The Villainess Doesn't Want Love (20 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 1
“You’re truly a spine-chilling and horrifying woman.”
He spoke with eyes cold and sunken.
“Hah!”
A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
“I don’t care if others call me a villainess and point fingers at me. But you—you shouldn’t do that.”
“Don’t be unreasonable.”
Jet-black hair and pitch-dark eyes.
He was a strikingly handsome man, as if he held the entire night sky within him.
Yet what filled those captivating eyes was a chilling indifference so intense it made one shudder.
“We’re divorced now—you and I are strangers. Yet it’s you who keeps chasing after me and tormenting innocent people over every little thing.”
“You’re the one who made me this way!”
Her voice rang out, trembling with indignation.
“You poisoned Lucia, tried to kill her, and now you blame me? Do you really think shifting blame onto others will erase your own wrongdoings?”
“Blame others? Do I look like I’m blaming others right now? You haven’t changed at all—you’ve never cared about my feelings or sincerity.”
“Don’t change the subject. You’ll be brought to trial today. Save all your excuses for there.”
“Hahahahaha! I couldn’t care less about any trial.”
Jeremiah frowned upon hearing Karina’s words.
“If you think you can escape, you’re sorely mistaken. Even your esteemed family won’t be able to help you this time.”
“Do you really think I’d beg you for mercy just because you said that? I don’t even value my own life.”
Karina looked at him with sharp, piercing eyes.
“It’s just unbearably revolting how shamelessly you try to be happy while leaving me behind.”
“You truly refuse to show any remorse till the very end.”
Jeremiah let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples before turning away.
Seeing his retreating back, she had a sudden intuition—this would be their last meeting.
Driven by anguish, a question she’d never dared voice before burst out. She had to ask it one last time.
“Was there ever a single moment when you were sincere with me?”
At Karina’s question, Jeremiah’s steps halted abruptly.
“…Even just once. Even out of pity.”
Karina clutched at her chest, pressing hard with her clenched fist.
Her heart… it ached painfully.
“Was there ever a single time you treated me sincerely?”
Jeremiah turned back toward Karina, his expression as cold as ice.
“Why should I have?”
In the silent room, Jeremiah’s voice rang out with crystal clarity.
For a moment, it felt as though icy water had been poured over the entire room, filling it with a bone-chilling cold.
The heavy silence dragged Karina into despair like a deep, suffocating swamp.
Their gazes—Karina’s and Jeremiah’s—intertwined complexly in the empty air.
“Don’t delude yourself. Not even for a single moment did I ever give you my heart.”
With those final words, Jeremiah left her side without a trace of hesitation.
Though he had vanished, his words continued to constrict Karina’s heart.
“…Hahahahahahahaha.”
Karina, who had stood dazed for a while, began laughing like a madwoman.
She had already known this truth.
She’d known—but hearing it directly from his own lips hurt unbearably, agonizingly so.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping from her chin. Foolish tears fell, yet only laughter escaped her lips.
It was all meaningless. Abandoned, she felt utterly wretched and pitiful.
Thus, dry chuckles kept slipping out uncontrollably.
Poor Karina.
A foolish, pathetic woman who couldn’t let go of unrequited feelings and stupidly dragged herself along.
Lonely, pitiable Karina—someone in this world who had never been wholly loved by anyone.
Karina resolved to burn away completely this worn-out, tattered emotion that now existed as nothing but an empty shell.
It was a distorted love-hate she could hardly even call love.
She truly wanted to end it now.
If this tangled knot couldn’t be untied, she would cut it herself.
With her own hands.
Karina pulled a small glass vial hidden inside her sleeve with trembling fingers.
“It’s a potion that grants wishes.”
That’s what she’d been told when she received the vial.
“I want to end all of this.”
Without hesitation, Karina opened the lid and drank the potion.
Her vision blurred faintly. A sharp pain surged into her heart, numbed by sorrow.
Her body collapsed, falling onto the cold floor. Feeling the chill rising from the ground, Karina closed her eyes.
[This is the timeline separator]Karina Milainer.
The only daughter of House Marquis Milainer and wife of Duke Jeremiah Colesburg of the Empire.
Karina Milainer was a villainess.
She hadn’t been a villainess from the start.
Originally, she had been shy and quiet. But after marrying Duke Jeremiah and becoming Duchess, she revealed her true nature.
