Confused and inadvertently making a blank sound, Aeli looked down at the girl.
Just as she was about to look around, wondering what the situation was.
The girl opened her mouth.
“From earlier… I saw you next to the young master.”
Could you be the deceased Duchess? The girl asked with an innocent face, unlike her majestic appearance from earlier.
Aeli, greatly surprised by the gaze looking straight at her, took a startled step back.
Right now, the princess can see her?
This was the third time, along with the child and Lutis.
Thinking that this week was a period of shock, Aeli rubbed her face, which could not even turn pale as a ghost, and stammered.
“C-can you see me?”
“……”
“……Lady?”
As if Siren had done before, Aeli belatedly realized that the person in front of her was the princess and changed the ending of her sentence to honorifics a beat late.
At that, the girl, who had lowered her gaze and gulped, raised her chin and blinked upon hearing Aeli’s answer.
Right after.
“P-please… spare my life!”
Aeli was frightened by the girl, who was on her knees and crawling as if she would grab the hem of Aeli’s skirt at any moment.
She couldn’t understand what the situation was at all.
Aeli opened her mouth, forgetting to ask the girl how she saw her.
“Wh-why is the princess asking me to spare her life? In the first place, I couldn’t even keep my own life, so how can I save someone else’s life…!”
“That…!”
“…I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s difficult for me too because the situation is complicated.”
“I’m sorry, but it would be better for you to go to Her Majesty the Empress, your mother, or His Majesty the Emperor, your father, and tell them,” Aeli said.
There was no sign that the child could see her, but as soon as the child went to the concubine’s quarters, she drove away the servant. Then, she suddenly blurted out to spare her life, not even giving time to understand the situation in her mind.
Aeli felt uneasy with the instinct that it seemed she shouldn’t listen anymore and tried to leave.
She was thinking of finding out where the concubine’s quarters the child had gone to were and taking her out right away.
“Just…”
“……”
“Just… get me out of the palace… Is that not possible either…?”
If she hadn’t seen the girl’s eyes becoming teary as she lowered her head in disappointment, that would have been the case.
“……”
No, no matter what, she is the only princess of the empire, so does her current attitude make sense?
Aeli stopped trying to leave the parlor and let out a deep sigh.
Although the girl was about a head and a half taller than the child and half a head taller than Siren.
Still, she was a young child who would barely reach Aeli’s chest.
…There’s no harm in listening, so let’s hear it first and then decide. Aeli, whose heart had softened, said with a wry smile.
“First… tell me what the situation is. I’ll listen and think about it until the child arrives.”
“Then, then first.”
“……”
“I… I don’t have a mother…”
It seems you’ve been mistaken from the beginning. The girl added cautiously.
As soon as she heard those words, Aeli recalled what the child had said to the attendant some time ago.
[El… Elder brother’s moth-mother!]…These days, it seems to be a trend for kids to say it like this.
Aeli looked down at the girl, unable to hide her uncomfortable expression.
The girl gulped and said.
“I am, well… I am the 1st princess… but no.”
“…Pardon?”
“That’s… If you only count by age, I’m the eldest, but I’m probably not the child you’re thinking of…”
“……”
“…I entered the palace three years ago.”
…Excuse me? Aeli was surprised by the girl’s continuing words and only opened her mouth and asked back.
She wondered how to escape the swamp of overflowing information.
So those words sounded like she was saying she wasn’t the legitimate child of the Empress…
The girl continued. She said that until a few years ago, she lived without even knowing she was of imperial blood.
She just performed with her gypsy mother, traveled to many cities, watched and learned performances, and lived an ordinary life, knowing nothing.
At that, Aeli slightly opened her mouth. Three years ago, she had already died and returned as a ghost, and Lutis had gone to war.
Then, it was natural not to know about the existence of the princess. She thought that not only them but most of the nobles would be the same. The girl opened her mouth again.
“…But because my hair color is like this.”
“…Ah.”
“Usually, I lived with ash applied to hide it as gray, but suddenly it started raining… and I was caught.”
So she had no choice but to come to the palace, the girl tightly grasped the hem of the dress she was wearing.
As the girl said, blue eyes were quite common in the empire, so there was no problem.
However, silver hair was a color that only the imperial family could be born with, and especially the combination with blue eyes, whoever saw it had to bow their head at that moment.
Even the Ratcliffes, whose family tree had the most imperial names, had platinum blonde hair, not silver hair.
“……”
Power given without the ability to protect is rather poison.
Aeli, who had experienced that, could understand the choice of the girl’s mother, who was said to be a gypsy.
It would have been the best choice a mother could make to protect her child.
