“By betrothed, do you mean the Duke of Aglante?”
“Yes.”
At that, his master looked up at the empty sky and sighed. Ah.
“He… has become Ophelia’s betrothed.”
Bahamal, noticing the faint shock in the young man’s voice, hastily added.
“The princess clearly seemed to want to come alone. But the duke who was by her side…”
“Hush, Bahamal. You must show respect. He is the Duke of Aglante.”
And the young man muttered in a sad voice. Unlike me, he is a king with a country.
Bahamal saw the beautiful young man lean against the ship’s railing with powerless steps. The twilight sunlight pouring behind him added to the faintness.
And Bahamal felt hostility towards the duke who had disheartened him.
It had been nearly ten years since his master had held the princess of Leden, a childhood friend, in his heart.
Bahamal knew how hard his master had tried to make her his bride. Because he trusted and used him as his confidant, even though he couldn’t reveal his inner thoughts to others.
But why was the result like this?
Unable to contain his rising indignation, Bahamal spoke as if spitting it out.
“How could the prince of Leden do this? After all Your Highness’s efforts…”
“We can’t blame the prince. It’s because I was lacking.”
And the young man added in a faint voice. The prince might not like me. I’m of illegitimate birth, and also…
“The Duke of Aglante is also of illegitimate birth, is he not?”
“But he has a country.”
And his master frowned. Bahamal read the pain etched on his beautiful brow. He hurriedly approached his master. The closer he got to him, the more vividly Bahamal could feel his pain.
Kneeling before his master, Bahamal looked up at him. As if revering a deity, he began to comfort his master.
“Your Highness, please don’t be too sad. The prince of Leden surely made the wrong choice. You are no less than the duke.”
Then the young man looked down at him with a sad face and placed his hand on his head.
“No, Bahamal. I am inferior to him.”
Because the pain he must have endured to say those words was so vivid, Bahamal bowed his head and sobbed. His master gently stroked his head.
That act felt so sacred that Bahamal could not control his own emotions.
Netepel Luntalis placed his hand on his follower’s head and looked up at the sky. The sky was dyed red with the light of the setting sun.
Looking up at the red and blue sky, he muttered.
“At least for now, I am inferior to him.”
It was a chilling remark that did not evoke any of the previous faintness, but Bahamal was too immersed in his tears to hear it.
In the carriage heading to a nearby lord’s castle, Idren observed Ophelia sitting across from him. She was resting her chin on her hand, looking out the window. Her blue eyes flecked with golden sunlight blinked regularly.
Looking at her cheek half-dyed by the twilight, Idren recalled what had happened before boarding the carriage.
“So choose. Come with me, or don’t.”
To be honest, Idren thought Ophelia wouldn’t like those words.
Before time turned back, during their three years of marriage, Netepel Luntalis was always Ophelia’s guest.
Idren knew but couldn’t say anything about the young, unmarried prince freely coming and going between Sigrasal Castle and his wife’s villa.
First, because he didn’t have the courage to interfere in Ophelia’s relationships, and second, because he knew well that they were nothing to each other.
While he had never spoken directly with the prince, Ophelia was always someone he lived face to face with.
Separate from not being loved by his wife, Idren was in a position to instantly recognize if she fell in love with someone.
But Ophelia’s blue eyes were always calm. Always, until just before she died.
The face of someone in love couldn’t be like that. It was something he naturally realized from looking in the mirror every day.
Nevertheless, Idren intervened between Ophelia and the second prince of Egelbamath. It was out of pure greed.
In his previous life, he had disliked Netepel Luntalis visiting the castle. It was unavoidable even knowing Ophelia had no romantic feelings for him.
But he didn’t want to be like that again in the past he had returned to. So he was greedy.
But Ophelia, who he thought would naturally be displeased, agreed to his words without any concern.
“Why would I need to choose over something like that?”
