She said it.
She broke the one rule we both pretended we could follow.
"I don't want to fall in love with you... but I already am."
And the curse... heard her.
The room shook.
Not violently—worse than that.
Subtly.
The candles flickered in unison. The air dropped several degrees. I heard the faintest crackle in the distance, like the first splintering of a frozen lake underfoot.
Magic twisted.
Reality shifted.
The world had noticed—and it was angry.
---
"Let go of me," Virelya whispered.
But her hand stayed pressed against my chest.
Her fingers trembled against my heartbeat. I could feel her body shaking, not from fear—but from the effort of fighting something too big, too cruel to resist.
"I can't," I said, voice raw.
Neither could she.
The bond was sealed now. Not just fate binding us by proximity.
Emotion.
True, dangerous, unforgivable emotion.
If I stepped away now, it wouldn't change anything. The curse wouldn't let go. The world wouldn't forgive us. The prophecy wouldn't die quietly.
And yet—
"I'll destroy you," she said, voice breaking.
"No," I said fiercely. "We'll destroy everything else first."
Her lips parted like she wanted to argue. To scream. To tell me all the ways this would end in blood and fire.
Instead, she leaned forward.
Rested her forehead against my chest.
Defeated. Defiant. Desperate.
And for the first time since I woke up in this cursed world, I let myself believe:
Maybe we could rewrite the story after all.
---
A knock shattered the fragile moment.
We sprang apart as the steward's cold voice floated through the door.
"Master Caelum, you are summoned to the main hall immediately."
Virelya's expression snapped back into a mask of steel.
"You have to go," she said quickly. "They'll suspect."
I hesitated.
"Go," she repeated, voice low and sharp. "I'll find you later."
I left—because staying would only damn us faster.
---
The main hall was buzzing when I arrived.
Nobles lined the edges, whispering furiously behind jeweled fans and enchanted masks.
At the center stood a man I recognized instantly.
High Inquisitor Rynald.
Executor of magical law. Enforcer of the ancient codes.
And wielder of the very flames that killed me in my first life.
His robes gleamed with embroidered runes of judgment. His eyes were cold and bright as frozen stars.
I stiffened automatically, years of instinct crashing over me.
Rynald smiled thinly when he saw me.
"So," he drawled, voice sharp enough to draw blood. "This is the boy who's been dancing with chaos."
I said nothing.
Because anything I said would be wrong.
Anything I said would be used.
---
The trial wasn't a real trial.
It was theater.
The Inquisitor recited half-truths, insinuations, and thinly veiled accusations.
"Unregistered magical surges."
"Unauthorized proximity to Lady Virelya."
"Disturbances in estate enchantments coinciding with your presence."
Each word was another chain tightening around my neck.
I was being set up.
Not because they truly believed I was a threat.
But because I was convenient.
A scapegoat to prove they were "monitoring" the villainess properly.
A warning to anyone who dared get close to her.
Guilt by association.
Guilt by affection.
And worst of all?
They didn't even care if it was true.
---
I held my ground.
I didn't flinch.
I didn't plead.
I met the Inquisitor's gaze and stayed silent, knowing my life was already slipping between my fingers.
Until—
A voice cut through the hall like a blade.
"If he is guilty," Virelya said, stepping into the light, "then so am I."
The entire room froze.
Gasps rippled through the nobles.
The Inquisitor's expression didn't change.
"Lady Virelya," he said smoothly. "You tread dangerous ground."
"I always have," she said. "And I'm tired of pretending otherwise."
She crossed the floor to stand beside me, her head high, her eyes daring them to move against her.
In that moment, I knew—
She wasn't just fighting for herself anymore.
She was fighting for us.
---
The curse pulsed between us, a tangible thread of heat and magic and inevitability.
And for the first time, I didn't fear it.
I welcomed it.
If the world wanted a villain and a traitor, they were about to get exactly what they asked for.