Suddenly, Lina’s smile faded at the prince’s question about the curse of Duke Fermanness.
“……Yes. A little. I heard it’s called the curse of the god.”
“Then do you know why it’s called the curse of the god?”
“I don’t know that much……”
Lina trailed off.
‘Why is he suddenly bringing up the Duke’s curse?’
She did not understand the prince’s behavior. But Alex continued to speak, unaware of her feelings.
“In the past, many children in the empire were born with divine power. Of course, the Fermanness family was also one of the families born with strong divine power.”
“The Fermanness family?”
That the Fermanness family was born with divine power. It was the first time she had heard such a thing in her 400year life.
“Yes. They were the family that produced the most holy knights. But one day, no child with divine power was born in the Fermanness family anymore. Do you know? Originally, the Fermanness family had silver hair.”
Suddenly, numerous pictures she had seen in the gallery hall’s storage flashed through Lina’s mind.
Pictures that were not even hung on the walls. And the many silverhaired people painted in them.
“Silver hair is one of the symbols of divine power.”
The symbol of divine power. Lina quietly repeated Alex’s words.
“Well, not everyone with silver hair has divine power.”
People with divine power could be identified by physical characteristics. And the stronger the divine power, the more clearly it appeared.
Silver hair with golden eyes. That was the most ideal physical characteristic of those with divine power.
‘But the woman called the Holy Maiden now doesn’t have silver hair with golden eyes, does she?’
She thought of the princess of Festius, who was a Holy Maiden. Perhaps now physical characteristics and divine power were unrelated. She had silver hair but no divine power.
Touching her own hair, Lina asked.
“So then, do you know why the Fermanness family was cursed, Your Highness?”
“Rumor has it that someone in the Fermanness family committed an unforgivable great sin in the past. An angry god personally cursed the family.”
‘Probably happened more than 400 years ago?’
Since Lina first opened her eyes in a place that wasn’t the Regnator Empire, she didn’t know much about what had happened before.
Also, she hadn’t been in the empire for even fifty years, so she knew little about it.
Lost in thought for a moment, Lina suddenly stared at the prince, who was telling her this.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
At Lina’s question, Alex smiled and said.
“I hope you’ll make the flowers bloom in this garden again.”
“……What?”
Lina tilted her head at the prince’s puzzling words. And just as she was about to ask Alex again, she felt a presence behind her.
‘Duke?’
Turning around, there stood Valige, looking back and forth at Alex and Lina. His expression clearly showed discontent.
‘That face again?’
A feeling of unease overcame her at the glare that seemed to want to kill the prince.
“Oh, Valige, you came at the right time. I was just about to leave.”
And whether Alex felt that glare or not, he soon moved away from Lina.
“Then let’s see each other later.”
Alex winked at Lina and left the place. In his sudden absence, an awkward silence flowed.
Lina had not had a proper conversation with the Duke since that day.
The Duke had been busy with the work that had piled up because of Lina, and Lina, who had injured her arm, had been ordered to rest for the time being.
After a while, Lina broke the silence, unable to bear it any longer.
“Would you like to walk a bit…?”
Thus, Lina, who went for a walk with the Duke, asked him, glancing sideways at him as they walked. Walking side by side like this, it really seemed as if she had a special relationship with the Duke, as the rumors suggested.
‘Plus, that face earlier…’
Lina recalled Duke Valige’s expression when he looked at the Emperor a little earlier. Eyes that seemed dissatisfied, with furrowed brows. That face was as if…
‘What am I thinking?’
So much talk about her relationship with the Duke made her unwittingly think strange thoughts.
She shook her head to get rid of the useless thoughts, and then carefully brought up a question she had wanted to ask for a while.
“Duke, about the things in my room… Do you know where they are? I heard people came and took them away the day I disappeared.”
Given the situation, the Duke would know where her things were. Unless someone had stolen them in the meantime. Lina hoped that all her belongings were safely delivered to the Duke.
“Lawrence must have taken them for investigation. Some are with me.”
“Then wasn’t there a cookie jar among those things? It contains various things, like an old ring…”
“Are you talking about the ring with an orange tint?”
“Yes!”
Lina’s face brightened a bit at his words, recognizing the ring.
She had been worried that someone might have secretly taken it during the delivery. It seemed that the ring was with the Duke.
“Is it precious?”
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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