Lucien Rennehart was destined to die. As the final villain of a novel, his fate is to be betrayed and slain by the hero. But the man living inside Lucien's body has read the book, and he refuses to play his part.

His greatest advantage: knowledge of the future, is also his cage. A cruel System enforces the original plot, punishing him with death if he reveals his true strength too soon. To survive, he must enroll in the prestigious Arcanis Magna Academy and wear the mask of a perfectly mediocre student.

But the academy is a viper's nest, and the story's characters are more dangerous than he remembers. As he navigates a deadly rivalry with the brilliant heroine and evades the suspicions of the man fated to kill him, the plot begins to stray into unknown territory. When hiding is no longer an option, will the world's forgotten villain rise to claim a new destiny?