“…….”
His words were a bit different, but half of them were correct.
From Lucia’s perspective, revealing her identity meant getting involved in the investigation of the public office, stealing her time.
“Hahaha! How about it?! Do you feel like compromising now? Yeah, why did you come alone to a place like this, pretending to be a hero? If you’re a monster, behave like a monster!”
To his mocking in the face of death, Lucia quietly took out a snack from her pocket.
It was a habit to pick up snacks for the small and skinny Nia.
She scattered the crumbs from the snacks onto their faces like a ceremony.
The residents who received the snack crumbs in such a ridiculous manner quickly wiped their faces, but the dry snacks stuck in the place full of tense sweat didn’t come off easily.
Confirming their absurd appearance, Lucia murmured quietly.
“Then, it seems the problem lies with the eyes that confirmed me.”
Thus, along with her sardonic voice, the sound of a crow’s cry, once again, spread through the village.
[Star Icon]The only place for the escaped child to hide is under the bed’s blanket.
As before, Nia leaned against the warmth of the blanket and shed tears.
But this time, it wasn’t the worried voice of her mother,
“Nia.”
It was the unfamiliar voice of a man, Leon.
At his words, the small sanctuary on the bed shrank.
In fact, Nia had instinctively sensed it from the beginning.
Like any other household, a husband for the mother and a father for the daughter.
A man who is more handsome than anyone else, a perfect mother will eventually become a family with such a man.
Then she will give birth to a child, and just like the pitiful stories heard in the orphanage, she might be chased away herself.
However, in reality, such calculated fears were just surface-level reasons for the child.
Nia, at the moment, couldn’t exactly understand her own feelings, but what made her uneasy was the fact that her desperately earned mother’s affection was directed towards someone else.
Like the heavy footsteps that opened the door she couldn’t lock.
“Le, let me out! This is Habeoji’s house. Habeoji’s house… Uuuh… Mom, Momma…”
In this way, the little child in the blanket sanctuary wandered, searching for her mother.
Stopping for a moment to watch the child, Leon, maintaining a proper distance, murmured.
“…If you don’t like it, call another teacher. But can you listen to one last thing?”
“…Uuuh…”
A powerless voice full of sadness for some reason.
Although Nia, who had been stealing tears, didn’t respond, she involuntarily pricked up her ears at his words.
In this way, Leon whispered to Nia as if confessing.
“…I envy you a lot, Nia.”
“…”
“Because you have a family that can always be together without any reason. So, I foolishly got excited…”
He couldn’t continue his words.
He never imagined that his presence could be threatening to the child.
Even by just showing the brooch she had given, he had never even considered the possibility that his unrequited love might come true.
An awkward attitude that came out habitually from unrequited love for too long.
What did the child think of him boasting like a fool?
It couldn’t be precisely known, but in the end, all that remained were the child rejecting herself and self-blame.
But then, slowly pulling back the blanket, Nia.
The child, who poked her face out from the rustling blanket, spoke confidently.
“…But Mom’s eyes like Nia.”
Leon, who was visibly tense from the child’s tear-stained eyes, awkwardly smiled and nodded.
“Well, of course.”
Hearing his confident answer, Nia now came out from under the blanket and stood in front of him, facing the same destiny.
“…Nia plays the piano well.”
“…”
“Since you’re my tutor, please take care of me.”
Contrary to his words, the child’s face, which had been bowing, showed a stubbornly pursed mouth.
It meant,
‘…Mom wouldn’t like a weak person like this. But still, she’s on the girl’s side…!’
Because the child’s true feelings were different.
However, Leon was deeply moved by the child’s changed attitude, grateful to the goddess.
To entrust the hard-earned lessons to someone else, he said to her.
And in that relief, Leon turned his eyes, discovering something.
There was a drawing on the small dresser attached to the bed.
The moment his eyes moved towards the picture of the mother, Nia rushed like lightning and covered the paper.
“I, don’t look at it…!”
A feeling of not wanting to show even a picture of her mother.
The possessiveness of a 5-year-old child was more severe than any stern Northern Duke.
However, a child is still a child.
She must have shown the desperate message to the competitor.
And seeing it, Leon somehow covered his face with both hands.
As he quickly began to wipe his eyes, he knelt in front of Nia with moist, deer-like pupils.
Holding the shoulders of the child, who shot up like a wary cat, he cast a spell like magic, saying the words that would make the child happiest.
“Shall we go see Mom with that?”
“!!!”
[Star Icon]At this moment, Lucia.
She entrusted the children to the imperial nursery and returned, starting to organize the brought ledger and documents systematically.
And even listed the items left with the child according to the numbers, but the number of documents and items did not match.
Items with considerable value were missing.
It was a dilemma.
If someone like the Duchess entrusted a valuable item to the child for confirmation, it was undoubtedly something special and expensive.
‘She probably sold it.’
Even so, there was no choice but to look for it one by one.
‘It would be faster to bring the child who stayed the longest and organize it together.’
Thinking so, Lucia prepared to go back to the nursery.
However,
[Dash] Knock, knock.“On the order of Prince Hwang, I am a maid of the imperial family, Irene.”
Prince Hwang?
While he had imposed a ban on access for a while due to the documents, a maid among the envoys knocked on the door.
Lucia, thinking it might be an urgent matter, gathered all the open ledgers to one side and opened the door.
However, as soon as she opened the door, a flood poured in like the tide.
More than 10 maids and servants, each carrying their luggage, were moving briskly as if someone was moving.
And following that, countless dresses on mobile hangers without end.
Seeing that, she suddenly remembered the promise with the prince.
“Her Highness Irene has prepared these for the young lady who will be invited to tonight’s dinner party.”
“…….”
‘Oh, dinner. Was it tonight? Of all times…’
“I’m not feeling well today. Maybe…”
“Her Highness asked you to respond with a refusal for any reason. Now then, shall we go?”
With their skillful urging, Lucia, belatedly coming to her senses, only discovered herself coughing in white powder.
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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