The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!-Chapter 311: Not Without A Fight

Adeline’s breath caught. Her eyes widened, her hands froze. What? What?

That was all that filled her mind. She shouldn’t have been too surprised. Benedict had been pining over Annora, she knew that. He made it clear that they were not friends, she knew that.

But what? He married her?

The room felt oddly quiet for a moment.

"I didn’t expect you to react like that," Isabelle said, watching her closely. "I thought you didn’t care about him anymore."

She didn’t. She stopped caring about him. Except that was a lie. She did care about him. She held this hope that she could somehow bring him back. But she lost. Annora won. She has Edward on her side, she has Benedict on her side, she has- Dimitri on her side.

At least Cassian was back... At least. No, that was not enough. She would not accept that.

"Adeline?" Isabelle carefully asked. She wished she hadn’t said it, but she did not want her to be caught off guard either.

Her mind felt like it was cracking open, letting in every suppressed thought, every old memory she’d tried so hard to bury.

"Isabelle," she said, her voice quieter this time, like she was trying not to fall apart mid-sentence. "Can you... tell me everything? I mean, everything. Every little detail about the wedding."

Isabelle blinked, startled by the sudden intensity. "Everything?" she asked, shifting a bit uncomfortably. "Are you sure? I mean, I wasn’t trying to upset you or anything—"

"I need to hear it," Adeline cut in, her tone strangely steady even though her eyes looked anything but. "Start from the beginning if you want. But especially... tell me about the part from when Ben stepped in."

There was a beat of silence, and then Isabelle gave a small nod. She sat up straighter, clasping her hands over her knees. "Alright."

She took a deep breath and began slowly. "The decorations were beautiful. Extremely beautiful. The Empress clearly wanted to make a statement. Everything was in gold and gems. Real roses. The aisle was lined with them. Even the ceiling was enchanted to look like a sky at sunset." She gave a small smile. "Honestly, it was a little too much for my taste, but it was stunning."

Adeline nodded absentmindedly. Her lips barely moved as she murmured, "And then?"

Isabelle hesitated, her voice softening. "Everything was going smoothly. Annora came in looking like she already owned the palace. I mean, she always had that face, but this time it was worse. Then... Cassian."

She glanced at Adeline, but when she saw the expression on her friend’s face—calm, cold, unreadable—she continued. "He failed to show up."

"And Ben?" Adeline’s voice cracked slightly.

Isabelle paused again, more hesitant this time. "He looked like he’d made some kind of decision. Like it was already done in his head. He walked up, stood beside her, and said he’d take Cassian’s place."

Adeline stared at her. "Just like that?"

"Yes, he seemed eager to marry her," Isabelle admitted. She did not want Adeline to hurt anymore. Some people are just scum, they betray you. Adeline should not give such people importance. They are not worth the mental space. See them for what they truly are and let them go.

Adeline’s stomach twisted.

Isabelle leaned back slightly on the cushions, her brows furrowed as she recalled the memory. "Actually... you know, Annora didn’t look all that happy either."

Adeline’s head snapped up.

"She tried to hide it, of course," Isabelle continued with a small smirk, "but I was sitting close enough to see it clearly. The corners of her mouth twitched when Benedict stepped forward. Her smile was strained.

Adeline leaned back, eyes narrowed slightly.

Of course Annora wouldn’t be happy.

"She wanted the First Prince," Isabelle added, her voice laced with amusement. "The decorated hero. The one people write songs about. She wanted to be a princess. But instead, she got Benedict, the Duke from the North. Not a bad deal, obviously," she shrugged, "but knowing how greedy she is, it wouldn’t have been enough."

Adeline’s expression slowly shifted, from wounded to contemplative. Her fingers tapped gently against her knee.

No... it wouldn’t have been enough for her.

Annora’s dream was the spotlight. She wanted everything. The crown, the people’s love, the storybook ending. Cassian abandoning her like that—especially in front of the entire court—would’ve been humiliating. And Benedict stepping in, while convenient, wasn’t what she had planned. That meant she was likely already cooking up a new scheme to fix things.

"Anyway, the reception was, well, it was uneventful because the bride quickly left the party. The groom later went after her..."

Adeline nodded slowly, a flicker of something sharp lighting her gaze. She wondered what they talked about. Annora probably came up with more schemes to target her. She knew that she needed an enormous amount of holy power to lift the curse. It all sounded like a fairytale, but not a good one.

What were those called? Oh, right, horror stories. Adeline knew she could manifest her powers in various ways, but that would take a lot out of her, she knew that. She once exhausted herself with the butterflies.

She hadn’t really experimented or anything, but the one thing she knew was that she could definitely bring back one person. But who could it be? Benedict or Dimitri?

Benedict or Dimitri? How could she even choose?

Adeline knew that Annora would not go down without a fight, and that bastard Edward was supporting her.

Exactly. That’s what made her dangerous. She needed more people, she needed to involve more people, that is right. She alone cannot face the entire institution of the Holy Temple by herself. She needed help. She needed her people.

There was a long pause. The weight of everything hung between them in silence.

Then, Adeline took a breath. Her eyes focused, and she turned slightly toward Isabelle.

"I need your help with something," she said quietly, her eyes were filled with determination as she formed a concrete plan.