Caliph turned to ice in an instant, unable to move. More time was needed. Time to chew over Felix’s words, time to make a decision. But Evelia did not wait for him.
“Your Majesty.”
Caliph only rolled his eyes back and forth, clutching his slackened hand tightly. Then he slowly turned away.
Before he knew it, Evelia, who had raised her upper body halfway, filled his eyes. His mouth went dry at the sight, and his heart pounded as if it would burst.
“How did this happen…”
“…You don’t seem to remember fainting as soon as you left my mother’s greenhouse.”
He responded indifferently behind the thin voice that was breaking and scattering.
A sigh came immediately, and Caliph slowly closed his eyes. Felix’s words kept coming back to him.
His voice, gravely and earnestly advising.
[Why not approach her instead?]
He had never thought of revealing his feelings to Evelia before.
It was obvious. He had never lived as Caliph Dewit since he began this tedious recurrence.
The first time he experienced the unbelievable occurrence of recurrence was not long after Evelia became the empress.
[Hey, did you hear the rumor? The empress who succeeded not long ago took her own life. They say a state funeral will be held soon.] [What? The empress? How could she take her own life so soon after becoming the empress?] [Isn’t the reason obvious? She had lived with the present empress, who was the crown prince’s wife, since the prince’s era. It must have been hard for her to endure that shame.] [Tsk, tsk. How is the country supposed to run like this? Is the rumor that she took her own life true?] [If it’s not true, are you saying she was murdered?] [Who knows? The emperor is a despicable person who lived with the empress even after receiving the crown prince’s wife, maybe he colluded with the empress and poisoned her.]
In a restaurant to satisfy his hunger, Caliph felt as if his heart stopped at the harsh conversation exchanged by his colleagues.
The death of the empress.
He had never thought about it once. He was not supposed to.
Empress Evelia Caroline, no matter who she was.
The first and last woman he had ever loved, the only person he sincerely wished happiness for.
Even if she became another man’s wife, he sincerely wished for her happiness. Even if his own heart had long since crumbled to dust, he wanted her to be happy.
But she, whom he wished so much happiness for, had taken her own life…
Caliph rose abruptly from his seat, his face still in shock.
Half in a daze, he headed to the palace.
He swung his sword like a madman at the palace knights who stood in his way. He saw blood splattering and flesh falling, but he could not stop.
He had to reach Evelia. To see if she had really taken her own life. To see if she was really dead, he had to see her body with his own eyes.
The knights, who had been scattered, quickly gathered. But Caliph did not hesitate, cutting down those who stood in his way at random.
With only the thought that he had to see her somehow, he endured the pain that grazed his skin, even if he had to vomit blood.
Slowly moving forward, he frantically searched for her, but in the end, he could not catch even a single strand of her hair.
As he was wandering around the empress’s palace, an indescribable pain spread down his spine. Lowering his head, he saw the tip of a sword protruding from his chest.
He had to go, he had to hurry to Evelia.
He couldn’t take a single step as he mulled over the thought that instinctively came to his mind. Not only his legs but his entire body was rigid and unresponsive.
Suddenly a ‘beep’ rang in his ears, and his once stiff knees gave way in an instant, buckling beneath him. His eyes blinked slowly, and his vision tumbled down.
That was his first death.
He had never thought he would meet such a pitiful end, and his last moments were much more pathetic than he had expected.
Even so, he had no regrets.
He had been fed up with life anyway.
Of course, the fact that he closed his eyes without seeing her weighed heavily on his heart, but an unbearable sleepiness overtook him.
So he closed his eyes. His consciousness dimmed, and he felt as though he was being sucked away into oblivion.
Is this what death is like?
At that moment, he gasped and opened his eyes again.
5 years ago, in the barracks of the mercenary group he had joined after fleeing his insane father.
It was unbelievable, but there was no way to deny it. From the moment he opened his eyes again, the events of 5 years ago repeated themselves, and there was no way to disbelieve it.
Moreover, whenever he made a different choice than he had 5 years ago, he soon died for some unknown reason. Then, he would open his eyes again in the mercenary barracks 5 years prior.
After repeating such death and regression several times, he realized.
The only way not to die was to either perfectly repeat his previous life or to make decisions for Evelia.
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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