(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.

Three serpents materialized beneath them, coiling around their bodies with heads resting on their shoulders. I was about to back them up with an attunement they didn't have.


While I did that, I also blotted the skies, whatever skies this place had, with demonic swords, turning our single strike into a full barrage that even the archmage shouldn't be able to dodge.


"Strong? I've always been strong, Kevin."


"You're joking, right!? This isn't normal!"


Vivianne yelled out next, struggling to focus on her wind spells. She was distracted both by the serpent buffing her magic with dark energy and by the sheer number of swords beginning to eclipse the sky.


"Aren't you feeling lightheaded from all that?"


Evelina blinked twice, as if unsure she could believe her own eyes.


Chapter 283 - Endless Fang