The Beloved Youngest Daughter of the Lord Family - Chapter 1
“The Third Imperial Princess of the Empire, Elena von Integra, is hereby sentenced to death by burning.”
The morning of my long-awaited coming-of-age ceremony.
Instead of the promised freedom, I was sentenced to execution and dragged by soldiers to the front of the stake.
“That woman is the monster princess who was confined in the tower.”
“She only looks normal on the outside; they say she’s a witch inside. There’s even a rumor that she plucks out the eyes of young men and eats them.”
“Ugh, how horrifying.”
As I walked barefoot up the high pile of firewood, every word that reached my ears was nothing but absurd nonsense.
Not a single person spoke in my defense.
To me, who had grown up confined in a tower my whole life, the title of princess was nothing more than decoration.
“Look at that ominous black hair. She really does look like a witch.”
Unmanaged, long and dry black hair, and eyes of the same color.
Among the imperial family with their dazzling blonde hair, I was an utterly alien existence.
Yet even to someone like me, there was a man who once said I was beautiful.
The person who taught me about the outside world and how to read and write.
My teacher and fiancé, the only visitor to the tower for over twenty years—Ranian.
He was right there, gazing down at me silently from the seats prepared for the imperial family.
“Don’t dawdle. Hurry up and climb onto the stake.”
“Ugh.”
When a soldier stabbed my shoulder with his spear, my tattered dress tore and blood poured down.
They acted as though it didn’t matter whether I was injured or not, since I would soon turn to ash anyway.
‘It hurts.’
But neither the thorns piercing my bare feet nor the spear wound in my shoulder hurt as much as my shattered heart.
“You…….”
Ranian, how could you do this to me.
I looked up in despair at him standing beside Karl, the Crown Prince and my older brother.
I had truly loved him.
No—I thought I loved him.
In a life that felt like walking through endless darkness, the only dazzling moments were the short times I spent with him.
Yet now he stood beside the brother who had betrayed me, looking down at me with an indifferent face.
From the very spot where he could best watch me burn to death.
“Haha…….”
A hollow laugh that could not possibly reach the stands scattered into the air.
The happiness I had briefly dreamed of felt like shards of glass, piercing my entire body as they shattered.
‘How did things end up like this?’
My life of confinement, which had continued since my distant childhood, began with a certain priest’s prophecy.
A prophecy that on the day I turned twenty, the “mark,” proof of the emperor, would manifest in me.
‘What on earth is this? For the emblem that appears in only one member of the imperial family to appear in a half-blood princess like her…’
‘We must never allow the princess to gain power. We have no choice but to lock her deep within the palace and wait for her to grow.’
‘But… what about those who already know this truth?’
‘We silence them and make them disappear without a trace. In time, people will even forget that the princess ever existed.’
My mother, who had been dragged into the palace as a concubine after her kingdom fell, could not ultimately stop my confinement and wasted away before passing.
And just a short while ago, as the priest had prophesied, the mark appeared on my body.
I made a deal of sorts with Karl, who came to the tower as if he had been waiting.
In exchange for handing over the emperor’s mark, I was promised freedom from then on.
‘I will let you marry Ranian and give you a mansion outside the palace along with sufficient wealth. So you may live a peaceful life from now on.’
‘…Are you sincere, Brother?’
‘Of course. You no longer need to suffer because of that mark. You can live freely now. I promise you the ordinary life as a princess that you always wanted.’
But Karl did not keep his promise.
The coming-of-age ceremony that was supposed to announce my marriage transformed into the day of my execution.
‘How foolish. Did you really think you could live such a fairy-tale life?’
What on earth was I expecting?
If I had known Ranian would be standing beside my brother, looking at me bound to the stake with amusement.
If I had known his gaze would be so chillingly cold, I would never have made that choice.
“Hurry and light the fire! Give the witch who cursed the imperial family the death she deserves!”
“Peace and stability to Integra!”
“Burn that filthy demon without leaving a trace!”
The shouts ringing from all directions gradually turned into frenzied fervor.
Eyes filled with anticipation crawled over my body like insects, as if the audience were demanding an encore after an opera.
‘How awful.’
Why did I once long for people so desperately?
Was I hoping that someone among them would save me?
‘Ah, I see now.’
Only now, with death right before me, did I realize one truth.
The only one who could save me was myself, and they were merely waiting for a spectacle.
In an empire where a woman could never ascend the throne, my tragic fate of dying unjustly was nothing more than entertainment to them—neither more nor less.
“Sinner Elena. Do you admit your crimes of selling your soul to a wicked demon and cursing the imperial family?”
I twisted my lips into a smile and lifted my head toward Karl.
“I have never done such things. Brother Karl. No one knows my innocence better than you, do you not?”
“How insolent!! How dare a criminal casually address His Highness the Crown Prince’s name!”
The soldiers beside me thrust their spears toward me as if they would stab me at any moment.
But when I did not even flinch, Karl raised his hand to stop them.
“Even if you have committed an unforgivable sin, you are still a member of the imperial family. If you have any last words, speak. As your brother, I will gladly listen.”
