― Slap!
With a harsh sound, Mayana’s face swung to the left. The blow was so severe that her jaw was numb, and amidst it all, a drop of blood splattered out of her lips as she had bitten her tongue.
In an instant, Mayana’s face began to swell ominously, yet the wife of the Duke’s anger did not seem to abate easily. On the contrary, she was undoubtedly even more enraged by Mayana’s attitude of not screaming or shedding a single tear.
Slap! Over the reddened cheek, the wife of the Duke’s fierce whipping flew again. Mayana finally buckled and staggered to the side. The wife of the Duke, appearing slightly satisfied, snorted and shouted,
“You, a mere maid, dare to touch my husband, you lowly, filthy thing!”
The mouth of the screaming wife of the Duke appeared gaping, red, and grotesquely cavelike. Mayana, as though her senses had vanished altogether, clutched her stinging cheek for a moment, caught her breath, composed herself, and stared directly at the wife of the Duke.
“No, my lady, you are mistaken. I did not touch the master with my hand, but with my foot. I kicked him in his groin.”
“What did you do, you wench!”
The wife of the Duke lunged at Mayana as soon as the words left her mouth. She then began to beat her indiscriminately, pouring out unspeakable curses.
To Mayana, the mistress’s horrible smell was more unbearable than the pain in her body. Every time she opened her mouth to yell, an unpleasant and hot breath spewed out, and Mayana had to turn her head to dodge it rather than the blows.
“My lady, my lady!”
The butler, Roll, who had rushed into the room by opening the closed door, pulled the wife of the Duke away from Mayana.
Mayana did not think for a moment that he was just now aware of the situation. Perhaps he had been eavesdropping outside the door for a while, pretending to rush in only when it seemed the wife of the Duke might really kill her…
“Don’t let her go! I will pluck out all of that wench’s hair! Strip her and cast her out, let her go!”
“My lady, calm down. If you fall again like before, what will we do? For a matter as trivial as expelling a misbehaving maid, there’s no need for you to personally intervene. I will scold her strictly and send her away.”
The wife of the Duke angrily shook off Roll’s hand. Her elegant hairdo, painstakingly created by the maids all morning, had come undone, and the jewelry had slipped, making a mess. She looked more like a rough hooligan from a back alley than a noblewoman.
“If that wench so much as flits before my eyes again, then you too shall know the wrath of my hand!”
“Of course, my lady. Now, now. Quickly… Lea! Stop standing there stupidly, quickly escort the lady to her room!”
Roll yelled, and the maid who had been standing by the door with a frightened look quickly came into the room. But the wife of the Duke angrily shook off her attendance and disappeared like the wind.
Mayana simply stared blankly at this gloomy farce. After the wife of the Duke left, and the chief butler Roll closed the door, she finally came to her senses and let out a hollow laugh.
Roll looked at her sharply.
“What are you laughing about? What good have you done?”
Mayana looked back undaunted.
“What did I do wrong, chief butler?”
Roll’s mouth gaped like someone who had suddenly lost the words to say, and he let out a boiling sigh. This chaos was no unfamiliar thing to him, who had served as a servant in the house of Duke Povec for nearly forty years.
Roll said,
“That’s right, didn’t I tell you to be careful many times?”
Then, Mayana’s eyes flashed.
“So this is my fault now?”
“You flitting around in front of the master is what caused this mess, isn’t it?”
Mayana furrowed her brows in disbelief. Her lips, tinted with a faint bruise, twitched in anger.
“What nonsense are you talking about, Riga? I only cleaned the library because I was told to. You surely haven’t forgotten what I do here? I’m a maid of this house. If I’m told to scrub the stairs, I scrub the stairs, if I’m told to clean the library, I clean the library, if I’m told to empty those disgusting people’s chamber pots, I empty the chamber pots!”
A troubled expression crossed Riga’s face for a moment. In fact, he was not an illnatured person whose greatest flaw would be indecisiveness. But at this moment, to Mayana, being indecisive felt more terrible than being cruel.
Riga said,
“That, that’s not wrong, but… You should have been more careful in front of the master! You know his habits, and you know the mistress’s temperament, so why cause chaos? That’s what I mean!”
Mayana retorted,
“What should I have done then? Meekly hand myself over to that filthy fatty and keep my mouth shut? Is that it?”
“That’s not what I mean…!”
“What does the mistress’s temperament have to do with it? Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t know that woman is jealous? Ha! That’s really a joke. To be jealous of a human like Povac Duke! Even if she begged, ‘Please take him away’ while delivering him on a cart, they would just spit on the offer!”
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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