In a long hallway, two people were moving towards the exit, leading to the dormitory specifically made for third-year students, traversing through the crowd.

"Jia, stay away from him," Estelle, already aware of the glare Jia gave Zeph inside the classroom and her dissatisfaction towards him, warned her in a firm tone.

"Whom?" Jia, already pondering ways to deal with Zeph, turned towards Estelle. Suddenly being told, she couldn’t understand about whom Estelle was talking.

Estelle stopped, turning her gaze towards Jia, who looked at her in confusion, prompting her to elaborate, "Stay away from Zeph."

’?!’

Jia’s eyes widened, hearing Estelle’s firm tone.

Her bewilderment was mainly due to the title used by Estelle to refer to Zephyr Liander. Narrowing her eyes, Jia asked, "Don’t tell me, is it true?"

"Be clearer, don’t confuse me," Estelle, already contemplating ways to handle the upcoming test problem, felt irritated with Jia’s incomplete sentences.

"I meant, is that boy your boyfriend?" Jia’s narrowed eyes observed Estelle clearly, noticing her body language, from widened eyes to a slightly crimson tint on her face.

’For real?’ Jia understood that the rumors spreading inside the third year about Estelle and Zephyr being in love with each other held some truth, noticing Estelle’s facial expressions.

’It should be enough to deal with Zeph,’ Estelle, already knowing the girl in front of her, intentionally acted that way to make Jia confront Zeph on her own.

The main reason for Estelle to do all this was just to increase her chances to make him bond with her by spreading rumors throughout the Academy, which would deter others from eyeing the man whom Estelle Collins had chosen.

Especially Alisia Quintain.

Estelle had noticed her gaze towards Zeph in the classroom, being aware of her habits.

The moment Alisia’s eyes turned towards Zeph’s, Estelle understood that the boy had also caught the attention of this woman.

Now, it was clear that Estelle had many rivals in her way to claim Zeph for herself, either the second year’s Thalia or third year’s Alisia—true hurdles in her path, whom she considered worthy opponents.

About Valeriana, Estelle was sure about her being the last woman who could fall in love with anyone.

So, she had already removed her from the list of women holding chances to attract Zeph.

"I have some work, Estelle. I will come after some time," Jia clenched her hands, knowing it would be impossible to convince Estelle to stay away from Zeph.

She redirected her focus to the boy responsible for all this.

Jia never wanted to see Estelle act girlish, blushing at the mere mention of a boy.

In her eyes, Estelle was someone everyone feared, an idol whom no one dared to challenge.

She was determined not to let her idol become corrupted.

’She might be enough to deal with him.’ Watching Jia’s disappearing back, Estelle’s calculations seemed to be working.

Her mind had already devised a plan to handle Zeph and get him entangled with her.

Knowing Zeph’s personality, which didn’t seem easily swayed, it was impossible for Jia to challenge him with haughtiness.

Estelle also knew Jia had a higher likelihood of resorting to force to threaten Zeph.

In that moment, Estelle was sure Zeph would retaliate, his actions seemingly unaffected by external factors, unmindful of public opinion.

Her aim was to bind him to Jia, not because of any crush on Zeph, but solely to keep him close.

She was willing to do anything to achieve that.

Without delay, Estelle followed behind Jia’s disappearing figure, tracking her using the water signature emitting from her body..

.

.

.

.

Estelle glanced at Zeph, noticing the bulge in his pants, then turned her gaze to Jia, whose crimson face revealed her state.

Estelle saw this as an opportunity to handle the situation.

’It should be enough.’ She turned off the image orb in her hand, an artifact from her mother’s collection.

Estelle had used it to capture everything from the moment Zeph had forced himself on Jia and kissed her until now.

Estelle’s methods were crude, but she had a reason to stand against the smartest woman in the whole academy.

Her mother’s collection always played a vital role, supporting her endeavors.

Despite being labeled as the Villainess, Estelle never found herself cornered.

She maintained distance from others, relying on her own strength and her mother’s legacy to stay ahead.

"Stop there, Zephyr Liander!" Estelle exclaimed, striding towards Zeph, holding the artifact in her hand and raising her voice to attract the attention of another girl she had spotted in the far corner—Valeriana Hedrian.

Estelle seized this moment, leveraging Valeriana’s presence as a variable.

Understanding Valeriana’s personality well, if she had witnessed everything, Estelle anticipated that she might intervene to give justice and side with her to confront Zeph.

