The Empress' Scandalous Paramour (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 1
Chapter 1. We were just another clichéd love and a commonplace betrayal.
“Love is a dog’s ass.”
When was it that my eldest sister told me that?
Back then, her crude curse, uttered in such refined diction, had only made me laugh.
“Don’t laugh, little sister. Listen closely—this might be your story someday.”
My second sister stroked my hair and whispered elegantly.
Though the seven sisters generally got along well, I always argued with the second. Probably because her tone was so insufferably condescending.
“Especially never fall in love with a human man. With his charming face and cunning tongue, he’ll try to take everything from you. Before you know it, you’ll have handed over your money, your body, and your dreams—and still be smiling, saying it was all worth it.”
My third sister gave the longest and most earnest warning.
Of course, I barely paid attention even to that.
There was no particular reason.
At the time, I was still young, and the world held far more interesting things than men.
And above all… my sisters’ failures weren’t my own.
‘Ah, if only I’d known… I should have listened.’
Was that just now a life flashing before my eyes?
Coughing up thick, pitch-black blood, I blinked laboriously. For a brief moment, my hazy vision cleared.
But I knew well this was merely a fleeting phenomenon right before death.
After all, a candle about to go out burns brightest by consuming its own wick.
I looked down at the sword that had ruthlessly pierced through my chest and even shattered the wall of some house.
Sliding my gaze away from that cold, holy murder weapon enveloped in sacred radiance, I saw a hand so flawlessly beautiful and neat it seemed impossible for a man’s.
It was his—the very same hand that had held mine at the altar just this morning.
My husband’s hand.
In an instant, fierce veins bulged across the back of the hand gripping the hilt.
As if even the gaze of his dying wife displeased him, he twisted the blade without hesitation.
“Guh…!”
Crack. Amid the commotion of dying screams all around, the sound of my spine snapping echoed deafeningly inside me.
It was the exact moment my sisters had warned me about.
The moment of bitter betrayal.
More black blood surged out with a violent gurgle. At the peak of agony, I could no longer feel anything at all.
“…Why did you come all the way down here, dear?”
The detestable man knelt on one knee upon the floor stained with my blood.
Though he’d reduced his own wife to this pitiful state, tears of blood—reeking of iron—still streamed down his cheeks as if he truly loved her. It was utterly laughable.
“You told me… to wait for you at home. If you had… I wouldn’t have had to kill you.”
Ha!
I wanted desperately to sneer sharply, but couldn’t—and that infuriated me. My body temperature was dropping rapidly. There was no way to revive this flesh.
‘How could I not have known? How!’
That you were the captain of the Holy Knights, the Crusade!
A loud ringing filled my ears, as if someone were severing my neck and tossing it into a barrel of rotten wine.
I had loved him madly.
I still remembered the shepherd boy standing blankly beneath the white daylight moon, the golden ripening wheat, the crisp autumn air that stung the nose ever so slightly, and the high, clear autumn sky.
He’d been flustered, unable to control his flock, clutching a staff as tall as himself.
“Um… thank you.”
When I finally took pity and caught a stray lamb that had fled into the ditch, he shyly smiled and bowed his head.
Then his straw hat slipped off—and a cascade of brilliant platinum hair, shimmering like rippling grain, was revealed.
That was the day.
The day Astaroth, youngest of the Seven Princes of Hell and cruel sovereign of the lowest abyss, fell hopelessly in love.
I took that clumsy shepherd into my heart. Through him, I learned the value of humanity, the preciousness of life. I came to cherish the weak instead of despising them.
It was unbecoming of a demon—but I didn’t care.
If it meant bringing happiness to a man whose life would flicker out like a spark beside my own eternity, I would do anything.
My sisters warned me I was losing myself. They advised that a proper demon never settled down—that I ought to take many lovers and reign over them. But I wouldn’t listen.
Instead, I flew into a rage and cut off all contact, forbidding their interference.
And then… at last… I wanted to live like a human!
Foolishly, I longed to marry, bear children, and leave his legacy in the name of our child.
But normalcy was an illusion for a demon—and his love was nothing but stinking garbage.
My foolish wish blinded my eyes and deafened my ears, letting me see only what I wanted and hear only what I desired.
This death was the price of a trite love.
“Enrique!”
Just then—
A human woman of melancholy beauty came running from somewhere and wrapped her arms tightly around his back.
Her spring-sprite-like pink hair fluttered softly through the air.
With a frame so frail it seemed she’d vanish if grasped, she burst into tears.
…I didn’t know who she was.
“Oh, my poor Enrique! My love. You’ve suffered so much, haven’t you?”
