The Heroine's Eyes Were Different
The soft smile, the fairy-like aura. Hair like strands of silver and blue eyes. And a calm yet clear voice. Everything was exactly the same as it had been eight years ago.
“...Looks like I received some help.”
But two things were different. The bloodstains on her cheek, and those eyes. Did her eyes always look like that? Something about them had changed.
I stared at the girl standing before me, my mind reeling. Diana von Diabeluna. The one who would later be called the Empire’s greatest genius. The heroine of Academy Great War.
Right now, she was only a first-year student at the Imperial Academy. And I… I was the worthless extra who was supposed to die by her hand in the game’s prologue.
But something was off. In the original story, Diana had never looked at me with eyes like these.
Her gaze was far too intense. Too obsessive. Like she was staring at something she had lost and finally found again after countless years of searching.
“Are you… hurt anywhere?”
Her voice was gentle, but the hand that reached toward my face trembled slightly. The blood on her cheek wasn’t hers. It belonged to the thugs who had tried to jump me in this back alley just moments ago.
She had appeared out of nowhere and slaughtered them all in an instant.
I swallowed hard. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. In the game, Diana was supposed to coldly watch me get beaten to death before walking away without a second glance. That event was what triggered her first regression.
But now she was looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
“I’m fine,” I said carefully, taking a step back. “Thanks for the help. I’ll be on my way now.”
The moment I turned around, her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone so delicate-looking.
“Wait.”
Her voice had dropped an octave. When I looked back, those blue eyes were glowing faintly with an eerie light.
"This time... I won't let you go."
⟨ Regression Resonance ⟩
What the hell?
A system window only I could see flashed before my eyes, confirming what I had just felt.
Unique Skill: Regression has resonated with an unknown factor.
Warning: The Diabeluna family’s regression has detected your presence.
Current timeline deviation: 87% and rising.
My blood ran cold. Diana was using her family’s secret ability right in front of me. The power to return to the past upon death. The power she had used hundreds of times in the original story just to save one person.
But that person was never me. It was supposed to be the capture target, Helio von Brandt. The protagonist of Academy Great War.
So why was she looking at me like that?
“You…” Her voice trembled with barely contained emotion. “You’re Helio, right? You have to be. Even if your face is different this time, I’d recognize that soul anywhere.”
Wait. What did she just say?
She stepped closer, her silver hair catching the moonlight. The blood on her cheek only made her look more unhinged.
“I’ve died for you 143 times. I’ve gone back again and again. I changed the future, I changed the past, I even changed myself. But you always died. Every single time.”
Her fingers brushed my cheek. They were ice cold.
“But not this time. This time, I’ll protect you. Even if I have to kidnap you and lock you away where no one can ever touch you.”
Her smile was beautiful. And utterly terrifying.
“So please… don’t run away from me again, okay?”
I felt the world tilt. This wasn’t the Diana I knew from the game. This was someone who had broken after centuries of regression. Someone whose love had twisted into pure obsession.
And she had just declared her intention to kidnap me.
Shit. I really got kidnapped by the academy heroine.
Before I could even think of resisting, her magic wrapped around me like chains. The last thing I saw was her gentle smile as the world went dark.
When I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar carriage. My hands were bound with magic restraints, and sitting across from me was Diana, calmly reading a book as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
She looked up when I stirred, and her face brightened with pure joy.
“You’re awake. Did you sleep well?”
I stared at her, speechless. This had to be a nightmare. There was no way the game’s heroine had just abducted me in the first chapter.
But the gentle smile on her face and the faint glow of regression power in her eyes told me this was very, very real.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
“To a safe place,” she replied softly. “A place where you can’t die. Where no one can take you away from me ever again.”
She closed her book and leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. Those blue eyes that had seen countless deaths and regressions stared straight into my soul.
“You don’t have to worry about anything anymore, Helio. I’ll take care of everything. The academy, the empire, the ancient seals… none of it matters. As long as you’re with me, everything will be fine.”
I swallowed. This was bad. Really bad.
The heroine who was supposed to be cold and calculating had completely broken. And now she was obsessed with me, an extra who wasn’t even supposed to matter.
“My name isn’t Helio,” I said, testing the waters. “It’s—”
“It doesn’t matter what name you use this time,” she interrupted with a soft laugh. “I’ll call you whatever you want. Just stay by my side. That’s all I ask.”
The carriage continued down the road, taking me further and further away from the academy and the story I thought I knew.
I had been kidnapped by the academy heroine.
And something told me this was only the beginning of a very long, very twisted road trip.