Eventually, the Female Lead Ran Away (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 1
The women sat in a row on chairs lining the corridor. Though all wore different clothes and bore different appearances, each held the same thing in their hands.
“The hiring notice…”
Deborah glanced once more at the hiring notice she’d read so many times she nearly had it memorized.
Five hundred crowns. An ordinary maid earned twenty crowns a month. Five hundred? Even renowned dressing maids among the nobility rarely received such an amount.
“Sigh…”
Deborah lifted her head and looked up at the ceiling. Even the ceiling of this mansion was extravagantly ornate. Neither of the two noble households she’d previously served had ceiling frescoes as lavish as this.
“They even gilded the moldings. To casually offer such wages, one must live in a house like this.”
Though she was currently waiting for her interview, Deborah honestly dreaded going through with it.
“I tried every way to avoid it… Sigh.”
She thought of Lady Saint, whom she currently served.
Kind and amusing Lady Saint—despite that gentle face, she had pushed Deborah into this nightmare.
“Of course, she probably didn’t realize this place was a death trap. She must have made the request in good faith, but I told her clearly how much I disliked it, yet she refused to yield.”
Had Deborah not owed Lady Saint a great debt, she would have fled halfway through. She truly wanted nothing to do with the Baker household.
But what could she do now? She had already arrived.
“Next candidate, please come in.”
A handsome young footman whose name she didn’t know called her, leaving her no choice but to enter the interview room.
“It’ll be fine.”
Although she found herself sitting for the interview, Deborah firmly believed she wouldn’t be selected.
She had good reason to think so. The waiting room was packed with applicants—each dressed in the latest fashion, sitting with perfect posture. With so much talent present, why would they choose her, plain and dull in her simple black dress?
“…Please hand me your resume and recommendation letter.”
Even the footman who took her documents eyed her attire strangely—and there was no way the prideful “Zen” would ever choose someone like her.
“No chance at all.”
She would do her utmost not to tarnish Lady Saint’s name, yet she remained convinced she wouldn’t get the position.
“That’s right, absolutely right…”
She repeated it like a mantra, trying to calm herself. Though her anxiety didn’t vanish entirely, neither did she break into a cold sweat.
“Please sit.”
Once the footman closed the door behind her, a voice came from beyond the partition—low, elegant, and youthful. At most, he couldn’t be older than his mid-twenties.
“Thank you.”
Deborah gave a light bow and sat on the lone chair placed in the center of the spacious room.
“Nice chair.”
While Deborah enjoyed the cushion’s softness, the footman handed her documents to the man behind the partition. As soon as the footman exited, the interviewer on the other side let out a dissatisfied sigh.
“What exactly is your relationship with your recommender?”
Deborah didn’t understand why he was suddenly irritated, but she wasn’t naive enough to be wounded by someone so openly short-tempered.
“I served at Lady Saint’s villa for about a year.”
“Lady Saint? Do you just call her that?”
His tone was unpleasantly sharp, as if intent on picking a fight. But Deborah focused more on his words than his attitude.
“Just call her that? Then what should one call a bourgeois lady?”
While it was proper to address someone with their title if they held one, the mistress of that modest villa—hardly fitting for nobility—had specifically asked to be called “Lady Saint.” Moreover, Deborah’s meticulously memorized list of noble families contained no “Saint” name.
“I simply did as the lady wished.”
“Ha! So you didn’t even know that the ‘Lady Saint’ you keep referring to is actually the Marchioness of Forea?”
Deborah’s hands, folded demurely in her lap, twitched.
“The Marchioness of Forea? Lady Saint?”
Though her mind spun, she answered calmly.
“I didn’t know. Is she truly the Marchioness of Forea?”
“Ha! Isn’t that exactly what you were told to say—‘I didn’t know’?”
The interviewer clearly found it hard to believe she genuinely hadn’t known. Faced with his pointed accusation that she must be pretending ignorance, Deborah steadied herself and replied.
“Yes. I truly didn’t know.”
“…Anyway, let’s move past this.”
The man fell silent, and the sound of water being swallowed echoed faintly. Soon after, the clink of a glass cup against the table followed.
Though the Baker name was only recently known, “Zen Baker” would one day command even the highest nobles—but surely such a man wouldn’t audibly sip water during an interview.
Then this person must be…
“A butler, perhaps?”
Just as Deborah tried to recall the butler’s name, the interviewer spoke again. She refocused on the interview.
“Ha! According to your resume, you’re quite impressive. You know four languages… Were you aiming to become a governess?”
“No.”
“I’ve heard most educated women set their sights on tutoring wealthy children.”
“I never attended school.”
“Then how did you learn all this?”
His tone dripped with mockery, but Deborah replied without so much as a flicker of her eyebrows.
“The first couple I served were Gemans, so I learned Geman. And Lady Saint, who took a liking to me, taught me many things.”