The reason behind all of Estelle’s actions was to obtain blackmail material to coerce Zeph into being with her.

"How dare you try to assault an innocent girl?" Estelle feigned anger, glaring at Zeph, who became bewildered by her sudden appearance.

Due to Seraphina being mute and Zeph’s Intuition ability too, he didn’t sense her presence.

"I am innocent." Swiftly leaving Jia’s hands, Zeph stepped back, raising his hands defensively, a small smile already forming as he understood Estelle was using her own sidekick to confront him.

’You could have just asked.’ He couldn’t help but feel slightly sad about Estelle’s indirect approach in not directly requesting his company, fully aware of why she orchestrated everything.

"I have already seen everything," Estelle narrowed her eyes at Zeph, folding her arms, expecting the usual dialogue every accused person might attempt in this situation. ’Now you’ll say, "You don’t have proof." ’

"I accept," Zeph, understanding her thoughts and her modus operandi, immediately admitted his mistake.

"W-what!?" Estelle’s eyes widened at his acceptance, her hand slowly loosening as she blankly stared at him, before she heard another unexpected declaration.

"I am also prepared to take responsibility for my mistake." With a teasing smile, he turned to Jia, who was shocked by Estelle’s sudden intervention and Zeph’s words, feeling her heart race as Estelle barged in.

"S-sorry?" Estelle felt bewildered by Zeph’s unexpected confession.

"You don’t have to do anything. I’ve actually been in love with Jia for many years." Zeph boldly wrapped his arm around Jia’s waist, pulling her close, shocking both girls, except for Jia, who had turned as red as a tomato, her head feeling warm.

The two girls, Valeriana and Estelle, couldn’t help but feel that Zeph was far more shameless than they had anticipated.

Estelle stood there, confused, unsure whether to play the video or not.

She had expected Zeph to reject his advances towards Jia, allowing her to shock him with the video in her possession and then manipulate him as she desired.

"J-jia, tell me, how do you feel?" Estelle turned to the girl standing with her, her opalescent eyes becoming hazy with embarrassment. Her only thought was, ’No! Estelle will definitely hate me for hurting her boyfriend.’

Unaware of the situation outside her thoughts, she was deeply contemplating, ignoring everything else, consumed by the fear of bullying Zeph and causing Estelle to think poorly of her.

"Go away. She doesn’t want to talk to you. Jia, would you want to hide from Estelle?" Zeph turned towards the girl in his arms, smiling as he realized that Jia was leaning towards hiding from Estelle at the moment.

According to the novel he had read, Jia had followed Estelle as a loyal sidekick, always trying to prove herself worthy of being Estelle’s follower.

She wasn’t a heroine; her abilities weren’t outstanding, causing her to fade away in the third year after failing every upcoming test, burdened by self-doubt and depression, eventually leaving this human world.

She returned to her homeland, Demiland, inside Chrintain Valley.

A smile formed on Zeph’s face as he noticed the Illusion artifact used by Jia to appear as a normal human.

Though Demi-Humans generally despised Normal Humans, just as there always exists a different species among single-minded individuals, her mother, who was also a Celestia, was the same demi-Queen mentioned in history.

Zeph stood there, feeling as if he’d stumbled upon another treasure.

According to the original plotline, Celestia desired to lead a detached, normal life away from her responsibilities as a queen, where she could live like an ordinary woman.

Her chance came during the conflict between Cratens and Humans.

She instigated her kind to participate in protecting Cratens and sought assistance from the Archmage Adriannel Riantain.

However, it would’ve been impossible for Adriannel to act as a villain and be hated by two powerful races without reason.

So, he entrusted Celestia with the task of safeguarding the keys to the Hidden Realm.

Instead of hiding the keys in random places, they were in the possession of the strongest Demi-Human, Celestia herself.

As part of their plan, using his Reincarnation Wand, Adriannel divided her soul into two broken parts, rendering her unrecognizable to others.

Thus, Jia wasn’t born as Celestia’s child but was a part of her soul with a distinct consciousness.

Her divided soul held significance for any formidable individual, including Adriannel himself, unable to recognize her true identity.

However, this perspective was solely from the novel.

Zeph had already progressed too far to be constrained by the details laid out in the book. He was certain that Adriannel and Deventhia definitely knew about Jia’s true identity despite what the novel suggested.

Estelle faced Jia, waiting for her response after Zeph’s unexpected declaration, anticipating her loyal sidekick to speak in her favor but....

"Yes, I want to hide from Estelle, Take me somewhere else "

’!?’