Duke, This Will Sting for a Moment (30 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 1
Northern Justera Empire. Blindingly intense light and fierce winds raged over the high fortress of Colina Rosa.
– Boom! Crash!
Crimson light, brimming with scorching flames that seared the flesh, clashed dizzyingly atop the parapet with azure light imbued with cold sharper than ice and snow. The red force forcefully drove back the blue energy.
The punitive expedition’s knights and soldiers, who had retreated to the fortress’s flank, roared in thunderous cheers: “Wow!”
“Our Captain is winning right now, isn’t she? Of course! After all, Captain is the wielder of the holy sword Flama!”
Nicon Nivera, an elite knight of the Imperial Guard, pressed his throbbing thigh and turned toward Deputy Captain Aaron Phioni.
The holy sword Flama—the Blade of Fire that purifies and incinerates all that is wicked and corrupt! Not a single member of the Imperial Guard was unaware of the sword’s formidable power in their Captain’s hands.
“Have you forgotten that your opponent is also a holy sword’s wielder?”
Aaron spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and looked up toward the edge of the parapet.
How could he forget? They’d campaigned together in countless battles, large and small. They’d witnessed firsthand just how powerful the Grand Duke of the North was—and the terrifying might of his holy sword Ielo, known as the Sword of Ice.
Yet never before had the Blade of Fire and the Sword of Ice clashed, so they’d never had the chance to determine which was truly stronger.
– Ka-boom! Ka-crash!
Nicon’s pupils trembled as he stared up at the fortress.
With an ear-splitting detonation, surging azure light violently shoved back the fiercely burning crimson glow.
“Wow!!”
The battle cry of the northern soldiers—who had rushed to retake Colina Rosa from the punitive force—tore through the air.
Soldiers from both sides stood far from the fortress where their commanders dueled, roaring hoarsely as if coughing up blood.
The holy swords, guardians of the continent, wielded overwhelming power. As their blades clashed, the ancient stone walls of the fortress began crumbling—melting from fire, shattering from ice—unable to withstand the shockwaves.
Fierce gales lashed the surrounding trees until they bent nearly double, threatening to snap. Military horses, terrified by hailstones and flying sparks, bolted in every direction.
.
.
At the very edge of the fortress parapet.
“Damn it. Almost got myself killed.”
The black-armored knight, who’d nearly fallen off the parapet, adjusted his helmet and cursed.
“Stop exaggerating. Do you even know how many of my people you’ve slaughtered? Your pitiful death wouldn’t repay even a fraction of it, Solace?”
“Hey, Frost. Clearly, you don’t realize—I’ve been holding back until now.”
“I know.”
Frost ripped off his silver helmet—chipped where Flama’s blade had barely grazed it—and tossed it aside. Beneath it was revealed a face of stunning, noble beauty that seemed oddly mismatched with his god-of-war-like physique.
“You’re not holding back for my sake—you’re just anxious.”
Frost swept his short, silvery hair back from his forehead with one hand, fixing Solace with piercing eyes as deep and blue as the Northern Sea.
“What…?”
“Could it be you’ve been deceived by the Emperor? Are you afraid you’ve spilled innocent blood? That you’re uneasy and terrified?”
Solace snorted derisively, breathing heavily.
“I’ve captured the rebels here and obtained testimony proving you conspired treason by using corrupt black mages as your agents.”
“If I were truly tainted by black magic, Flama’s spirit would’ve already burst forth to tear and incinerate my body and soul for purification. Isn’t that precisely why you suspect the testimony might be false?”
Solace’s black armor twitched, as if struck right at the heart.
If the black mages’ testimony were true, Flama’s spirit—the phoenix—should’ve appeared long ago.
The moment that colossal phoenix, large enough to engulf the entire fortress, spread its crimson wings, Frost Eelheim would’ve vanished without a trace in purifying flames—even as wielder of another holy sword, Ielo, he’d be no exception.
But the phoenix never appeared.
Despite its master’s repeated summons, the phoenix remained silent. Why…?
Solace’s confusion was shattered as Ielo’s icy blade surged toward him.
Reacting instinctively, Solace leapt upward to evade, twisting midair. He caught sight of his subordinates shouting from beyond the hill.
