TMLOP 30

Chapter 30

 Mine

Benerucia approached Yennelov with a hardened expression.

His voice was chilling.

“Pendragon’s heir, do you take me for a fool?”

Benerucia had clearly intended to give up on Senelia.

But he was someone who had never once failed to obtain what he desired in life.

So the idea that someone else would covet what was his was simply beyond comprehension.

Senelia was still his. Deep in Benerucia’s heart, that belief remained.

No matter how much bravado Yennelov showed in front of him, he was no more than a barking pup—easily ignored.

But once Senelia was brought into the conversation, that changed everything.

As Benerucia stepped in closer, Yennelov instinctively backed away.

Even among tall men, Benerucia was imposing. His broad shoulders—befitting a knight—made his mere presence overwhelming.

When such a man exuded a piercing coldness, even someone as bold as Yennelov couldn’t act like it was nothing.

“The last time, you appeared at the banquet with Selly. Now again, you provoke me. What’s your aim? I play along a little and now you believe you could actually be my rival?”

A crooked smile tugged at Benerucia’s lips. It was pure ridicule.

Benerucia and Yennelov were often called rivals in high society. But in truth, Benerucia didn’t even find Yennelov worth engaging.

That is to say… someone like Yennelov could never be a true opponent to Benerucia.

Yennelov’s face twisted in anger at being belittled.

Though he knew better than to provoke the Archduke any further, he couldn’t resist twisting his lips and spitting out a reply.

“But didn’t Your Grace and Lady Daphne already part ways?”

There was no doubt that statement hit a nerve. Benerucia went cold instantly.

“Pendragon’s heir.”

But it was also clear—Yennelov had touched a nerve he should never have dared to.

Benerucia’s voice dropped low and dark.

“Senelia is mine.”

Before Yennelov knew it, Benerucia’s hand was around his throat.

Realizing he was suddenly being strangled without warning, a chill ran down Yennelov’s spine.

If Benerucia were to snap or twist his neck right now, he wouldn’t even be able to react.

Only now did Yennelov understand just whom he had provoked.

This was a man who, at fifteen, had been thrown into war—and had returned as an unscathed adult.

The knights of House Pendragon, who had lived comfortably in the capital, couldn’t compare.

No one could protect Yennelov from Benerucia. The reality of that truth struck hard.

“So your mouth finally knows silence.”

Benerucia released his grip and stepped back.

Yennelov, unaware he’d been holding his breath, exhaled in shock. It truly felt like he’d brushed with death.

“I hope I won’t see Pendragon’s heir again at the Daphne estate.”

After a final warning in a low voice, Benerucia turned away.

As he climbed onto his horse, his thoughts had already changed.

Choose me, Ben. Clifford will kill you in the end.

Only now did Benerucia fully understand Lucalina’s words. In the future she had seen, his brother had tried to kill him.

Because Benerucia would never give up on his love.

And when the time came, even the humanity he had tried to preserve by not harming his own blood would have become meaningless.

Only if we’re together can we both survive.

According to Lucalina, the one who survived in the end wasn’t Clifford—it was Benerucia.

In the end, the victor had been him.

And he accepted that fact.

No one could take what was his.

Benerucia had never failed to claim what he wanted. And he never would.

That included Senelia. Even if she herself said otherwise.

“Let’s go.”

Benerucia spurred his horse into motion.

Naturally, his destination was the Daphne estate.

At the moment Senelia discovered Benerucia was no longer in the guest room, despair overcame her. She was convinced that everything was over.

So when he returned—and behaved this way—she was completely unprepared.

“I thought Your Grace had received your proposal letter back.”

In her room once again sat Benerucia, Senelia, and the Viscountess. This time, the Viscountess looked more tense than either of the others.

Because Benerucia had returned the very proposal letter he had previously taken back from her.

To the Viscountess’s mix of shock and rejection, Benerucia responded with an icy tone.

“Viscountess Daphne, did you think I was offering you a choice?”

In that moment, the room’s atmosphere dropped like a stone.

Senelia looked at Benerucia in disbelief.

Suddenly, she remembered a scene from the original novel.

‘Brother, I’m not giving you a choice.’
‘I will kill you.’
‘I said I’m marrying Lucalina.’

That day—when Benerucia could no longer hide his feelings for Lucalina and declared he would marry her—he’d dared to proclaim it before the Emperor himself.

He said he would stand against anyone who tried to stop him, even his own brother.

“I said I would marry Senelia.”

And now, those very same words were coming from his mouth.

Only now did Senelia realize one possibility—

Maybe Benerucia truly loved her.

Not Lucalina, the heroine of the story, but her—Senelia Daphne, a mere side character.

The original plot had twisted. She had twisted it.

A rush of joy surged through her. She might live.

The thing she had given up on for eight years was now coming true at the moment she thought it had ended. It was laughable and absurd, and yet filled her with overwhelming relief.

Until her mother spoke.

“…There is one immunity the Daphne Viscounty holds.”

The Viscountess, trembling at the Archduke’s firm attitude, spoke with suppressed fear—but her voice also carried a steely resolve: she would not hand her daughter over.

“It was granted at the founding of Heliosa. Unless we’re charged with harming royalty, it grants us immunity from punishment.”

“Mother!”

Senelia gasped and grabbed her mother’s arm instinctively.

This was an insult to the Archduke. One that couldn’t be hidden, not even with feigned ignorance.

Though the Daphne family had fallen into modest means, its history was not short.

At one time, they had basked in great glory.

The immunity was their strongest weapon.

They could have used it to gain vast wealth or power, but had never once done so.

The Viscount family had always chosen peace over ambition.

And now, the Viscountess had declared she would finally use it.

“So you mean to oppose me directly?”

Benerucia’s tone was openly displeased.

To reject a royal proposal using the family’s ancient immunity—this was not the same as the subtle refusal implied when the proposal letter had first been returned.

This was a blatant declaration: Benerucia was not welcome.

How dare they, to the only Archduke of this empire?

“I know why Your Grace never spoke a word of engagement for eight years.”

The Viscountess’s following words crushed the fragile hope in Senelia’s heart into despair.

“At one time, Your Grace’s relationship with the Marchioness Elian was famous. The entire capital and nobility gossiped about it endlessly.”

Senelia had no idea her mother knew about Benerucia and Lucalina’s relationship.

Her mother had never cared for gossip or social circles.

But if even she had known, that meant Benerucia and Lucalina’s affair had truly been the talk of the century.

The only reason Senelia hadn’t known before meeting Clifford was because, at the time of Benerucia’s military campaign, she had only been eleven—far too young.

And when she first saw Benerucia, she’d instinctively thought, That’s the kind of man I must never get involved with, and paid no further attention to his reputation.

My mother… even my father… they knew.

The shame of having her family know her hidden wounds was unbearable.

She had spent her youth chasing a man who never forgot his first love.

Now she couldn’t even lift her head in front of her parents.

And it was horrifying.

Her parents had had to watch silently as a man who loved another used their daughter as a placeholder.

The memory of it all was too painful for words.

“That’s…!”

Benerucia tried to interject, but the Viscountess continued.

“Did Your Grace really not know?”

Senelia, overwhelmed by shame and despair, turned her gaze toward Benerucia.

She didn’t understand what her mother meant by “knowing.”

But her heart pounded with anxiety—

As if whatever came next would crash over her like a tidal wave.