Extremely brave heroine loathed being observed (6)

I believe the answer is:

beheld

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'being observed' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'extremely brave heroine' is the wordplay.
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the extremes of the word are used).
'heroine' becomes 'held' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'brave' with its middle removed is 'be'.
'be'+'held'='BEHELD'

'loathed' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for beheld that I've seen before include "watched" , "Seen" , "Laid eyes on" , "Saw or observed in olden times" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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