“The Male Lead is Obsessed with Proposing – Chapter 1”
1. If Necessary, I’ll Use Obsession.
Click.
The break room door opened. Senelia deliberately avoided looking at the two figures boldly occupying the space.
Casually, casually.
She walked around them at a distance, not sparing a single glance toward the man’s side.
The man, as if to show off, stood pressed close to another woman—close enough that they might entangle at any moment right before Senelia’s eyes.
Whoosh…
Senelia entered the bathroom connected to the break room and dampened her handkerchief with water.
Her movements were smooth, silent—except for when she had first walked in, not a single sound was made.
Still, her actions drew a stinging glare.
“…What do you think you’re doing here?!”
Bang!
Following the man’s fixed gaze on Senelia, the woman clinging to him finally realized someone else was present. With embarrassment surging from being caught in a tryst, she yanked the bathroom door wide open.
The woman’s face was red, perhaps out of shame at having her secret exposed.
“You probably won’t believe me, but I didn’t come here on purpose…”
Smack!
“You vulgar woman, spying on others’ private matters—!”
The woman lashed out, slapping Senelia across the cheek.
A white cheek turned red.
Senelia let out a small sigh.
“And what reason would I have to spy on—”
“What are you doing?”
A cold voice from the man cut in.
But Senelia already knew from experience.
That voice meant he was truly angry.
A man born and raised among royalty, trained to control his emotions, was now losing his composure—over something involving Senelia.
It was proof, at least, that he loved her to that extent.
But Senelia wanted more than that.
“Come on, Ben. This woman was spying on us—”
“How dare you raise your hand to her.”
The man radiated a deadly aura.
The woman, likely unused to being treated this way, went pale.
“…Ben, what are you doing?!”
She shouted, flustered.
Senelia was absolutely sick of this situation.
Frankly, she hated the man more than the woman who had slapped her. She hated that he now treated the other woman coldly.
“Don’t ever touch Selly again.”
The man growled.
With his seductive features, the smallest tilt of his eyes could turn his expression chilling.
No one had ever seen that face before. After all, he was known for being the perfect gentleman toward all ladies.
The woman looked stunned by the unexpected change.
“Your Highness, if you treat a lady like that, Lady Isia will be quite shocked,”
Senelia said quietly.
The man, who had been glaring at the woman, sharply turned his head.
He really lacked basic decency toward people.
After all, to this man, his first love and the heroine of the original story, Lucalina, was all that mattered.
Senelia barely stopped her face from twisting in disgust.
But she didn’t stop the sigh that escaped.
“I will remember His Highness’s behavior today for a long, long time.”
The woman with sharp eyes snapped at the man.
She clearly recognized that she didn’t deserve to be treated like this.
The woman turned around as if she couldn’t stand to remain a second longer.
And just like that, she left the break room.
Forgetting Senelia completely, the marquess’s daughter was solely angry at the man’s behavior.
“Why didn’t you defend yourself?!”
As soon as the woman left, the duke shouted at Senelia.
She had been the one slapped, yet he looked like he had been struck.
A crooked smile formed on Senelia’s otherwise calm face.
“Isn’t that rather contradictory, coming from the one who caused this situation?”
Benelucia flinched.
His eyes filled with slight regret as he looked at her reddened cheek.
The reason Senelia had to stop by this break room was due to a rare mistake by a royal servant.
The servant had spilled wine on her dress.
She had no choice but to come here.
Break rooms in the palace were assigned according to social rank.
For a mere baron’s daughter like Senelia, this was the only one she could use.
And it just so happened that this room was where the man and woman had been.
To call it a coincidence felt ridiculous.
“If you had done even a fraction of what I did—”
Benelucia sounded frustrated.
There was still guilt in his voice from what she’d said.
“You expect a baron’s daughter like me to stand up to a marquess’s daughter?”
Senelia replied immediately.
Being slapped had been humiliating, but in truth, the marquess’s daughter wasn’t entirely at fault.
This was a rigid class-based society.
No noble here was ranked lower than Senelia.
If anything, it was her own fault for failing to consider the higher-ranking lady’s mood.
The marquess’s daughter had simply acted as her status allowed.
“You have me. What is there to worry about?”
He meant he would handle the consequences of whatever Senelia might have done to the marquess’s daughter.
She knew.
She knew that he had involved the marquess’s daughter just to provoke her.
“And what does that have to do with me and Your Highness?”
But Senelia rejected it without hesitation.
The man’s words were sincere.
But only while his attention remained on her. That sincerity was nothing more than a mirage.
She couldn’t risk her life based on such uncertainty.
“Selly.”
The handsome man’s expression twisted as she firmly cut ties between them.
Still, his voice remained gentle and tender, as if coaxing a child.
“I’m grateful for Your Highness’s affection, but I’m afraid I cannot dare call your name. Please refrain.”
The more affectionate he became, the more Senelia bowed low at the waist and knees.
Finally, the man lost his patience and yanked her into his arms by the waist.
“…Even if you are the Grand Duke, this is inappropriate.”
Despite suddenly being pulled into his firm embrace, Senelia’s face remained calm and unreadable.
The man let out a hollow laugh.
It would be easier if she’d just believe he was being rude.
“Benelucia. You must’ve forgotten my name, Selly.”
“How could I forget the name of a great royal? His Highness, Grand Duke Benelucia Afron.”
Even at such close proximity, Senelia’s eyes did not meet his.
Lowered eyes, bowed head. Absolute submission.
That was all she offered him.
As she intended, the more submissive she acted, the more suffocated Benelucia looked.
“Please release me. I cannot possibly lay hands on royalty.”
Her additional words made him reach up and gently cup her cheek.
His touch was careful.
As if worried about the cheek that had been slapped earlier.
“Strange, isn’t it? It’s not our first time touching.”
Benelucia’s voice became intimate.
He was desperate.
Desperate to stir up any shared memory between them.
“It will never happen again.”
Senelia’s body tensed all at once.
Regardless of whether she might fall, she suddenly yanked herself away from him.
Startled, he almost lost his grip on her and blurted out her name.
“Senelia Daphnen!”
His once-confident face was filled with panic.
His eyes scanned her quickly, as if terrified she might have gotten hurt.
Finally, when she was called by her real name rather than a nickname, Senelia looked straight at him.
She spoke calmly and quietly.
“Let go, Your Highness.”
It was a warning.
Hold onto her any longer, and she would do something far worse.
Benelucia hesitated for a split second.
He wanted to keep her shackled to him forever.
But he had to let her go.
Knowing her personality, she might do something dangerous.
He couldn’t risk her getting hurt.
Benelucia swallowed a sigh.
If only she’d do something to him instead.
But Senelia, who couldn’t lay a hand on him just because he was royalty, would never retaliate. Even if it meant hurting herself, she would never harm him.
“…Why is it that you, of all people, never do as I wish?”
Benelucia asked bitterly.
He wiped his face dryly and looked at her as if he had no idea what to do.
‘Because I’m taming you now.’
Senelia swallowed the words.
If she let things go his way, it would defeat the purpose of taming him.
She couldn’t say it out loud.
After all, in this miserable wreck of a romance novel, he was the only safe route to survival.
Like a man parched from endless thirst, Benelucia muttered with a lowered voice. It sounded almost laughable.
A man who’d never been denied anything in life was baffled by something so natural.
That he couldn’t control another living person.
She wanted to voice how arrogant he was.
But unfortunately, the words she had to say in this situation were already set.
