🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 61
The Male Lead Is Obsessed with Proposing
Still, Love Me
“Call me immediately if anything happens.”
Venerucia did not forget to give Senelia this reminder until the very moment she left the reception room.
“You treat me like some kind of villain.”
Clifford muttered, displeased, as he watched her.
“Coming to see someone who just recovered without warning is already villainous enough…”
Yet today, even Venerucia did not yield to her brother.
“Ben, I will.”
Eventually, Senelia interrupted Venerucia’s words and hurried her out of the reception room.
If Venerucia stayed there, Clifford—unrestrained as ever—might say something uncontrollable.
Once the door closed, Clifford took out a magical artifact that blocked external sound.
“Lady Daphne, I think we need to have a quiet conversation, just the two of us. Is that alright?”
Though his words sounded polite, his eyes were icy.
Venerucia was a Swordmaster, and being a short distance away wouldn’t stop her from hearing anything in the room.
In other words, Clifford intended to completely block their conversation from outside.
Tensing, Senelia clutched the hem of her dress tightly and replied,
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The moment Senelia answered, the magical artifact activated.
Seeing it glow fully, she quickly dropped to her knees before Clifford.
Yet she could not speak a single word carelessly.
A heavy silence lingered.
In that suffocating quiet, Senelia forced herself to endure the churning in her stomach.
“…My dog has done something quite amusing.”
After a long silence, Clifford finally spoke.
He approached Senelia, grabbed her chin, and sharply lifted her head.
“When I forgive… it will only be when it’s utterly pitiful and insignificant. Don’t you know that?”
Clifford’s beast-like golden eyes flashed.
Senelia’s hair stood on end, feeling like prey in front of a predator.
“I already gave you a chance before.”
He was referring to the time he had mentioned the potential abilities she might possess.
A terrifying thought of what abilities their child might inherit had crossed her mind then.
In other words, Clifford meant that at that time, Senelia should have confessed what her abilities were.
She knew that too.
But at the same time, she knew another truth.
The moment she spoke about her abilities… she would forever become Clifford’s dog.
If Clifford had known that Senelia was a sorceress, he would never have issued a decree forcing Venerucia to marry her.
“When did my dog become human?”
Clifford’s hand caressed Senelia’s cheek.
She imagined his hand coming down and strangling her neck at any moment.
Of course, Venerucia was right outside the door, so it wasn’t possible—but still, Senelia was afraid of Clifford.
“You understand why I came, don’t you?”
Clifford stepped closer to her.
When the distance felt uncomfortably close, his breath brushed against her, and he spoke with a smile,
“Break off your engagement with Venerucia.”
Senelia instinctively drew in a sharp breath.
Even though she had expected the emperor might say this if he discovered she was a sorceress, it still shocked her.
Clifford was always the one to make her imagined fears real.
“I cannot hand over a valuable sorceress to my younger brother.”
Clifford spoke gently, studying her pale face with meticulous care.
A normal young lady might have blushed under such scrutiny, but Senelia, who knew exactly what kind of man the emperor was, found it terrifying instead.
“…If I do not marry, Your Highness… I do not know what might happen between Duke Elihan and me.”
Senelia’s voice trembled as she spoke.
No matter how much she tried to appear calm, merely speaking in front of a predator exhausted all her strength.
Yet she had no choice but to speak.
This was Senelia’s last lifeline.
“No, that will not happen. You betrayed me, so I will forever hate you. I cannot love Lucalina with the same wholehearted devotion. Lucalina could never be satisfied with such a Venerucia.”
Senelia choked on her breath for a moment.
Clifford even intended to use Venerucia’s hatred of her against her.
She didn’t know if the suffocation came from Clifford’s actions or from the thought that Venerucia hated her.
But what was clear was that her voice barely managed to escape her throat.
“…I—I cannot avoid the marriage decree issued by Your Majesty, as you know.”
The moment she had agreed to follow the emperor’s command, she had become engaged to Venerucia.
If she wanted to refuse, she would have had to exercise her immunity the moment the decree was issued.
It was different now from when she had rejected Venerucia’s proposal.
If she broke this engagement now, she would be guilty both of faking a marriage promise to the duke and of defying the emperor’s order.
Then Daphne’s fate would be sealed.
Thus, Senelia naturally could not break off the engagement with Venerucia.
“You’ve been clever enough to act like a dog, so I suppose it required some effort. Admirable.”
Clifford’s thumb gently pressed against Senelia’s lower lip.
The only part of her pale face that had any color temporarily lost it.
Her face looked even more fragile and weak.
He had always liked that about her.
The more Senelia feared him, the less she would ever dare betray him.
“You deceived me with these lips.”
Ah, wherever Clifford’s hand touched felt chilling, as if a snake were crawling.
Senelia forced herself not to tremble.
Deception? That was absurd.
She had merely struggled to survive!
Senelia wanted to scream, yet who could save her in this situation?
Bang!
At that moment, the door shook with a tremendous noise.
Someone had slammed it from outside—but carefully, without breaking it.
It was Venerucia.
Senelia instinctively realized.
“Hah—my younger brother does have some temper, huh?”
As expected, Clifford also quickly recognized who had made the noise.
Since the emperor and Senelia’s conversation could not be heard from outside, and their auras and mana flowed in a way that only affected their forms internally, it was natural that an aura-user could sense the change.
With the soundproof spell in place, as their conversation dragged on, Venerucia could not stand by and watch in case something happened.
And that loud noise snapped Senelia back to alertness.
“My dog seems to have done well enough.”
Clifford snorted and removed his hand.
Venerucia showed his emotions so openly.
It was unlike the obedient younger brother he always was in front of Clifford.
Once Clifford removed his hand, Senelia’s head went limp and bowed.
She had no strength in her body at all.
Yet even like that, her red eyes still shone, refusing to dim.
She still had one final method left to attempt.
“Well… such passionate love might end if he learns you deceived yourself under my orders.”
Clifford said with certainty.
Yes, the original Venerucia would have surely cast her aside the moment he knew she was Clifford’s spy.
Clifford planned to use this to nullify his own decree.
But, in the very unlikely case… what if Venerucia still wanted her?
Senelia decided to stake everything on that “if.”
“What if, even knowing the truth, His Highness the Duke still chooses me?”
“You really trust him that much? That he would love you so, not the original true love, Lucalina?”
Clifford’s words struck Senelia like a dagger.
It felt as if blood were flowing somewhere.
But she had no time to dwell on that now.
“I will admit, in my own words, that I approached His Highness the Duke under Your Majesty’s command.”
Senelia lifted her head and looked up at Clifford.
“If, even after hearing that, His Highness forgives me… I will have proven myself to be the perfect leash for Your Majesty. Then letting me marry His Highness would only benefit you more.”
Senelia spoke calmly, laying out her reasoning.
“So, if it works as you say, you’d just leave me be?”
Clifford summarized her words.
If, as Senelia claimed, Venerucia loved her that much, forcibly separating them would bring Clifford no advantage.
But there was a flaw in her reasoning.
“If he knows the truth, you can no longer serve as my dog. How would that benefit me?”
Clifford’s cold eyes pierced her.
Once Venerucia knew the truth, there was no way Senelia could remain Clifford’s spy.
She took a deep breath.
The fact that Clifford had not immediately dismissed her as a schemer suggested there was a sliver of possibility in her proposal.
“Even if I succeed, Your Majesty won’t lose anything.”
Senelia continued.
