I Pretended To Be Dead And Ran Away (22 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 1
Prologue
Someone once said that. That after hardship comes paradise.
But I had thought that paradise would be a joyful one (pleasure).
“Reniel.”
I never imagined it would be the falling kind (fall). If there’s someone who falls off a cliff after all their hardships, it might just be me.
“Ha, haha……. Master?”
The place I was in was the bedroom. It was so familiar that I could immediately spot the changes that had occurred.
I was extremely familiar with this bedroom that wasn’t even mine. And for good reason—this was Felix’s bedroom, which I had tidied up every time.
The bedroom of the mad duke who trusted no one and believed in no one.
As the assistant chief steward of the Le Pelique ducal house, the only one permitted entry there, I had always tidied the bedroom for him.
That was why I was flustered by the unfamiliar traces visible throughout the bedroom.
*Cough, cough!*
‘Does it hurt?’
‘I’m sorry. The cigar smell is unfamiliar.’
‘Quit, then.’
The cigars he had promised me he would quit were piled full in the ashtray. The marks of being roughly stubbed out were pitiful. The ashtray was strangely clean on the outside, as if it had been washed this morning. Enough to make one suspect that all that amount had been smoked in just one day.
On top of that, the alcohol smell filling the room was intense.
‘Master, aren’t you drinking too much?’
‘I’ll quit drinking too.’
He had definitely said he would quit drinking as well.
In the room, the remnants of smashed liquor bottles were rolling around everywhere. The alcohol from the whiskey had evaporated, but the thick, tickling sharpness still seemed to linger in every corner of the room. On top of that, glass shards were scattered all over, making it impossible to move carelessly.
The room seemed strangely tidy yet a complete mess. As if someone had cleaned it only for another to immediately turn it upside down.
The bed and sheets were neatly made with sharp corners, so it seemed management wasn’t completely neglected.
Then, suddenly seeing the remnants of white powdered medicine on the bedside table, I gasped.
‘Do you take this much sleeping powder?’
‘I can’t sleep without it.’
‘Then shall I help you until you fall asleep?’
‘What, are you going to tell me to quit sleeping pills too?’
‘Yes.’
Recalling Felix’s appearance as he smiled and answered my words back then.
‘Fine, I’ll quit that too, then.’
For some reason, recalling his unusually agreeable response made me feel strange.
“M-Master?”
“Ha.”
I squirmed to move my bound body. He passed by me and headed to the cabinet.
Opening the cabinet, he soon found a new liquor bottle, uncorked it, and was gulping it down.
Indeed.
Even in this situation, his face seemed to glow in the darkness.
His pitch-black hair melted naturally into the darkness lit only by moonlight. His hair was jet black without a single hint of lightness, whether seen under the full light of chandeliers or under the midday sun.
In stark contrast, his striking red eyes were somehow enveloped in madness again.
“……Keu.”
With a sloshing sound, the whiskey bottle parted from his lips. His jewel-like eyes, forged from blood, were glaring at me fiercely.
The beautiful Adam’s apple nestled between his thick neck was visibly throbbing as he swallowed the alcohol down his throat.
“Is there no attendant these days to help with dressing?”
Moreover, his attire was extremely disheveled.
‘I’ve never allowed anyone but you.’
‘Come on, that’s a lie? What noble dresses themselves?’
He seemed to have dressed in a hurry, and since the top of his black shirt was undone, his threatening pectorals were clearly visible.
Soon, the straight collarbone, muscular shoulders, and even the thick alcohol scent felt with every breath he exhaled.
“Reniel.”
“Yes, Master…….”
My voice was trembling.
My voice.
I was struggling to untie my hands bound behind my back, but only my wrists hurt, and the rope didn’t loosen at all.
“Master!”
Soon, he took out a butterfly knife from his pocket.
And unfolding it, he approached me.
“……!”
In fear, I squeezed my eyes shut. But with a thud sound.
“Master?”
My hands became free.
Clang!
“Ah!”
The knife was thrown against the wall, and at the same time, my freed hand was grabbed by him.
“Master!”
My body was laid down on the bed just like that. The softness of the sheet touching my back and the plushness of the bed felt extremely ominous.
“How dare you pretend to be dead to escape from me?”
“Master, that’s……!”
“Didn’t you say you were mine?”
Soon, the veins bulging on the back of his hand covered my nape. Then, with his other hand, he roughly unbuttoned the thin shirt I was wearing.
“I, that is! There were circumstances……!”
“Shut your mouth. Don’t make me angrier.”
Buttons flew in all directions as the clothes opened. Soon, as I struggled to escape from him, I was subdued with my wrists interlocked.
“Let’s talk it out first!”
“Talk? Do you mean a conversation with the body?”
He sneered like that and pressed down on my struggling body as if it were amusing. The pressure was considerable. That was the moment.
Ding, whirrr.