“…Helene.”
“It’s alright. You did well. Once you take this demon’s corpse to His Majesty, you’ll surely be named Crown Prince!”
From the lips of this flower-fresh woman poured truths about my husband I’d never known.
Not only was he a Holy Knight capable of slaying demons—but a prince! My life had been necessary for him to become Crown Prince.
‘That man… I don’t know him.’
The one I loved was a shepherd.
A clumsy, simple man who couldn’t even properly care for a single lamb.
‘I was deceived. Completely fooled from the very start—it was all calculated.’
You must have known I often appeared in that region…
And waited patiently, thoroughly concealing your holy power.
Despair washed over my entire body.
Finding it absurd, I let out a weak giggle—and the woman peeking out from behind him widened her eyes in shock.
Seeing her expression, the only thing I could do was utter a grief-stricken curse.
“I curse you, Enrique! Every moment I loved you is my shame!”
Ah—to think my vision would blur just from shouting like that.
So this is what death feels like.
“I… curse… you…”
Rage surged like my soul had been cast into a furnace, but my parched lips sealed shut before I could finish my final words.
For an instant, I thought I saw his lips tremble as if trying to say something to me. No—I didn’t see it. My vision flickered. My life was fading.
“It’s your fault. To think I had to kill you…”
His last words were worth less than dust.
And so, I died in vain.
Still wearing the wedding dress I’d dreamed of with such excitement—on my wedding night.
The day the sun fell from my world.
[This is the timeline separator]How much time had passed since then?
“The snowstorm ended yesterday, so the weather is lovely today.”
The first thing I heard as consciousness faintly returned was a low, gentle voice.
Even before opening my eyes, I knew without looking that it belonged to a young man.
“Your Majesty loves the sight of pure white snow blanketing everything, doesn’t she? How about this—if you wake now, I’ll build you a snowman. Would you like that?”
Swish.
The sound of curtains being drawn followed his tender tone.
Immediately, intensely bright sunlight assaulted my eyelids as if the world itself were white.
“…!”
I felt nauseous. Gasping, I curled inward, embracing the pain spreading through my entire body.
‘What… how is this possible? I was surely dead…’
Gritting my teeth, I slowly reawakened my senses.
First, the icy tips of my toes. Then my calves, trembling like a newborn lamb… my thighs.
It didn’t take long to trace every corner of my body, all the way up to my heart—where blood should be flowing.
“If you open your eyes, I’ll carry Your Majesty on my back all the way beyond the rear garden. You’ve always begged me to do that, yet I’ve been unworthy—never once fulfilling your wish.”
Ah, it hurt. Dizzy and queasy.
My body was in terrible condition—as fragile as glass already cracked, ready to shatter at the slightest touch.
‘I’m like a broken glass ornament.’
After panting for what felt like ages, I finally managed to slowly lift my eyelids.
‘Who is that? I don’t recognize his face.’
A grand mural adorned the ceiling. A dazzlingly ornate crystal chandelier hurt my eyes. And beneath it… a tall, muscular knight.
‘Could he be… a Holy Knight?’
My lingering rage flared instantly into sharp wariness.
Forcing myself upright, I reached out with demonic claws to seize his throat.
“…….”
But nothing happened.
No matter how many times I flailed my hands, nothing changed.
‘What? Why… why isn’t my magic power manifesting?’
The moment I froze in panic, the knight met my eyes.
“…Your Imperial Majesty, the Empress?”
His short ash-blond hair and gray eyes looked as if someone had scooped up winter itself and shaped it into a man.
His sharp nose gave a stubborn, earnest impression, yet his eyes—twisted as if about to burst into tears—also hinted at obedience.
The knight stared at me, stunned into stillness.
Honestly, he looked so shocked he might faint from disbelief.
“You—you’re awake! Your Imperial Majesty, the Empress!”
Finally, the knight cried out in astonishment and hurried to my bedside, dropping to one knee.
Thud!
The sight immediately brought back memories of my final moments—and bile rose instantly in my throat.
“Urgh…!”
“A physician! Summon a physician at once! The Empress has regained consciousness!”
Empress?
Just who exactly were they talking about?
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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Leonarda really said “I’m done” and meant it 💀 queen finally clocked in and chose violence. Enrique only interested now?? too late bro.
Meriem down BAD already and bro hasn’t even met her again 😭 meanwhile Leonarda fighting the whole empire solo… yeah this banquet bout to be chaos fr.
She really said “fix yourselves or I will” 😭🔥 empress about to run bootcamp fr, Valkyrie redemption arc loading…