In the dimming twilight, his eyes glimmering with a blue hue, seemed chillingly eerie.

His eyes, resembling the brisk air of early dawn or the sharpness of a honed blade, were like those of a predator eyeing its prey.

“Are you… Duke Balthazar…?”

Alarm bells rang in her mind.

Klaus de Balthazar, the master of this mansion.

The Duke in front of her contrasted sharply with his usual icy and apathetic demeanor. His icy blue eyes, seemingly evaporated of any reason, scanned her neck.

His enormous hand, seemingly capable of easily crushing a human head, appeared as if it might twist her slender neck at any moment.

Contrary to her expectation, Klaus’s hand moved slowly towards her hair. The slow approach of his large, knotty hand made the moment feel excruciatingly long.

Her hair, unusually short for a woman and ending just above her ears, wrapped around his fingers. Roselia, now leaning against the wall, hunched her shoulders, looking at the Duke with a face of incomprehension.

“Did you… call me for a task?”

Her expression, innocent and puzzled, elicited a hollow chuckle from Klaus.

“A task…? Ah… yes, there was one.”

He spoke as if displeased with the current situation, or perhaps angry, and slammed his hand beside her head with a thud.

“I need to check something.”

A shiver ran down her spine.

Check? What could it be…?

Could she have been discovered after three months of hiding?

Roselia’s hair, reminiscent of ebony and cut short like a boy’s, coupled with her attire – a neat black tuxedo vest over a white ruffled shirt – was the typical outfit of a male servant.

“Exactly what are you planning to check…”

Her tone was calm, but Roselia’s gaze shifted from Klaus’s eyes to the floor.

Seemingly displeased, Klaus grabbed her chin, turning her face to look at him. His dark blue eyes, filled with turmoil and anger, tangled with her emerald ones.

“Antonio de Hesingk.”

Her brother’s name, which never seemed familiar, hit her ears. Her heart, which had been racing, gradually found its rhythm.

Stay calm. I am Antonio now. I must not show any sign of disturbance.

If she’s discovered as a woman, she would be killed by him.

Or more accurately, used and then discarded as per the original story’s fate. She had transmigrated into the body of an extra maid destined to die after being exploited by the sinister Duke. But so far, she was safe.

As long as she isn’t discovered as a woman by him.

“Antonio…”

His face loomed close, almost touching her nose.

For some reason, his breath seemed more ragged and faster than usual.

“Damn it, didn’t I tell you not to wear that perfume?”

Klaus’s warning, growling as if, made Roselia feel unjustly accused.

“I didn’t put on any perfume, as I told you.”

“Ah… taking the place of a debt from a fallen barony, you always talk back so sharply…”

“…….”

Yes.

She was a maid… no, a servant who came into the Balthazar Ducal house in place of a debt.

Originally a lady from the House of Hesingk, she was reduced to a maid in the Ducal house following the fall of her family and the massive debt to Duke Balthazar.

And a foolish woman who, after giving everything to the Duke, gets exploited and discarded.

That was the extra character she had become.

But naturally, knowing the plot of the novel, she had no intention of dying that way.
To avoid her destined death, Roselia had disguised herself as a man.

She thought she would be safe as long as she remained unnoticed by the Duke, but this cursed Duke, deviating from the original storyline, had dragged her in, disguised as a man, to replace her debt.

Was it irrelevant to him whether she was a man or not? Or was it impossible to change the course of the original story this much?

Roselia’s calm eyes, full of questions, stared intently at the Duke’s face. Klaus, interpreting her gaze as defiance or challenge, twisted his lips into a smirk and pressed his body closer, trapping her between his arm and the wall.

Although it seemed like an act of intimidation, an odd atmosphere had inadvertently formed. Klaus, sensing this peculiar mood instinctively, remained silent for a while.

“Duke…?”

She was the one who broke the strange silence.

She could feel his hot breath pouring onto her forehead. Being this close, she feared that her chest, tightly bound in cloth, would be discovered by the Duke, causing her heart to race wildly.

“I told you, Antonio. I have a knack for uncovering hidden things,” the Duke said.

The mention of hidden things made her feel as if he was referring to her bandaged chest, sending a chill down her spine.

Klaus’s hot lips neared her ear as if to touch it.

“I need to find out what you’re hiding.”

The heat from his breath on her ear and their thighs pressing against each other felt scorchingly hot. The room seemed filled with heat, muddling her mind and making it hard to stay lucid.

Roselia, with Klaus’s dark blue eyes piercing into hers, met his gaze in a daze. It felt as if an invisible thread, taut with tension, hung precariously between them.

Roselia inwardly cried out in an extremely difficult and awkward predicament.

Hey, Duke. Do you really not care if I’m a man or not?

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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