Surely, that schmiz wouldn’t be what she was wearing, would it? It’s obviously a kitchen maid’s clothes.

“Lucrezia seems to be treating the second daughter of Cardinal de Mare like less than a maid.”

“No distant relative or maid would wear such clothes. They’re truly the clothes of a maid.”

Isabella’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

There was no way to recover from what was said. Deciding whether to further lie as her face turned bright red, or to run away, the Queen Marguerite, who had been silent, threw a single word at Isabella.

“Was that schmiz also something you wore?”

Isabella clamped her mouth shut, turning pale. For a girl of just seventeen, Isabella was very quick to judge the situation. When cornered, the best thing to do was to reduce her words and escape.

However, Lucrezia, who was not as bright as her own daughter, tried to somehow fix the situation.

“That is…… It’s not that I dressed her like that, it looks like the maids switched it!”

Queen Marguerite clicked her tongue. Lucrezia had confessed to failing to manage her household while trying to insist she didn’t mistreat the maid.

Queen Marguerite resolutely shook her hand, stopping Lucrezia from speaking with a gesture.

“Enough. Take the girl and give her a proper schmiz to change into.”

Queen Marguerite’s maid bowed her head and helped Ariadne stand.

Ariadne, with all the acting power she could muster, made a face as if she didn’t know anything, and with wide eyes, she looked around and stood up, led by the Queen’s maid.

From the corner of her eye as she left the Queen’s reception room, she saw Lucrezia, her face flushed with shame, gasping for breath.

Queen Marguerite pronounced social death on Lucrezia.

“Lady de. lo. si, I will change the clothes of the Cardinal’s second daughter and keep her a little longer. You and the Cardinal’s eldest daughter may go back.”

The unflinching decree was a sharp rebuke.

Referring to a single daughter as the Cardinal’s and not hers, the neglect implying the children were only the Cardinal’s, the expulsion from their group it was the epitome of treatment that would only appear in Lucrezia’s worst nightmares.

The path to the Queen’s palace, following the maid, was all too familiar to Ariadne. It was the palace where she had stayed for 9 years as the fiancee of the Prime Minister.

This path was a back road that led into the Queen’s palace through a side door, and was always the way Ariadne went out when she had to sneak out for Cesare because there were few people passing by.

In other words, it was the starting point of all of the previous life Ariadne’s misdeeds.

‘I wish I could erase it from my memory.’

If she could erase it all from her memory and not repeat her sins, if she could live as the upright and good person she wanted to be this time, wouldn’t her past sins be as if they never happened? Couldn’t she receive remission for the sins she had already committed?

Ariadne was lost in her thoughts as she stepped forward, but she bumped into the back of the Queen’s maid, who had stopped.

“Ouch.”

But the maid’s voice was loud.

“We meet Prince Alfonso.”

The Queen’s maid stopped and bowed deeply, and Ariadne, who had bumped into her, stepped back in a hurry and bowed her head a beat later.

The white and smooth boy, who embodied the sins she had committed in the past, was looking at her.

“Ariadne?”

“Alfonso?”

The back alley was dark, the sunlight hardly penetrating, but a ray of sunlight that slipped in at just the right time brilliantly illuminated Prince Alfonso’s blonde hair.

Ariadne remembered that day when she would go out through this back alley to the Queen’s Palace, meet Prince Alfonso, and drive him to death, and she gave a bitter smile.

However, the Prince Alfonso in front of her now was an innocent seventeenyearold boy who had nothing to do with a power struggle.

“Alfonso, were you a prince?”

But even in this life, Ariadne couldn’t be honest.

Honesty was a luxury for those who had it. As someone who had nothing, she had to strive to reach a safe place, even if it meant mixing lies and deception.

She needed the affection of Prince Alfonso, and, yes, perhaps his proposal. There would be countless adversities on the way there.

But, if she could succeed…?

“Lady de Mare! You’re outrageous!”

Ariadne was concerned about her acting, but the bouncing handmaid of the queen covered up the lack of the main actress’s performance.

“This man is His Royal Highness, Alfonso de Carlo, the only bloodline of His Majesty, King Leo III, and Her Majesty, Queen Marguerite!”

Alfonso stopped the queen’s handmaid who was speaking in turn.

“Carla, stop. I purposely didn’t let her know. Ariadne didn’t know.”

Maid Carla glared at Ariadne, exclaiming with her eyes ‘how could that be possible!’, and Ariadne lowered her head to avoid her gaze.

“I am sorry, Your Highness.”

Watching Maid Carla, Ariadne raised a respectful salute to Alfonso.

“I sincerely beg your forgiveness for my disrespect.”

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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