Even three months after her confession, Lin remained as steadfast as ever.
He always took care of her from behind, without ever imposing his feelings on her.
It’s not that his silent devotion wasn’t burdensome, but she still wanted to at least bid him farewell in the end.
“…The war won’t last very long.”
Beli gently consoled her in a tender voice.
Marian quickly put on a brave tone and spoke as well.
“Don’t worry too much and wait for us. We will definitely bring victory…”
However, she couldn’t finish her sentence and flinched for a moment.
It dawned on her that the Holy Knights’ victory would mean the death of Ioan, the father of the child in her womb.
After learning of the pregnancy, they tried their best to treat Delphine as usual, but in the end, they couldn’t accept even Ioan’s child.
Marian and Beli moved their lips awkwardly with troubled expressions for a moment.
Towards them, Delphine smiled calmly and nodded.
“Go and come back safely, unharmed.”
This was her sincere wish, without any falsehood.
Marian grinned, ruffled Delphine’s hair, and turned around.
Beli also bowed his head and ran off towards the front.
“…”
Delphine stood on the platform and watched them disappear into the distance until the very end.
As soon as the two completely vanished from her sight, she slowly moved her steps down from the platform.
Everyone dispatched from the Holy Kingdom was too busy moving about to pay attention to her.
Taking advantage of that moment, Delphine very quietly entered the bushes near the plain.
When she rolled up her sleeves, a distinct magic formation engraved on her arm was revealed.
It was the instant teleportation magic formation that Lin had personally engraved for her to escape from the barrier.
Beli and Marian told her to stay put, but…
“I just can’t do that.”
Of course, she knew as well.
That there was no other way now.
That perhaps giving up on Ioan might be the path to happiness for herself and the child.
However…
‘Mother told me to walk in the direction my heart leads.’
That happiness would lie at the end of it.
The direction my heart is heading towards right now is where Ioan is.
She couldn’t leave Ioan to die alone in that empire he had no confidence in.
Delphine habitually stroked her belly and muttered inwardly.
I’m sorry, baby.
I’ve eaten well and rested well for the past three months, so please endure it just a little longer.
It was then, when she was about to infuse power into the teleportation magic formation.
Grab.
A large hand that popped out from somewhere grabbed her wrist.
Startled, Delphine turned her head and widened her eyes at the man in front of her.
“…Lin?”
With his lustrous black hair, he looked down at her with a calm expression and bowed.
“Are you going to him, that man?”
“H-How did you…”
When Delphine stammered in surprise, Lin chuckled and murmured in a low voice.
“How could I not know you?”
At those words, Delphine wriggled her hand with an awkward expression.
Lin quickly released her wrist and asked.
“What do you intend to do? Do you have a plan?”
“…”
Delphine bit her lower lip without answering.
Lin spoke with an expression as if he had expected this.
“I will go with…”
“No. I’m going alone.”
Delphine quickly interrupted him.
This was a matter between herself and Ioan. She couldn’t involve others.
Delphine stared intently at Lin with a resolute expression, her red hair fluttering.
After gazing down at her for a while, Lin abruptly turned his head and muttered indifferently.
“…It’s not like I’m particularly worried about you or anything.”
At that nonchalant answer, Delphine’s eyes wavered in bewilderment.
“Beli secured the position of deputy commander with that clever mind of his, and Marian became the general of the 1st unit with her monstrous strength.”
He added with a smirk.
“But there are plenty of mages in the Holy Knights. I have nothing to do in the rear, so I’m saying I’ll follow you.”
“Still…”
“You have aurum but can’t use magic, and I can use magic but don’t have aurum.”
Lin said with a relaxed face and a grin.
“Weren’t we quite good ‘partners’?”
Heh.
Delphine finally smiled with a tearful face.
If he went as far as to say partners with his own mouth, there was no way she could resist any longer.
“Let’s go. You also have the right to see the end of that empire.”
Lin followed her smile and spoke softly.
“I will show you that sight. That is the direction my heart is heading towards.”