However, as Aeli listened to the girl’s story, she soon felt strange and asked. Didn’t she just say she didn’t have a mother?
To this, the girl answered.
“…She passed away a year ago.”
“…Pardon?”
“As soon as I entered, I was recognized as having imperial blood, but two months later, the internal payment set in the palace decreased. Then, the people who managed the palace gradually decreased…”
“……”
“From about two years ago, my residence was moved to the palace in the forest behind the imperial palace.”
Aeli was at a loss for words upon hearing that. It was because she learned for the first time that there was a palace in the forest behind the imperial palace.
Aeli, who felt dizzy for a moment at the neglected environment, which was questionable as to where and how she had lived, held her forehead.
In a voice that was much more gentle than before, Aeli asked.
“Your Highness the Princess. Excuse me, but how old are you?”
“…Fifteen.”
“Fifteen… Fifteen.”
Ha. Aeli let out a small snort.
As far as she remembered, the Emperor was thirty or close to it this year.
That meant the Emperor was at most fifteen when the girl in front of her was conceived.
The same age as the girl in front of her.
“……”
Aeli envisioned what the girl, who looked no older than Siren’s age let alone fifteen, would have been like if she had grown up normally.
…To this extent, it meant she had hardly grown since entering the palace.
How terribly neglected she must have been for a child in her growth period to have only grown this much.
When there was no answer, the girl hurriedly said, as if realizing that what she was saying and how she looked did not match.
“Th-this, I don’t know well either. A few days ago, someone suddenly came to the palace… and told me to follow, teaching me how to speak and everything…”
Aeli, feeling overwhelmed, opened her mouth for a while and asked.
If her mother died to that extent, it seemed she wouldn’t have grown up well, so how had she lived?
“……”
“…Your Highness?”
“There was nothing… to eat.”
“……”
“I just starved, but there was a forest, so I could get water from ponds or weeds, and ate those… In winter, it seemed there would be nothing to eat, so from fall, I slowly picked and dried tree fruits or grass… and ate them.”
Aeli was once again at a loss for words. Even if she wasn’t the legitimate child, were these words that should come out of the mouth of an imperial princess?
Eating such things would almost certainly cause illness, so it was a miracle that she had remained healthy until now.
Aeli covered her eyes with her hand and said.
“…You were speaking down to the child until a while ago. But why are you speaking up to me now?”
“I-I’m sorry…! There were many people watching, so I had to do as I was taught…”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant… I meant you should speak down to me as well. According to national law, you are the second most precious lady in the empire right now. I am below that, so it is right for you to speak down to me.”
“……”
“Your Highness?”
“But… but I’m an illegitimate child. I’m half a person that everyone has forgotten anyway… Even if I die right now, His Majesty won’t care. So it’s natural for me to use honorifics to the Duchess.”
“……”
Aeli blinked slowly and made a dejected face.
It was just difficult to put into words the feeling of hearing such a story from the perspective of a mother who had a child.
Aeli squatted on the floor and met the gaze of the princess who had been kneeling all this time. If she didn’t know at all, that would be one thing, but once she heard this, there was no way she could feign ignorance.
At least that was the case for her.
“Your Highness.”
“Y-yes…”
“…A child born is not at fault. It’s not like they wanted to be born that way. The responsibility lies with the adults, not to be passed on to the children.”
“……”
“And half a person… Those words, …if your mother had heard them, it would have been very upsetting for her, so it would be better not to use them in the future.”
“……”
“Don’t lower yourself. That becomes humility when you have power, but at times like this…”
At times like this, it would rather be seen as looking down on herself. The more she bowed her head, the more she would be seen as someone lower than her, who could be ridden over.
This place is like that. There was a reason why Aeli left the school.
“…Lastly, I’m sorry to say this, but I can’t give you a definite answer alone. As you can see, I am… a ghost…”
“B-but.”
“……”
“I… I can do things. When I lived with my mother, I tried doing laundry and dishes, and I helped with mopping and dusting, and also…”
“…Your Highness, that’s not what I meant-”
“In… in the forest! I picked and ate various things, and when I got sick, I cured myself alone! I’m good at that! I hid it… because I thought I shouldn’t get caught…!”
Aeli tried to stop the girl.
But the girl, who thought she would be abandoned here and left behind, reached out to Aeli, almost crying.
Even though she knew it wouldn’t reach anyway, Aeli was about to feel miserable.
Paaat.
A bright light burst from the girl’s hand. It was the same light she had seen when the child was being treated by the priest before.
And at that moment.
Bam!
“Sigh… I’m in big trouble…”
“……”
“……”
Aeli and the girl froze side by side at the child who opened the door and entered at that very moment.
“M-Mom.”
It was no different for the child.
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.]