Until now, the ring that had allowed me to live as a man, hiding my female appearance, slipped off my finger and rolled onto the marble under the bed.
“Ah…….”
In an instant, my lengthened hair flowed down my shoulders. And confirming that my Adam’s apple was gone, his eyes made me feel as if blood was freezing cold.
“Ha.”
Soon, his expression changed strangely. His eyes were enveloped in madness and strangely sparkling.
And unbelievably, his tears fell thudding onto my cheek.
“……You were a woman, Reniel.”
He said that and was laughing. With a madman’s expression.
****
If life were made only of predictable things, how wonderful would that be?
In my previous life, I died from overwork. Precisely, from working too long, my eyes became blurry, and I couldn’t properly check if the traffic light was red or green, crossed the crosswalk, and died in a traffic accident.
And when I opened my eyes again, I had fallen into this world.
At first, I thought it was a difficult start here too.
I possessed a 10-year-old kid. And the Reniel Veil I possessed was a girl from an orphanage.
Unlike the place I was from, this place was extremely cruel to children. Here, at ten years old, they were sold off.
Some to farms, some to ranches.
Lucky girls were drafted as assistants in dress shops or schools.
Becoming a maid in a noble house was a dream-like job for children from uncertain backgrounds like me from the orphanage.
That’s why, from the moment I had memories after just passing my tenth birthday, someone proposed to me while I was running errands disguised as a boy with the magically enchanted ring I had.
‘Reniel, how about going as an apprentice attendant to a noble house this time?’
‘Yes? Me?’
‘Yes, they say they take from exactly ten years old.’
‘Oh my, goodness. Can I do that job?’
I was lucky.
So, not long after my tenth birthday, I went to the Le Pelique ducal house.
After that, for nearly 10 years, I worked without any incidents, truly giving my all.
During the time I worked, the young duke Felix succeeded to the duke title and became the duke, and the previous duke died from illness. There were rumors circulating that it might have been murder.
There were even words that it was by Felix’s hand.
Anyway, to me, the Le Pelique ducal house was truly perfect. Perhaps because I died after only suffering in my previous life, it felt like I received a job with perfect work-life balance as compensation.
Working hours were long, but there were thorough rewards and bonuses, plus vacations could be taken freely, and holidays were long.
I thought such a perfect workplace wouldn’t exist in the world.
Moreover, the doctors inside the duke’s mansion were on standby at all times for the servants. The bedding was so good that attendants from other houses envied the servants of the Le Pelique ducal house.
Then one day.
I realized.
That this place was inside a 19+ bleak BL confinement story.
My master, the somehow familiar name but couldn’t remember how I knew, Duke Felix Le Pelique.
Was the mad gong in the novel ‘Unable Even to Dream’.
……I realized.
“Ah.”
It hadn’t been long since I started working face-to-face with the mad gong Felix. Since I began serving him right after becoming an adult.
But of all times.
At this point when I thought I was just one step away from assistant chief steward……!
My master, Felix Le Pelique, ended up facing me like this.
“Reniel?”
Felix was smiling. His bright red eyes sparkled like a predator eyeing prey even in the darkness.
The blood splattered on his face and all over his body.
The long sword held in his right hand.
The iron chain tightly gripped in his left hand.
And the person being dragged along connected to the chain.
“Ha.”
It was this empire’s crown prince, Tanasis Avein Apentina.
Seeing his moonlight-like pure white hair and glacier-like pale eyes, I recalled that he was the mad shou in the original work.
Furthermore, the one who kills the original Reniel who tormented him, and ends his life together with the mad gong.
Another madman.
“Did you see?”
Seeing Felix’s twisted mouth and the sword pointed at me, everything became clear.
“You saw, Reniel.”
Soon, the sword he held was raised above his head. As if to cut me down.
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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Chapter Comments (22)
Inline Comments (54)
‘The missing Princess of Nuremberg is a mana purifier—one born only once per cen
Could it be her? Is it possible that she’s living in a state of shock and no one knows her identity?
Reniel trailed off uncertainly, unsure whether this warranted gratitude.
Could it be her? Is it possible that she’s living in a state of shock and no one knows her identit
“Th-thank you…?”
Could it be her? Is it possible that she’s living in a state of shock and no one knows her identit
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Wait, what? For real? How come the Nuremberg Princess is hiding her gender and work at the mansion of the Duke who technically her archenemy? And Renal is Tanasis’ fiancee? Wow, never expected it to be revealed this early.
Very good story and i do prefer it if any person will give it a try worthy of your time
So apparently Renal is regarded as a threat for imperial family for her purifying ability and decided to make her Tanasias’ fiancee for close monitoring and helped him control his artificial ability. But Renal must’ve sensed or found out something that can put her life in danger. Thus she went into the hiding in the enemy’s nest and disguised as a man with the ring’s help. I wonder what kind of finding Reniel got to the point it threatened her life.