Tick, tock, tick, tock.

What to do? Cold sweat dripped down.

Tick, tock.

The sound of a clock’s second hand seemed louder than ever. Gulp, I swallowed dryly.

“I’ll ask you again, Count. No, Lady Selly.”

“…….”

“Is Valerie my child?”

Karl’s gaze scrutinized my face relentlessly.

“Celeste.”

He called out the name, each syllable emphasized. His voice was icy cold, yet strangely tender. But his sharp eyes, seemingly piercing through my heart, made me shrink back.

When did he find out? Or rather, when did he start suspecting? Had he been pretending not to know all this time? Sweat began to form on my clenched fists.

“……I didn’t know.”

After much contemplation, that was all I could muster. To anyone, it would sound absurd. How could a mother not know her child’s father?

But it was true, I was wronged. It had been just over half a year since I entered this book and became Celeste. How could I have known anything about the real Celeste’s life, her pregnancy, or childbirth?

I had lost my original life and suddenly became Celeste, and after becoming her, I found a child not mentioned in the book. I hadn’t done anything wrong until now. Yet…

“Are you trying to brush this off again, saying you don’t remember?”

All the actions of the original Celeste were now my responsibility. To me, who was only Celeste in appearance!

“I truly didn’t remember! It wasn’t all a lie.”

Not all a lie – so does that mean some of it was? Damn it. Realizing the ambiguity of my own words, I closed my mouth again.

Karl’s eyes narrowed even more. ‘Do you really not remember?’, ‘Do you truly have no memory?’ His expression seemed to say.

“That night.”

“Sorry?”

“Don’t say you’ve forgotten that night too. Celeste.”

What is he talking about? My eyelids fluttered rapidly.

“I haven’t forgotten that night for a single moment.”

Depending on how one heard it, it was an extremely odd… weird and embarrassingly intimate statement. What? Night? Which night?

“Answer me, Selly. Is Valerie…”

I shouldn’t get entangled with this man. Karl, in the book ‘Rose of Rahat’ I read, was the male protagonist who kills the villainess, Celeste. Warning bells rang in my head. What should I answer?

“My child?”

I couldn’t say yes or no. As I kept gulping dryly, Karl pulled something out of his pocket.

Seeing what it was, I immediately decided on my next move.

I had to run. At all costs!

A month ago, in southern Urentum.

Our eyes met.

Two clear blue eyes, shining as if embedded with crystals.

“Uh…”

It was quite awkward.

“Aboo.”

“Could it be?”

“Aboo, abooboo.”

“No way.”

“Abooboo. Pooh.”

“It’s impossible.”

I had no idea what I was doing.

Engaging in a meaningless exchange of sounds with someone I couldn’t communicate with, I suddenly felt a headache and closed my eyes tightly.

“It can’t be. Me, with a child?”

It was supposed to be a leisurely morning, waking up late and enjoying morning tea. The routine I’d established over several months – adding tea leaves, pouring hot water, closing the teapot lid, and waiting for 3 minutes.

If someone hadn’t knocked on my door, I would have been sipping my tea as usual.

“Is this a dream?”

I went outside due to the knocking, but there was no one. Only a large basket covered with a blanket was left.

‘Could it be a terror attack or a bomb?’ With that thought, I carefully lifted the blanket, and lo and behold, there was a baby, lying there, eyes sparkling.

What a moment!
Up until that moment, I had thought someone had simply come to the wrong house. That was until I found the envelope attached to the baby’s necklace.

“The child of Lady Louise, Miss Valerie. The agreed-upon time has come, so I am bringing the young lady as promised.”

The brief words in the letter were written in a neat handwriting, but those few words were enough to muddle my mind.

A plethora of question marks filled my head.

Celeste Aisha Louise.

Known as the most beautiful woman in the empire, she was also considered the most evil in its history.

And soon forgotten, merely a flat, one-dimensional villain in a romance fantasy novel titled ‘The Rose of Rahat.’

But as far as I could remember, there was no mention of the original Celeste having a child in the story.

“Abooboo, boo.”

The baby continued to babble incomprehensibly, looking adorable with purple hair and shining teal eyes.

Those chubby cheeks, flushed as if painted with delicate rose water, were so inviting, I wanted to nibble them. Her large eyes, taking up almost half her face, sparkled like embedded gems.

And what about those plump arms and legs, like stacked loaves of bread? It seemed they would taste sweet if bitten.

“No, no. Snap out of it.”

I nearly fell for the baby’s cuteness without realizing it. I shook my head vigorously. Wake up!

“I don’t have a child.”

Right. There must be some mistake.

I stood up, leaving the baby behind.

It didn’t make sense. How could a ruthless villainess, known for mercilessly killing those she disliked, have such an adorable daughter?

Unaware or indifferent to my troubled state, the baby brightly lit up her eyes and sucked on her thumb.

Celeste Aisha Louise.

The last heir of the Louise count family, who first delved into the empire’s mining industry and amassed immense wealth.

A notorious villainess, celebrated for her beauty and talents but executed for her insatiable greed and the murder of her kin.

These were the epithets that followed her name in the story.

But none of those epithets included ‘got married’ or ‘had a child.’

“Babababa.”

I muttered to myself about ten times, trying to wake up from this dream.

I wasn’t the ‘real’ Celeste.

Although I looked like the villainess Celeste from the novel, inside I was someone completely different. A plain citizen from 21st-century South Korea, far removed from empires or nobility.

Memories of my modern life had faded, leaving my mind blank like a sheet scrubbed with an eraser.

I sighed in resignation. Immediately after becoming Celeste, I had fled to avoid a predestined death. I chose this remote southern location of Urentum for a reason.

“Abooboo, booboo.”

The baby, mumbling incomprehensibly, was admittedly quite cute. I glanced at her briefly as she reached out her short arms, looking for affection, and then shook my head again.

Cute is cute, but ridiculous is ridiculous.

Oh, my head began to throb with pain.

It had been exactly six months since I became Celeste.

In the original story, Celeste was a beautiful woman who had everything but met her demise due to her greed. She was a flat villain who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. In the end, blinded by desire, she committed patricide and was mercilessly executed by the male protagonist who became king.
Waking up to the thought of a predetermined death was not a pleasant experience. So, I made a significant decision a week after starting my new life.

If I didn’t want to die, I just had to avoid creating situations that could lead to my death. I immediately left the capital, where everything was supposed to happen, and went into hiding in the countryside.

You could say it was a form of recuperation.

Fortunately, as Celeste, a noble daughter of a wealthy count’s family, I had villas and farms all over the country.

As long as I didn’t get greedy and didn’t meet the female protagonist, living as Celeste didn’t seem too bad.

Beautiful looks and abundant wealth. Plus, was I somewhat intelligent? No, why did I, with all these great traits, only do evil things?

As an ordinary citizen, I couldn’t understand the original Celeste. Of course, a villain was necessary for an interesting story development, so she must have acted according to her character settings.

“Baby, let’s talk. Where did you come from?”

“Bububpa.”

“Who brought you here?”

“Boo, baba.”

“Who is your mother?”

At the word ‘mother,’ the baby looked up at me with wide eyes, as if she understood the meaning of the word.

“Hmm. Mumu.”

“What’s that?”

“Mama.”

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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