pages.

“Haaah…” Amelia dug under her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose and let the leatherbound smut book fall next to her bed. Why was it so difficult to take even simple pleasure in something?

If she had not come to this island, her life would have been quite different. Of that she was certain. Her relationship with her stepson was complicated enough as it was- coming here, and subjecting herself to all this scrutiny, being part of his life in the strange, twisted way that she now was…

It wasn’t something that she had been anticipating. And she certainly didn’t know how she would deal with her circumstances.

She was Nick’s stepmother.

It was her responsibility to guide him.

And yet, everyone continued to try and impress their own expectations onto her.

Even she herself was guilty of that.

“Nicholas,” she murmured, flopping down on her bed and gazing up at the ceiling, “all I wish is for your happiness…”

Why was that so difficult for her to express?

Why couldn’t Amelia be a better mother, a more loving mother? The sort of mother who could tell him how she felt from the bottom of her heart, and work to ensure that he never felt lonely or neglected?

That was the sort of person that she wanted to be.

But all of that…

It had never been her strong suit.

And the twisted atmosphere of this island certainly didn’t help with matters.

It was difficult to guide your stepson down the proper path when everything seemed determined to coerce the two of you into sleeping together.

Not that that would ever happen, of course.

Amelia had no intention of degrading herself into such a disgusting relationship like that, to demean herself into becoming the sort of woman who would have sex with the child that she’d raised since he was in primary school.

She was a better person than that, a better mother. A good mother who thought about her son’s penis and how healthy and robust it was, like any reasonable mother would think.

Why did people have to pervert that into thinking that meant she intended to have sex with him, or have any sexual contact with him at all?

That was the last thing she wanted!

No, the only reason people behaved that way around her and thought that way about her was because she didn’t share any sort of blood relationship with him.

But even without that, he was still her son, and she would have no part in such activities.

Amelia went to bed quite certain of that fact.

Which was why she was particularly chagrined when she woke up the next morning in her classroom.

Her transformation had triggered again. This time, she would be treating a new student for the day, until she learned the lessons Amelia was tasked with teaching her.

“What’s going on!?” Ella screeched. “I-! We-we were just in the bathroom!”

“I’m still naked!?” Nick exclaimed, hastily covering himself. The color drained from his face when he saw his stepmother standing in front of him.

Amelia’s eye twitched. She wished that there were some way she could make Echo pay for what she had done, but she doubted such a thing was possible.

How unfortunate.