"Woah—!"

"Argh..."

Kai and Matilda were surprised when the bed suddenly buckled under them—unable to endure their weight and unnatural strength. The drop was sudden; the sound of the bed breaking and the thuds as their bodies dropped to the floor were loud.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the neighbouring High Angels heard the commotion.

An amused laughter slipped out of Matilda’s mouth.

Her arms were still locked around Kai’s neck as she couldn’t believe this happened.

Just earlier, she thought that both of them were going to end up in the infirmary—corrupted by the Blue Void, as she didn’t think she could stop Kai. Not when his mind was clouded by lust and his body burning with passion.

Explaining their conditions would be hard, but they just had to deal with it.

Fortunately, the bed buckled.

Matilda glanced down and saw Kai had propped himself up on his arms, but his forehead still remained pressed to her chest—as if he couldn’t bring himself to pull away completely, or he was trying to collect himself for a moment.

His breath came heavy and warm against her skin.

Each exhale betrayed the tension that was coiling inside him.

She realized then that this must’ve been hard for him. Frustrating to be exact.

Gently, she cupped his face and guided it up so that she could see his burning red face.

"Well, this really killed the mood," She whispered with a faint smile.

Kai looked around the broken bed and sighed, "Yeah..."

"But still, it’s a good thing that we stopped," She stroked his nape and squeezed a handful of his hair, trying to calm him down. "You’ll be corrupted too if we kept going. It doesn’t matter whether you have resistance to corruption in this case."

It was true that Kai had resistance to a Star Beast’s presence from the Crystallized Teardrop of Argus, but that’s only effective when he was exposed to the presence. Having sex and tangling bodies with a corrupted person would bypass that layer of resistance.

He would end up corrupted, too, had they gone a little bit further.

"Yeah..." Kai pulled away and rubbed his face harshly before placing his hands on his hips.

For a second, he was trapped in a daze as he stared at the broken bed.

Frankly, he was extremely frustrated right now. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

If the bed was a person, he would’ve probably beaten and strangled it to death for this.

Alas, things had already happened.

"Do you really need to rip it off like this?" Matilda combed her wavy hair back, staring at her shirt that was now cleanly torn from top to bottom, exposing her front side bare. "You could’ve taken it off."

"Sorry," Kai scratched the back of his head. "I was impatient."

"Never expected you’d be this rough in bed; I pity your previous girlfriend. If she’s a normal person, she’d be crushed."

"I never have a girlfriend."

"Oh... You’re so natural with it, I thought you were used to this."

"I’ll take that as a compliment," Kai smiled sheepishly, still in a daze. "What about you?"

"No time to date, so this is my first, too," Matilda replied, shrugging her shoulders before she took off her torn shirt as it was too mangled that there was no point in wearing it again. "I guess we’re the same."

Kai swallowed harshly.

Just the thought of being the first ever guy to see Matilda like this turned him on.

Like a broken faucet, the lust came rushing into his veins again as his eyes naturally dropped to her blessed breasts. One more layer before he could see them bare. Matilda noticed this, yet Kai already shook his head, snapping out of it before it began again.

"Can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure..."

He wasted no time and went into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

It was the only thing he could think of to suppress the lust.

Considering that it was raining outside, taking a cold shower would most certainly kill every trace of heat in his body. And it did. Once Kai walked out of the bathroom, he saw that Matilda had already cleaned up the wooden fragments the best she could—changed her clothes to her pajamas, and placed the mattress at the middle of the room.

It looked as though she was already settling back into the rhythm of sleep.

Kai lay down beside her and also did the same.

Before dawn, Kai already used the Nigh-phantom imprint and returned to his own room, as it would only be trouble if anyone saw him sleeping in Matilda’s room. He made sure to close the door gently before scurrying away.

His effort was in vain as Matilda opened her eyes.

Just like Kai, she couldn’t sleep no matter how hard she tried.

She glanced behind her—then at the door. Kai was already gone. Turning onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling and let the memory of what had happened flood back; the heat of that moment, which could light the entire room on fire.

Even now, she could feel the ghost of his lips tracing every inch of her body.

His warm breaths against his skin.

His desperate stare.

And the weight of his body that pressed over her and pinned her underneath him.

Unconsciously, her hand drifted downward, slipping between her thighs.

It met a wetness that still prevailed even until now.

For the rest of the night, she spent wandering what would happen if the bed didn’t break.

...

