Resetting The Villainess

The world didn’t steady right away.

The walls still hummed faintly from the book’s release, and my pulse hadn’t slowed since Auren kissed me — or since he stopped.

We stood in the glow of the moonlight that filtered through the cracked ceiling, the air thick with heat and mana. The book lay half-open on the table, its faint blue light pulsing like a heartbeat.

I hadn’t moved since he’d pulled away. Neither had he.

“What happens now?” I finally managed.

He didn’t answer immediately. His gaze lingered on the book. “Now,” he said at last, “we put this back to sleep.”

He raised his hand.

For the first time, I saw what true power looked like.

Not the flaring, showy magic nobles liked to display in tournaments — but something quieter, older. The air bent around his fingers as if it recognized him. Symbols — ancient runes — shimmered along his forearm, ghostlike, the color of cold fire.

The room trembled as he traced a line of light in the air, sealing the open sigil on the book. The mana pressed down on me, thick and electric, making the hair at my neck stand.

And then I saw it — his hands.

The illusion faltered for a breath, and the smooth, perfect skin of Lord Auren Kael shimmered away to reveal the pale, scarred hands of the Crow.

My breath caught.

He noticed — too late.

I stepped forward before he could retreat, catching his wrist. “The Crow,” I whispered.

The word hung between us like a spark.

His golden eyes flicked toward me, unreadable. “You shouldn’t say that name here.”

“It’s you.” I swallowed hard. “It’s been you all along.”

He said nothing, which was answer enough.

I stared at the scars — faint ridges and pale threads of magic embedded into his skin. They pulsed softly, like the veins of a living spell.

“Why?” I asked, quietly. “Why pretend?”

He looked away, and the air between us turned heavier.

“Because the man I am,” he said, voice low, “is hunted. The Crow is a shadow — a mask for what’s left of the kingdom they tried to erase. Lord Auren Kael keeps me alive. The Crow keeps me free.”

“And which one kissed me?”

That made him look at me again.

The question shouldn’t have left my mouth. It sounded reckless, raw, and maybe a little foolish — but it was too late to take it back.

His expression softened, something dangerous flickering in his gaze. “Both,” he said. “Because they’re both me, Sera.”

I didn’t mean to step closer, but the gravity between us was relentless. My pulse beat like wings under my skin.

“You could have told me.”

“You would have run.”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “Maybe not.”

A faint smile ghosted across his lips. “I doubt that.”

The space between us vanished again. His hand came up to my cheek — rough from scars, warm from power — and when he kissed me this time, it wasn’t wild like before. It was slower. Real.

I didn’t feel the air hum or the walls tremble; I felt the weight of everything we weren’t saying pressed between us.

When he pulled away, his forehead rested against mine.

“I can’t stay,” he murmured. “The Church is moving. They’ve started looking for the source of the mana surge.”

“Then let me help.”

He smiled — faint, almost sad. “You already have. You woke the world, Sera.”

I wanted to tell him not to go. To stay until morning.
But the shadows around him had already begun to shift — that faint ripple of his teleportation magic.

“Wait—”

He caught my hand just long enough to press something into my palm — a smooth shard of glass, faintly glowing.

“If you need me,” he said, “break it.”

And then he was gone, like smoke drawn into the dark.

---

The next few days blurred.

The manor was restless with rumor — guards reporting strange lights, Father’s temper flaring at the Church’s renewed sermons, Theo whispering that he’d seen me disappear near the east wing.

I pretended not to notice how often I glanced toward the window.

The Whisper Glass production thrived; our ledgers doubled again. I should’ve felt triumphant. But instead, I found myself tracing the scars I’d seen on Auren’s hands in my memory — the shape of them, the way they glowed when he sealed the book.

And the kiss.
Stars, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I tried to distract myself with work — testing the next iteration of the Glass, writing reports, even reading dull trade manifests until my eyes blurred. Nothing helped.

I was acting like a lovestruck child.
Kathy would have — the girl who used to blush when boys borrowed her notes. I wasn’t supposed to be her anymore.
And yet… she was still there, somewhere inside the steel I’d built.

When I walked through the market, every golden glint made me look twice. Every smooth voice in a crowd turned my head.

Once, I even spoke to the Whisper Glass, forgetting he wasn’t on the other end. “Are you listening?” I’d whispered.
Of course, there was only silence.

That night, I sat by my window with the shard he’d given me in my hand. It pulsed faintly with magic — sleeping, waiting.

I could have broken it.
Summoned him.

Instead, I held it to my chest, whispering into the quiet, “You idiot. You can’t just vanish after kissing someone like that.”

Theo’s voice came from the hallway, small and sleepy. “Who are you talking to, Sera?”

“No one,” I said quickly, tucking the shard away. “Just… no one.”

He blinked at me, then grinned in that way only younger brothers could — like he already knew too much. “You’re smiling.”

I hadn’t realized I was.

“Go to bed,” I said, flicking his forehead lightly.

When he was gone, I let out a breath that wasn’t quite a sigh.

For the first time since I’d died and been reborn, the future didn’t feel like a threat. It felt like a secret waiting to be shared.

And somewhere out there, in the dark between one breath and the next, I hoped he was thinking of me too.