TMLOP 83

Chapter 83

The Male Lead Is Obsessed with Proposing

77. Even If Death Separates Us

At the very least, Venerucia wanted to explain to Senelia why he couldn’t drive Lucalina away right now.

No, he had to.

It was his duty.

He wasn’t expecting her to fully understand.

Whether she understood or not was her own freedom.

However, if he wanted to explain why he had been avoiding Senelia, he couldn’t avoid mentioning Lucalina.

It was only after Senelia got angry that he realized it.

He had pressured her to endure the situation despite having no solution himself.

For Senelia, marriage to Venerucia was a matter of survival.

Just as he had killed others on the battlefield to survive, she couldn’t refuse marriage to him without risking her own life.

In such a situation, how could she not be angry at Venerucia’s unchanged attitude toward Lucalina?

Yet there was no way to immediately make things right with Lucalina.

So, Venerucia couldn’t bring himself to completely ignore her.

And he couldn’t just tell Senelia to patiently endure everything.

Hadn’t he himself felt uncomfortable just because Senelia seemed close to Demonic?

So, seeing no solution, he had avoided her to avoid conflict.

Cowardly, indeed.

But he shouldn’t have done that.

If conflicts weren’t resolved and only piled up, Senelia, consumed by anxiety, would inevitably choose one thing.

From the beginning: avoiding conflict.

And, as she had done for years, she would choose that method to “kill him” metaphorically.

He couldn’t live holding a hollow shell of Senelia after destroying her entirely.

Thus, Venerucia could no longer afford to evade the situation.

“Luna is also the Thorn of Chlorakean.”

So he brought up Lucalina.

In the original novel, The Thorn of Chlorakean, the female lead reincarnates.

Thus, Lucalina was the same kind of being.

Senelia also knew this.

“And Luna said she returned from the future to save me.”

But what Venerucia said next was something Senelia had never even considered.

Because in the version of The Thorn of Chlorakean she knew, the male and female leads didn’t die and ended up together.

“Wait, wait a minute. Your Grace… you… you’re going to die?”

Senelia couldn’t help but interrupt him.

He was going to die?

This was different from the future she knew.

“Yes. Lucalina definitely said so… Selly? What’s wrong?”

The moment Venerucia saw Senelia’s expression, worry filled his face as he quickly approached her.

Her face had turned pale, like someone in pain.

Her lips trembled.

Senelia seemed almost dazed.

“Selly, what’s wrong? Why are you like this???”

Venerucia urged her as she seemed unable to speak.

She had grown so thin it startled him, and sometimes she would even suddenly faint.

For someone as naturally strong as Venerucia, this was incomprehensible.

He panicked, worried her health might be deteriorating.

“Well… Your Grace, I mean…”

Senelia suddenly realized one fact.

Clifford had revealed to her that she was his spy, but not that she was the Thorn of Chlorakean.

And due to the golden spell placed by the emperor’s magician, she couldn’t reveal her true identity.

In other words, she had no way to explain or prove the facts she knew.

If she told Venerucia he wouldn’t die, she would be directly contradicting Lucalina.

Would he believe her over Lucalina?

Senelia didn’t exist in this decision.

This wasn’t about whether Venerucia loved Lucalina or Senelia.

Lucalina had faithfully kept her promise to him all along.

Senelia’s love for Venerucia had been false from the beginning.

In that situation, if Senelia said her knowledge contradicted Lucalina, who would he believe?

Her anxiety made her bite her lips hard.

Suddenly, his hand reached out and pressed her lower lip with his thumb.

“Selly, is it hard to say?”

Venerucia wasn’t completely oblivious—he noticed her difficulty in speaking.

So he tried to comfort her.

“Don’t want to speak? Or did your brother do something to you again?”

He massaged her cold hands, sharing warmth with them.

Her frozen fingertips slowly relaxed.

“I… I want to… speak…”

Senelia stammered.

Her chest felt blocked.

She couldn’t even say something so simple.

She suddenly felt a surge of emotion.

She didn’t know why.

Being forced to stay silent was familiar to her.

So there was no reason she shouldn’t control her emotions.

Yet when Venerucia’s hand cupped her cheek, her face contorted as if she were about to cry.

She couldn’t understand why her feelings fluctuated so wildly.

And why, of all times, did it happen when she was with Venerucia?

“It’s okay, Selly. Say only what you can. Even if it’s not enough, it’s fine. I’ll believe you.”

Unconsciously, Venerucia knelt before her to meet her gaze.

A face twisted with pain, but too proud to cry.

Seeing that face, he couldn’t help himself.

How long had she carried such a face?

His chest tightened.

Venerucia now only pretended to listen.

Yet she didn’t know what to do, as if no one had ever listened to her before.

Indeed, if she couldn’t speak, it meant Clifford had done something to her again.

It was natural she couldn’t speak freely all this time.

“It’s okay if you don’t speak. If you can’t, I’ll find out.”

Venerucia added hastily.

Senelia looked like she might suffocate from the tears she swallowed.

Ah, he wanted to beg at her feet.

Rather—let him kill Clifford.

If it meant she wouldn’t make that face again, he could willingly kill hundreds, even thousands of times for her.

Venerucia desperately wished for Senelia to say just one word.

Then he felt he could do anything.

But she had already refused.

From now on, Senelia would never allow it.

He had so much, yet there was so little he could do for her.

Each time he realized this, he struggled even more to do something for her.

So that he could piece together the crumbling Senelia, keeping her by his side.

“So Selly—breathe.”

Venerucia buried his head in her lap, pleading.

A face frozen like a wax figure.

She looked like she could stop breathing at any moment.

He couldn’t bear it.

Seeing her endure it was unbearable.

And only after he spoke did Senelia finally exhale deeply.

She seemed to have forgotten she hadn’t been breathing properly until now.

As she repeated inhaling and exhaling, color returned to her face.

Seeing him cling to her, asking her to breathe, gave her courage to speak the truth.

“…I don’t know what’s happening.”

At least Venerucia wouldn’t turn away no matter what.

“What I know is different from what Sir Elihan said. The Grand Duke I know… isn’t dead.”

Even as she spoke, she glanced at him, afraid he might think she was calling Lucalina a liar.

“But… I don’t know what’s right. Maybe Sir Elihan is correct, and I’m wrong…”

She added that so it wouldn’t sound like she was insisting her way was the only way.

“Selly, I believe you.”

Unexpectedly for Senelia, Venerucia firmly rejected Lucalina’s words.

His fingers intertwined with hers.

Warmth flowed from him to her through their grasped hands.

“I could never leave you and die.”

Venerucia’s eyes were resolute.

He was certain.

The thought of anyone else standing by her side was intolerable.

For her, he would crawl out of a grave if he had to.

Even in such a state, he would be satisfied only if he had her.

Yet he hid such dark intentions and said:

“And maybe… both your words and Luna’s are correct.”