If there was a place abandoned by both gods and humans, wouldn’t it be this place?
That temple where she encountered Leon.
Kasha walked alone on the marble floor stained with people’s blood.
“…This place is closed. Leave immediately.”
The holy knight warning her was in a terrible state.
Platinum blonde hair turned gray with dust. Eyes that had lost their luster. A helmet with the visor fallen off and rusty, dented pauldrons. Above all, the right arm severed below the shoulder.
But it wasn’t just his appearance that was broken.
“Ugh! Gah! Huff.”
During those few days she stayed at the temple, he would often get feverish and yell at her with reddened eyes.
“I told you… to leave… Ugh! Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“……”
“Do you want your body to be ravaged and defiled by a beast-like pervert? Is that your taste? Kekeke… ugh… cough.”
Though his eyes were burning with lust, drooling and spewing obscenities, he never touched Kasha.
He crawled around the marble floor like a dog, relieving himself alone under the statue of the god and loudly cursing the deity, but he never violated Kasha.
Kasha observed him with dark eyes from a corner. Until his heat ended.
He seemed to know as well. The fact that she was watching his appearance.
As he displayed his ugly, fallen state, he sometimes seemed to be in agony, sometimes ashamed. And at times when lust completely dominated his mind, he seemed to enjoy her gaze.
On the night of the full moon over the ruined temple.
The fallen holy knight and the crouching villainess spent a long night observing each other.
Finally, on the evening his heat ended, he lit a campfire with a haggard face. Kasha hesitated before going to sit beside him. Exhausted, he didn’t bother driving her away.
They sank into silence, staring at the campfire for a long time. It was Kasha who broke the silence again.
“Um. I, I’m the villainess… Kasha.”
Even after hearing her confession, he said nothing. In his amethyst eyes that were once called the jewels of the empire, only the firelight flickered instead of vitality.
“The one who… made you like this… is me.”
At her voice that seemed to crawl, he finally turned to look at her. Though his cheeks were sunken from weight loss, he was still beautiful.
“You’re saying you’re the villainess Kasha?”
Nod.
He scrutinized Kasha, who was nodding, for a long time. Then he smiled a dry smile like withered leaves.
“How ridiculous.”
And then he was silent again.
‘…He doesn’t believe me.’
Kasha realized. He couldn’t believe it. That such an insignificant-looking woman could be the villainess Kasha.
If he really thought she was, he might have drawn that rusty sword and pierced her neck right away.
He didn’t recognize her.
Not just now, but he didn’t remember their first meeting long ago either.
It’s natural. Their encounter was fleeting, and her presence was insignificant then as it is now.
But she remembers everything. She hasn’t forgotten a single thing.
That’s why she couldn’t leave this man alone, wandering like an abandoned beast in this forsaken temple.
For three days and nights, she kept talking to him, stumbling over her words, trying to find a way to help him somehow.
He who had kept his mouth shut tight finally started saying a word or two, and at some point spilled everything.
Why was that?
It was only later that I thought, but perhaps he was preparing for his death from that moment. The regret for a life that would soon fade may have opened his mouth.
Or maybe he was intrigued by the earnest eyes of a woman who wasn’t afraid of him, a holy knight cursed with lust, and kept talking to him for whatever reason.
The three days passed quickly, and finally, after hearing his whole story, Kasha said this:
“I’ll save you.”
He stared blankly at her, who somehow managed to speak a perfect sentence without stammering.
“Really. I, I know a way. I might be able to… break your curse. So, just…”
He interrupted her, still expressionless.
“No one can save another person’s life.”
“…But.”
“So go and save your own life first. I’m already ruined.”
At that very moment, violent footsteps invaded the quiet temple.
“Villainess Katiana Lyuschino, surrender to arrest by order of His Highness the Crown Prince!”
She was captured helplessly by the imperial army that burst into the temple.
“Is this woman really the villainess Kasha?”
Leon muttered in disbelief. But his eyes soon regained their dead look. As if even the fact that this insignificant woman was his enemy no longer held any meaning.
Looking at him like that, she spoke almost pleadingly.
“I, I’ll try to find a way somehow. So please, survive. Then…”
“Wait. That man looks familiar? Isn’t that Leon Aranias? The fallen holy knight wanted by the Holy Knight Order!”
At that moment, one of the imperial knights surrounding them recognized Leon, and hearing this, the knight commander’s face lit up.