The grueling march northward, the skin-lacerating cold, the wounded soldiers from repeated battles, and corpses of comrades who’d perished far from home, unmourned, forming rivers of blood…
‘Thoughts later.’
Solace gripped Flama tightly and swung it with all his might.
“Save your nonsense for the Emperor’s face!”
He would capture that man alive, without fail—and extract a clear, self-incriminating confession to resolve this gnawing unease.
He was the leader of the rebels; the punitive force had done the right thing.
Again, the two holy swords clashed violently.
Their skills appeared evenly matched, but Solace’s wavering resolve created an opening. Without hesitation, Frost thrust his blade into that gap.
Yet the next moment, Frost froze completely, unable to move.
Solace had yanked off his black helmet, revealing fiery red hair cascading down to his waist, shimmering like molten flame.
Skin pale as porcelain. Lips, crimson and vivid, pressed together in dismay.
His wide eyes—startled even more than Frost’s—were a brilliant emerald green, like summer leaves. Beneath his fair, unblemished forehead, his straight eyebrows furrowed sharply.
Frost remained motionless, unable to tear his gaze from Solace.
“You… were a woman?”
Solace seized the fleeting opening Frost had revealed.
Flama blazed with brilliant crimson light, slashing diagonally across Frost’s silver armor. And the moment Flama touched Frost’s blood…
“What in the world…!”
A gasp of horror spilled from Solace’s bloodstained lips.
The crimson aura coiling around Flama’s blade began darkening, turning pitch-black! Then, with an explosive burst, black magical energy erupted from the blade.
Frost’s silver armor, torn by Flama’s fire, shattered and melted away. Where the black magic touched, his wounds boiled and dissolved.
Solace stared dazedly as blood welled from Frost’s agonized wounds, staining his silver armor a deep, ugly red.
“This isn’t right. Something’s wrong… This can’t be…”
Solace’s expression crumbled as he murmured, dazed and hollow.
From the Blade of Fire—its sacred flames extinguished—endless black smoke now poured forth.
*
Winter, Imperial Year 470.
The Emperor’s punitive expedition, sent north to eradicate hidden rebels, returned to the capital.
And before Solace Moretti, Captain of the Imperial Guard, could even enter the Imperial City, she was arrested by the Emperor’s royal guard.
The charge: treason!
Yet people whispered quietly behind closed doors.
The real crime, they suspected, was forfeiting the perfect chance to eliminate the Grand Duke of the North and turning the army around without the Emperor’s permission.
They also believed the sudden corruption of the holy sword Flama into a demonic blade was why the Emperor abandoned Solace Moretti—his prized right hand and pride.
After all, the Emperor was no benevolent master who kept loyal dogs past their usefulness.
When news spread that Solace Moretti had been imprisoned in the Imperial Palace’s underground dungeon, even the most industrious tongues—who’d once speculated she was the Emperor’s lover—stopped spreading such impious rumors.
The Emperor of Justera had always dealt with political enemies who stood in his way in two ways.
One: assassination by his secret guard, known as the Shadows.
The other: secretly imprisoning them in the palace’s underground dungeon, where they’d be tortured until death.
Surely, Solace Moretti was already on her knees, begging the Emperor to just end her life.
That’s what everyone thought.
*
“Solace. Just say one word. Just say ‘yes.’ Please, stay by my side—become my Empress.”
The handsome young man with lustrous golden hair pressed his forehead to Solace’s hand and pleaded.
“Will you really kill my subordinates—those who risked their lives to obey Your Majesty’s orders?”
Solace, limbs bound to a chair, gritted her teeth and asked the Emperor.
“Someone must bear responsibility for the northern campaign.”
“Your Majesty!”
“It’s your fault, Solace. Had you taken the Grand Duke’s head, we could’ve branded him a traitor. But now the southern nobles have risen like a pack of dogs, insisting we leave him alone. Even the west has allied with the Mage Tower to intimidate me.”
“…So the Grand Duke never touched black magic. Instead, Flama… turned into a demonic blade and struck him. The treason was fabricated, wasn’t it?”
“No one in this world is truly innocent. If the Emperor declares someone guilty, guilty they are—even if they aren’t.”
