What was I thinking all alone when there were no parties involved?
Embarrassed for no reason, I hurriedly opened the remaining letters and read them.
This time it was a letter from Cloje.
[To my beloved sister,How are you doing?
Ever since you left for the Empire, I watched Herald brother sigh once every hour worrying about you. I thought my heart would burst.
Whenever I miss you these days, I go visit the ugly statue in your room.
…skipping…
Oh, right!
Something interesting has come up for me lately.
I’ll tell you all about it when we meet in the Empire.
The castle feels a bit lonely without you.
I miss you.
I’ll come to see you soon.]
Somehow, I could hear Cloje’s cheerful voice from the letter.
It even felt as if Cloje was reading it to me personally.
‘Interesting, huh? I wonder what that could be?’
Cloje was interested in many things but rarely showed it so openly. Maybe because she’s too smart, or she loses interest quickly.
“Heh heh. What a funny kid.”
Even though she’s my sister, how can she be so entertaining?
I wanted to spend more time with Cloje.
In my previous life, I was always buried in the library reading books, so I couldn’t spend much time with Cloje. We weren’t on bad terms, but we weren’t particularly close either.
Still, Cloje always liked me.
“Ugly statue… Should I have brought it with me?”
Velia muttered.
“What is that?”
Entering the room, Prince Khaled questioned Velia’s muttering.
Ugly statue, huh? It sounded cute.
“Ah? Khaled.”
Velia turned around to greet Khaled.
“Are you not going to explain what this ugly statue is?”
“Ah…”
Velia recalled the statue at Ronika Castle.
At first glance, it looked like a statue, but if you didn’t know anything, it just looked like a rock.
“Do you remember the stone statue on my room’s terrace?”
Upon Velia’s words, Khaled paused to recall.
After some thought, it seemed he vaguely remembered something similar.
“I remember.”
Though not vividly, he vaguely remembered and sat down in front of Velia.
“So, was that a statue?”
“Ahaha.”
Velia couldn’t stop laughing at Khaled’s question.
“Aren’t you going to tell me the story so I can laugh too?”
“Ah, sorry. Actually, that was a gift from Cloje and Herald brother.”
“An ugly statue?”
“Yes, that ugly statue.”
Velia rummaged through her old memories.
“So…”
Velia was about Cloje’s age back then.
Her brother Herald, freshly an adult, was getting busier with successor lessons, and the youngest Cloje had just started learning to read. But none of this was important to Velia.
Back then, Velia was a teenager and, quite a bit, a sensitive girl.
“I thought Cloje and Herald were nothing but annoying back then.”
I found them stifling and foolish. Their affection for me was both bothersome and irritating.
Yet, despite seeing me stand aloof, neither Cloje nor Herald ever turned their backs on me…
“One day, I saw Cloje tripping and crying, and for some reason, I got angry. I left her there and went back to my room. From the next day, Cloje stopped coming to see me.”
One day, two days, a week.
Cloje and Herald, who had always been by my side no matter how much I pushed them away, were no longer to be found.
Velia said with a faint smile.
“I thought they must be completely fed up with me.”
Velia delved into her distant memories, vividly recalling her emotions back then.
The image of Cloze, who cried out for her sister and disappeared without a trace after brushing off her affections, alongside Herald.
At first, I thought it was a relief.
There was no one to bother me anymore.
But soon, I found myself concerned about them. When I saw them having fun without me, bitterness and resentment welled up in me.
Even though I was the one who pushed them away.
“Then, on my birthday, they gave me that ugly statue.”
To be precise, I found the statue hidden in Cloze’s arms, who was trying hard not to show it.
Herald’s hands were covered in wounds that day, and the image of Cloze crying uncontrollably, insisting it wasn’t a gift, was still vivid.
“It wasn’t that I shunned them or avoided them because I disliked them, but because I wanted to secretly prepare a gift…”
Although it ended up as an ugly statue vaguely resembling a human due to my lack of skill, that gift they had prepared for me for days was still so precious and dear.
Talking about old memories, Velia’s face relaxed, and Khaled, watching her intently, curled up the corner of his lips.
“A loving family, indeed.”
“Yes, a family too good for me.”
Velia, who was sharing stories from her past, suddenly burst into laughter, looking at Khaled.
‘Come to think of it…’
While recalling her childhood, a thought crossed her mind, making it impossible for her to hold back her laughter.
In the romance novels Velia used to read during her adolescence, there were various male leads, and like other girls, she often imagined her ideal man through them.
‘My ideal type was quite similar to Khaled, wasn’t it?’
However, Khaled, who couldn’t possibly know Velia’s thoughts, asked gently,
“Why are you looking at me and laughing?”
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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