Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
There were times when I thought of this phrase whenever I saw my husband.
The end of a contractual marriage.
My husband secured his position as the Duke, and I was safe. Our usefulness to each other had ended, so there was no reason to live together anymore. Thus, I asked my husband for a divorce.
“Let’s divorce now.”
“Shall we have a greasy steak that you love for lunch today?”
“Don’t you hear that I’m saying we should get divorced?”
“No, you seem a bit swollen these days, so I think a salad with chicken breast would be good.”
However, my husband refused.
To be precise, he didn’t give me any reason. He just treated me as affectionately as he always did. This wouldn’t do. I decided to divorce him forcibly, sensing a danger that I might fall for him if I continued living with him.
‘Just stamp the divorce agreement and it’s done.’
Late in the middle of the night. I was rummaging through his office to secretly steal his stamp.
A piece of paper sticking out over the books on the bookshelf caught my eye.
A particularly oldlooking book in such a wellorganized room.
I was drawn to pick up that book.
“Marcaba Academy… it’s a graduation album.”
It was the graduation album of the academy I attended. The album from two years before my graduation year.
Was my husband also a graduate of Marcaba?
For a moment, doubt was put aside as my hands slipped over the pile of photos that poured out as soon as I opened the album. Among the photos scattered like cherry blossoms in spring,
“This… is my photo.”
There I was during my academy days.
Chills ran up my spine from the tip of my fingers.
‘Why is my photo in my husband’s office?’
But, even before I could finish a thought, I heard the sound of the office door opening.
I froze like a child caught stealing. My heart was pounding and in the quiet office, I could hear the calm footsteps. Instinctively, I knew who had entered.
As I stood there staring at the bookshelf, I was swallowing the hiccup that burst out.
“My lady.”
A cold breeze blew in my ear.
“What are you looking at now?”
It seems I have indeed been trapped in a tiger’s den.
To explain how I ended up in the tiger’s den, I have to go back quite a bit in time.
I was originally a loner.
Up until ten years ago, I was waiting for death in the corner of a hospital room due to an incurable disease. My mother, who was the only one I had, abandoned me at a very young age as she struggled to afford the hospital bills, and young me just barely kept alive with the country’s support. But, as I reached adulthood, my condition worsened, and I met a lonely death. It wasn’t a sad thing. I was bound for heaven anyway.
However, when I opened my eyes, I was in a different world. A strange room without the smell of disinfectant or the sound of a humidifier. A light body.
“Anette Leangveria…?”
This body, with a difficult name, was a little 11yearold lady living in a luxury mansion reminiscent of the Middle Ages. She was a child with impressive emerald eyes on a white skin, and her hands were small and cute. As soon as I saw my new self in the mirror, I realized this was a different world. I heard and saw the empire’s name and a strange map. Because there were stores selling magic on the streets.
“Seems like this is inside a novel.”
But I didn’t think I was the protagonist. My face was beautiful enough to overshadow the female lead, but my background wasn’t. Unlike the typical novel protagonist, the Leangveria count family was more peaceful and harmonious than any noble family.
‘Because the protagonist is usually unhappy.’
Just like me in my previous life. In this life, I was certain I was an extra or a supporting character. It didn’t matter. I lived luxuriously under the gentle count and countess in a wealthy territory that I never had. Maybe being an extra was better?
And then it happened. As I was forgetting my lonely days and enjoying a modest and happy daily life, a problem arose when I was 15 years old and attending the academy.
“Lian brother collapsed?”
“Go to the infirmary quickly. I’ve contacted your parents too.”
The twoyearold brother, Lian’s Belladonna bud had bloomed. As a descendant of the Leangberia lineage, a simple pattern that is engraved on the body from birth became more pronounced as Lian’s fever worsened.
“No particular reaction is observed in the pattern. The cause of the young master’s illness can only be described as an unknown fever.”
Family and clan members scrambled in all directions to treat the illness. However, Lian could not withstand the prolonged agony and left the world.
Grief was shortlived, the following year after Lian’s death, my Belladonna bud started to wriggle. The shadow of death also cast over me. My body weakened in no time, and people babbled about this being a curse.
‘Curse or not, I can’t die in vain again.’
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
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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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