(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.

The academy's bells and speakers were louder than usual, enough that they could even be heard from within the city itself.


The results of the test weren't just isolated to the academy itself after all, whatever happens here, it could affect the entire continent in its entirety.


Future rulers, prominent figures—everyone in the academy was powerful, and all of them would be taking the examination, and if a popular heir proved to be incompetent by the exam's standards...


It was enough to doom that specific heir's entire noble lineage.


In other words... this was life or death.


[All students head to their assigned rooms for the academic assessment. We wish you all the best.]


But that announcement wasn't enough to make me leave my dorm room yet; there was one more thing I was waiting for before I departed.


Chapter 90 - D-Day (1)