Saying that in an indifferent tone, Ophelia instructed the second prince’s attendant before he could say anything.
“Go tell your master that my betrothed will be joining as well.”
It would be a lie to say he felt nothing at those words.
Even knowing there was no emotion in Ophelia’s words referring to him as her betrothed, Idren felt a bit of joy at those words. He didn’t mind at all that she treated his suggestion as unnecessary.
Ophelia glanced sideways at the man who was grinning for some reason that seemed to please him so much.
Unlike him, who seemed so at ease inside, her mind was complicated. If Netepel had also come to Leden in her previous life, she wondered why he hadn’t come to see her.
Netepel and she had known each other for a very long time. Luntalis, Sigrasal, and Mevasa gathered in Egelbamath every year for a meeting, and they met there.
Netepel, who was the second prince of Luntalis but not the empress’s child, had always lived being bullied by his siblings.
The crown prince of Egelbamath, who was his half-brother, was at the forefront of the bullying, and his other sisters turned a blind eye to it.
Because of this, Netepel was always alone. And it was the same for her.
Ophelia knew how timid she had been as a child. Until she met Haslen, she didn’t even know how to converse with people. Because no one in the palace would talk to her.
It was, in a way, natural for these two outcast children to stick together.
Of course, Mahanas was not very pleased with her playing with Netepel. His demand was that if she were to be friendly with anyone, it should be with the princesses of Egelbamath or the princes of Aglante.
But Ophelia did not want to do as he demanded. She didn’t get along with the princesses of Luntalis, and the princes of Aglante were like little Mahanases.
They giggled and said vulgar words without a care. Trampling on those weaker than themselves was a bonus.
So Ophelia associated with Netepel behind Mahanas’s back. Since children’s and adults’ gatherings were clearly separated at the meetings, Mahanas didn’t know she was doing this.
Of course, on the way back to Leden after the meetings, Mahanas would fly into a rage after hearing reports from the attendants he had placed in advance about who she had been associating with.
Ophelia was sufficiently afraid of this, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn her back on Netepel.
The boy who couldn’t mix with anyone and was always shrinking back was like a mirror reflecting herself. He was wounded in the same place, always drifting, understood by no one.
As time passed, Ophelia gained Haslen. Her first betrothed taught her kindness. By meeting him, Ophelia gained hope that she could escape from the grasp of Mahanas and Dares.
Although she came to realize that hope alone couldn’t achieve anything, at that time, it kept her alive.
Meanwhile, Netepel was always alone.
She began to find the meetings where she couldn’t see Haslen increasingly tedious, but Netepel lived all year waiting only for these meetings.
When she realized that the size of their hearts treating friendship was different, Ophelia felt guilty.
Now she could confidently say she wouldn’t shed a single tear even if she saw someone die, but back then, she was someone who would grieve even at inflicting invisible wounds on the heart.
In the end, Netepel noticed the change even before she could hide anything.
[This is the timeline separator]In the summer of her twelfth year, the boy sat in the field where they always met secretly and said to her.
“Is it me who’s the problem?”
It was in the form of a question, but what it contained was certainty.
“Everyone has someone by their side, but I have no one. My family hates me, and they say they’d be happy if I weren’t around.”
And the boy mumbled, looking down. So many people can’t be wrong.
Ophelia, trying to comfort him, said. It’s not that there’s something wrong with you. But apart from being certain, she didn’t know how to prove it.
When she said that, Netepel turned to her with red eyes and asked.
“But if I’m not the problem, why am I the only one alone?”
“What do you mean you’re alone, you…”
“You don’t have to comfort me, Ophelia. I’m glad you’re engaged.”
I actually knew it. That unlike me, there’s nothing wrong with you.
And Netepel got up first, leaving her in the field.
Ophelia didn’t see his face at the banquet held that night.
People said he had finally disappeared, having read the room. They said it was an undeserved position to begin with, and that finally, the surroundings were clean.
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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