She committed all sorts of cruelty toward innocent maids and never hesitated to cause outrageous scenes that made others frown.
When Jeremiah, unable to endure any longer, demanded a divorce, she not only failed to reflect or withdraw—but instead grew even more malicious.
As her violence worsened day by day, Jeremiah’s patience finally reached its limit.
In the end, she was divorced as though cast aside.
Yet Karina’s obsession and madness didn’t subside after the divorce—instead, they intensified further.
She constantly followed Jeremiah, interfering and meddling in everything he did.
She even fiercely opposed his remarriage, using every possible means to sabotage it.
She persistently tormented his new fiancée and, in the end, even attempted to poison her.
Her actions, far beyond acceptable limits, sufficiently enraged Jeremiah and the nobility.
Eventually, the villainess Karina was arrested and brought to trial.
She was to face the stern judgment of the law—for attempting to poison the beautiful and kind Lucia, along with all her past misdeeds.
A malicious, violent, insane woman.
That was the public’s final judgment of Karina before her death.
“That’s exactly me, isn’t it?”
Karina smiled crookedly.
She rose from the bed and gazed out the window.
Beyond the foothills, the sun was rising, and dawn was breaking.
Early this morning,
Karina had awakened in the bed of her former room.
“Isn’t this… my old room?”
Even after marrying Jeremiah, they had slept in separate rooms.
Jeremiah, busy with official duties, used the room beside his office as his bedroom. Since theirs wasn’t a marriage born of love, he likely felt no need to share a room.
Of course, that was from Jeremiah’s perspective.
Karina, who had genuinely loved Jeremiah, had been deeply hurt by his clear emotional distance. Yet she’d consoled herself, believing his choice was simply due to his demanding workload.
She never wanted to trouble or annoy him in any way.
This bedroom was precisely the one she’d used during that awkward, distant period.
“‘It grants wishes,’ they said.”
Karina frowned slightly and swept her eyes around the room.
She spotted a framed display of dried bouquet flowers from her wedding day.
It was the frame she’d cherished—but broken by a maid’s mistake just one month after marriage.
“‘It grants wishes,’ yet why have I been sent back three years?”
In her final moment, Karina’s wish had been to end everything.
For this moment to cease.
For every bond tying her to this wretched existence to be severed so she’d never feel such despair again.
Yet inexplicably, she’d returned to right after her wedding.
“Is this not a granted wish—but a divine punishment? Making me relive this miserable past again?”
Knock knock.
Before she could even give permission, the door opened.
“It’s time to rise.”
The maid, entering with indifferent eyes, was startled to find Karina already standing by the window.
“How unusual—you’re up so early. Please get ready; it’s time for breakfast.”
“I’m not interested.”
“What?”
“I said I’m not interested…”
She fixed her gaze on the maid who’d come to announce mealtime.
The maid’s downturned eyes looked familiar.
Suddenly, Karina wondered if this moment was identical to the past three years ago.
“I’ll prepare myself and come down. Leave.”
“…?”
The maid looked at her quizzically for a moment.
“What? Is there something else you want to say?”
“No.”
Shaking her head, the maid left without another word.
“…How rude.”
In the past, Karina had been tormented by her maids.
Subtle yet infuriating acts of neglect and harassment—small but too irritating to ignore.
For instance, making towels smell unpleasant, secretly mixing lacquer powder into her face powder,
or decorating her room with ragweed flowers to trigger coughing fits and allergies—petty, despicable tricks like these.
She recalled it must have started around this time.
She ran her palm along the inside of the clothes hanging in her wardrobe, checking for hidden pins or needles.
“Good. It hasn’t gotten that bad yet.”
After changing into clean clothes, she left the room.
Entering the dining hall, she saw exactly as in the past—the maids had set only one place for a meal.
As she sat, they brought out the food.
Karina stared silently at the dishes on the table.
A hastily tossed salad made with wilted, nearly spoiled ingredients; a steak drenched in salt and pepper;
a murky, blood-red stew—some chaotic mix of unidentifiable ingredients, emitting a foul stench;
even the utensils were unclean, grimy and unsanitary.
“Nothing’s changed at all.”
The first time she’d received such treatment, she’d been confused and taken it without understanding why.
She hadn’t known why they treated her this way or who’d ordered it.
Terrified of falling out of favor with the ducal household, she’d stayed silent like a fool.
She’d simply assumed the ducal household had unusually strict rules, or the maids were just clumsy and careless.
