I Became a Villain's Hero - Chapter 16: Emotional Baby Steps (2)

Have you ever stared directly at the moon?A hundred years ago, the Blood Moon emerged.Mythical creatures descended from the lunar surface, bringing unimaginable slaughter upon humanity.In the brink of extinction, seven human legendary warriors awakened SSS-level talents, leading mankind in a desperate counterattack.The tide of war began to turn.The invaders from the moon were driven back, inch by inch.Now, in the final stage of this long war, victory is within humanity’s grasp.And you—A boy born on the eve of triumph—Are about to awaken your very own talent.But on the day of your awakening,you receive a mysterious notebook.Scrawled across its cover in bold letters:“Humanity will be completely wiped out in 10 years.”[Ding! Congratulations, host! You’ve obtained a UR-grade talent—Gain the talent of your killer upon death!]…UR-grade talent? What even is that?[Ding! Congratulations, host! You’ve obtained an SSS talent—Infinite Resurrection After Death!]You clench the notebook tightly in your hand.You know—

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

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“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

「Shimizu-san, you dyed your hair black.」「Ah, yes.」「Why did you dye it all of a sudden?」「Because…yesterday…」Shimizu-san, who sat next to me and had dyed her hair from blonde to black gradually lowered her voice, slightly blushed, and laid her face down on the desk.

What does it feel like to find yourself inside the novel of an author you hated? How will you survive in a world that's filled with cliché? Well, something similar happened here.

Once there was an unpopular fantasy novel author. His life was pretty messed up—no, he made it messed up. And remember I said messed up, not sad.

Due to certain reasons, he ended up never having the life that an average teenage boy should have.

But soon he was freed from that life as he died due to a lovey-dovey couple. He was freed but he had regrets…after all, he didn’t make his life that way because he wanted to.

The things he did were the result of his condition and impulses.

It seems luck was on his side at that moment, seconds after he closed his eyes and died, those eyes opened again but this time they were gazing at a world different from his old one.

He got a second chance! Now he will live a new life, a life he wanted to live! This time he can live, grow old, and then die in a “normal” way! The way things should have happened in his former life.

Though it turns out he also had a good amount of bad luck on his side as well.

Later he found out that the world he reincarnated in was the same as the novel of an author he hated the most. The only person he never wanted to talk to again…he was reincarnated inside that very person’s novel.

This is his story! The story of the man who was known by the name “Zero” in his second life. The story of how he survived without plot armor in a world filled with cliché situations, only in the favor of the MC of that novel.

This is, Author’s Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting!!