The fiercely burning flames consumed the manor’s halls without a moment’s hesitation.
Though not quite the dominant force in the region, the Baek family estate, with its own traditions, was quite substantial in size. Perhaps due to having so much to burn, the flames showed no signs of dying down.
Strangely, however, no screams could be heard. This was because everyone inside the manor was already dead.
The villagers where the estate was located, not wanting to get involved in such inexplicable and dangerous events, did not come out to look. And so, in the eerie and uncomfortable silence of the night, the Baek family faced extinction.
…With only a single survivor remaining.
* * *
At the edge of the forest outside the village.
Crouched behind the bushes, Baek Yeoeun, a girl of about 10 years old, suddenly tried to recall when the screams had stopped.
‘Two hours? Maybe half a watch has passed?’
With her sense of time blurred, she couldn’t judge exactly how long it had been. But one thing was clear – it was cold.
It was spring, but the temperature in the middle of the night was still chilly. She hadn’t noticed while frantically fleeing, but after hiding motionless for so long, that fact became overwhelmingly apparent.
Her body, wracked by tension, fear, and cold, began to tremble. Yeoeun curled her cold fingertips into fists and lowered her head.
‘They must have noticed I escaped outside by now, right? Are they looking for me?’
And if they find me, will I be killed too?
Along with questions directed at no one in particular, tears fell, wetting the cold ground.
“Why…”
It had always been a lonely life. No one among her family members had given Yeoeun proper affection.
But even so, that manor still burning in the distance was where Yeoeun was born and raised. Though it was a place where she suffered from loneliness, it was also a place that protected her from the outside world. She had lived there for over ten years.
But now, that place was erased from the world.
Though they weren’t close, her blood relatives and all the household members must have died.
So in Yeoeun’s small world, there was nowhere left to ask for help.
‘I’m scared.’
Fearing her crying might give away her location, Yeoeun gritted her teeth. But in one corner of her mind, there was a whisper that it might be easier to be found and killed.
Yeoeun didn’t even know why her family had been exterminated.
This sudden misfortune was truly like a disaster for a young child who knew nothing.
‘What should I do now? How should I…’
It was at that moment.
Yeoeun suddenly sensed an unknown presence rapidly approaching through the bushes. It was a presence that seemed to have no intention of hiding in the first place.
In the instant she held her breath in fear, the owner of the presence revealed themselves.
“…Ah.”
The ones who had burned down the manor and killed people were all dressed in black, with their faces covered by black cloth.
However, the one who entered the child’s view was the complete opposite.
White clothes.
The face was clearly visible.
More than anything else, what held the hair in place looked like a Taoist crown.
That was all she could recognize, but there was nothing to hold onto in this situation anyway. Staying hidden like this wouldn’t solve anything, so wouldn’t it be right to take a gamble of sorts?
The child stood up on trembling legs.
And then…
* * *
“…Huh.”
I quickly opened my eyes.
Without time to assess the situation, I bolted upright, but a wave of dizziness made my body tilt to the side for a moment.
“No, ah.”
In the end, I lay back down and took several deep breaths until the dizziness subsided. Fortunately, the vertigo soon passed, and with it, the drowsiness gradually dispersed.
As soon as it became more bearable, questions immediately filled my mind.
‘What is this…?’
I blinked in bewilderment. My vision slowly returned to normal, and my surroundings became a bit clearer.
An unfamiliar room.
‘I think I was watching something burning from afar.’
…Was it a dream?
It was a dream.
Realizing this fact brought a slight sense of relief. For some reason, I had felt quite desperate in the dream. Come to think of it, my hands were still shaking a bit. I clenched my fists tightly to suppress the trembling.
Still, since I couldn’t remember the details clearly, it was probably just a meaningless nightmare like most common dreams. The kind where all sorts of bad memories sleeping deep in the unconscious mix together and unfold.
More importantly, the question of where I was now seemed more pressing.
I slowly retraced my last memories in reality, rather than the nightmare I had just before waking up.
‘Right, I’m sure… I was hit by a truck.’
Unlike the dream, I remembered this without missing a single detail.
I was on my way home after finishing my part-time job. As I was crossing a deserted crosswalk, I spotted a truck speeding towards me, ignoring the traffic light, and my body froze.
Unable to dodge, I collided with it and was thrown into the air, then fell to the ground and looked up at the sky – that memory remained vivid in my mind.
‘How did I not die?’
If that’s the case, where I’ve opened my eyes now should logically be a hospital.
‘…But.’
