Pu_yang

When cynical office worker Aizen is reborn as a nameless mob character in Arcana Regalia: Gentlemen’s Passion, a magical otome game notorious for its ruthless villainess, he expects a short, miserable life polishing silverware. But after accidentally becoming the childhood confidant (and target of obsessive affection) of Stephanie Redwyne—the game’s ice-cold antagonist destined for exile—Aizen’s “mob” existence goes up in flames.

Years later, framed as dead and exiled to a monster-infested jungle, Aizen reinvents himself as “Phoenix,” a flamboyant adventurer with a face-stealing mask, a sentient fire spirit, and a grudge. Meanwhile, Stephanie, now a brooding academy prodigy, is hellbent on freezing the world solid to avenge her lost servant… unaware he’s the same smug B-rank hero burning down bandit camps (and noble expectations) one quest at a time.

Will Aizen survive his fiery double life? Can Stephanie thaw her icy heart before her yandere tendencies ignite a war? And why does the king keep offering Phoenix statues?

Dive into a witty, magical romp where dating sim tropes crash into explosive fantasy chaos, and the underdog isn’t just rising—he’s arson.

yandere villainess is obsessed with me

The Baron's Return

The academy's gates loomed like a gilded cage, their iron bars frosted with early winter's bite. Baron Phoenix stood at the threshold, his mask flawless, his cloak of ember silk billowing in the wind. The Storm Sigil's curse was gone, but its ghost lingered in the way his fire flickered—clean, unburdened, alive.

Headmaster Thistlewick intercepted him in the grand hall, his owl-like gaze narrowing. "Baron Phoenix. To what do we owe this… fiery interruption?"

"Tuition fees," Phoenix said, tossing a pouch heavy with gold onto the headmaster's desk. "For Grey Ardent. Consider it a… philanthropic gesture."

Thistlewick's mustache twitched. "Generous. But why?"

Phoenix leaned in, his mask's flames dancing. "Let's call it… atonement."

The Ice Queen's Lair

Stephanie's dorm was a shrine to obsession. Sketches of Aizen's face papered the walls, his name etched into frost-coated mirrors. She stood at the center, her back to the door, ice swirling around her like a vengeful halo.

Phoenix lingered in the doorway. "Even if I come bearing answers?"

Her magic flared. The door slammed shut behind him.

"You have five seconds," she hissed.

The Lie That Was True

Phoenix's face shifted—not to Aizen's, but to a stranger's, the mask's illusion holding firm. Stephanie's ice faltered.

"A friend," he said, voice steady. "And the man who saved your Aizen."

Her breath hitched. The room's temperature plummeted.

Phoenix spun the tale like a bard crafting a ballad: a quest into the jungle, a scarred boy with lightning in his veins, a name whispered in the dark—Aizen.

"He spoke of you," Phoenix said, watching her reflection in the ice. "Every day. But your parents' assassins hunted him. I gave him a new face. A new life. Grey."

Stephanie's hand trembled as she touched a sketch. "Why didn't he… tell me?"

"The curse," Phoenix said, summoning a wisp of Phoenix fire to mimic the Storm Sigil's tendrils. "It bound his tongue. But it's gone now. Thanks to this."

He tossed her Grey's pendant—the one she'd given Aizen years ago.

The Cracks in the Ice

Stephanie clutched the pendant, frost melting where her tears fell. "Where is he?"

"Recovering. The curse… took its toll." Phoenix reignited his mask, the Baron's façade snapping back. "But he'll return. And when he does—"

"He'll be mine," she finished, her voice trembling with something softer than fury.

The Whispers in the Garden

Phoenix found her later in the frostbloom garden, her posture less a queen's and more a girl's. She traced the pendant's key shape, her ice weaving delicate fractals around it.

"You knew him," she said, not looking up. "The real him."

Phoenix sat beside her, the bench charring slightly under his heat. "He talked of your fire. Your stubbornness. How you'd burn the world for him."

"Now," he said quietly, "he'd drown the stars to see you smile."

Stephanie's laugh was a fragile thing. "Tell him… I'll be waiting."

The Baron's Farewell

At dusk, Phoenix stood at the academy gates, Vermis tucked into his coat. The grimoire's pages rustled weakly.

"She believed you," it said. "Humans are… tragically gullible."

"She chose to believe," Phoenix corrected. "There's a difference."

Behind them, Stephanie's ice-blue lantern flickered in her window, a lone star in the gathering dark.

Chapter 25: “The Mask and the Mirror”