(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.

I didn't waste a second before grabbing the rifle from his arms—and to my surprise, it was heavy. Like, stupidly heavy. Lift-an-entire-ton kind of heavy.


I was honestly surprised he'd even managed to lift it in the first place.


But that definitely made me nervous about what would happen when I finally pulled the trigger. The weight alone was a bad sign of how brutal this gun's recoil would be.


Evelina asked, more concerned than challenging.


"I can have another G-32 fire it for us—" 


Benedict started to say, but I cut him off before he could finish.


You can't just put something like this in front of me and expect me to refuse; it's like putting candy in front of a baby. In this case, however, a good-looking gun in front of a former gun nut.


Chapter 211 - A Successful Purchase