The Heroine Stole My Regression-Chapter 88

The Heroine Stole My Regression-Chapter 88

A large name lit up on the scoreboard.
[Semifinal Match 2]
[Yoon Chaeha vs Gael]
Yoon Chaeha’s eyes stopped on the name.
A swordsman from Kalos. Ranked 11th.
It was Gael.
The audience began to stir.
“This’ll be interesting.”
“Gael’s good enough to give Yoon Chaeha a run for her money.”
But at the center of it all, Yoon Chaeha raised her head with an expression devoid of emotion.
Predictable.
Her heart didn’t race.
No tension. No thrill.
If anything, she felt slightly bored.
She hated how easily she could see the outcome of the match.
Everyone else was looking forward to the fight, but she herself couldn’t feel even a flicker of interest.
What a shame.
She quietly inhaled.
One hand rose gracefully.
- 3.
- 2.
- 1.
The system chime signaled the start of the match—and at the same time, Yoon Chaeha’s lips parted.
“Alright then, here I come.”
The very next moment, the arena ignited.
Flames crawled across the ground, heat ripped through the air.
The heat climbed the walls, and in an instant, steam blanketed the battlefield.
And within that haze—
Gael reacted on instinct.
He had to find an exit in the chaos unfolding around him.
Blinded vision. Tangled heat.
In the end, he chose a single-point breakthrough.
Strangely enough, the path straight toward her was wide open.
Too open.
But there was no time to hesitate.
No ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) room to dwell on the sense of wrongness—Gael launched himself through the gap.
Sword in hand, pouring his entire body into the charge.
And then—
BOOM!!
With a deafening explosion, Gael was flung backward.
He crashed into the protective barrier surrounding the stands, triggering an immediate combat disqualification.
A warning chime rang from the referee’s booth, and flames still licked across the floor of the arena.
Gasps broke out from the stands.
“What the hell was that...?”
“Gael got blown away in one hit...?”
As the fire died down and the stage reappeared through the dissipating heat—
“Haa...”
Yoon Chaeha exhaled quietly.
Then slowly walked off the stage.
***
I was impressed.
She’d withstood my attacks dozens of times in recent days.
And through it all, she didn’t break—instead, she burned brighter. She learned something.
She’d deliberately left the front wide open to bait Gael’s charge.
It was like saying, “Come this way.” She cleared a path—
And then intercepted him head-on.
Perfectly. Cleanly.
[Battle Concluded]
[Gael – Combat Unable]
The system message rang out, and the flames around Yoon Chaeha gradually faded.
There wasn’t even a hint of exhaustion. If anything, it looked like she still had energy to spare.
Growth.
I could feel it more clearly than ever—she was growing.
And just then—
—WAAAAAAAHHH!!
A roar erupted from the opposite arena.
The audience turned their heads.
The scoreboard updated with the results from the other match.
[Ju Seojun – Victory]
Her next opponent was confirmed.
As expected, it would be Yoon Chaeha versus Ju Seojun in the finals.
Only the final round remained.
It would be held tomorrow, same place.
Now that would be worth watching.
I packed up my things and stepped into the corridor outside the arena.
I was about to sling my bag over my shoulder when—
I heard movement in the distance, along with rising noise.
People were beginning to murmur, turning their heads to look at something coming their way.
What’s all this noise...?
I turned to look in that direction.
And there—cutting through the crowd—was Yoon Chaeha, walking straight toward me.
Her gaze was locked onto just one thing.
Me.
I greeted her with a quick word.
“Congrats on the win—”
Thump.
Without a word, she stepped right up to me and grabbed my wrist.
“Let’s go. I reserved a room.”
“A room where?”
“The training hall.”
“......”
Her tone carried absolute certainty.
Her eyes were calm—almost too calm for someone who’d just finished a match—and her cheeks were faintly flushed.
“You free?”
A faint smile touched her lips.
Her eyes... were already imagining the next fight.
I chuckled softly and gently removed her hand from my wrist.
“Don’t worry about it. Just rest for today.”
Her brow twitched.
“Rest? Today? Then... what about tomorrow morning—”
“Nope, not tomorrow either. You need to prep for the match.”
“...Then what am I supposed to do??”
