The cuckoo clock rang, signaling the time for the meeting.
The dukes had not yet arrived, but everyone’s mouth was closed as if they had all made a promise.
Soon, the doors of the conference hall opened, and everyone simultaneously stood up.
“Greetings to the Lord of the North, Your Grace.”
A greeting from a vassal to the lord of the territory.
A greeting filled with the vow of loyalty.
The vassals, all bowing in unison, created a majestic scene that filled the conference hall.
‘The real Ducal family is indeed tremendous.’
Diane, held by the duke, swallowed her saliva. The number of vassals, even roughly estimated, looked well over thirty.
Even after entering the conference hall, the duke was still holding Diane.
Striding across the hall, the duke stopped only when he reached the top seat.
‘But where’s my seat?’
There was no empty seat as far as she could see. While Diane was turning her head here and there to find a vacant seat, the duke sat down right in his place.
Diane was lifted onto the duke’s lap.
What? Diane was startled once again.
“Raise your heads now.”
Until the duke spoke, the vassals had remained still, heads bowed.
Their gazes suddenly converged on one place.
Right onto the child sitting on the duke’s lap.
A look of astonishment and surprise crossed the vassals’ faces.
The duke has seated the young lady on his lap!
Contrary to their reaction, Diane thought nervously.
‘Why are you acting so familiar all of a sudden…?’
[This is the time separator.]“I believe you have all heard the news.”
The duke broke the silence.
All the vassals were listening intently to the duke’s words.
“I have recently found my daughter. Her name is Diane Crustel.”
The duke’s hand gently stroked my head.
It was the first time the duke had ever stroked my head.
Sitting on his lap and receiving his touch, I suddenly wanted to escape this awkwardness.
Suddenly, the duke’s words from earlier came to mind.
‘He did say to behave.’
I struggled but calmed myself down with effort.
Just bear it a little longer, just a little longer.
‘The duke probably doesn’t like this either, so he’ll let me go soon.’
He must be pretending to make it look like I’m his real daughter to the vassals.
The vassals’ gazes all turned to me at the duke’s gentle tone.
I realized now was my turn to greet them.
“Hello, I am Diane Crustel.”
A brief silence followed, and then exclamations of admiration burst forth.
“My goodness, she is truly remarkable! Hard to believe she’s only 4 years old!”
“She certainly resembles Your Grace!”
“There’s no doubt she’s Your Grace’s daughter. Black hair is indeed a rare color, is it not?”
The vassals each added a comment, smiling. Their intense reaction caught me off guard.
‘They didn’t react like this when they brought the twins.’
When Clements was adopted, I didn’t know well, as it wasn’t in the original work.
However, when the twins were adopted, the vassals’ opposition was tremendous.
The reason for the opposition was the fear of conflict arising between Clements and the twins later on.
Also, the claim that they couldn’t adopt another orphan of unknown origin into the family contributed.
Naturally, the twins didn’t stay quiet.
They shoved the vassals who were criticizing them into a corner, and the rest of the vassals clammed up as if they’d been glued shut.
It was their special ability, magic.
In the end, the vassals who had personally experienced the twins’ abilities reluctantly accepted them.
‘Ah, is that why they’re not opposing!’
The memory of that time was so vivid…?
‘I don’t have the strength to do that.’
The recollection was simply too powerful, etched in their minds.
Anyway, it was a good thing. If things turned out like this, it was much to my advantage.
‘Then I only need to find the most suspicious person.’
“Your Highness, you truly resemble His Majesty.”
At that time, the person closest to the Duke spoke with a smile. His face looked strangely familiar.
‘He looks like someone, but who…?’
As I stared at him, our eyes momentarily met.
“Hehehe! It seems the young master likes me!”
He burst into a hearty laugh. Then the Duke looked at me sharply.
‘Is that so?’
He didn’t open his mouth, but his eyes clearly asked.
‘But why does it feel like he’s glaring at me?’
It wasn’t particularly that I liked this nobleman. I shook my head slightly and asked him,
“May I ask you something?”
“Yes, of course, young master. You can ask anything.”
“Are you by any chance Philen’s father?”
“My goodness!”
He looked genuinely surprised. His eyes widened as he asked,
“Do you recognize me?”
“Yes, you two look alike.”
“Heheheh!”
It seemed I was correct. The nobleman laughed heartily.
I knew his face looked familiar. It turned out that Philen’s family was a family of noblemen.
“I am Count Otol. As you said, Philen is my second son.”
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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