Spent the First Night with the Male Lead, Thinking I Was Terminal (10 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 1
Clea stared blankly at the chandelier’s light, so intense it could be felt even out on the terrace.
Aria Herscher was happily enjoying herself inside the banquet hall, laughing along with the crowd.
Surrounded by countless people who loved and cherished her.
‘Among them is my fiancé, Lloyd.’
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Clea swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and shifted her gaze.
Though she longed to escape this secluded, lonely terrace, there was nowhere inside where she truly belonged.
After all, she was the infamous Clea Odoi.
Staying there among people who welcomed her presence would only earn her uncomfortable stares.
She’d rather stay alone here. She smiled briefly, then bit her lip.
“Anyway, I’ll be dead soon enough—what’s the point of arguing over nothing?”
Clea frowned, pressing a hand near her aching heart.
She didn’t have much time left anyway.
Did they even know?
That she was living on borrowed time?
With so little time remaining, it was better to spend it with those she wanted to see, not those she wished to avoid.
For a moment, she even thought that if there was no one she wanted to meet, solitude would be preferable.
Suddenly sensing someone nearby, she glanced around—and found an unexpected figure standing there.
“What brings you here, Your Highness?”
“Why are you alone out here?”
“I’m only here because I have no place inside.”
Admon Wilhelm, Crown Prince of the Empire.
Almost the only person who looked at her without being swayed by rumors.
By the original story’s plot, he should have hated her more than anyone—for Aria’s sake—but he approached her with a calm expression.
‘Shouldn’t you be dancing with Aria right now? Why are you here?’
Though Clea wasn’t pleased by his approach, she offered him a smile nonetheless.
It was the Emperor’s birthday—a blessed day—and if not now, when would she smile? Yet even to herself, it felt forced.
“You’re the noble daughter of Duke Odoi. There’s no way you have no place.”
‘Why would someone like you, who surely understands all this, say such a thing?’
Her usual venomous, snake-like gaze had vanished completely.
Seeing her now—fragile, as if she might vanish at any moment—Admon reached out his hand to her.
Clea’s expression stiffened for a moment at the sight of his outstretched hand, then softened.
If she interpreted this gesture as the magnanimity of a victor, then she could accept it as such.
After all, he was ultimately Admon Wilhelm—the male lead destined to win the heroine, Aria Herscher.
But Clea glanced past him at the scene beyond, then shook her head.
Returning to the banquet with him might spare her from immediate ridicule, yet she couldn’t predict what people would say the moment they parted.
Though it might displease a victor, she had no desire to willingly step back into a den of slander.
Not when her life was nearly over.
“Admon, I have one last request.”
A final request.
They weren’t close enough to be making such requests of each other.
Yet neither Clea, who spoke first, nor Admon, who listened quietly, pointed this out.
Admon silently looked down at Clea standing before him.
Clea met his gaze and smiled gently.
“Would you drink with me?”
What would he say?
He’d already made up his mind even before speaking.
She might be scheming something—he ought to refuse.
But unlike usual, Admon couldn’t reach an immediate decision.
Seeing his hesitation, Clea stepped closer to him.
As the distance between them narrowed, their faces came into clearer view.
“I’m feeling very lonely right now.”
She pointed to a spot with her hand.
There stood Lloyd, clinging shamelessly close to Aria.
Admon let out a sigh at the sight.
His one and only close friend was abandoning his own fiancée to fawn over another woman—something utterly incomprehensible.
“Just wait a moment. I’ll go bring him myself.”
He felt he should fetch Lloyd and tell him to properly attend to his betrothed. Believing that was the only thing he could do for her, he moved to leave.
“So you dislike me as much as everyone else, Your Highness.”
“What?”
But at the bitter tone in her voice, Admon halted in his tracks.
Though hurt flickered in Clea’s voice, she quickly composed herself.
They weren’t close enough for her to feel wronged by him.
“I’m fine—you don’t need to call him. Even if you did, we wouldn’t have anything pleasant to say to each other anyway.”
With that, she wiped even the faint smile from her lips and stared at the ground.
Who would have thought the notorious villainess, Clea, would show such vulnerability?
She had always been like a fierce cat—glaring, wary whenever anyone approached. The only one she’d ever let close was her fiancé, Crown Prince Lloyd.
Admon had once seen Clea radiate pure happiness beside Lloyd, as if she owned the world—and now his expression darkened slightly.