As Karl spoke gently, as though he truly cared for his blood relative facing death, murmurs of admiration rose one by one around us.
“As expected of His Highness the Crown Prince, such a noble heart. How compassionate.”
“Truly befitting one born of perfect bloodline—such an admirable character.”
Everyone unanimously praised Karl’s character, but I knew the true face he hid inside.
Even to the very end, he was enjoying toying with me as if I were a plaything.
I was almost confused whether he was truly human or a demon wearing human skin.
“Last words? Yes, I do have something to say.”
“Speak.”
“Go to hell, Karl.”
Boooo!!
Amid the jeers of the crowd, rotten eggs and stones flew toward me.
My forehead split open and blood flowed, and my tattered dress quickly became soaked with filth.
But I no longer felt humiliated or pained.
No pain could ever replace my rage toward those two.
“To not repent your sins even at the very end. How regrettable, my sister.”
Karl made a sorrowful expression as if it truly pained him, then raised his hand to give the soldiers an order.
“Carry out the execution.”
The moment our eyes met as Karl turned to leave the execution ground, the corners of his lips twisted subtly.
Slowly and clearly, with the beautiful appearance I once admired, he moved his lips.
‘Just. Die.’
Whoosh!
Dozens of torches were thrown onto the oil-soaked pile of wood.
In an instant, flames soared high enough to engulf my body, dancing into the air.
Between the fiercely boiling dark crimson fire, the silhouettes of the two men gradually blurred.
And so, enveloped in pitch-black smoke, I lost consciousness.
[This is the timeline separator]Jingle, jingle.
A colorful mobile floating in the air sparkled dazzlingly under the warm sunlight.
I blinked my large eyes and blankly stared up at the mobile swaying in a steady rhythm.
‘What on earth is going on?’
A luxurious room bathed in sunlight pouring through the glass windows.
The space where the curtains fluttered gently in the languid afternoon breeze was peace itself.
It was hard to believe that just moments ago I had been engulfed in scorching flames.
‘Ah, so this must be the afterlife everyone talks about.’
It seems even the gods in heaven pitied my past life.
To think they would give me a direct ticket to paradise without any further pain.
‘But… something feels a little off?’
Even setting aside how the ceiling looked unusually high like when I was a child, and how everything around me appeared strangely gigantic.
Why can’t I move my body at all?
Ugh, ngh.
I groaned inwardly and tried my hardest, but even twitching my eyebrows alone was difficult.
I was struggling for a long time, unable to make a sound, when—
From not far away came a small, faint humming.
“Hmm, hmm…….”
Startled by the humming of a young woman, I whipped my head toward the source of the sound.
Or rather, I tried to.
But my head, which felt as heavy as a boulder, only tilted ever so slightly.
‘Please, move……!!’
The moment I desperately prayed with my eyes tightly shut, something miraculous happened.
It felt as though something exploded inside my mind with a pop, and little by little, my body began to move.
‘Yes!’
Overjoyed, I stretched out my arm—and froze solid on the spot.
The hand raised into the air was not my original one.
“Meow……?”
A tiny palm like a pebble, plump arms folded softly in many layers.
The body that should have belonged to a full-grown adult had returned to the form of a newborn baby I could barely remember.
‘W-wait. Wasn’t this supposed to be heaven? Don’t tell me I’ve been reincarnated?’
No wonder everything felt far too vivid for the afterlife.
‘What in the world is going on!’
In the midst of unprecedented chaos, having lost all reason, I flailed my short limbs wildly in the air.
From the recoil, the dolls arranged around me like flowers decorating a coffin came crashing down onto me.
‘Argh, heavy!’
I thrashed desperately even though I couldn’t cry out properly.
But my soft, squishy body, like freshly baked bread, only sank deeper into the cradle.
‘At this rate I’ll suffocate and die, won’t I?’
Wow, talk about terrible luck.
After burning to death, now asphyxiation?
‘No way, absolutely not!!’
Waaah!
Gathering every ounce of strength I had—even the strength I used for nursing—I let out a powerful wail, and somewhere a chair toppled over with a loud crash.
Someone came running in a panic, flinging the dolls off me into the air before gasping in shock.
“B-Baby……?”
A woman dressed as a maid—the one I presumed was humming earlier—looked at me with eyes that said she couldn’t believe it.
“Oh my goodness. How can this be.”
Hic, sniff.
Finally calming down a little, I stared blankly up at her while hiccuping through tears.
The tears that hadn’t yet stopped welled up in my eyes and soon rolled down my soft cheeks.
“Baby. Our baby has…….”
The maid, watching the scene with trembling eyes, carefully reached out and wiped the moisture from my cheek.
“Your skin is warm. It was always as cold as ice.”
Her touch was so gentle and careful, it felt as though she were handling the most precious jewel in the world.
“To think you’ve truly awakened. This isn’t a dream, is it?”
Embracing me tightly with an overwhelmed expression, the maid shouted loudly toward the outside.
“The baby has finally opened her eyes!”
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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Woww, what a great father he is.
Claimed to love the mother, but ignored their own child…. how great.
Oh, what’s happening? My poor baby Bella! I hope someone comes to help her quickly 😭💔