The bustling streets of the shopping district were teeming with people, horses, and carriages, creating quite the tumult.
Among them, a woman was standing beneath the swirled sign of the Cafe Cardinal, a place so popular that people filled its terrace. Her eyes were sparkling as she observed the passersby.
She had hair like thick honey, curled gently like chamomile tea against her white skin. Her clear violet eyes and thick pink lips made her an eyecatching beauty that drew the attention of others. However, her carefully tied hair was pushed into a bonnet and covered by an old, worn coat, making her look like a mere commoner of the lower social class.
Amid the throng of people, Rona only paid attention to the young women in dresses. Her eyes were as sharp as a gun, but her expressions and actions were desperate.
“Ah, meeting the real protagonist is like trying to pluck the stars from the sky.”
Rona’s real name was Won Yoonji.
Once, she had been a robust and freshfaced social rookie in South Korea. She had been lucky enough to find a good job and was happy, until she found herself stuck inside the world of a romance novel she had only casually read.
She had read the first part of the book carefully but skimmed through the rest since she had gotten a job in the middle of it. As a result, she didn’t remember the details of the story as she went on.
Regardless, she was certain that she was in the world of the novel “Blind Beast’s Flower”. The reason was that the protagonist of the book, Duke Illeon Clavent, was the head of the household where she worked.
And he was her only hope of returning to her original world.
That was the first memory that came to her when she first regained consciousness after being sucked into this world. It was a coincidence that she ended up working in the Duke’s mansion, but Rona was delighted at the prospect of being able to closely observe the development of the original story.
“Why can’t they meet?”
Lately, Rona’s biggest concern was ‘why hasn’t the protagonist appeared yet?’
There was a weed that had sprouted like a weed in a corner of the duke’s wide garden. That weed, which oddly didn’t fit in, was a precious medicinal herb that could open the duke’s eyes. It was said to bloom once every ten years for just ten days. It was believed that if Illeon, who had lost his sight due to severe poisoning, consumed it as a tea, he would be cured instantly.
The fact that such a miraculous herb was blooming in the backyard of the house, was nothing more than the author’s arrangement to surely open the eyes of the male lead.
The original heroine, Carina, appears, opens Illeon’s eyes, and they fall in love. Rona, who reincarnated as ‘a person who didn’t even appear in the original’, was careful not to derail the original plot she knew.
However, Rona was anxious because the protagonist had not appeared even though it had been a week since the flower had bloomed. Discovering the flower emitting a faintly mournful light during a night walk, and as the days passed, she felt a burning sensation in her stomach for a reason no one in the world of the book could empathize with, and she was restless.
Why did it have to be a setting where the flower blooms for only ten days? Couldn’t it stay bloomed or something? These days, Rona was impatient day by day.
In fact, Rona knew better than anyone why the male and female protagonists couldn’t meet.
One should look at the sky to pluck stars.
Illeon, who had lost his sight, had been locked in the mansion all this time and had not gone out once.
Illeon, who would have been a brave knight if he had not lost his sight, a man with the title of the Empire’s best knight, was a terrible homebody. He was Rona’s predecessor.
Today was the day when Illeon was summoned to the imperial palace by the Emperor’s order. Rona, who had lost her memory and had no identification, couldn’t accompany him as a servant to the imperial palace. Thanks to this, she had some free time and was able to visit Cafe Cardinal, where Illeon and Carina were supposed to meet.
Knowing the original story where he would open his eyes, she felt sorry for the current Illeon.
And she also felt sorry for herself, waiting for Illeon to open his eyes quickly, meet the female lead, and reach the right ending.
Where on earth was the protagonist doing what?
Rona, in her frustration, tried to visit the count’s house where the protagonist lived, but she couldn’t execute it because Illeon kept looking for her. After that, she sent a letter once, but there was no reply from Carina.
[Dear Lady Carina, I apologize for the rudeness of this first meeting. I have an important matter and hope to meet you at Cafe Cardinal. I would appreciate it if you could spare some time and reply to this message in the mailbox.]Whether it looked suspicious or not, it was undoubtedly treated as spam by Carina.
Rona’s eyes were directed to the sign of Cafe Cardinal.
‘They were supposed to meet here at Cafe Cardinal.’
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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