It seemed like rain would pour down soon, dark clouds heavily covering the sky. Below it, Duke Feramanus and his entourage were wandering through the Scotos Forest.
“Two days from now, we’ll reach the border of Festius, Balkan.”
“…….”
Lawrence, who was riding horseback alongside Duke Valige, spoke. But Valige seemed lost in deep thought, maintaining silence.
“Your Grace?”
Only after Lawrence called out to him several times did Valige turn his gaze.
“What is it?”
“I told you that we’ll arrive in Balkan in two days. Is something wrong?”
“Nothing.”
The Duke responded nonchalantly, as if he had never been lost in thought.
“But. Did Lina say anything special? Something about the journey being hard, or feeling unwell somewhere……”
“I haven’t received any specific messages, but… Shall I ask her?”
“……No, never mind.”
Valige hesitated for a moment to Lawrence’s question and shook his head.
‘Something is strange.’
All the way to Festius, Lina had occupied his mind all day long.
Just when he left the capital. No, even before that. Lina’s subtly changed atmosphere had stimulated his nerves.
Always smiling as usual, but when no one was around, her eyes looked almost painful.
It was a fleeting moment that no one would notice, but Valige knew.
Because Lina was always at the edge of his sight.
‘What on earth is it for…….’
A dangerous signal felt ominous, making his neck cold.
In the end, when Valige couldn’t hold back and poured out his true feelings to Lina, he finally heard the answer he had hoped for.
[I don’t deceive you, Your Grace.]Yes. It was the answer he had wanted. The answer to the question he had suppressed for so long was satisfactory. But why.
‘Why am I so uneasy?’
His throat seemed to burn like an unquenched thirst.
Was it because of the relentless thought that tormented him?
If he had been his usual self, he would have noticed the awkwardness of the forest, but he didn’t know at all. At some point while passing through the forest, he hadn’t seen a single common small animal.
Then, he noticed that Count Philip Morris and his vanguard had stopped. They should have already been out of the forest by now.
Something must have gone wrong; the Duke instinctively knew, and he signaled Lawrence with his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ll go and find out.”
To assess the situation, Lawrence dismounted and approached. As everyone stood bewildered, staring blankly at that moment.
Bang[Dash]!!
A massive explosion occurred along with a deafening noise.
“It’s, it’s an ambush.”
At the same time, unidentified enemies who had been hiding somewhere began to swarm towards the Duke’s entourage like an army of ants.
The unexpected attack from the enemies was enough to plunge the peaceful forest into chaos in an instant.
The knights quickly took up an offensive stance, slashing relentlessly at the charging enemies.
But.
‘Strange.’
Although they seemed human, the substance that came out when they were cut was not blood but a black liquid. It emitted an unpleasant and sticky odor.
“What the hell is this?”
While Valige briefly glanced at the unidentified liquid on his sword, he was attacked from behind without warning.
“Your Grace!”
Hearing Philip’s urgent voice, the Duke blocked the attack and without hesitation, cut the throat. Then, a nasty sound and black liquid sprayed into Valige’s eyes.
“Ugh.”
Valige blinked his eyes tightly and wiped the black liquid with one hand, continuing to fend off the relentless attacks from the enemies.
The enemies kept coming like a swarm of ants, no matter how many were cut down.
“Your Grace, it seems……”
Lawrence, who was beside him, seemed to notice something strange and cautiously mumbled.
“It seems to be magic. And……”
Forbidden black magic.
Looking closely at the face of a fallen enemy, it looked like a human at a glance, but it was a faceless entity.
Knowing that getting caught by the empress was only a matter of time.
‘Did they really send a black magician?’
Casting magic to take on the form of a person was a magic strictly regulated by international magic law.
Yet, casting magic so openly as if it didn’t matter if others found out.
‘Undoubtedly a very powerful being.’
Producing such enormous numbers ceaselessly was a power too difficult to handle with ordinary magical strength. It was equivalent to dozens of magicians attacking all at once.
Tch.
Duke Valige clicked his tongue softly, and began cutting down enemies relentlessly.
“Lawrence[Dash]! You must go to the carriage where Lina is….”
It was when the Duke was about to send Lawrence to protect Lina. The horses, startled by the sudden explosion and sword clashes, began to go wild.
“Whoa, whoa[Dash]! Calm down……!”
Despite the coachman’s efforts to calm them, the horses, unable to contain their excitement, eventually threw him to the ground.
“Ugh[Dash]!”
Soon after, the horses started running towards chaos.
“Oh, Miss!”
It all happened too quickly. No one dared to stop the charging carriage.
“Lina!”
Belatedly, the Duke mounted his horse to chase after the carriage.
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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