Hello. My name is Reina.
I’m a maid who works at the eerie mansion of the Duke of Julius, and I have my beloved grandmother as my only family in the world.
I have a peculiar hobby of collecting news clippings, and I have a future hope of living in seclusion on a quiet beach with my grandmother someday.
Do you ask if I have dreams of a husband and children?
Ah, I almost forgot that.
I am married.
I sometimes forget this fact too.
I’m talking about the fact that I was married to a knight instead of our precious lady five years ago.
The entire mansion is on alert due to his return in a few days, so I’m often reminded of it these days.
[This is the time separator]At three in the morning. The maid’s attic in the Duke of Julius’ mansion.
Maid Reina, lying on the bunk bed attached to the end of the wall, carefully unfolded the newspaper so as not to disturb the other maids who were sleeping.
Rustle……
The dim candlelight attached to the wall flickered over the characters.
【Victorious Commander Arthur enters the Viscounty of Ponte】
【The sight of Ponte’s citizens showering the victorious army with flowers as they enter】
【The Duke of Julius is nearby. Soon to reunite with Lady Christina, his betrothed from five years ago】
【The Duke of Julius’s territory awaits the victorious army in a festive atmosphere】
【Duke Julius. Gaining a good soninlaw. The new heir apparent to the power map The reticent Duchess’s presence】
【Special feature, ‘Arthur, the Knight of the Century’ The adopted soninlaw and successor of the Duke of Julius】
【Prince Kyle is in recovered health】
Reina rubbed her tired eyes and read the new clippings once more.
Then she sorted them into three scrapbooks in the order she liked, smiling with satisfaction.
【Prince Kyle’s Health Recovery】went under the black cover.
【Special feature, ‘Arthur, the Knight of the Century’】 was gathered under the blue cover with other special plans.
The rest of the stories were sorted under the gray cover by publication date.
But some places were slow with news, so some pages needed to be reorganized.
Her hands moved skillfully from sorting to puncturing a hole in a certain place and threading it with a needle.
With a sigh, she blew away the paper scraps, ending her work.
Reina, who had quickly sorted the newspapers into three scrapbooks, looked down at them with satisfaction.
She used to cut out unnecessary content from old newspapers and stick them on paper, but
The recent newspapers are almost full of what Reina wants, so there is no need to cut them.
If you ask what Reina wants, it’s nothing special.
It’s the same news that everyone in this empire wants now.
The story of Commander Arthur, who is returning with a great victory, and the victorious army he leads.
How much people are waiting for Arthur’s story, the temple’s newspaper has never sold like this since it was published.
“The story of the prince is only printed small in one corner. And there’s no illustration.”
“The prince? That man was still alive?”
Small whispers from the other side of the dormitory revealed that there were still maids who hadn’t gone to sleep yet.
The maids they were talking about seemed to have bought this newspaper too.
Reina lowered her breathing even more, fearing that if they knew she was awake, the conversation would stop.
In the maids’ attic where about ten bunk beds were lined up, Reina’s place was in the farthest corner, which fortunately didn’t stand out at times like this.
“Have you changed? You used to cry when Prince Jeonha went on his journey.”
“That’s a story of when. Five years ago, five years ago. Who cares about the prince these days? That gentleman like a flower in a greenhouse… Without Arthur, he might have lost his life.”
When she lifted her eyes stealthily in the dark, two maids were whispering together, looking into one newspaper in the corner.
They, too, were relying on a single faint candle flickering at the window, just like Reina.
The sound of giggling quietly came echoing.
“Hey! But look at this illustration. It seems that the artist was too biased towards Arthur? His height would be three meters.”
Reina almost laughed out loud too, but barely swallowed it by disguising it with a small cough, ‘Ahem’. She carefully put her scrapbooks into a document storage box and hid it under her bed.
Then she quietly crawled back into bed, pulled up the covers, and listened to their voices.
“Oh my! Look at this. Is it real?”
“My goodness. We’re talking about our young lady, and why don’t we know anything about it?”
It was clear in Reina’s mind what part they were reading and discussing.
Reina had read the story over ten times and memorized it.
【Shock! Duke Julius and Sir Arthur, already married five years ago with the royal approval, but the parties kept this a secret…】
【The young nobles who had Lady Christina in their hearts expressed their disappointment…】
【Viscount Mo collapsed in shock…】
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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