The morning sun filtered through the window of the colossal flying ship, casting warm rays across the interior.

Within the ship, the sunlight moving through one of the rooms, fell upon a woman nestled in a bed, her form embraced from behind.

"Mm..." Thalia stirred, shifting slightly as she felt the embrace from behind, turning to face the young man lying beside her, still feigning slumber.

Zzzz-zzz

"I didn’t know, you were this good at acting, girl," Zeph greeted her, an air of amusement in his narrowed eyes.

’!?’

"Caught red-handed, huh?" Thalia asked playfully, opening one eye to meet Zeph’s gaze as he lay beside her, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Since when?" Zeph inquired, reaching out to gently tousle her hair, appreciating its smoothness, his golden pupil fixed on her emerald one’s.

"Since you changed my clothes," Thalia replied, pulling the blanket over her face, a small smile evident even beneath the covers.

Recalling the previous night, after arriving in Estelle’s bedroom, Zeph had arranged for clothing with the assistance of the maids.

Aware of the Craten’s aversion to physical contact with humans, he had helped Thalia change into the clothing himself.

Normally, only higher authorities or certain Cratens, like Hursen or Estelle, educated from an early age, possess some tolerance for humans, allowing them to not feel uncomfortable around them.

After quickly arranging for Thalia’s change of clothes and tasking Luinera in Thallasar, Zeph and Estelle were returning to the Academy aboard a Craten’s ship.

(For visual reference of ship, please check the comment)

"Tch, I shouldn’t have restrained myself," Zeph muttered, his hand moving to his forehead, feigning regret for not taking advantage of the opportunity when Thalia was naked.

"You can just let go now, I mean that control of yours"

Suddenly, a teasing voice broke the silence, making Zeph turn to see Thalia peeking out from under the blanket, his mouth twitching at her shamelessness, ’This girl.’

Swiftly moving, he grabbed her hands and placed them over her head, locking eyes with her widened gaze.

"Kyaa~!"

Her heart raced as Zeph drew closer, their breaths intermingling, and their gazes trying to envelop each other.

"You know what, Thalia," Zeph murmured softly, his warm breath grazing her face, the scent of each other perceptible. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Yes," Thalia replied, her tone gentle and melodic, while her gaze fixed on his lips.

"I’m going to make you cry."

"S-sorry?!... Mmhhmmff..." Her eyes widened as her lips were unexpectedly sealed, her hands attempting to push him away to no avail.

Zeph, savoring her lips despite having experienced them many times, seemed insatiable.

Controlling himself, he inquired, ’Seraphina, can you sense Estelle’s presence near the door?’

[Yes, and I hope you stop this degener—]

’mute’, Interrupting her, Zeph focused on his task, gradually moving his hands downward, gripping the blanket.

’!?’

"Umm...un...Slurp," as their tongues met in a sudden embrace, initiating a small battle between them.

Suddenly feeling Thalia’s response, for a moment he forgot the reason behind initiating this, gripping the blanket, he suggested, "Let’s remove the obstacle, shall we?’"

BOOM

"Stop it!" Estelle burst in, witnessing the scene, her face flushing with disbelief.

"Y-you Animals", She couldn’t believe seeing Zeph and Thalia, a thin strand of saliva still connecting their lips, while they glanced her way,"You’re on my ship, for heaven’s sake!"

WHOOSH

Furious, Estelle conjured two ice shards, flinging them towards Zeph, assuming he would react and separate from Thalia to avoid being hit.

BOOM

"Aren’t you thinking quite highly of yourself, Miss Estelle?" The ice shards were stopped by Zeph as he rose from the bed, standing and crushing the frozen pieces.

Thud

Estelle stared at the pieces falling on the floor, marveling at how he effortlessly stopped them.

Even during their fight in the ocean, she had prepared to use those spikes, but seeing him emerge unscathed now made her question, ’Is he really a human?’

Witnessing her bewilderment, a smile spread across Zeph’s face, confirming his suspicions. ’So, we have another regressor.’

Yesterday, upon entering Estelle’s room, he had felt puzzled by how quickly she had arrived and her knowledge of what Thalia had ingested.

Everything seemed to point in a direction where this girl already knew things that contradicted the novel’s storyline.

Confirming his suspicions was her reaction to the conversation about a man and woman alone in a room.