A flash of irritation slipped into her voice.
“You don’t need any more training. I’ve already taught you everything I wanted to.”
A hint of unease flickered in her eyes.
“Chaeha.”
I called to her softly.
“Right now, more than me—what you need is to face it on your own.”
At that, she paused.
She started to say something, but bit her lip and looked down quietly.
She knew I was right.
After taking a deep breath, Yoon Chaeha nodded.
“...Okay.”
And then she turned away.
I quietly watched her back.
She’ll do fine.
After all, she’s a genius recognized by the world.
***
The scent of lavender lingered faintly.
Moonlight filtered in through half-drawn curtains, and the quiet dorm room was completely silent.
Yoon Chaeha had completely flunked her training that day.
And when she returned to her room, she simply laid down on her bed without a word.
She pressed her forehead into the pillow,
And gently bumped her head.
Thump.
Thump.
Her legs stretched out against the wall tapped lightly in rhythm.
Tap.
Tap.
Her lips were pressed tightly together.
“Rest?”
That one word wouldn’t leave her mind.
His gentle tone.
The way he softly slipped his wrist free.
The look in his eyes when he said it.
It wasn’t a bad feeling.
No—honestly, it felt good. Like he was worried about her.
But strangely, after hearing those words—
Her body grew hotter.
Yoon Chaeha pulled the blanket up to her chin.
Her fingers gently curled around the edge of the comforter.
She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
When she closed her eyes, today’s match replayed in her head—but she quickly gave up on that.
It was worthless.
Her thoughts veered elsewhere almost immediately.
“Tomorrow’s the final.”
And in that moment, the one who surfaced under her closed eyelids wasn’t today’s opponent, or tomorrow’s—
But the person who had crushed her, again and again, dozens—no, hundreds of times over the past few days.
Jeong Haein.
The sensation of every impact was vivid in her mind.
Her breath, slightly warm.
“Ha...”
A light, fluttering sigh slipped out.
Her heart beat slowly—but clearly.
Heat, unrelenting, slowly spread throughout her body.
Yoon Chaeha gripped the edge of her blanket with both hands, whispering silently to herself.
“It’s not enough.”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
As she retraced his movements in her mind, letting the heat inside her slowly cool—
She quietly drifted off to sleep.
***
The day of the final match.
The central arena at the Academy was already packed with people.
Every seat was taken, and even the standing areas were so full there was no room to move.
Each and every person there was waiting for the last match of the day.
Two genius mages—set to clash.
Even the famed Mage Tower had come to watch.
At that moment—
The scoreboard slowly lit up.
[Yoon Chaeha vs Ju Seojun]
Their names appeared.
And instantly, the entire arena fell silent, as if it had stopped breathing.
Yoon Chaeha slowly, very slowly, closed her eyes, then opened them again.
She drew a quiet breath and gazed toward the far edge of the arena.
A familiar face.
Ju Seojun.
Someone she’d known for a long time.
“This time, I’m going to win.”
Ju Seojun spoke first.
There was resolve in his voice.
He had never once beaten Yoon Chaeha.
But today—he believed it would be different.
He’d always said the same thing. And her response had always been the same.
A disinterested face. Or silent indifference.
But today was different.
“No.”
Yoon Chaeha’s lips curled, ever so slightly.
A quiet fire bloomed in her expression, as though she were thinking of someone else.
“Just for today, absolutely not.”
She was... anticipating it.
Ju Seojun narrowed his eyes at her expression, then chuckled softly.
“What’s this now.”
It was the first time—
She had ever looked so serious.
As the countdown began, the crowd collectively held its breath.
Over a thousand people fell silent, as if on cue.
- 3.
- 2.
- 1.
—WAAAAAAAAH!!
As the count ended, the roar exploded.
And as if prearranged, both genius mages—
Began casting at the exact same moment.
Scarlet mana began swirling beneath Yoon Chaeha’s feet.
In an instant, dozens of flame-spears formed and sliced through the air.
Each one sparked at the tip, radiating waves of heat.
Shhhk, shhhk, shhhk—
At the same time, a massive magic circle appeared in front of Ju Seojun.
Dark blue mana coiled upward like a spiral, lifting into the air, and at its center, a massive orb began to pulse.
“......!”
