(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 serpent didn't miss; it twisted midair, scales shimmering with profaned light as it curved unnaturally towards a fleeing assassin, his heat signature burning in my vision like a beacon, and the poor bastard didn't even make it past the opposite building before—


It tore through brick and bone alike, dragging him through the wall and slamming him into the center of the room in a shower of debris before dropping him hard against the floor, alive—barely—blood pouring from his ears, mask cracked, one eye already swelling shut.


The others, like the snipers across the street, weren't so lucky.


Silence quickly reclaimed the ruined room, broken only by the faint crackle of splintered wood and the distant bass still thumping from the dance floor below.


Fiona slowly peeked out from under my wing.


Chapter 139 - The Iron Cathedral