That's the vibe I was getting pretty early on as well. It kept becoming more and more apparent, to me anyways, that was the case as the story progressed.
I wonder if that's going to actually be revealed in the next part now that the big date is at MC's doorstep. I wonder how he's going to handle it because between that, what Zenera has planned on that day, all MC has discovered and is questioning, the little conflict between him and LI's... I can see Zenera taking advantage of the dark feelings he's undoubtedly going to be feeling and already feeling.
I was already very interested in future updates, but this scenario makes me want the next part of the chapter even more lol.