The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!-Chapter 310: Believe Me
"Please, you have to believe me."
Cassian’s fingers drummed lightly on the armrest of his chair. He looked more annoyed than anything else.
"So the control’s gone now?" he asked flatly.
"Yes," Benedict said. "It’s gone."
Cassian exhaled, looking out the window for a moment.
"That’s... Inconvenient." Cassian muttered under his breath.
Benedict blinked. "What?"
"I said, that’s convenient. The spell was lifted the moment you got what you wanted. The moment you married Annora." Cassian said cruelly.
Benedict has returned to normal? That won’t do. That simply won’t do. He will have to play the villain for longer, because his plan was not over yet... Cassian narrowed his eyes at Benedict, contemplating what to do with him. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
Cassian looked back at him. "It was easier when you were obsessed with Annora. Adeline was safer. Now, you’re just adding complications."
Benedict stepped forward. "Cassian—"
Cassian cut him off with a sharp look.
"I’m sorry, Benedict," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "But I can’t trust you. Not right now. For all I know, this could be part of another scheme. You should leave."
Benedict froze.
Cassian turned his gaze back to the window, already done with the conversation.
"I said leave."
Still, Benedict took a shaky step forward. "Wait—"
Cassian’s voice dropped dangerously low. "If you say one more word, I’ll call the guards."
That shut him up.
Benedict’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. He could feel the words choking in his throat—so many things he wanted to say, to explain, to fix—but Cassian’s expression made it clear there was no point. He wasn’t listening. He wasn’t going to.
Slowly, Benedict stepped back, nodding once, as if that would somehow hold together whatever pride he had left.
He walked out of the room without another word.
Leaving the palace felt harder than it should have.
Every hallway felt colder. Every servant that walked by wouldn’t meet his eyes. The same guards who once saluted him now stared at him with suspicion. At one point, he lived there, and now it felt so cold and distant.
Cassian was like his brother, and even he refused to believe him.
He paused at the large entrance doors and looked back once, his heart sinking.
It was over.
Or at least, it should’ve been.
But Benedict couldn’t let it go. Not yet. Not when everything still felt so wrong.
His mind spun as he walked away from the palace, memories rushing in—days spent training with Cassian, late-night strategy sessions, their shared plans for the empire. And then... Annora.
He hated how her name still made him flinch.
At first, it had felt so real. So urgent. The need to protect her, to be near her. But now, with the fog in his head cleared, it all felt distant. Unnatural. Like something planted inside him.
But wait, something clicked.
Cassian had courted Annora, too. Not just passingly, either. He had been serious. Rumours had spread like wildfire back then—they were supposed to marry, but he left the wedding, and he stepped in like a fool.
Benedict stopped walking. His eyes widened slightly.
When did Cassian pull away? He thought. Was it before the wedding? Did he figure it out before the rest of us?
Pieces started falling into place in his head. Cassian’s sudden withdrawal. No, Cassian awoke long before the wedding... He went through those damned memories again, though they caused him nothing but disgust. He could not believe he behaved like that with Annora.
Benedict let out a slow breath.
He had been manipulated—of that he was now certain. But maybe he wasn’t the only one who’d been affected. Maybe Cassian had broken free from it too.
And if that was true...
Then Cassian knew. Did he try to... Help him break the spell or- He could not even think of it. This was speculation, just speculation, but it very well could have been the reality.
Still, Cassian was no fool. Maybe he must’ve had a reason for staying quiet. Maybe he was waiting to see who else was being influenced. Maybe he didn’t trust anyone enough to speak.
But what if he knew something had been wrong all along?
And he didn’t tell him.
Benedict gritted his teeth. That meant Cassian had watched him make a fool of himself, watched him abandon Adeline, all while knowing something wasn’t right. If his assumptions were true...
Benedict frowned. He wanted to go to Adeline, but- what if she reacted just like Cassian did? He needed to do something, something drastic that would make them believe he was on their side.
---
Not too long after Cassian left, Isabelle and Alaric returned.
Alaric, as usual, looked exhausted from the political meetings he’d been dragged into. The moment they stepped inside, he muttered something about changing into more comfortable clothes and disappeared down the hallway, tugging at his tight collar.
Isabelle, on the other hand, had a sparkle in her eyes. She kicked off her heels mid-step and practically ran to Adeline’s room, clearly bursting with gossip. She didn’t even knock—just barged right in.
"Adeline! You won’t believe what happened!" Isabelle said breathlessly, flopping onto the bed like she owned the place.
Adeline knew what happened, Cassian told her, but she did not tell Isabelle that just yet... She smiled and matched the energy of her sister-in-law.
"Cassian!" Isabelle said dramatically, throwing her hands in the air. "He walked out of the wedding. Just—gone. Vanished. Right before the vows. You should’ve seen the guests’ faces." She knew how his relationship was with Adeline, so she HAD to tell her.
Adeline feigned shock and put her hand to her mouth, "He did? Where did he go?"
"We do not know, all we know is that he ran away from that wedding leaving the Saintess standing at the altar." Isabelle shrugged.
Adeline could imagine it. Annora, standing there feeling humiliated, Adeline almost felt bad for her, but then she remembered how she acted and what she did. She did not care. She did not.
"But something unexpected happened..." Isabelle slowly added. "Benedict, the Northern Duke stepped in, he... Married her."
"What-"