"Zeus... We’re still seven thousand mana ores short?" Dorian pressed his forehead against the table, sighing deeply as he was extremely exhausted after yesterday. "I hope life is like a game with a skip button."

"Even a team of ten people would need a week to gather—ten thousand mana ores," Kai took a bite of the roasted chicken—and glanced at the pessimistic Dorian. "We gathered more than double in less than a week. Don’t be a baby."

"Don’t be a baby said the guy who doesn’t need fucking sleep."

"I don’t need to sleep, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get mentally and physically exhausted."

"Eughh... I can’t wait to reach the Second Sky."

"So, you’re choosing an early death over mining mana ores?"

"Man, I’ll make the Star Beasts my bitches. At least fighting is never boring. I feel like I’d lose my mind if I hear that sharp clink from my pickaxe one more time."

"I guess this is all there is for your motivation to get that guy," Kai said teasingly.

"Fuck you mean?" Dorian lifted his head and glared at Kai. "I’m going to keep mining until the group is made, asshole. Do not bring him up again. You’re ruining my mood and my damn appetite."

Kai laughed, brushing what he said off.

Just mentioning High Angel Hensen easily motivated Dorian, so he did.

"In any case, what do you think the next class is going to be?" Dorian asked.

Earlier, right when class ended, Professor Hera informed the students that there’s going to be an additional class after this. Normally, the students are free to manage their time after class, so this was new.

It was the reason why Dorian was complaining.

"Probably a new subject, or it’s tied to the Star Beast we encountered," Kai shrugged.

Since they were expecting a rigorous class that would push them even further as Angels, Kai and Dorian decided to eat—in the cafeteria to prepare themselves. A full stomach would help them face what lies ahead.

After all, it’s not like they could stuff themselves with food, so they won’t go overboard.

"Psst..." Dorian called like Kai was a cat and nudged his head towards the entrance.

A figure entered the cafeteria—Matilda.

"Look at her," Dorian’s eyes tracking Matilda as she got her food with probing intensity. "She is wearing a turtleneck," He murmured. "Since when does she wear those? She’s been wrong ever since the hiver—face grim, shoulders tight, like she’s holding a secret. Now she’s brighter than normal, and her posture is no longer stiff. Something about her is bugging me—and I can’t quite place it.

"Did she get poached by another group? Can’t be too careful with her." He added suspiciously.

"She got corrupted; that’s why," Kai gulped down water until the cup was empty.

"Corrupted? How did you know?"

"I also saw her acting weird, so I asked her."

"Hmm, so that’s why she’s wearing a turtleneck. She’s hiding the black veins."

Kai’s body stiffened as realization struck.

He stole a glance at Matilda; his eyes fixated on her turtleneck.

It’s not because of me, right...?

Everything happened so fast last night that he couldn’t really remember everything he did. But now that he thought about it, he did do a lot, and there’s a big chance that he left marks on Matilda, which was why she was wearing a turtleneck.

Matilda looked around, and for a second, her eyes met with Kai’s.

She froze, but quickly went to sit at a table not too far from where Kai and Dorian were.

In fact, her table was close enough that Kai could hear every word exchanged there.

"Matilda, what’s up with you? You seemed to be in a good mood."

"Just happy that it rained last night. It’s been a while."

"Yeah, I agree. It’s like a draught here most of the time. But I saw a few workers bringing you a new bed earlier; what happened?"

Kai choked when he overheard what was being discussed there.

He thought he could forget about last night, but it seemed there were witnesses to the aftermath.

Matilda heard him choking, but didn’t turn to look.

Earlier this morning—she tried waking up early and requested a new bed. But she forgot to tell the academy to deliver it later tonight, or when the students were all in class, so she was surprised to see two workers bringing her new bed.

Many students saw it because of that.

"Err... Just wanted a new bed."

"Hoo, exercising your privilege, eh? Nice."

"That’s a lie. I saw the workers taking out your previous bed in pieces."

"I-I broke it so that I have a reason to get a new bed."

Not wanting to hear another word of the conversation behind him, Kai moved to leave—but Dorian’s hand snapped around his wrist and pulled him firmly back into his seat. "Hey. Look at this." Dorian angled his phone toward Kai—his finger tapping the announcement glowing on the bulletin board app for angels. "This is why Chester was desperate."

Kai’s brows furrowed into a frown.

He read the announcement from top to bottom, and then handed the phone back to Dorian.

"So that’s why... I didn’t know there was something like that."