Someone in the audience sucked in a breath.
“...Compressed computation?”
Ju Seojun’s specialty—Breakthrough Lance.
Yoon Chaeha’s flame-spears spread wide, aiming to dominate the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Ju Seojun’s plan was to break through it all head-on.
The pressure from both manas distorted the air.
As if a massive rift had opened between them.
And it was Yoon Chaeha who struck first.
“Let’s go.”
With a whisper, one flame-spear shot forward on a sharp trajectory.
That became the signal—dozens more spears surged forward like a storm.
They tore across the sky.
But—
BOOOOM!!!
Ju Seojun’s Breakthrough Lance ripped through the center and charged forward.
Several flame-spears collided with it, but their manas were fundamentally different.
Yoon Chaeha’s magic burned.
Ju Seojun’s magic melted and pierced.
Little by little, the center began to give.
Yoon Chaeha’s eyes trembled faintly.
A confident smile spread across Ju Seojun’s lips.
VrrrRRRRRR—
But at that very moment—
Yoon Chaeha flipped her palm.
And then—
One of the many scattered flame-spears—
Paused in midair.
Then all the spears began to converge.
All of them—toward the front.
“......!”
Ju Seojun’s expression stiffened.
The flame-spears merged into one mass.
Thicker, longer, darker.
It was no longer a mere spear.
A blazing crimson lance.
And at its tip, it pulsed like the sun.
FWOOSH!!
Jeong Haein’s signature technique.
A variation of Catenaccio—Phalanx.
Yoon Chaeha had perfectly reinterpreted that technique in her own way.
Like it?
She had never used this technique before.
And this first move—
She wanted to show it.
To him.
A blast shook the battlefield.
The blazing lance crushed the Breakthrough Lance, pierced it, and shredded it apart.
Smoke billowed thick across the stage.
“What just happened?”
“Who... who won?”
While even the Mage Tower’s members and professors from Kalos and Gaon alike wondered—
The smoke slowly began to clear.
The heat died down, and the stage gradually came back into view.
Amid the shattered remnants of a magic circle, Ju Seojun sat down, gasping for breath.
The victor was clear.
Yoon Chaeha was standing. Ju Seojun was not.
He lifted his head from the pile of his own wreckage and gave a quiet smile.
“...That was awesome, Chaeha.”
No jealousy, no regret—just pure admiration.
Ju Seojun had already known.
If Yoon Chaeha ever truly set her mind to something, he wouldn’t even be a match for her.
And now, it seemed—
She’d made up her mind.
Yoon Chaeha looked at Ju Seojun and stayed silent for a moment.
Then she slowly nodded.
“Thanks.”
It was gratitude.
If it hadn’t been for him, Jeong Haein would never have pushed her so far.
And without that, she wouldn’t have reached this level of resolve.
At her quiet words, Ju Seojun’s eyes widened slightly, then he smiled and nodded back.
And then, she—
Turned her head.
Where are you?
She scanned the audience.
Searching for the one person she wanted to show this victory to first.
One person.
And then—
Their eyes met.
Among the countless faces, his stood out vividly.
He was smiling quietly, just a little.
Saying nothing.
But clearly—
You did well.
His lips moved, barely audibly.
But to her, the words echoed clearly in her ears.
Yoon Chaeha’s heart thudded quietly.
Even among thousands of others, he was always the first she saw.
Just a single glance from him—and her whole body grew hot again.
Yoon Chaeha slowly raised the corners of her lips.
She said nothing—but her eyes spoke clearly.
Her breath caught.
Her heart pounded.
She didn’t know why.
Not even with her Authority, A Priori, could she analyze it.
It wasn’t something logic or analysis could explain.
But one thing—
She knew for certain.
In this moment, deep in her chest—
Something bubbled up like a spring, quietly spilling over.
Maybe—toward the one standing far away.
It was okay not to understand it.
Sometimes, there are things in the world that can’t be understood—only felt.
She was only just starting to learn that.
And now, the fullness of that unknown sensation was overwhelming—and utterly euphoric.
Yoon Chaeha smiled softly.
Just thinking of someone could make her smile like this.
Just hearing his name could make her entire body react so sharply.
It was...
Such a blissful thing.

Chapter 88