When I Let Go of Obsession, I Got Obsessed (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 1
Thud.
Liz put down her spoon today as well, having managed only three spoonfuls of soup.
“Still no appetite?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh dear, what are we going to do?”
Mirabel, who cared more for her young mistress’s well-being than her own, wore a deeply distressed expression.
After all, her lady had always been diligent about meals—yet for several days now, she’d barely nibbled at soup.
And even that, she hadn’t finished.
Mirabel had tried everything, preparing up to ten different dishes at every meal in hopes of coaxing her mistress to eat, but nothing worked.
Liz couldn’t swallow anything properly, as if she’d fallen ill.
“What on earth do you feel like eating? Just tell me anything—I’ll get it for you. At this rate, you’ll starve to death!”
“What I really want to eat is….”
The moment Liz opened her mouth, Mirabel perked up her ears.
“Something chewy, soft, and long, simmered slowly for a long time in a red, spicy sauce. And… there’s also something like fish paste in it, and what else? Ah, right—boiled egg too.”
Mirabel tilted her head, utterly baffled. “Does such a dish even exist? I’ve never heard of it. Where on earth have you eaten something like that, my lady?”
“I haven’t actually eaten it…”
It just suddenly popped into my head. Completely out of nowhere, yet it feels as if I’ve definitely tasted it before. The flavor was so intensely stimulating it made my tongue tingle.
Every time I think of that taste, my mouth waters—but how could I possibly enjoy the bland food our household cooks prepare?
“Then what’s it called? I’ll ask around among my acquaintances.”
A name…?
How would I know the name if I’ve never even eaten it?
It’s on the tip of my tongue, yet… Tteokbokki? Tteokbukki? Something like that, maybe.
“…Let’s just eat out today. I don’t feel like eating home-cooked food.”
Liz gave up trying to recall and declared.
Mirabel, who usually insisted on healthy home meals and distrusted outside food, had no choice but to relent today.
She’d just noticed the dark circles under her beloved mistress’s eyes had deepened since yesterday.
“Let’s go quickly, quickly!”
Mirabel hurried out to arrange the carriage.
It was a pleasantly cool late summer evening. Liz threw on a light long-sleeved outer garment and headed downstairs.
The carriage was already waiting at the entrance.
Jonathan, the coachman, opened the door and helped Liz and Mirabel into the carriage one by one.
The carriage left the mansion with vigor, traveled along a broad road for about twenty minutes, and arrived at a bustling district lined with restaurants.
However, the sight of people waiting in front of the restaurants seemed rather unusual.
“We’ll have to wait at least an hour. Should we go somewhere else?”
At Liz’s suggestion, Mirabel replied, “Everywhere will be crowded now. Let me just get takeout instead. There’s a quiet open space nearby—we can eat there.”
“Alright, that sounds good.”
Mirabel opened the carriage door.
Just as she was about to step down, Jonathan leapt from his seat and stopped her.
“I’ll go. Please wait here.”
“No, I’ll go. You… Sir Jonathan, you should rest.”
“That’s impossible. I…”
“I said no. I’ll…”
Liz, unable to watch their lovers’ quarrel any longer, interrupted.
“Both of you go together.”
“Ah… Is that really okay?”
Liz silently scoffed to herself.
‘They didn’t even say they wouldn’t do it. Well, they’re newly in love—how desperately they must crave time alone together! Ugh, fine. I’ll be generous.’
“It’s fine—just go.”
“Then we’ll be quick! Rest for a bit.”
The two walked off together and joined the queue in front of the restaurant.
They’d been told dining in would take over an hour, but takeout would only take ten minutes. To emphasize this, Mirabel held up all ten fingers from afar.
Liz responded by forming a circle with her thumb and index finger, signaling she understood.
Then she leaned her head against the carriage seat back, intending to close her eyes briefly until they returned.
But sleep wouldn’t come—instead, her mind grew even clearer.
Could it be because she’d spent the whole day lethargic and napping due to her lack of appetite?
Anyway, it was truly strange. Why had her appetite vanished so suddenly?
She wasn’t normally a picky eater.
Well, she had been a bit fussy as a child—her nanny had apparently struggled with her, complaining, “What kind of child only craves spicy and salty food?”
But that was all in the past; she’d improved considerably as she grew up.
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Had her constitution changed somehow?
Liz turned her gaze toward the window once more.
“Pfft!”
She burst out laughing.
Mirabel and Jonathan had linked only their pinkies together, each pretending to look elsewhere with exaggerated nonchalance.
“If you’re going to hold hands, just hold them properly! What’s with that timid nonsense?”
Liz mocked them heartily.
Yet, in the end, she had to admit it.
“I’m jealous.”
They say jealousy means you’ve already lost—but still, she was envious. Yes. That’s what love truly was.
Desperation from only one side was mere obsession.
…Like me.
Just then—
BOOM!
Liz felt her body suddenly lift into the air amidst a tremendous explosion. The sensation was so abrupt and bizarre that, despite happening to her, it felt unreal—as if it were happening to someone else.
‘What’s going on? Why is this happening to me?’
THUD!
Immediately afterward, Liz’s body slammed headfirst into a wall as if impaled, then collapsed onto the carriage floor.
Everything happened so fast she was utterly bewildered.
She didn’t even feel pain. She had no urge to get up. Her mind was completely blank. Only the murmuring crowd prompted her to weakly turn her head—and then…
‘Huh? Why can I see outside through the window even while lying down?’
