It was a bedroom so dazzling that it could make one dizzy, from the luxurious carpet on the floor to the murals painted on the ceiling.
Lena’s gaze, exploring the interior of the room with her mouth agape, lingered on one place.
‘That is…’
A bed adorned with all the world’s gold and jewels. Lena approached the bed slowly, as if she were captivated by something.
‘What’s this smell?’
However, strangely, the closer Lena got to the bed, the more unpleasant the smell became.
As she moved step by step, her heartbeat gradually quickened. Just as the sound of her heart echoed through the entire room, a moment when she displayed her presence.
Red sheets, like blood, caught Lena’s eye.
And…
“Ah.”
A short sigh, almost like a scream, burst out of Lena’s mouth. It was because one person lay motionless on the large bed.
No, rather than calling ‘that’ a person, could it be considered a person?
Skin that clung oddly to the bones and deeply sunken eyes.
Even an inexplicable eerie atmosphere wafted through the air.
‘… This can’t be.’
This place was the Solar Palace where the Emperor resided. And inside the Solar Palace, only one person would use such a splendid room.
For a moment, memories of the Emperor flashed through Lena’s mind.
“If His Majesty is not feeling well to the point where he can’t move.”
The face of the duke who explained the reason why the Emperor did not reveal himself on the official platform during the Hunting Festival came to mind.
‘It’s not that he’s not feeling well to the point of being unable to move; it’s…’
Lena swallowed dry saliva to soothe her tense throat.
‘He’s already dead.’
And quite a while ago.
“Ugh.”
Once she realized that the cause of the unpleasant smell was a corpse, nausea due to disgust erupted.
Unable to think clearly due to the whitening of her mind, Lena’s head was in turmoil.
Did no one know about the Emperor’s death until now?
Even if he wasn’t the Emperor, wasn’t it unreasonable that a corpse was openly laid out in the Solar Palace, yet no one knew about it?
‘Someone intentionally hid this.’
It began to dawn on Lena why she had encountered no palace servants while wandering through the Solar Palace.
‘But who on earth?’
To hide such a tremendous event. Lena bit her lip and looked at the bed again.
Although it was unpleasant, the smell was not the typical rotten smell of a corpse. Instead, it was closer to the scent of disinfectant.
‘Someone has undoubtedly been managing the corpse to prevent it from decomposing.’
Someone who dared to do something like this to the Emperor’s body. And someone who could hide his death and the Solar Palace. There was only one person like that in the empire.
‘Empress Eugenie.’
Except for her, there was no one who could prevent such a tremendous act, and no one else had a reason compelling enough to do so.
The person who stood to lose the most immediately due to the Emperor’s death was none other than the Empress.
‘Perhaps it’s to prevent the First Prince from becoming the Emperor.’
According to imperial law, if the Emperor passed away without designating a successor, the eldest son of the Imperial Consort would inherit the throne.
So, as the Empress, it was clear that she had orchestrated these actions to prevent that. What could the throne possibly be for her to go to such lengths?
Whenever the Emperor became like that was unknown, but it would probably be difficult to conceal this fact any longer.
‘I don’t know what they will do to keep this fact hidden.’
Before they could plot something sinister, Lena had to inform the Duke of the situation.
‘I need to get out of here quickly.’
To erase her traces, Lena covered the window with the curtain again. As she moved to leave the room again, at that moment, a man’s voice shattered the heavy silence.
“We’ve been caught.”
A familiar voice, heard somewhere before, flowed into Lena’s ears. She turned her head back, which moved like an unoiled iron door, and looked through the opening in the door.
A single beam of light seeped through the opening, illuminating the man’s face. Simultaneously, his familiar amber-colored eyes sparkled.
“You…”
Always with an affectionate smile, as if displaying his presence.
“Hello, Lena.”
“…Second Prince?”
Why was this man here?
Now, with her vision obscured by darkness, the man’s voice was clearer than ever before. For a moment, she stiffened in surprise.
Creak!
The open door slid shut, and the man locked it as if saying she could no longer leave this room.
Bang!!
Within the Fermannes family mansion in the capital.
Belligue, who was receiving a report from Lawrence in his study, slammed the table as soon as Lawrence’s hesitant words ended.
“What did you say just now?”
“…Marquis Cork is implicated in the human trafficking case, and evidence has emerged, leading to his arrest.”
Belligue, chewing on his words, rose abruptly from his seat.
“Damn noble scoundrels!”
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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