A Regressed Villain: Heroines, Villainesses and Me?

Avendial\'s voice, filled with raw intensity, lingered in the courtyard like a storm cloud, drowning out even the sound of Lin\'s painful collapse.

For a brief moment, no one dared to breathe.

\'Oh my God,\' thought one of Aria\'s friends, her hands covering her mouth as if she could hold back a gasp.

Her mind raced, struggling to process the sudden shift from confrontation to what felt like a romantic proclamation.

"Did the professor just say Aria is his?" a student whispered, wide-eyed, too focused on Avendial\'s words to notice Lin, who was now writhing in agony on the ground.

"Professor and Aria? Together? No way!"

"Woot woot!" a student whistled, breaking the tension, and cheers erupted from the crowd, their enthusiasm infectious as they fed off the potential scandal unfolding before them.

However, Aria was far from sharing their excitement.

Her heart raced with confusion; the professor\'s words echoed in her mind, but her heart weighed heavy seeing Lin in pain.

Her gaze remained fixed on Lin, who was curled up in distress.

Emotions twisted inside her like a tangled thread.

"Lin?" Her voice cracked as she reached out toward him, her hand trembling mid-air.

But before she could make contact, he shoved her hand away, shouting, "Damn it, don\'t touch me!"

Lin groaned in anguish, his eyes flashing with a mix of pain and anger as he regarded Aria, who he felt had humiliated him in front of everyone.

"Ugh..." Aria winced, snatching her hand back as if burned, her breath hitching.

Her other hand moved to her face, slapping her eyes shut as if trying to block out the harsh reality of what had just transpired.

She bit her lip hard enough to taste blood, her emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

Tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes, but she resolutely refused to let them fall.

What was she supposed to do?

Everything felt chaotic at that moment.

Lin had tried to slap her, which was undeniably wrong, while the professor had intervened, an entirely appropriate response.

Yet, despite the professor\'s wise words echoing through her mind just moments before, Aria\'s heart was engulfed in pain—a pain so profound that it overshadowed everything else.

"Aria, hey, are you okay?!" one of her friends exclaimed, noticing how Aria had just bitten her lip, her expression composed yet veiled in grief, teetering on the brink of breaking down.

Her other friends surged forward, attempting to console her.

"Sorry, everyone, I need to go for a while," Aria stammered, struggling to gather her thoughts.

Without another word, she dashed out of the corridor, her hands instinctively pressing against her eyes.

The tears hadn\'t spilled yet, but they felt perilously close.

She was in so much pain that she couldn\'t quite comprehend it.

All she wanted was for Lin to love her.

Even if he offered no affection, she longed for him to at least act as if she still mattered to him.

But it was utterly devastating to realize how distant he had become.

"Aria!" one of her friends impulsively started to chase after her, alarmed by her sudden outburst, which was completely out of character.

"Stop! Professor, please go after Aria; she needs your help!" another friend urgently grabbed her companion, halting her.

She knew that, in this moment, their reassurances would unlikely soothe Aria\'s heart, which was aching from Lin\'s actions.

From the beginning, Aria had always expressed her affection for Lin, but he continuously pushed her away.

Instead of losing her interest in him, she had gradually resigned herself to her fate, something her friends couldn\'t accept.

They believed that if Lin didn\'t want her, she should simply move on.

But she never did.

Watching the professor confess publicly, despite just arriving at the university a day ago, made her friends feel desperate for Aria to find someone who could help her forget about Lin.

Who could be better than this handsome, attractive, and accomplished Professor Aven?

He was young and had so much to offer.

"....fine", Avendial He calmly nodded, hearing her words, clearly fearing that indeed he should as a gentleman definitely help a woman in need.

This prompted him to ignore the eyes of his students, who were looking at him with anticipation, as if watching some kind of k-drama.

Though it all felt cringe, but if this cringe can make him secure Aria, then he could even act in soap operas.

----

"Damn it, no, no, no, i-it hurts....sob."

Aria, arriving inside the garden, which was slightly empty, given students were entering the academy right now, moving towards a tree.

She sat there, positioning herself to be hidden, given the bushes were large enough to conceal her seated figure.

The tree bark gave her support as she propped her back against it, collapsing onto the ground.

She clasped her both hands over her eyes, sobbing, though not wanting to show this unsightly side to anyone.

In today\'s world, they say after having a relationship as a girlfriend, boyfriend, one could just move on and break up with each other.

But she didn\'t know what even it meant.

How could someone just forget about the person whom they love?

It was very painful for her.

Her heart was itching, remembering how Lin had tried to slap her.

This all was making her feel numb from within, sobbing harder.

"I...."

Avendial arrived near the tree, seeing Aria taking her face inside her knees while covering it with both hands.

"Please, leave," Aria straightforwardly told him to go away.

She wasn\'t in a state to entertain or even think of anything right now, let alone deal with this person who didn\'t even give her a reason to hate him.

"Fine, but will you please stop crying?" Avendial exhaled slowly, tilting his face as he created a genuine worrying expression.

Being already habitual of acting, the concern he projected appeared more genuine than any first-rate actor.

There was no hint of opening.

Due to his second curse, he had honed his acting skills early on within the confines of the tower.

This allowed him to become so proficient that there was little distinction between his genuine smile and his act of smiling.

"Why would I? Just leave," Aria gritted her teeth, irritation flaring within her as he attempted to engage her in conversation.

Despite her desire for a moment of peace, he persisted.

"Because..."

Avendial leaned down, the gentle breeze ruffling his hair.

He entwined his fingers around her arms and pulled her chin up, aligning her face with his.

Her eyes widened as she caught sight of a single tear trickling down Avendial\'s cheek.

His expression twisted in pain.

.net

His voice shook as he confessed, "It hurts to see you cry again, Aria."

Badump.

In that instant, it felt as if the entire world had halted, causing Aria\'s heart to skip a beat.

Why shouldn\'t it?

In that moment, his thumb cradled her chin, his sapphire eyes reflecting only her image—she was everything to him in this world.

As she blinked, feeling the gentle breeze and watching the sunlight illuminate his flawless skin, he looked otherworldly.

Like a sculpture crafted by divine hands.

What truly made her heart flutter was that solitary tear sliding down his face.

A rare drop of emotion from a being so seemingly perfect, falling solely for her.

This was beyond anything she could have ever imagined from anyone.

"Wh-why?"

Her words stumbled out instinctively, her lips tinged with slight blood marks from where she had bitten down on them in frustration.

Yet, in this seemingly frozen moment, with just the two of them in existence, she longed to understand why he cared so deeply for her.

"Isn\'t it obvious?"

Avendial tilted his head slightly. His bluish gaze drifted from her eyes to her lips, where warm breaths escaped due to the exertion of her earlier panic.

He drew nearer, pulling her chin closer before whispering softly, "I am deeply in love with you, my oblivious Aria."

He sealed her lips with a kiss before she had a chance to respond to what he said.

"Mmphhh?!"