“Huh. You’re lucky. Someone who’s spent their whole life as a maid rarely gets such quality education.”
Despite his cutting tone, Deborah offered a serene smile.
“I consider myself fortunate as well.”
“Yes. But your luck runs out today. I’m not looking for a clever maid who speaks many languages—I need a maid with keen aesthetic sense, skilled in dressing.”
Deborah clenched her fist—not in anger, but in joy.
“Just as I thought—I’ll be dismissed easily.”
Though she felt sorry for Lady Saint, Deborah couldn’t help but be glad.
“Hmph.”
The interviewer sighed, tapping the recommender’s name with his finger.
“Still, out of respect for your recommender’s honor, I’ll ask a few more questions. Do you know the current list of nobles?”
“Yes.”
“You answer so quickly—you must be very confident. Despite not even knowing Lady Saint was the Marchioness of Forea.”
Deborah gave an awkward smile—she agreed with him. How could she not have known?
“What operas are currently showing in the capital?”
“At the Royal Theater, ‘Madame Sella’; at the Osell Grand Theater, ‘The Minstrel of Braum’; and at the Triumph Theater, ‘Frianne’s Wings,’ as far as I know.”
“…”
The man reviewed her resume again. She lived in Vermouth—a small, rustic seaside village in the east. How could someone from such a place know the capital’s opera schedule so precisely?
“…This much could be crammed with last-minute studying.”
He tapped his chin and asked, “Do you know the plot of ‘The Minstrel of Braum’?”
“I know it superficially.”
“Who’s the protagonist?”
“The fairy named Zan who lives in the minstrel’s old guitar.”
Frowning slightly, the man crossed his legs the other way and said, “Suppose Countess Barbara and Viscountess Cream each sent your mistress invitations to their banquets on the same day. Which party would you advise your lady to attend?”
“…”
Deborah had expected questions about operas—fashionable operas often influenced noblewomen’s styles—but this last question caught her off guard. Such matters were usually handled by butlers.
“Of course, it’s not impossible. Renowned dressing maids are well-versed in noble relationships.”
Her prolonged silence, unusual after her earlier smooth answers, made the interviewer’s beautiful lips curl into a lopsided smirk.
“Can’t answer?”
“Yes. It’s a bit difficult for me.”
“What’s so difficult about it?”
“I understand Countess Barbara and Viscountess Cream are close sisters. If both held banquets on the same day, perhaps they’re co-hosting a single event.”
The man’s arrogant smile vanished abruptly.
“She knows this much?”
Among all the women he’d interviewed, had anyone answered so precisely? At that moment, Lady Saint’s infuriating smile flashed in his mind, and he pressed his throbbing temple.
“What did you ride to get here?”
He spoke in Geman. Hearing the language after so long delighted Deborah, and she smiled faintly.
“The train. Oh, of course, I took a carriage to this mansion—the hotel where I’m staying is rather far to walk.”
Her casual, chatty Geman speech worsened the man’s headache.
“What kind of woman is this?”
He tapped his chin and addressed the figure faintly visible through the oiled paper partition.
“I’m curious—just who were those Geman nobles you served? How idle must they have been to teach their maid languages?”
He planned to snap at her if she claimed she’d self-taught to protect them—calling her ungrateful and lacking humility.
He needed to find fault; otherwise, he couldn’t possibly dismiss this woman, clearly a pawn of the Marchioness of Forea.
Deborah fell silent for a moment, carefully opening a long-sealed box of dusty memories. After sifting through them, she recalled Mrs. Heather’s bright smile and gave a bittersweet one of her own.
“…The Heathers were good people. Mrs. Heather, in particular, was cheerful and kind even to servants, so I made many fond memories—”
Crash!
The shattering of a glass behind the partition echoed through the room, followed immediately by a loud clatter as the table overturned. Deborah’s bittersweet smile vanished instantly.
“Good heavens!”
Hand pressed to her chest, Deborah only dared lift her head once the commotion had stilled.
Above the partition—taller than most grown men—appeared the face of a man with flawlessly pomaded golden hair. His features were so strikingly cold that even a master painter couldn’t fully capture his beauty.
“…”
His gaze wavered as if the ground beneath him had collapsed—a startlingly unbecoming expression on such a handsome face.
And as Deborah stared at him, she frantically searched for God in her heart.
“Why did You make us meet?”
She was certain.
This man.
This man was the protagonist of this damn story.
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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MANGA DISCUSSION
1 Comment
Chapter Comments (6)
Dang! That was the OG plot? Gurl, never blame OG female lead if she ran away.
He’s arrogant. Asked someone past like he didn’t care about the other person feelings
Her smile was as faint as a single drop of dye in a clear bottle of water.
I like the FL. She’s so calm and serene
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Blairwoods
The protagonist? Man, if i can talk 4 languages, i will be the protagonist 😂