“If we take his head too, His Highness the Crown Prince will give us a great reward. He’s dangerous, but if we attack all at once, we have a chance!”
“No…!”
Kasha turned pale. But Leon just stared blankly into space.
“One squad will escort the villainess now. The rest will deal with Leon Aranias.”
As she was being dragged away by the soldiers, Kasha saw Leon feebly parrying the knights’ swords with his one arm.
She could tell.
He would die there.
He had already decided so.
At that moment, a heartbroken cry burst from within Kasha.
“Don’t die, please don’t die, Leon…!”
Don’t die so meaninglessly. If you die like that, I feel like I won’t be able to think that I’m not a villainess even to myself anymore.
It feels like I’ve really become that terrible villainess people talk about.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
At the end of the brutal noise like hunting down a beast, the excited cheers of the knights were faintly heard.
They had succeeded in their beast hunt.
Kasha left, leaving Leon’s last moments behind.
And from there, she was escorted to Arkin’s Level 1 prison for vicious criminals in the capital.
[This is the timeline separator]Three months later.
It was Kasha’s twenty-first birthday.
The winter wind blew fiercely through the prison bars. Along with the sound of people chanting her name.
“Execute the villainess Kasha!”
“Kasha Lyuschino! Die! You villainess!”
“Bring back my poor child! You devil who deserves to be torn apart!”
The curses people hurled were now familiar, but the sorrow and pain in those voices still pierced deep into her heart no matter how many times she heard them. Kasha hunched over, dropping her head to where her frostbitten toes had fallen off.
The winter in prison was bitterly cold. The dress she had been wearing when arrested had already turned to rags, offering no protection from the cold. Her body was breaking down with frostbite all over. Her eyesight was also damaged, leaving her almost blind.
Cough. Cough.
As she coughed violently, feeling like her ribs would break, footsteps were heard.
Kasha reflexively curled up even smaller. Her breathing quickened involuntarily from fear.
Just hearing the guard’s footsteps made her teeth chatter.
No matter how many times she endured it, torture never became familiar. They came up with new tortures every day, demanding answers she couldn’t give.
‘Speak, you stubborn wench! What was your purpose in committing such atrocious acts?’
‘Who are your accomplices?’
‘You insufferably vicious bitch!’
Creak. Clang.
The prison bars opened. Someone entered and clicked their tongue, seemingly discovering her trembling.
“…Kasha. You look terrible.”
A familiar voice. She jerked her head up, but her nearly blind eyes saw nothing.
“S-Simon?”
A voice like an old woman’s, cracked from screaming during torture, flowed from her damaged vocal cords.
“Yes. It’s me, Kasha. Ha, even for a prisoner, this state is a bit… appalling.”
He clicked his tongue again. Kasha dragged her legs, numb from frostbite, towards him. Though she resented him for only appearing now, she was still glad to have hope of leaving this place.
“Simon. Has the situation… been cleared up now?”
“……”
“I, I never once… mentioned your name. No matter how much torture I endured… I didn’t say a word.”
“Good girl. As always.”
“So…”
Take me out of here. Please tell me that all this pain I endured alone is over now.
“But even if you had mentioned my name, it wouldn’t have changed much, Kasha.”
‘What?’
She couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying in a mocking voice.
“Kasha. The truth is, you did do it all, didn’t you? Right? Saying I ordered you or whatever, that’s just an excuse. Fundamentally, it was all you. You made those destructive magical tools, you separated the curse from the magic stones.”
“N-No! I, I really didn’t know those tools would be used like that, to kill people. If I had known, no matter how much you forced me, I would never… never have made them.”
Simon chuckled.
“That’s why you’re in this state. To think you really believed those magical tools would only be used for hunting beasts.”
His mockery stabbed Kasha’s heart. She continued speaking with a feeling of coughing up blood.
“Separating the curse from the magic stones, I didn’t do that for such a purpose either. You know that. How could you not only steal that, but use it for such an evil purpose! How could you do that to innocent people!”
Kasha cried out.
The anger and despair that had gnawed at her soul throughout her imprisonment finally burst forth. It was also a confession she hadn’t been able to tell anyone.
That she really didn’t know. If she had known her magical tools, those magic stones would be used like that, no matter what threats he made, she would never have followed his words.
How much she wanted to spill everything each time the guards pulled out her nails one by one, broke her joints, and pressed red-hot iron tongs to her thighs.
The only reason she couldn’t was…
“Y-You’re my husband, Simon.”
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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