Having slowly risen from the sofa as the Emperor approached, Lu, after a moment of contemplation, nodded her head slowly twice.
“Ah.”
Was it Cedric Lamber who came to visit? Various thoughts floated lightly in her sluggish mind. Would the news of a guest coming to her even reach the Emperor? Was it because she was still a young sage?
“Is that all? Just an ‘Ah’ and it’s over?”
Hayden, who strolled around Aeselot Palace in loose attire, lightly pressed down on Lu, who was trying to get up, and leaned her against the sofa again. Then he sat on the table and faced her.
“I came with my eyes rolled back, and an ‘Ah’ is all I get?”
“Why are your eyes rolled back…”
Astounded, Lu weakly mumbled and sat back on the sofa as if collapsing.
“I even came for the consultation, and you think I wouldn’t care, Lu?”
Hayden, who had narrowed the distance as he approached, asked gently without maintaining a proper social distance.
Reaching out, he started addressing one by one the curses that had unraveled up to Lu’s forearm. Lu, who had been looking up at him, slapped her forehead against his excessively broad and straight shoulders. Hayden paused for a moment.
“Why… I have no reason to marry… but I guess I’ll be concerned anyway.”
Under Hayden’s hands, the curses began to be neatly organized.
“…Looks like you need to take off your clothes a bit.”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna change and come back?”
“Nah.”
As the curses were gradually unraveled closer to the neck, pain began to rise. Lu casually shook her head and lifted the loose blouse she had on top. Hayden immediately averted his gaze.
“I’m wearing something inside. It’s okay. You can look.”
Since meeting Cedric, she had been annoyed, so she just threw a blouse over the satin sleeveless dress she had hastily put on.
“Nonchalantly saying that, I was worried…”
“Huh? Worried? Huh?”
Hayden, who was about to say something, sighed when he saw Lu struggling after taking off the blouse and held up a fluffy and white blouse instead.
“Wave it like a victory flag.”
“Victory.”
The blouse with a ribbon that blocked her view was quickly removed. On the end of the gold ribbon that was unusually clean today, his face, which looked particularly clean, was revealed.
“Thank you.”
He hung the blouse over the armrest of the sofa to keep it from wrinkling.
“You can just leave it.”
“The person who taught me to tidy up around me neatly said that you should do it well so you can find and use it right away when you need it.”
“Wow, did I nag about that too?”
“Yes, you did. You said something about stumbling over clutter if the surroundings are messy.”
He gently stroked Lu’s exposed arm.
“After that, he left me alone until I finally fell, and after I fell, he taught me once more. He said, ‘Does it hurt? See, I fell.'”
A light smile lingered on Hayden’s lips as he spoke of old memories. Lu, looking at him, inspected the neatly folded blouse to make sure it didn’t crease. Folding and hanging it seemed to be the same as what she used to do. Little memories were embedded in such details.
“…I wish I remembered too.”
It’s a precious memory for both of them, and it’s sad when only one person remembers. Hayden looked at Lu, who seemed sincerely sorry, and smiled again.
He continued to smile in front of her. If she knew that he had been smiling like that since they met again, she wouldn’t need to look at him with such a sorry expression.
“Back then, I must have been annoyingly whining so much that it would have been better not to remember.”
“Why? Those are all precious memories!”
“A boy who enters adolescence and hates everything in the world is like a devil in human disguise, Lu.”
Hayden evaluated himself mercilessly at that time.
“I wasn’t that much of a devil. Besides, there… ”
Lu remembered the trash that beat and threw away the boy who had lost his family and was abandoned on the battlefield.
They had to be dealt with more harshly. Although she claimed not to remember, she remembered how they were dealt with. Since they were troublesome, she drew her sword and let them rush in, while Lu wielded only one sword. Then, they were beaten to death.
“It’s fortunate that I didn’t go crazy there.”
After neatly finishing the curse on her shoulder for a while, Lu softly touched Hayden’s arm, which gently swept away the pain.
“This should be fine without bending too much.”
“Lu took good care of me, so I grew up well. That’s why I’m good at night work too, huh!”
Lu pinched his arm, which he had been patting.
“Shh, quiet! What if someone hears!”
“No one’s around. Isn’t that the truth? I did my best that day, wasn’t I? If there was anything wrong, tell me. I’ll make up for it with effort.”
“Why do you think it was okay?”
Hayden, who was calmly settling and organizing her left shoulder curse to prevent it from jumping more, looked up.
Lu, with her clear eyes, was wearing a thin blue dress with thin shoulder straps, and the smooth satin wrapped around her body, revealing a soft and firm body line.
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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