“‘Vermonte’ marriage, it’s a disgrace to our ‘Temnes’!”

The voice, thick with the smell of alcohol, echoed loudly in the banquet hall where the wedding celebration was in full swing.

Then, with sounds of clinking, those who had been drinking stood up from their seats, moving toward the high table with indignation.

“How can this be? We are Temnes!”

“Like puppets to King Oberon’s words, we have become a laughingstock.”

“Lord! Please say something!”

Gazing down at the drunken ruffians from the high table, Lord Kayan of Rowen, instead of uttering the words they wanted to hear, tilted his wine glass.

His cold face, void of emotion, was as stern as a carved stone statue.

Beneath his well-groomed jet-black hair, his red eyes shone brightly as he looked down upon the uproarious Temnes bloodline.

Despite his handsome appearance, his towering height and broad shoulders imposed a sense of awe, making it difficult for an ordinary person to even utter a word in front of Kayan, the head of the Temnes family.

However, the banquet hall, littered with heaps of land, sea, and air delicacies and empty barrels of wine, was full of drunken fools who, like rabid dogs, rushed towards their master, barking and snarling.

“Mixing the vile and cunning blood of those people into our noble lineage! I will never accept this!”

Thud.

As Kayan set down his wine glass, the previously noisy banquet hall suddenly fell silent.

“Shut up.”

At his single word, even the boisterous men closed their mouths.

“Are you trying to teach me that the Vermontes are the enemies of the Temnes?”

Kayan’s icy aura seemed to freeze the humid air on this drizzly day.

“Ah! As expected, the Duke won’t treat those lowly Vermontes properly!”

Someone interpreted his words favorably and, lifting a wine glass, shouted, leading the crowd to forget the earlier incident and start attacking the barrels of wine, using Vermonte as their new topic.

“Uh, my lord.”

Approaching with a troubled face was the steward of the lord’s mansion, Baron Colon.

“The bride’s carriage is stuck on the drawbridge due to the heavy rain.”

“The bride?”

Kayan savored the word with a hint of mockery, and the steward bowed his head, pretending not to notice.

“What shall we do?”

Kayan stood up and headed towards the terrace.

Beneath the pouring rain, a line of carriages was stuck, unable to move forward or back, on the drawbridge.

Among them, two modestly sized carriages belonged to the North.

One slightly larger carriage seemed to be stuck in a gap of the drawbridge.

Kayan sneered.

“A bride unwelcomed by the Temnes. She should know her place and walk in on her own.”

Hearing his words, a few vassals who had come to the terrace to watch the scene in front of the mansion’s gates laughed uproariously.

“Just how much does the Vermonte detest setting foot in the lord’s mansion!”

“Hahaha!”

Ignoring the laughing fools, Kayan shook off the raindrops from his shoulder and turned around.

It was a terrible downpour.

The carriage, having traveled non-stop from the North for half a month, was as exhausted as its horses and passengers.

In the middle of the rain-soaked drawbridge, the carriage wheel, worn from the long journey, got stuck and broke.

“These people are insane! Treating our lady this way and still expecting to live!”

Moreover, the carriage roof, soaked with water, failed to function properly and had been leaking thick streams of water inside for a while.

Inside, sat Clodelle, the drenched bride.

She had rented an inn in the gateway city for half a day, changed clothes, put on a wreath, and donned a white veil before boarding the carriage.
“Flowers drooping miserably in the rain, and a thin white veil, long since soaked and clinging to her nape, combined with her red hair.”

Beneath the forehead washed by rainwater, the downcast eyes revealed pumpkin-colored golden irises.

Despite her striking features and pale skin, the fragile bride, Clodelle, appeared strangely vulnerable on what should have been her most radiant day.

Hanna, the maid, consumed with anxiety, had been arguing with the guards at the gate for two hours.

When the steward, who had gone to report to the lord, returned, Hanna brightened up.

“What did the Duke say?”

The steward’s reply, however, disappointed her.

“Ahem, well, the Lord instructed the bride to get down from the carriage and walk in.”

“What did you say?”

Hanna’s outburst made the steward avert his eyes.

“Did you convey that correctly? Is this how the Temnes welcome their new mistress?”

“Yes, I asked correctly.”

“And he said that?”

The steward felt sweat trickling down his damp back.

‘The bride unwelcome in the Temnes. She should know her place and walk in on her own.’

Unable to relay Kayan’s exact words and softening them, the steward still found it insufficient to quell the fierce maid’s anger.

“Hanna. Enough.”

“My lady.”

“The clothes are cumbersome. I’ll get down, so could you give me a hand?”

“No, my lady. That’s absurd.”

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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