(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 circled the cathedral, letting my search radius pulse outward. Surely I'd find at least a few spirits with a literal, murderous, corrupt church right beside me.


[Multiple Eligible Entities for Capture]


I couldn't even suppress the disbelieving laugh that escaped me. Even when I'd used it before, it had never shown me anything like this. But that raised a question.


Considering the church... I had a feeling the answer might be a mix of both.


The cathedral's shadows seemed to pulse in response to the number hanging in my vision, a tally of potential that felt more like an accusation.


That wasn't a handful of restless ghosts or wandering natural spirits. That was an army. And it was sitting right beneath the church's nose, or perhaps within Nyx's cathedral herself...


Chapter 302 - Nyx Being Framed...?