Right!
Belladonna exclaimed in her heart.
“Although there are some areas that need repair since it hasn’t been used since it was bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor, it seems there won’t be much inconvenience for you to live here for about two months. If we prepare diligently, we should be able to leave within three days.”
“…”
“I will order the maids, including Cindy, to prepare the items you need. A brief description of Sirlenia is written on the paper I just gave you, so please read it and let me know if you have any questions.”
Belladonna nodded with a satisfied smile.
With this, she was set to leave Gribblata for Sirlenia in the south.
While feeling relieved that things were going according to plan, the thought of leaving this place in a few days, perhaps never to return, made her feel sad about leaving behind the good people.
Wolf wouldn’t be going to Sirlenia with her, would he? He’d stay in Gribblata.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have been more helpful with the household…’
She looked at him with regretful eyes.
Whether or not Wolf understood her feelings, he pushed up his gleaming glasses and continued speaking.
“If you have no objections, I’ll arrange for us to move at the earliest possible date. I’ll select suitable maids and prepare the carriages.”
Belladonna nodded slowly.
That evening, after taking a hot bath, Belladonna sat leaning against her bed and met eyes with Escalion, who was staring straight at her.
He acts like this is his room, doesn’t he?
Snorting inwardly, she sat at her dressing table with Cindy’s help.
Cindy, who was overly conscious of Escalion, who had his upper body almost completely exposed, revealing his sculpted torso despite the cold, slowly opened her mouth.
“My lady, then shall I dry your hair… for you…?”
“I’ll do it.”
At that moment, he who had been staring at them intently, raised his upper body and blurted out.
“What?”
“I said I’ll do it. How should I do it?”
Escalion, who had somehow approached Cindy’s side, snatched the towel she was holding and asked.
Flustered, Cindy looked back and forth between the lord standing next to her and the lady sitting in front of her.
When Belladonna smiled through the mirror to indicate it was okay, Cindy, coming to her senses, pointed at her hair and said:
“You should press firmly from the ends of the hair to squeeze out the moisture. Then you can shake it out like this…”
“Let me try.”
Escalion took his position in earnest and grasped the ends of her hair with the white towel.
Ouch!
At the sudden tremendous force pulling her hair, Belladonna’s head jerked backwards.
“Ah! You shouldn’t do it that hard! Gently like this… Like this…”
Startled, Cindy reached out to return Belladonna’s tilted head to its original position.
She timidly grasped the end of the towel Escalion was holding and demonstrated.
Thank you, Cindy…
Feeling grateful to Cindy for her efforts, Belladonna turned her gaze to the mirror in front of her.
Through the mirror, she could see Escalion listening to Cindy’s explanation with a serious expression, his brow furrowed.
“I still don’t know how much force to use.”
Escalion muttered and began to gently squeeze the moisture from her hair.
He focused all his attention as if handling a very small and fragile chick in the palm of his hand.
“Yes! That’s how you should do it.”
“You can go now.”
As Cindy exclaimed in a voice that sounded much more relieved than before, Escalion bluntly said.
“What?”
“I’ll do the rest, so you can go now.”
“But still…”
Cindy seemed to find Escalion quite untrustworthy.
She looked down at the back of Belladonna’s head with worried eyes, then reluctantly took her leave.
“My lady… I’ll be going then…?”
Yes… Belladonna nodded with a half-resigned face.
Cindy, still seemingly uneasy, kept looking back as she left the room and firmly closed the door.
“…”
“…”
As she disappeared, an awkward silence suddenly descended upon the room.
Feeling strange in this unusual atmosphere, Belladonna carefully observed him through the mirror.
I mean, I understand myself, but why is this man suddenly so quiet?
Escalion silently squeezed the moisture from her hair, then gently shook it out as Cindy had shown him, then squeezed again, repeating the process.
I think that’s enough…
When Belladonna raised her hand to stop his arm, Escalion dropped the towel he was holding onto the floor.
“Shall we go to bed?”
I suppose we should if we’re going to sleep?
Belladonna got up without hesitation and walked to the bed.
She lifted the covers and got in as usual, taking a comfortable position, but Escalion didn’t come to her side.
Puzzled, she turned her head to look at Escalion standing in front of the bed, and he, looking uncharacteristically anxious, opened his mouth.
“Are you feeling alright today?”
