“Take it.”
“What is this?”
“The result of this expedition.”
“……”
Alicia cautiously accepted the data Eric handed her.
‘What on earth was I expecting?’
Blaming herself, Alicia read the first page of the data she had received.
“Eric. Isn’t this classified?”
“There’s nothing classified in it.”
Alicia raised her head and glanced at Eric, who was looking at the data.
He seemed perfectly fine, showing no signs of exhaustion despite having just returned from a battle with monsters.
His hair was slightly wet and naturally disheveled from just coming out of the shower, and he was only wearing a white shirt, but the way he looked at her with his sleeves rolled up made her subtly nervous.
Then, Alicia hastily shook her head.
‘Ugh. Why am I like this?’
Since the moment he asked, ‘Do you want to go to sleep?’ everything in her mind became hazy, and it had been complicated ever since.
She knew well that it meant nothing.
There’s no way he would make a suggestive remark when they weren’t anything to each other.
Despite knowing that, she couldn’t believe what she had been expecting.
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
“Nothing at all.”
When Eric, who had been looking at the data, raised his head and their eyes met, Alicia quickly turned her eyes to the data.
Looking puzzled, Eric put the data down on the table.
“Why? You don’t seem to be able to concentrate.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You seemed interested last time, so I thought you’d like to see this.”
“……I’m looking at it diligently. It’s interesting.”
Ignoring Eric’s gaze that seemed to say ‘It seems like there’s something’, Alicia tried hard to concentrate on the data.
“Only one kind appeared? The same type as last time?”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s a high probability it’s the same magician.”
“How do you know that, exactly?”
“I went to the Royal Library a few more times out of curiosity, and they all just told me.”
“……It’s not exactly classified, but they just tell you? About the magician?”
At Eric’s incredulous question, Alicia shrugged her shoulders.
Eventually, Eric chuckled and resumed speaking.
“I’ll send the investigated data to the Royal Library. We need to see if there’s anything that matches the old data.”
“The priests were worried that there was almost no data left from the accident 10 years ago.”
“That’s right. How was the atmosphere at the temple?”
“They were all struggling. After magic was banned, they intentionally destroyed related materials. So it seems harder.”
“I see.”
“Plus.”
Suddenly, Alicia lowered her voice and signaled Eric with her hand.
Confused, Eric brought his ear closer to Alicia.
“The Royal Priest is also absent.”
“……Really?”
“So the priests were very flustered, the clergy said.”
“I see. I’ll take note of that.”
Eric nodded with a serious expression.
He was already aware that the Royal Priest was absent, and that fact was classified at the moment.
‘I’ll have to tell the Royal Chief about the clergy’s loose lips.’
Despite this, he decided to pretend he didn’t know for the sake of Alicia, who seemed to be whispering a big secret.
Before he knew it, he was watching Alicia, who was focused on the data, and he nonchalantly asked, leaning his arm on the back of the sofa.
“So, there was no problem?”
“There was none.”
Alicia answered indifferently while looking at the data.
“Is your mother healthy?”
“Yes. She’s doing well these days. Ah, your father, your mother also had no problems.”
“What about your siblings?”
“They’re doing fine.”
“Were you worried about me?”
“I was. I really couldn’t sleep.”
When Alicia raised her head in surprise, she locked eyes with Eric, who was chuckling.
“You couldn’t sleep because you were that worried?”
“That.”
Feeling her face heat up, Alicia raised the documents to hide her face.
“Why? Why hide?”
“I’m not hiding, I’m reading the documents.”
“Ah, why. I haven’t seen you for a while, why hide your face. I wanted to see.”
Alicia gently lowered the documents just enough to reveal her eyes and quickly shut Eric up with a stare.
This time, Eric raised the documents to hide his face.
“Why are you hiding?”
“I’m not hiding, I’m reading the documents.”
In the end, both of them held the documents for a while.
He breathed a sigh of relief that his face was hidden behind the documents and wore a smile.
“Hey.”
“What is it now?”
“What do you mean, again? What did I do again?”
Without even looking at the grumbling William, Eric signed the documents and picked up another.
“I see. You shouldn’t do this to me, you know? I came all the way here to tell you a story that will move you.”
“Huh?”
“A story about your precious fiancée, don’t you want to hear?”
Only then did Eric raise his head.
“Are you pretending to know something as soon as the fiancée topic comes up?”
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t tell you out of spite.”
Eric furrowed his brows at William, who was eager to speak as if he had something exciting to tell, yet was pretending to be reticent.
“……I would appreciate it if you could tell me.”
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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