Diana was dragged into a cave located in the middle of a cliff. They locked her in an iron cage and provided her with meals and water twice a day.
“Eat.”
“……”
“You really eat as little as a bird.”
“……”
“Are you planning to starve yourself to death?”
That was not the case. They were the ones eating too much.
Diana shook her head with a disheveled face. Then she pointed to the pouch the man had brought.
“These are confiscated items. I can’t return them to you.”
“……”
“A notebook? You want a notebook?”
“……”
Yes! Give it to me! I’m about to go crazy from not talking too! Even Diana, who usually spoke little, found the two days of silence suffocating.
She wondered where that commander was, roaming around without even interrogating her.
‘I can’t be locked up forever!’
In half a month, the red moon would rise, yet she was still imprisoned.
Diana put down the food she was eating and stood close to the confiscated items. Please, let’s talk! As Diana pushed her face forward, the man was startled and stepped back.
“……”
“You can’t have it even if you stare at me like that. A pen is more dangerous than you think.”
“……”
“What do you really want to say?”
Finally, on the second night, Diana was able to get back her pen and paper.
It was more to relieve the man’s frustration than for Diana’s sake.
“How did you lose your voice?”
It was taken from me. I don’t want to go into details. It’s too painful a memory.
“Was it done by another human?”
Yes.
“It must have been tough.”
When is the commander coming? It’s suffocating to stay in this iron cage.
“He’ll be here soon. I can’t tell you the exact time as it’s confidential.”
Everything is confidential. You’re rebels, right?
“Yes. This can’t be hidden even if we try. It can be inferred just from the fact that we’re Joins.”
I don’t dislike rebels. Even though you’re human.
“We don’t reject all humans either, so don’t worry. Our commander is human too.”
The commander is human? Diana stared at the Join man with anxious eyes.
It can’t be. There’s more than one commander.
But bad premonitions were never wrong.
The next morning, the person who woke her up was not the Join man.
“You found this at the cliff?”
“Yes. We saved her when she was trying to take her own life.”
“Raise your head and show your face.”
Diana shook her head, lying flat on the floor.
Why did it have to be you out of all the commanders!
If she raised her head now, there was a fifty percent chance of being discovered.
Diana buried her forehead on the floor and agonized. Would Trian kill me if he saw my face? Would he think I’m a spy and hand me over to his superiors?
Her heart pounded.
“I said, raise your head.”
In the end, she made him angry. Diana had no choice but to lift her face halfway. Trian’s gaze clung heavily to the gradually revealing facial features.
It was a sharp gaze like a hawk eyeing its prey.
“…What’s your name?”
Diana wrote her name on the notebook in front of her.
“Lee Baek-hwa?”
Nod nod. Diana scribbled any three-letter name and nodded.
“Baek-hwa. Is that really your name?”
“……”
“I asked if that’s really your name.”
Diana answered again with a nod.
What, does he really not recognize me?
Well, it had been seven years since they last met.
If three more years passed, even mountains and rivers would change, so it was natural for a man and woman who met in their teens not to remember each other.
Trian was the male lead of the original work, so he was unforgettably handsome, while Diana had nothing outstanding about her appearance except for her hair color.
Moreover, even her facial features and aura had completely changed, so it was understandable to be mistaken.
Diana herself thought she had a totally different vibe from her childhood.
As she bowed her head halfway and glanced around nervously, the lock turned and the iron cage door opened.
“Come here.”
The Join man pulled Diana’s arm and stood her straight in front of Trian.
The gaze observing her face felt hotter than the midday sun. Diana felt like she was being attacked by his crimson eyes.
“You look too much like someone I know.”
“……”
“But that woman isn’t someone who would be in a place like this.”
Somehow his voice sounded lonely. Was it her imagination?
Trian pulled his face close, then stepped back and ordered the Join man.
“You take charge of monitoring this one. We can’t fully trust her yet.”
“Yes. I understand.”
The man pushed Diana onto a pile of feathers.
“This will be your spot from now on.”
His touch was rough, but it was a thoughtful sleeping arrangement in its own way.
Was he pitying her for narrowly escaping death?
Diana engaged the man in written conversation through the notebook.
Are you accepting me as a rebel?
“Didn’t you come here to die?”
I tried to die because I had no way out. Now that I’ve survived, I’ve changed my mind.
“It’s admirable that you’ve decided not to die.”
The man, who gathered the feathers to make the bedding fluffy, answered rather kindly.
“If you want to become a rebel, that’s a good idea. I understand your desire to leave this world, but now is a time when even a human twig like you can be of help.”
He seemed to have no hostility towards humans, which was truly fortunate. It was all thanks to the male lead.
The sound of Trian taking off his armor could be heard. It was not far from where Diana was.
When she woke up again, it was morning.
The surroundings were chaotic.
Diana only roughly wiped the sleep from her eyes and blankly stared at the Join men packing their belongings.
“Ah, you’re awake. You should also start preparing to leave.”
It was the man from yesterday. He tossed back the confiscated pouch and tidied up the spot.
With a light flap of his wings, the pile of feathers she had been lying on instantly flew out of the cave.
What a shame.
Diana asked as she put on the pouch.
Where are we going?
The man answered while strapping on his bare shoulder blades.
“We’re going to carry out a joint operation with the rebels gathered nearby. Since you’re still new, just go say hello and help with chores.”
Diana shivered from the cold, and another Join man snickered.
Rather than mocking, he seemed to be genuinely amazed and laughing.
“Will it be okay? Shivering like this? This one is a complete newbie.”
“…We can’t leave her here alone. She’ll be isolated if no one comes back. I’m worried too, but there’s no other way.”
“Hey, did you hear that? We’re going to a really scary place. It’s a territory infested with monsters. It’s almost completely devastated.”
Hmm, you think I’m afraid of monsters? Diana was a saint, despite her appearance.
She found them as disgusting as bugs, but she wasn’t afraid they would harm her. But what could she do? She had to react.
I’ve never seen monsters up close. I wish I could be of help too.
The cocky man buried his head in front of the notebook and narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah, right. You’ll see people from other units too, so don’t tarnish our commander’s reputation and stay far away.”
Diana turned her gaze towards the male lead.
Unlike the half-naked muscular men, his neat attire was befitting of an imperial descendant.
He’s changed a lot too.
He still exuded a noble aura, but he didn’t look like the boy Diana had saved in their childhood.
His rebellious impression remained, but he had a heavier atmosphere.
He had such a strong presence that an ordinary person wouldn’t dare approach him casually.
There was no awkwardness at all as he led the Join warriors with rock-solid muscles.
As expected of the male lead.
As she was busy observing the original male lead she hadn’t seen in a long time, Trian turned his head towards Diana.
Trian, who was checking the military supplies needed for the joint operation, froze like ice upon seeing Diana.
Like a fish stuck on a spear.
Why is he acting like that?
After glaring at her for a long time, Trian only ruffled his hair irritably after the soldiers called him three times.
And not long after, he strode over to Diana.
“You.”
“……”
“You said your name was Lee Baek-hwa?”
“……”
“You’re moving with me.”
With you? Why…? As Diana just stared blankly, his straight eyebrows wriggled like caterpillars.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I just don’t want to dump the burden on my subordinates.”
“I can watch over her.”
“No need. Focus on organizing the ranks. I’ll take this one with me.”
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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