The woman disappeared.
“Estelle?”
The man searched for signs of the woman as if he was mad.
But there was no response. And that meant one thing. The man clenched his fists so hard that blue veins bulged.
“It’s a lie.”
The woman had abandoned him and disappeared.
The memory of that unbelievable moment vividly came to mind. But the man continued to search for her in disarray.
The room where the woman often stayed, the rose garden where she smiled because the sunlight was good, even the space where they shyly laughed when they looked at each other.
“It seems like everything is just as it was.”
Now even her life and death were unclear. His heart painfully clenched at the possibility that she might be dead.
The handsome face of the man became expressionless.
“She wouldn’t come back just because of this.”
Even if she had died, he had to bring her body and keep it by his side. A dark madness moved for a single purpose.
“Even if I can’t exactly know how she disappeared.”
If there was a way to run away, there would be a way to catch and confine.
“Estelle.”
His beloved wife, with her radiant pink platinum hair, like a spring flower, and her mysterious blue eyes.
“It ended up like this after all.”
It was all the man’s fault.
That he completely lost that beautiful smile.
“But I can’t be without you.”
The world was dark like night, even as morning brightened. The happiness she gifted became the fodder for another hell.
The man’s cold gaze turned toward his wedding ring.
In the elegant platinumcolored ring, a deep blue sapphire was embedded.
The man wanted to wear a gem that resembled the woman’s blue eyes, and the woman wanted a red gem that resembled the man’s eyes.
But in the end, the wedding ring was chosen according to the man’s preference.
Thus, this ring remained in his hand, the only trace of the woman.
The man, with closed eyes, fervently kissed the wedding ring. Somehow, he felt connected to the woman through this ring.
A frail voice trembling with sobs echoed in his ear.
“Goodbye, Johan.”
He would definitely retrieve her.
And even if he had to break her ankle, he would confine her.
“We’ll continue to be together.”
The man, Johan Blanchett, opened his eyes with dignity and held a languid smile on his lips. It was the smile that the woman sometimes looked at as if enchanted.
“Forever.”
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]Estelle was an orphan adopted by the Duke Libertan’s family.
The simple reason why a nondescript orphan could be adopted by the prestigious Duke Libertan’s family was easy.
“The death of Princess Estella.”
The adorable Estella, with her sparkling golden hair and deep, blue eyes.
Everyone loved the angel born into the devillike Duke Libertan’s family with all their soul.
So, when Estella ended her short life due to an incurable disease, everyone couldn’t bear her absence. They tried to fill that terrible loss with something similar.
And that’s why Estelle was chosen, as the most similar girl.
She reminded them of the young Estella with her blue eyes, they encountered her fatefully in an orphanage, and she was born lovable like a sugar doll, unlike an orphan.
Estelle obtained the incredible luck of becoming the daughter of the Duke’s family for these vague reasons. However, nobody recognized that it was not real luck.
The Duke and Duchess Libertan, who she thought would become solid parents, abused her after adopting her.
From the beginning, they only needed her as a remembrance of their daughter.
So whenever Estelle acted out of her role, they would starve her for days or confine her in narrow spaces.
Whether to hide the abuse or not, they barely allowed her to leave the mansion, and it was all wrapped up as love.
Until the Duke Libertan’s family fell into bankruptcy due to their mountain of debt.
To be honest, I knew this day would come.
“We’re really bankrupt.”
I suspected it when they were expanding the business scale, but I knew of the downfall of the Duke Libertan’s family even earlier.
“I saw it in the book.”
A few years ago, I, who had fainted in a closet, learned of a shocking fact. That here was inside a novel, and I was the heroine of the book.
“Life seemed too harsh.”
According to the contents of the book, a salvationlike deal is concluded with the Duke Libertan’s family sitting in a mountain of debt.
“A deal that would clear all the debts with just my marriage.”
It was quite a profitable deal to get rid of an uncherished daughter, especially since the other party was from the rival house, the Duke of Blanchett.
So, having married the Duke of Blanchett, I unknowingly fell in love with my villainous husband, a fake wife sold off, only to be betrayed. I even tried to escape with the male lead in between, but got caught and died brutally.
‘I can’t die like this.’
With continuous failures to escape from the Duke of Libertan’s house, there was only one method left.
‘Build trust, then escape.’
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.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