’Things are getting interesting,’ he mused, amused by the major deviation from the plotline he had known. ’Is it that Trash god again?’

He couldn’t comprehend how Estelle had become a regressor out of nowhere.

Unbeknownst to Zeph, everything had been following the plot until his arrival disrupted the flow.

Even in «Heroes Counterattack» Estelle was a cursed villainess reborn repeatedly, although the author had not explicitly mentioned it.

For Zeph, he concluded that she was a regressor and that the novel’s plot had already collapsed—an erroneous but somewhat accurate assumption.

"Listen Senior, this isn’t the ocean where— thud " He was abruptly cut off by another projectile hurled in his direction.

’Is she insane?’ Zeph felt the weight in his hands, realizing it could have struck him while his guard was down.

"Here, take it. This is what you wanted, right?"

Hearing Estelle’s words, he turned his hands to see the object she had given him, his eyes widening,"This?"

Estelle smiled at his widened eyes, hoping he’d feel grateful for her assistance, yet his reaction diverged greatly from her expectations.

"I don’t need this."

"W-what!?" She couldn’t fathom why he rejected it outright. ’Wasn’t this what he wanted?’

As Zeph glanced at the item in his hand, recalling its name—Taming Seed, a special item crafted by Estelle’s mother to tame monsters—his suspicions grew clearer.

Seeing Estelle’s eagerness to hand it over, it became apparent that she already knew about the upcoming test event where a Class A student would be devoured by monsters.

And, Accepting it now would confirm her suspicions, and he wasn’t foolish enough to miss Estelle’s interest in him.

Of course, he appreciated a beautiful girl being interested in him, but not a Villainess, especially one who is a Regressor, which led him to conclude that she wanted to confirm if he possessed future memories as well.

"I said, I don’t need this thing ," he said blankly, looking towards Estelle while shaking the transparent jar filled with Demon seeds, feigning confusion.

’Wasn’t this the reason for him to enter that room?’ Estelle, seeing his indifferent reaction, felt confused. "Zeph, you—"

SWOOSH

Upon hearing that sound, Zeph looked at the confused Estelle with a smile and informed her, "Guess we arrived at our destination."

Without waiting for her to say anything, he turned towards the girl rising from the bed, took her hands, and said, "Let’s go, Thalia."

Leaving behind the confused Estelle, who kept thinking about Zeph’s words, he passed by her and left the room.

’It feels confusing’, Turning towards both Thalia and Zeph, she watched their departure from the corridor, doubting her suspicion about him possessing future memories, but shaking her head once again, thinking, ’No, he may have been searching for something else,’ as she moved out of the room.

.

.

.

.

.

"Hey, wasn’t the awakening ceremony for first-years a week ago?" One of the students interrupted his path, turning towards his fellow to ask.

"From my knowledge, yes... what the hell?" While replying, his eyes turned towards his friend’s line of sight, only to see a colossal ship.

A murmur spread across the second and third-year students who were out of the academy premises, trying to enter the gates.

It didn’t take them long to identify the ship as Craten’s ship.

The third-years quickly realized that the ship belonged to the only Craten in their academy — Estelle Collins, the ruthless Villainess.

Although Hursen also studied in the second year, his prestige was not as widely known as Estelle’s, who belonged to the main family of Cratens.

HUSSSHHHH

The ship landed, causing the ground to tremble before a ladder extended from it, touching down and providing a pathway for three figures to emerge.

’Isn’t that the first-ranker?’ One of the second-years realized the figure, inadvertently voicing his thoughts to someone standing nearby.

"Z-zeph?" Valeriana looked towards both Thalia and Zeph coming out of the ship, accompanied by Estelle.

Valeriana had come outside the academy premises to receive a letter from one of her servants, but instead of getting information about her household, she witnessed something very confusing,’ What in the world he is doing while lifting a third year student’

Valeriana’s eyes reflected the figure of Zeph carrying Estelle in a princess carry, yet she averted her gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on his chest. Her face flushed crimson with shame.

"I told you not to do that," Zeph said, smirking as he remembered warning her about the consequences, which had led to her legs cramping up.

"Shut up, you bastard." She avoided meeting his eyes, feeling embarrassed that others might see her in such a state.

’Damn it, my image!!!!!!!!’