(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.

We reached the wooden door, and I paused with my hand on the iron handle. Behind us, the massive doors we'd entered through had already swung shut, blending into the wall like they had never existed. No handle on this side either.


I closed my eyes and reached out with [Dark Manipulation], sending thin tendrils of shadow through the cracks around the doorframe. The magic slipped through easily enough, but what it found on the other side made me frown.


"Nothing as in safe, or nothing as in—"


"Nothing, as in I can't feel anything dangerous."


Evelina's hand found my shoulder. "Hopefully you're correct, a break sounds nice right about now."


I snorted, turned the handle, and pushed.


Chapter 265 - Lust In Dangerous Situations