“Just one word from me, and Lloyd will stay with you all night.”
“As I said earlier, even if you did that, he’d only glare at me in blame. I’d rather be alone.”
“…Have you given up on Lloyd?”
Admon asked a question that might have seemed impolite.
She wasn’t obligated to answer—but remembering her limited time, Clea shook her head.
For an instant, Admon’s eyes turned cold.
“We were never suited from the very beginning.”
Hearing those words, he turned his head away.
As Clea had expected, Admon wasn’t foolish. He understood perfectly well the position she was in.
Yet seeing her show vulnerability for the first time in her life stirred something within him.
Rationally, he suspected she might be plotting something.
But his heart wouldn’t cool so easily.
She had always shown only coldness before others.
He’d expected her to brush this off calmly—as a proud woman, he thought she’d never yield to such wounds.
But now she was different.
The woman he once believed incapable of loneliness now seemed to have resigned herself to everything.
Admon asked her,
“Then… do you want to be with me?”
At his words, Clea lifted her head and met his eyes.
Seeing his crimson eyes shimmer like moonlight in the night sky, she smiled.
“You were the only one who came looking for me at the banquet.”
She had been alone all this time—used to solitude, as always.
But Admon had come to her side. In that unexpected moment, her heart wavered.
“So right now, I want to drink with you—the only one who sought me out.”
Noticing a brighter smile on her face now—unlike before—Admon hesitated for a moment.
It didn’t take him long to decide.
He’d never seen that smile during their academy days—and wanted to see her smile a little longer.
“Don’t regret this.”
“Regret? My own fiancé abandoned me there.”
She wasn’t her usual sharp self. Her relaxed smile, silver hair, and blue eyes felt strangely harmonious.
Just looking at her made Admon feel intoxicated—though he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol.
Contrary to earlier, she reached out her hand first. Admon took it and followed where she led.
Though people they passed whispered at the sight of them, their secluded location kept the rumors from spreading—for now.
Though it was only a matter of time.
Still, neither of them cared.
One lived day to day with death looming; the other stood on the cusp of becoming Emperor.
They had no reason to care about others’ opinions.
“I told you not to regret it.”
“I won’t regret anything.”
“Even with a fiancé?”
Having arrived at the Crown Prince’s quarters, they continued their conversation, now standing closer than before.
Both were quite drunk by now.
“He’s openly cheating—why can’t I do the same?”
“That’s not quite what I meant.”
Drunk Clea couldn’t think clearly.
She knew she shouldn’t cross that line, yet her reason failed her.
The original Clea might have acted differently—but to her, the man before her eyes was far more appealing than Lloyd.
He stood a head taller, his hair neatly styled like black velvet, his eyes as red as fresh blood.
His entire presence was so mesmerizing and aristocratic it evoked a vampire.
But he was destined to be the heroine’s husband in the future, so she’d never dared get close.
‘But now he’s right before my eyes.’
Clea swallowed, clinging to the last threads of her reason.
Her body warmed from the alcohol, and she loosened her tightly buttoned shirt slightly—revealing a glimpse of her pale neck through the gap.
Overcome by the urge to leave a mark on that ivory throat, she leaned closer.
Though she approached with the fierce eyes of a wild beast, Admon didn’t move at all.
In fact, he felt anticipation.
‘What expression will you wear tomorrow morning?’
The last thing he saw before losing himself to the alcohol’s haze was her biting, licking, and kissing him—finally releasing his grip on reason.
But Clea didn’t care at all.
‘I’m already cursed—what does it matter?’
Whether it was tomorrow morning or the day after, her fate as someone living on borrowed time wouldn’t change.
So she thought simply:
This was just a fleeting accident of one night.
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
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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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Chapter Comments (17)
Inline Comments (210)
[Just think of it as being bitten by a passing dog.]
Wait. Did she called herself a dog?? Lol she is really crazy 😂
“Your Highness’s lips, perhaps.”
Oooh girl…😏 She wants something else for dinner i see 🙈
At this rate, heading straight to the bedroom instead of dining was only a matte
….😏🙈 You perverts sitting in a tree k.I.S.S.I.N.G😆
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I wonder if subconciously he knows that she is sick.
Its quite weird that his aide calls her a close friend when its quite clear that Admon barely registers her presence 🤣
Urgh …i love this …she ain’t no damsel in distress, she’s fierce….i think I’m in love