She’d even believed Jeremiah’s neglect was merely due to his busy schedule.
She’d only thought about properly correcting the maids’ rude behavior at an appropriate time after settling in.
That seemed to be the extent of her foolish thoughts back then.
Because she hadn’t known then why they showed her hostility…
She hadn’t understood the reason behind their malicious contempt, disrespect, and unpleasant treatment.
Now, she knew.
Lost in thought, Karina lifted her head and shifted her gaze to the maid who’d brought her meal.
Her eyes were as cold as the chilled food before her.
“Do you really expect me to eat this?”
“Is there a problem?”
The maid brazenly shot back.
“No. No problem at all.”
Karina smiled brightly and rose from her seat.
“Sit here.”
“What?”
“Sit here and eat it—all of it. Don’t leave anything.”
The maid, flustered by Karina’s command, stood frozen, unsure what to do.
“Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear me?”
“H-How could I possibly touch the Duchess’s meal? I’m afraid His Grace the Duke would be furious if he found out.”
“So you fear the Duke’s anger—but not mine?”
The maid had no reply to Karina’s words.
“Eat. That’s an order.”
“…”
“Are you defying the orders of the current Duchess?”
At that, another maid nearby interjected.
“My apologies, but even if it’s the Duchess’s command, we cannot fulfill such an unreasonable request.”
‘But it’s fine for maids to defy the Duchess and talk back?’
The absurdity of the situation drew a hollow laugh from her.
Truthfully, their boldness stemmed from having someone to rely on—
none other than Jeremiah’s sister, Caroline Colesburg.
She was backing them from behind the scenes.
“Servants who refuse their master’s orders are unnecessary. You’re all fired.”
At her words, the maids flinched.
“We were hired directly by the head of the household. Even the Duchess cannot dismiss us so recklessly.”
How ridiculous.
“Fine. Then I’ll just tell the head of the household myself.”
Karina rose from her seat and immediately headed out of the dining hall to find Jeremiah.
Just then, the head maid entered.
“I heard quite a commotion in here—what’s going on?”
The head maid quickly scanned the maids, then turned her eyes to Karina.
“Have the maids done something wrong? Please tell me, and I’ll punish them accordingly.”
Karina snorted inwardly at the head maid’s transparent pretense.
She’d clearly rushed in the moment she sensed things escalating, yet pretended ignorance.
“I offered food to a maid, but she kept refusing, saying it was too much honor for her.”
“Of course. This is the ducal household, after all. How could a mere maid dare covet the Duchess’s meal? Please consider their position.”
The head maid defended the maid with humble, ingratiating words.
“Yes, you’re right—this is indeed the ducal household.”
Karina’s voice dropped low and sharp.
“And I am the Duchess, mistress of this house. Isn’t it astonishing that a mere maid dares refuse a direct order from the Duchess?”
A gentle smile adorned Karina’s face, yet her words, slipping from blood-red lips, were as sharp as a finely honed blade.
“Just what do they think they’re relying on?”
Her smiling words clashed jarringly with her expression.
Her gaze toward the head maid was so chilling it sent shivers down one’s spine.
Startled by Karina’s completely uncharacteristic reaction—so unlike her usual meekness—the head maid’s eyelashes trembled faintly.
“Therefore, I’m going to dismiss those insolent maids who defy their master’s orders.”
“Dismiss them?”
A familiar voice echoed through the room.
Karina lifted her head and saw, through the open doorway, the tall, handsome figure of a man.
He stood tall with broad shoulders, long limbs, and a lean, taut frame honed by sword training.
His raven-black hair and eyes seemed to hold the entire night sky within them.
Thick eyebrows, a straight nose, smooth skin, tightly set lips, and a sharp jawline completed his flawless appearance.
“Welcome, Your Grace the Duke.”
His name was Jeremiah Colesburg.
The current Duke of House Colesburg—and her husband.
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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Chapter Comments (10)
Inline Comments (166)
The stew sloshed, splattering foul liquid everywhere. The head maid’s clothes we
I would have made him n those crap maids eat it before me
“…I never granted you the authority to decide appointments among the Duke’s hous
Are all trash ML the same??
Then, she roughly thrust the ruined stew toward the head maid.
Ha ha do it again!!
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I love when it’s just them
i’m really hoping for divorce next chapter
why did I unlock all the chapters? I wish I didn’t do that because he’s irritating me.