(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 didn't really have time to mull over the details as we were quickly escorted to the academy's special aircraft, something that common airships—or even most small nations—couldn't afford.


The Harrow & Whitlock Dispatch Aeroplane.


It was only used and mentioned once in the novel, but it certainly wasn't a pushover when it came to its importance in this world.


It was essentially a bulky tiltrotor aircraft powered by steam and coal, with mages stationed throughout the vessel alongside trained personnel to make sure anyone who rode it was safe.


And most people who rode it definitely needed to be kept safe.


It was a royal aircraft, after all. It didn't help that its new passengers were going to be the heirs of a duchy, a marquisate, and the entire empire itself.


Chapter 184 - The Apex of Aircraft Technology