Well, today is… Belladonna nodded nonchalantly.
Escalion, who had been looking at her with lowered eyes, hesitated for a moment, then spoke as if he had made up his mind.
“Then tomorrow morning… I’d like us to exchange rings.”
R…ings…?
It took quite some time for the word that entered her ears to reach her brain.
Soon, as Belladonna realized what his words meant, her face turned bright red.
“Is that okay?”
Escalion asked again.
Belladonna, unable to move at all, blinked her wide-open eyes while frozen stiff.
‘Wh…what should I do?’
She never dreamed he would suddenly demand their wedding night like this.
No, she knew that something like this might happen someday, but it would be more accurate to say that she had been too complacent until now.
She had been sleeping in the same bed with him almost every night.
No matter how patient a husband he was, he couldn’t postpone the wedding night any longer than this.
‘Wh-what excuse should I make?’
Belladonna quickly racked her brain.
Poor condition? She had already said she was fine… Sudden stomach pain? Menstruation? Or should she just run out of the room right now?
“Are you surprised?”
At the sudden low voice hitting her ears, Belladonna raised her head as if waking from sleep.
Escalion, who had been staring at her looking up at him, raised one hand to cover his eyes. Behind his covered hand, his reddened ears were visible.
“Damn… If you don’t want to do it, I won’t force you. So don’t make that expression…”
Expression?
Belladonna looked up at him, still with a troubled heart.
She felt a mix of various emotions – surprise, embarrassment, awkwardness, shyness, guilt – and it was clear that these feelings were reflected on her face.
“I was anxious.”
He said, still covering his eyes.
“My wife is about to leave for the south to spend the winter in a townhouse there, but I don’t think I’ll be able to go with her. That means we’ll have to live apart for at least two months, right?”
“…”
“Thinking about not seeing you for two months… Damn, but I think I was too hasty.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t understand his feelings.
No, rather, knowing his feelings made her feel sorry for postponing their wedding night and leaving to prepare for divorce.
The Pope’s sinister voice echoed in her ears.
Belladonna frowned, feeling a subtle nausea creeping in.
Just then, Escalion lowered his hand from his face and checked her expression.
Seeing Belladonna’s deeply furrowed face, he exhaled with a bitter taste.
A perfect rejection.
“Just pretend you didn’t hear it.”
Escalion turned away.
“Go to sleep first.”
Ah, that’s not it…
Belladonna watched his retreating back helplessly, not knowing what to do.
The Pope’s voice kept ringing in her head.
I don’t want to… I really don’t want this… Becoming the same kind of person as him…
At that moment, something welled up and burst inside Belladonna.
It was something she had suppressed and suppressed again while living the life of a saint unknowingly for the past year.
‘…I don’t want to do what the Pope says! I don’t want to go back to Astanya like this!’
“Should I, turn off the light?”
Escalion, standing in front of the door, asked, pointing to the lamp with his chin. Belladonna immediately shook her head.
Even that head shake of hers felt like a rejection towards him.
Escalion felt a bitter taste lingering in his mouth as he grabbed the doorknob and turned it.
At that moment, he heard something rushing towards him from behind.
Instinctively turning his head, he saw Belladonna, who had been lying in bed, getting up and running towards him.
“What is this…”
Escalion stretched out both arms to catch her.
If he didn’t, she seemed likely to trip and fall at any moment, clumsily running towards him.
Belladonna rushed straight into his chest.
She couldn’t control her speed, but he caught her in time, preventing her from burying her nose in his hard chest.
“What’s wrong?”
His confused voice was heard. Belladonna shook her head, her face buried in his chest as she clung to him.
From above, a low sigh fell.
“Alright, I understand. I told you we won’t do it if you don’t want to.”
Belladonna looked up at him.
Even she couldn’t define what this emotion bursting inside her was.
It could have been defiance against the Pope, or perhaps something like free will that she was experiencing for the first time in her life.
It could also have been the excitement or anticipation she had been unconsciously feeling towards him all along, or it could have just been a natural instinct.
Misinterpreting Belladonna’s pitiful gaze, Escalion gently detached her and said:
“I’m not angry. I just need to clear my messy head a bit. Go to sleep first, I’ll be back soon…”
Belladonna reached out to grip his shoulders and stood on her tiptoes.
With clumsy movements, she pressed her lips against his.
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.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
