At the table where Viare sat, the sounds of the dealer running the game, chips clinking, and cards being dealt melded into a symphony of gaming.
Finally, as the dealer placed the river card on the table, the last betting round ended.
When the cards were revealed, the dealer confirmed the winner and pushed the chips toward Viare.
“This can’t be. You all must have conspired together!”
The man, unable to accept the outcome, slammed the table and glared at Viare with a look of despair.
“This game is invalid! I know you’re all in cahoots!”
Despite being drunk, the man accused them of cheating. Viare sighed lightly at his outburst.
“Hmm, you shouldn’t be gambling anymore.”
The man seemed to have quickly sold the goods he received from the Luscheff family’s charity event to frequent the gambling den.
‘This wasn’t the intention behind the donation.’
Viare, clicking her tongue, looked back and ordered the inebriated man to be dragged out.
Tonyo and the recently joined Joyan tossed the man into a deserted alley, and Viare approached him with a smile.
“Seems like this place suits you better.”
“Shut up. Do you know who I am…!”
“Go on, tell me.”
“What…?”
“Which organization are you with?”
Faced with her direct question, the man quickly clammed up as if he had honey in his mouth.
Only now did he seem to realize something was going awry.
“Hmm, will you keep quiet to the end?”
At Viare’s shallow sigh, Tonyo pulled out a small bottle from the man’s pocket.
“You were carrying drugs prohibited in the Marta Empire.”
“…….”
“If the military police find out, what will happen to you?”
Even a skilled member of an assassination organization couldn’t evade the military police and the law.
‘They wouldn’t be caught this easily.’
The man appeared to be a low-ranking member of the organization.
“Aaagh―”
“I’m not interested in who you are. Just your affiliation.”
“…Affiliation?”
“Going to pretend you don’t know till the end?”
Viare cocked her head and snapped her fingers, and Tonyo moved to pretend to touch the man.
“Aaack― I don’t know much!”
The man crouched, covering his face with his hands, screaming.
“I didn’t want you to tell me that.”
As Viare gave further instructions, the man cried out again.
“I’ll talk. Isn’t that enough?”
She approached him slowly, arms crossed.
“Speak now. I’ve been quite generous.”
With his arms held by Tonyo and Joyan, the man, now sobering up, began spilling information.
He was a low-ranking member of the assassination organization and had never met the boss. He usually handled menial tasks like transporting or disposing of bodies and erasing traces.
“Do you know who runs the organization?”
“I really don’t!”
Desperately pleading innocence, he then seemed to recall something.
“But I’ve heard about the higher-ups.”
“Higher-ups?”
“The ones who actually operate in the organization.”
“And who are they?”
“They said something about doing the work of shadows.”
“Shadows…?”
Reflecting on her past life, the ‘Shadows’ was a unique name.
‘Could it really be connected to the royal family?’
Viare, struggling to conceal her trembling voice, pressed him further.
“Can you swear to that?”
As Tonyo raised his sword beside her, the man nodded repeatedly and said.
“What would I have to hide anyway!”
In any case, the man was involved with an assassination organization. While there was no concrete evidence, the circumstantial evidence was undeniable.
The man, noticing Viare’s cues, angrily asked to be released, and Viare, leaving him with a stern warning, let him go.
“The day you speak of what happened here, your life will disappear forever.”
With that, the man, nodding furiously at Viare’s gesture, turned tail and ran without looking back.
Releasing him like this was uneasy, but it was preferable to others finding out about this.
“Lady, are you alright?”
“Yes, you both have done well.”
“We are always here to follow your will, Miss.”
Viare was grateful for their unquestioning support.
“Divide my chips between the two of you.”
Tonyo and Joyan strongly refused, but Viare insisted, saying it was a small token of gratitude for their help. However, she made them promise not to enter a casino again.
They returned to the mansion, and Viare immediately retreated to her bedroom, lost in thought.
She sighed, blood trickling from her bitten lip out of suppressed anger.
“It was the royal family all along…”
She unfolded her clenched hand to look at the cufflink.
The owner of the cufflink she had been searching for was a member of the organization called the Shadows, directly under the royal family.
The Shadows were known to be an agency directly serving the emperor, following only his commands.
Viare was trying to piece together the current situation.
The person responsible for leading the former Lord Verdeum to death was the current emperor, who was expected to pass away before the upcoming winter.
Thus, Ivan, who would ascend to the throne, was the murderer of Dension.
Viare felt like she had been hit hard on the head, wanting to confront Ivan immediately.
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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