(A/N: Their relationship dynamic progresses and doesn't stay exactly like it is at the start (The one-sided love doesn't last long). Pacing is also relatively fast at the start, but slows down in the future in romance arcs.)

In his old life, he was an assassin, invisible, efficient, and utterly alone.
His only escape came from the pages of a fantasy novel, Crown of Thorns, and the character no one else seemed to understand: Lady Evelina D’Arclight, the proud and brilliant villainess fated to lose everything.

After his death, he wakes up inside that very story, not as a hero, but as Cael Arden, a student at Eryndor Royal Academy. The world is just as he remembers it, right down to the woman destined to fall.

But this time, he’s not a bystander.
With a lifetime of deadly skills and the knowledge of what’s to come, Cael sets out to rewrite the story itself, to protect Evelina, rise through the academy’s ruthless hierarchy, and change a fate written in stone.

As alliances form and secrets surface, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur.
And in a world built on power and prophecy, he’ll prove that even a villainess deserves her happy ending.

The buildings were at least three stories tall, with pipes running along every floor, carrying energy, water, and air to the people living inside. If I compared it to the Academy, to Eryndor… heck, even to the slums—


So outdated that even a slum could outclass it.


The streets were empty too. Completely empty, so much so that I ended up walking right down the middle of the road.


I squinted into the distance. Something moved. Something fast. Something loud. Something you absolutely wouldn't expect to see in a place like this.


I teleported to the shadow of the nearest light pole, barely avoiding the speeding vehicle as it shot past where I'd been standing.


What was wrong with this place? How could a car like that be worth more than almost every building I'd seen here combined?


Chapter 192 - Generic Corruption...?