(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.

Jayden hammered at the walls of the pit, each blow cratering its smooth, cylindrical surface. There was no way he could climb something like this, and no way he could teleport out.


Nyx's presence was too overwhelming, completely short-circuiting his light magic whenever he tried to draw a formula.


"Those goddamn traitors! There was no way Lord Elion would permit this treachery!"


Jayden slammed his fist into the wall again, this time hard enough to send a thin crack snaking upward. If he couldn't use magic, then he'd keep breaking the surface apart until he could carve out enough footholds to climb.


It was nearly impossible, but it was better than dying here.


After hours of carving footholds into the wall, he finally made it close to the surface, where the faint light spilling through the blasted gates could finally reach him.


Chapter 250 - Problem Solved