Every time I vented my soaring frustration for not overcoming the intense training, the duchy witnessed a mysterious uproar.
“Why don’t you come over here? You darn rat!”
“Ugh… ugh, save the Acting Seat! The saint is trying to kill me! Help me!”
As I chased after Zero in anger, Michael, Ashton, Benedict, and Ruth all mobilized, dragging me to the training ground.
Among them, who had excellent stats, I floundered like a fish freshly caught at a seafood market. It was a meaningless struggle, but I had to do it; otherwise, I felt like my insides would burst.
“Let go of this! Won’t you let go?”
Shouting, ‘Zero, you xxx,’ towards me, Michael spoke.
“Calm down, Your Grace. Isn’t it time to accept reality? To fight against zombies, Your Grace needs to build up stamina.”
“Who doesn’t know that!”
I just wanted to get out of this absurdly intense training!
In front of the hellish training schedule that made me want to escape, I made embarrassing and futile struggles, making pig-like squeals.
“This is too hard… Why do I have to do this…”
“That’s what you’d expect from a comrade fighting together, right?”
Ashton, taking off his upper garment, swung dozens of sandbags around his body effortlessly and said, “Calm down, Your Grace. Isn’t it time to accept reality? To fight against zombies, Your Grace needs to build up stamina.”
Even his well-trained six-pack abs resembled six valleys on his body.
Moreover, Ashton’s back muscles were deadly. It felt like if I hit those muscles, I would be sent flying far away.
‘Monstrous…’
I didn’t even notice Ashton’s body, which boasted a large and beautiful chest. It was just unfortunate. If only I had half of those muscles.
“Why do I have to do this… I’m good at shooting magical bullets. I told you last time. Leave it to me as a rear support…”
During visits to Daemon Duchy, Celeste Marquis, and Route Viscount, I brought magical bullets.
The Kitten Duchy wasn’t as wealthy as the ducal family, so we didn’t have an enormous amount of bullets, but it was still a considerable number. Thanks to them, when hunting zombies inside the barrier, I could shoot guns without worrying about running out of bullets. However, my party members were not happy that I wasn’t being rolled for stamina training.
Hearing my complaints, Ashton wiped away his sweat and said, “I know it’s hard for a duke. Until the zombie incident, you lived the life of an ordinary nobleman, so the training is tough.”
“…Knowing that, you still bring me here for training every time? Ugh!”
Dragging sandbags and trembling like a newborn fawn, I finally collapsed.
“…”
I never imagined the day would come when I’d know what dirt tastes like. Darn it.
“Are you okay?”
As I stumbled, Ashton reached out to help me up. Without much thought, I grabbed his hand and was surprised by the strength of his grip as he effortlessly pulled me up.
“…!”
“Marquis Kitten is too light. Why are you so thin when you’re used to having a good meal every day?”
“Eeek!”
The scream of a seagull meeting its natural enemy came out of my mouth.
‘Meat, I touched the flesh!’
For someone from a Confucian country where men and women have distinct roles, this contact was too stimulating… rather, it was too embarrassing!
Oh, so this is what they mean by washboard abs? It’s not even a rock, and his chest, oh my. No, no bad thoughts, bad thoughts are forbidden.
“Um, please go away!”
With a flushed face, I frantically patted Ashton’s broad chest like crazy.
“Marquis, just a moment!”
“Kweh!”
Thunk.
Once again, I bumped my head on the sand. This time, I was more disheveled than before. I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole…
As I flipped sand onto my face, it felt very, extremely dirty.
Seeing me turned into something like shrimp tempura covered in breadcrumbs, Zero, who had crawled over like a caterpillar, chuckled.
“Uh, hahaha! You’re really funny right now!”
“…I’m going to kill you, seriously.”
The laughter was so annoying that I vowed to twist that guy’s neck once training was over.
“Zero, please stop. We can’t let His Grace’s motivation drop any further.”
Ashton, who self-proclaimed himself as an instructor along with Michael, scolded Zero. It was to prevent me from whining that I couldn’t do it and trying to escape.
“Ugh… Fine. Instead, make our child incredibly sturdy. Strong enough not to be pushed around even in close combat with zombies!”
“Are you my mother?”
Hey, hey, the way this guy casually used the expression ‘our child’ gave me chills. Why are you being so familiar? Since when were we on such friendly terms?
Although I couldn’t directly say I was a possessed person, every time I saw these creepy terms of endearment, it gave me the creeps.
Unfortunately, Michael, who genuinely served Zero, confidently shouted every time he got the chance.
“Of course. There are over twenty holy knights trained by me. After this training, Marquis Kitten will have no shortage of physical stamina.”
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
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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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