I rolled my eyes to carefully examine the room I was lying in. White paper-covered walls, windows made with wooden frames and covered with rice paper, small items like tea tables and drawers came into view.
Overall, it was a clean and decent room, but separately from that, everything looked far removed from modern medicine. Even the air I sensed with my nose didn’t have any smell of disinfectant mixed in.
‘What kind of place is this?’
As I was getting up again in confusion, I suddenly froze.
Earlier, I was startled by the nightmare and hadn’t fully grasped the situation, so I didn’t realize…
For some reason, my body moved perfectly well as I wished.
Despite being hit by such a huge truck, and even clearly hearing the sound of some unknown bone breaking as I fell to the ground. With a puzzled feeling, I looked down at my body and realized a strange fact.
‘…It’s small?’
The body was small.
“Huh?”
The hand I looked down at in bewilderment was that of a young child, barely about 10 years old. The hand I remembered should have been about one and a half joints larger than this, but no matter how much I rubbed my eyes, the size of the hand I saw didn’t change.
“No, what is this…”
Modern medicine couldn’t have advanced this far, could it? As I was frozen in incomprehension, just staring down at my hand, it happened.
Creak.
The closed door opened suddenly without any sign of presence. I managed to turn my head, still frozen, to look at the doorway. A large man dressed in black clothes was striding into the room.
“You’re awake.”
His appearance was Asian, but the language was unfamiliar. The pronunciation was strange. However, for some reason, I could understand the meaning of the words.
Only after realizing this fact did I belatedly become aware that even the muttering I had just done to myself wasn’t in Korean.
“Uh…”
While I couldn’t hide my bewilderment, the man in black clothes approached and sat down in the chair next to the bed.
Despite his very large build, there was no sound of footsteps at all, and even the simple act of sitting in the chair was without any unnecessary movement.
Seen up close, he appeared to be a handsome man in his mid-thirties with a stern and intimidating impression.
His long hair was tied back in a single braid, and the black clothes he wore were in the style of martial arts uniforms that might appear in a wuxia novel. Looking closely, I noticed a few red flowers delicately embroidered on the collar.
After a brief observation, our eyes met. I was too nervous to look away and remained silent. However, for some reason, the other party was also silent.
He seemed as if he didn’t know what to say.
After a moment of silence, he spoke first, hesitating slightly.
“Are you alright?”
I had no idea what exactly that question was about.
If I had to answer that question, there was no way anything could be alright in this situation.
Starting with waking up in a strange place that wasn’t a hospital after being hit by a car, then realizing my body didn’t seem to be the one I remembered, and now a stranger suddenly entering and asking if I was alright without even a subject.
Moreover, throughout this entire process, the language being used had a pronunciation I’d never heard before, yet I could understand it perfectly and was even using it naturally without intending to.
‘…Isn’t this what they call possession?’
It was a thought that suddenly occurred to me.
Come to think of it, I had encountered such stories in various ways several times before. It was a common theme.
‘Possession.’
If I gave up on realism, it was quite a plausible word. But there are other things to give up on, how could a situation that seemed only possible in fiction be real?
‘But is this really reality?’
At this point, it felt like my head wasn’t working properly. I suddenly wondered if this might be a dream.
‘I don’t know.’
So I just… opened my mouth with a feeling of whatever will be, will be.
“Excuse me.”
“Speak.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you…?”
The already awkward atmosphere in the room instantly turned chilly.
I began to feel a little regretful.
* * *
The man in black clothes, who had hurriedly left the room telling me to wait a moment, returned with another person.
The person who came with him was wearing white clothes, over which he had draped a sky-blue robe with wide sleeves. He looked a few years older than the man in black clothes.
“Come, give me your hand.”
The man in white clothes sat down casually in the chair beside the bed and abruptly held out his hand as he spoke.
I unconsciously followed his instruction immediately, then hesitated, feeling I had acted with too little caution. However, I couldn’t withdraw my arm that was already grabbed.
The other person held my wrist gently as if taking my pulse, with a serious expression and lowered eyes. Forced to extend my arm, I inadvertently glanced at his sleeve that barely brushed my palm as it fell.
Looking closely, I could see red flowers like those embroidered on the collar of the man in black clothes.
‘…Why are there so many flowers?’
Neither of them looked like the type to suit flowers…
The Male Lead’s Obsessive (Female-dominant)
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.
Synopsis:
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Summary:
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
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Maria the Goner
This is definitely an interesting start. I’ve been looking for a good female-protag wuxia story so very excited for this.