In that instant, she realized: I’ve just been in a carriage accident.
The carriage has overturned.
Something warm and viscous trickled slowly down her forehead. Sweat? She raised her hand to wipe it—no, not sweat.
It was a different color.
Liz’s consciousness began to blur.
The crowd gathering around, Mirabel and Jonathan rushing over with ashen faces—it all seemed unreal.
Ah…
Yet one thing stood out with startling clarity.
The paper container in Mirabel’s hand.
Steam rose gently from whatever was inside, and two skewers were crossed in an X-shape for dipping.
Unconsciously, Liz murmured,
“What is this? It looks exactly like the tteokbokki we used to buy from the snack shop in front of school…”
There are moments like this.
Moments when a crack in consciousness awakens forgotten memories.
Liz was stunned by her own realization. The name of that dish she’d kept turning over in her mind, the intense flavor she’d savored only in her thoughts—
‘It was tteokbokki.’
The tteokbokki she and her friend often bought after school from the snack shop near campus. They always served it in exactly that kind of container, with toothpicks stuck in just like that. They’d complain it was too spicy yet finish every bite, even scraping up the last drops of sauce.
Ah, now it made sense.
These were memories from her past life. But if it was truly a past life, it should belong to an earlier era—so why did it feel as if time had regressed?
Shouldn’t reincarnation have placed her in a slightly more advanced world?
Like one with even thinner smartphones—or better yet, a world where everything could be found and guided by thought alone, without needing devices at all?
She was certain someone had promised such a world would arrive within ten years.
Even assuming she’d reincarnated immediately after death, at least twenty years must have passed.
Then why was there not even a landline telephone here, let alone advanced machinery? Why carriages instead of cars? Why did one have to write letters and send servants to deliver messages? Why?
The answer came swiftly.
Because this world existed within a book. And not just any book—it was one she herself had read.
“Miss Liz! Over here! Someone’s dying! Please help us…”
Mirabel’s voice sounded like a lullaby.
Liz felt her vision grow hazy and her consciousness even more foggy.
Am I dying again?
Wait—my name is Ariste Berium. Nicknamed Liz. What happens to me in the future?
Ah… I don’t die.
Not now, at least.
I die one season later.
Stabbed by the male lead.
Several days passed.
“My lady, are you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Hic… but how could this…”
Mirabel grieved, insisting she should have been the one in the accident instead—which forced Liz to comfort her.
“I told you I’m fine, so stop worrying.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“If you’re going to keep saying that, bring me a mirror.”
“A… a mirror? Why?”
After the accident, Mirabel had removed every mirror from the house.
She didn’t want her mistress to see the scar on her forehead.
They’d stitched it with ten sutures; the stitches had just been removed yesterday.
A metal staple about three centimeters long had been fixed to her forehead—now gone, but the red mark remained. The physician said it would fade with time, though his words implied it would never truly disappear.
Her mother was surprisingly upset.
“Good heavens! A scar on a noble young lady’s face—how could this happen?”
But her distress stemmed not from concern for Liz’s pain, but from worry over having to bring her scarred daughter to social gatherings.
Mirabel was the only one who genuinely grieved—at least, that’s how Liz saw it.
“Don’t worry, my lady. I’ll cut your bangs for you.”
Liz refused, but Mirabel went ahead and chopped them off anyway. Her first-ever bangs felt oddly unfamiliar. They made her look younger, but she didn’t particularly like them.
‘My hair looked better before.’
Truthfully, Liz didn’t care at all about the scar on her forehead.
What did a scar matter?
She was going to die in one season anyway. And that too…
“My lady, it’s time for your bath.”
The slave who’d just entered the room said this.
“I’ll carry you to the bath chamber.”
He grinned amiably as he lifted Liz effortlessly. In his clear aquamarine eyes, Liz glimpsed a flicker of killing intent—something she’d only just begun to notice.
Instead of wrapping her arms around the handsome slave’s neck as usual, Liz said,
“P… put me down.”
“…What? No, my lady—why are you suddenly using honorifics you never used before…?”
Would you speak informally if you were in my place?
To His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?
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
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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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MANGA DISCUSSION
5 Comments
Chapter Comments (16)
The male leads are hard to understand.
We cast the female lead, and if they don’t like her, they try to make extra or villain characters into female leads.
Liz, getting married isn’t the best idea.
In my hometown, they say that single life is like being a sultan.Liz, don’t fall for emotional manipulation. Everything men say is a lie.
Don’t trust men.
Inline Comments (24)
“Cain, shouldn’t you take care of your master first? Isn’t that what a servant i
Their shocks is understandable considering her 180° change
“I won’t go to that matchmaking meeting.”
Already traumatized??? The ML was only just starting on his scheme
“Ugh! It’s nothing. Dreams are always weird anyway.”
Urghhhh why? Why delude yourself. there were already numerous sign you saw her duplicity but your keep denying it.
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agustus_orchid
Is Liz’s mother worried about the mark on her forehead?
Liz could have died in the accident.
Is beauty more important than her child’s life?
agustus_orchid
The style of the bangs is very important.
If they’re cut well, they look great.
If they’re cut badly, they don’t look good.
agustus_orchid
I’m sorry she had a car accident.
Did someone do it on purpose?
I’m glad she remembered the memories from his past life.
agustus_orchid
her past life* i typed wrong
agustus_orchid
How can the crown prince be Liz’s slave? This royal family can’t even protect their own children.
agustus_orchid
Liz, could you have migrated from Korea into the world of novels?