“…So you made me spill innocent blood… just to kill the Grand Duke?”
“Does that matter now, Solace? If you don’t do as I say, you’ll be executed alongside your men, branded traitors.”
“…Did Frost—did the Grand Duke survive?”
“To hell with the Grand Duke! Solace Moretti! I’m proposing to you right now! The Emperor of the Empire is offering you the most exalted position imaginable!”
Solace stared indifferently at the Emperor’s beautiful eyes—lovelier than sapphires—now glowing with intense heat.
“Do I… look like a woman to you?”
Cold mockery seeped from her bloodstained lips.
“Didn’t you command me to live as your loyal knight, not as a woman?”
“That’s…! If I’d asked you to stay by my side as a woman, you’d have refused—and the Imperial Guard would never have accepted it.”
The Emperor looked up at Solace and offered a sweet, seductive smile.
“I plan to execute one death-row prisoner in your place. That way, Solace Moretti will vanish from this world forever. I’ll give you a new identity and announce you as my fiancée. Since everyone believes the Imperial Guard Captain is male, no one will suspect a thing.”
“Justin.”
At Solace’s utterance, a blush spread across the Emperor’s milk-white cheeks. His slightly upturned lips gave him a boyish, fresh-faced look.
“What’s this? You’ve never used my name, even after I gave you permission.”
“A knight can’t disrespectfully call their sovereign by name—but someone bitten by a mad dog can call them by name, curse at them, and even strike them.”
“What…?”
“Justin Della Ponti, you son of a bitch!”
Still bound, Solace kicked the Emperor’s jaw with her knee and rolled backward with her chair.
Before the toppled Emperor could rise, Solace freed herself from the ropes and delivered a powerful kick to his chest.
“You say I’m guilty if you declare me so? So you made me slaughter innocent people with my own hands!”
The Emperor’s Shadows reacted too slowly—by the time they burst forth, Solace had already been subdued, her limbs twisted and pinned, while the Emperor was pulled upright.
“Are you so terrified of Frost? Did you think killing him would make you a great Emperor?”
“Shut your mouth, Solace!”
The Emperor wiped his split lip with the back of his hand, his eyes burning with icy fury.
“You want me to be your Empress? I’ve heard every piece of absurd filth in my life! I’d sooner be Frost’s footstool—that’d be a greater honor!”
Above Solace, pinned to the rough stone floor, the Emperor’s sword—its hilt studded with red diamonds—swung down hard.
*
‘Unbelievable…’
I stood motionless, gazing up at “me,” hanging from the Imperial Palace’s outer wall.
My head and body—clad in black helmet and armor—were separated, swaying slightly as they reflected the cold sunlight.
Beside my corpse, the still-warm bodies of my subordinates were hoisted up one by one.
My eyes burned, but no tears fell.
Apparently, souls can’t weep. Even the lingering chill at my severed throat must be an illusion.
Onlookers spat toward my hanging subordinates.
“Damn traitors! Knights of the Imperial Guard, conspiring treason?”
“They colluded with black mages—that’s why the holy sword Flama turned demonic!”
Inside, I bled tears of blood, and my knees buckled.
Anyone, please.
‘Please, turn back time.’
Turn back time so I wouldn’t place the innocent at the vanguard of the northern punitive expedition.
So the Empire’s finest knights—proud and honorable—wouldn’t meet a horrific, scorned death under false accusations of treason.
So I wouldn’t butcher good people, deceived by filthy tricks.
I prayed desperately.
‘Please, give me another chance… so I can set everything right, and not a single drop of unjust blood will fall upon this land.’
Suddenly, a brilliant green light erupted, and a furious gale swept over me—I lost consciousness.
And then… I opened my eyes to gentle hands shaking my body and an anxious voice calling out.
“Yuriella! Yuriella!”
The gods hadn’t answered my prayer to turn back time.
“Oh, thank you, Goddess! Truly, thank you!”
It seemed another’s desperate plea—a father’s—had been heard instead.
A man smelling of herbs embraced me tightly.
“You’re alive! You’re alive, my child!”
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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Hahahaha!!! She is so funny!!!!!! How she changed so much!
I love how she realized she loved him from the begining. But I die seeing him jealous of himself.
Awww