[This is the timeline separator]It took exactly two weeks for the Holy Knights to cross the Antes Mountain Range.
Despite an army of one hundred thousand crossing the rugged mountain range, there were almost no casualties except for a few accidental deaths.
It was a remarkable feat that would have been impossible without the support of the powerful mage units gathered from across the continent.
And so they arrived at the peninsula beyond the Antes Mountain Range, long forgotten by the continental people.
“…Is this the place?”
The old general Basilis, who took on the role of supreme commander of the Holy Knights, muttered while glaring at the snowy plains beyond.
“I don’t see anything…”
“This is the right place.”
Then, Beli, who was standing next to him, advised with a resolute face.
“He’s right.”
Morgan, the head of the accompanying mage unit, also nodded with a solemn expression and murmured.
“I can clearly feel it. The flow of evil power residing beyond that snowy plain.”
“I heard that demonic empire has two layers of barriers. Should we prepare the artillery?”
“No. Ordinary physical attacks won’t work.”
Beli continued to advise the supreme commander with a cold face.
Among the commanders, he was the only one who knew about that unfamiliar, unknown empire.
“The barriers are protected by powerful defensive walls. We need to disable them first.”
“Hmm. Disable, you say.”
Then, the grand mage Morgan, who had been frowning and looking beyond the snowy plains, muttered.
“Wouldn’t it be faster to just smash through them?”
The grand mage closed his eyes and chanted a spell for quite a long time.
Before long, balls of blazing fire spewed out amidst the falling snow.
The balls of fire that flew towards the empty void suddenly collided with a transparent wall, creating a loud explosion.
Kwang!
Something that was dividing space shook with a huge sound at the impact.
“It worked!”
“There really was a defensive wall!”
“Keep attacking! Concentrate fire on one spot!”
A barrage of magic attacks rained down on the transparent defensive wall.
Watching that sight, Beli secretly trembled.
‘So magic could go this far…’
To make just a tiny hole in this defensive wall, Delphine had to charge a handful of posums while cutting into her own life force.
Lin had to chant spells for a long time while exhausting all those posums.
That defensive wall was being mercilessly shaken under the attacks of renowned mages gathered from the continent.
Bang! Kwang! Bang!
‘It’s working. Just a little more…’
Beli watched the transparent wall shaking under the pouring magic attacks with eyes filled with exultation.
And shortly after.
The defensive wall that had been vibrating as if to shake heaven and earth finally shattered with a tremendous sound.
At the same time, a gigantic barrier suddenly appeared on the endlessly stretching desolate snowy plains.
“It’s done! Ready the artillery, the artillery!”
“Mages, fall back to the rear again! Knights! Back to the front!”
Bang! Bang!
Huge carriages that Beli had never seen before, resembling artillery, continuously spewed fire.
The shells that flew from the long muzzles struck the center of the towering barrier.
The barrier that soared as if to touch the sky began to crumble.
It was the moment when the Astrax Empire, which had hidden its presence for three hundred years, finally revealed itself to the people of the continent.
“Holy Knights! Advance!”
The supreme commander shouted loudly, as if to shake heaven and earth, with a magically amplified voice.
“In the name of God!”
[This is the timeline separator]Delphine, who was hiding her body among the woods near the snowy plains with Lin’s magic, trembled.
In the distance, she could see the empire’s barrier crumbling.
‘So easily…’
Lin, who stood beside her, also had an expression unable to hide his astonishment.
“Impressive. …I really need to properly learn magic once this war is over.”
Then, glancing down at Delphine, he added.
“What should we do now? It’s impossible for you to go to that battlefield in your condition.”
They were standing at a distance from the vicinity of the barrier where the battle had begun.
Even so, the roar of the pouring artillery, the shouts of the commanders amplified by magic, and the screams of the soldiers deafened their ears.
“We, we’ll go to the city.”
Delphine answered, stuttering.
“Inside the central barrier. You know the coordinates, Lin.”
Ioan is there right now.
She couldn’t provide evidence, but she had that feeling.
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.]
