After the banquet, rumors about the events of the day spread rapidly through the nobles.

The news of the Duke’s concubine being pregnant had somehow become an accepted fact.

“Men’s gossip can be worse than women’s,” Cassis realized as he read a letter sent from the royal palace.

There’s a grand welcoming party planned for the Duke. It would be a good occasion to announce this happy news.

The royal family wishes for her, the one who saved our nation’s only Duke, to become the Duchess. We eagerly await a meeting with both you and your concubine soon.

Ah, as the Duke is still recuperating, your attendance at the party is not mandatory.]

Cassis carefully folded the letter from Prince Trasie and placed it in his office desk drawer. He then absently tapped his fingers on the desk.

“…Wanting to meet my concubine.”

And that too, a concubine from his provincial estate.

Thinking of the Prince, likely sneering at his predicament in the royal palace, twisted Cassis’s lips.

The irony of the Prince, unaware that he was trying to connect himself with a lady who had fled from him, was somewhat amusing to Cassis.

“Since the Prince himself wishes to meet her, I should probably show her to him soon.”

The moment he discovered that the peasant Del was actually Adeline, the Prince’s face would surely contort. A smile, or perhaps a sneer, unclear which, played on Cassis’s lips.

He stopped his finger tapping and turned to the butler standing by the office door.

“Does my Del have no intention of gracing the dining room today either?”

“Yes. She is unwell and unable to attend,” the butler replied.

“Is that so? Unwell? I should go and see her then.”

Cassis stood up from his desk, put on his jacket, and headed out.

“Your Grace.”

Cassis paused as the butler called out softly.

“Do you know of the rumors circulating about the Lady?”

The butler’s face was shadowed with concern.

“Rumors?”

Cassis’s mouth curled slightly as he responded to the butler’s worried question.

“Ah, the one about the concubine using pregnancy to secure the position of Duchess?”

“For the Lady’s sake as well, such baseless rumors must be addressed.”

The butler added cautiously.

Cassis appeared to ponder, then patted the butler’s shoulder.

“Hmm. Who knows? That rumor might just become reality.”

His words were nonchalant, his expression softened.

“What about the treatment of the pregnant Lady Del?”

The butler’s persistent concern brought back memories of the previous night to Cassis.

“Her pulse is detectable…”

Following Adeline’s repeated bouts of nausea at the banquet, Cassis had hastily ended the event.

Everyone immediately assumed she was pregnant. Cassis was no exception.

That night, he had called a physician to examine Adeline.

“The Lady’s condition is quite delicate, uncertain at this point. Further examination is needed. However, there’s a high probability of pregnancy, so she must be well taken care of.”

Since then, Cassis hadn’t spoken to Adeline. He knew he should talk to her, but Adeline seemed terrified at the sight of him, afraid her condition might worsen if he approached recklessly.

When she was out of his sight, reports said she ate well, but strangely, whenever Cassis was around, she seemed to feel nauseous. This made it even harder for him to be near her.

However, avoiding her forever wasn’t a solution.

Cassis, lost in thought with the door half-open, turned back to the butler.

“Where is Del right now?”
“Lady is currently in the greenhouse.”

Adeline sat at the table in the greenhouse, intending to satisfy her hunger with a tea-time sandwich.

She hadn’t set foot in the dining room since the banquet.

Cassis invited Adeline to dine with him at every meal, but she continued to decline. Being around Cassis not only made her lose her appetite, but also brought on persistent nausea.

She still couldn’t believe the doctor’s words.

After all, her only night with Cassis had been at the Horn’s villa. Just. One. Night.

Cassis, who incessantly reminded her of her duties as his concubine and shared his bedroom with her, had never actually touched her to the end.

“Pregnancy nausea? That’s impossible.”

Yet, despite her disbelief, Adeline couldn’t erase that one night from her mind.

Her head was filled with incessant, confusing thoughts.

“What should I do if I’m really pregnant?”

She was a person of the Credion Ducal House. Becoming the Duchess as the maids gossiped was even more nonsensical.

Cassis, who had placed her as a concubine to humiliate her, wouldn’t elevate her to the position of Duchess.

And she had no desire for it either. Accepting would mean having to show her face in high society.

“That would be signing my death warrant.”

The Prince and her father would never leave her be.

Adeline looked at her flat belly, then abruptly shook her head as if to dispel a horrible thought.

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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