Aden returned when the sunset was dyeing the gentle earth in a red hue.
Although Aden had skipped lunch due to his busy schedule, there was no sign of fatigue or drooping on his face.
Aden gave a light eye greeting to Salom, who was approaching him as he dismounted, then spoke to the coachman.
Salom, who had been staring at Aden as he dusted off his body with a dry cloth, smiled faintly while facing the sunset.
“Did something good happen?”
As the butler who rarely smiled showed a rare smile, Aden raised the corner of his mouth obliquely.
Salom, who took the coat from Aden as he removed it, seemingly not satisfied with just dusting it off, shook his head slightly.
Aden’s eyebrows furrowed smoothly at the sight of him not losing his smile even in the midst of this.
Aden, who let out a slow sneer, stared at Salom blankly and then shook his head slightly as if he didn’t understand, before entering the castle.
As Salom, following behind him, began to say, “For dinner…”, Aden waved his hand.
“It’s fine. I’m too tired to think. I’ll just have a drink and rest, so just prepare some simple snacks and don’t worry about it.”
“Yes, I understand.”
It was then that Aden’s feet, which were stepping on the landing while leaving Salom’s polite voice behind, stopped.
…A singing voice? In the quiet castle where most of the staff had left work, a slow humming echoed.
Aden raised his head at the sound, which seemed like singing but also like sobbing at a glance.
Looking up with narrowed eyes, he moved his legs to climb the stairs.
Upon reaching the third floor, he followed the clearer sound.
Finally, when he stopped in front of the room where a soft red light was spread like a carpet through the slightly open door, Aden’s lips closed in a straight line.
“She’s been sitting here since the afternoon without coming out.”
The platinum blonde hair, bathed in the sunset pouring in from the wide-open window, was dyed a beautiful rose color.
Even as darkness was added to the sunset, Ludmila’s face, wearing a faint smile, was very clear and beautiful.
The lips that seemed to have forgotten to smile every time due to anxiety and worry were now smoothly curved.
“Doesn’t it seem like our guest is quite pleased?”
Aden, who had been silently taking in the sight, slowly nodded at Salom’s voice adding an explanation to him.
There was no need to disturb that calm scenery.
“Let’s go…”
“Aden?”
It was when Aden turned his body that Ludmila’s voice followed.
What Aden’s eyes captured as he turned his head at the sound of a chair being pulled was Ludmila standing facing this way.
Aden’s mouth curved up obliquely at the sight of clear surprise in her red eyes.
“When did you come?”
A faint smell of paint mixed in from Ludmila, who approached holding a palette and brush in her hands.
As Aden’s gaze slipped from Ludmila’s face to the brush, a soft exclamation escaped her lips.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I used it without saying anything. I meant to just take a look for a moment, but before I knew it… Next time I’ll…”
“No, don’t worry about it. I put it there for you to use.”
“…Really?”
Aden rolled his eyes at the sight of her looking up at him with sparkling red eyes.
“Every time I saw you wandering around the castle like a lost child, I thought it would be better for you to stay in one place. I’m glad you seem to like it. I thought I might have done something unnecessary.”
“No, I like it.”
“Then that’s fine.”
Aden, who had nodded briefly, lifted his legs from the floor where they had been firmly rooted. Aden, who had turned his body slightly, left a light nod as a greeting and turned around.
“Aden!”
But as if she couldn’t bear to see him leave the room, Ludmila’s voice flew again.
Aden, who let out a slight laugh, twisted his waist and fixed his gaze on Ludmila. At his look that seemed to ask ‘what is it’, Ludmila hesitated for a moment before smiling.
“Thank you.”
She didn’t expressly say what she was thankful for, and he didn’t bother to ask either.
“I’ll see you at dinner.”
Aden’s head tilted slightly at the business that ended more blandly than expected, but he soon nodded briefly.
Aden, who had been silently watching Ludmila turn and enter the room, moved his steps again.
“My lord…”
“I need to wash up.”
“Pardon?”
Before Salom, who was following behind, could carefully open his mouth, Aden’s voice came out dryly.
“I can’t sit at the dining table covered in dust, so hurry and prepare.”
With those words, Aden quietly walked away, stepping on the stairs leading to his room.
Salom, who had been staring at his back with blank eyes, slowly pushed up the corners of his mouth and wore a thin smile.
Along with the thought that, indeed, his master was easy to understand.
[This is the timeline separator]Beressa, who returned around the time dinner was ending, immediately opened a bottle of alcohol.
Ludmila, who had wanted to return to the study to paint as soon as dinner was over, couldn’t leave her seat due to Beressa’s grasp.
Aden also seemed to have no intention of refusing Beressa’s offer and remained in his seat.
Meanwhile, Beressa, who had brought and set snacks on the table herself, poured red alcohol into the glasses and sighed.
“Did something happen?”
“It did. Something incredibly big happened!”
“What… kind of thing?”
Beressa, who had emptied her glass while sighing excessively, looked at Ludmila with tired eyes.
As Beressa scrutinized her with green eyes, Ludmila awkwardly pulled her lips, and another sigh burst out.
“Haa-. Poor Ludmila.”
“…Pardon?”
Ludmila slowly asked back at the sudden sympathy calling her pitiful.
Beressa glanced at Ludmila again, who was wearing a puzzled expression, let out a deep sigh, and slowly filled her glass.
“Do you know where I went today?”
“I only heard that you had business outside.”
“I went to Benar, Benar!”
“Benar?”
It was a name she had never heard before. Originally, the affairs of free people were of no interest to the capital’s residents, so who they were and who existed among them was of no importance.
This was the same for Ludmila, so she had no way of knowing why Beressa was getting so upset while mentioning the name Benar.
“Kurto Benar.”
It was Aden who satisfied Ludmila’s curiosity as her head tilted.
Aden, moistening his lips with wine, brought the jerky Beressa had brought to his mouth and faced Ludmila.
“It’s the wealthiest family among our clan.”
“And also the one with the most wives.”
As Ludmila listened to the two of them speak while sipping her wine, she suddenly wondered what connection there was between those words and the statement that she was pitiful.
Perhaps her puzzlement showed on her face, as Beressa let out another sigh.
“Did you meet a man who looked like this recently?”
At the sight of Beressa raising her eyes with her fingers, Ludmila furrowed her brow, when suddenly she remembered the man who had lamented about receiving a fake painting.
“Ah, yes. I did meet him.”
“That man’s grandfather is Kurto.”
“Hmm…”
“That man, after hearing about Ludmila, showed interest. He even asked for an invitation, saying he wanted to see her once, having heard somewhere that Ludmila was a beauty. I told him he must be crazy.”
“…”
Ludmila’s face rarely showed signs of bewilderment.
It had only been a few days since she came here.
She thought she had been keeping a low profile, not even leaving the castle, but she never imagined she would receive such attention.
“That old man has 42 wives. Among them are girls even younger than Ludmila. And in the midst of all that, he wants to bring in a new wife. He’s insane.”
Ludmila grasped her glass as Beressa grimaced and shook her head in disgust.
As she moistened her dry lips with wine and gathered her thoughts for a moment, Ludmila’s eyes fell on Aden.
Aden, who had been silently listening to the conversation without saying anything, seemed to notice her gaze and rolled his eyes slightly.
“Anyway, I firmly told him that Ludmila is Aden’s guest and not to touch her, so there shouldn’t be any problems. But still, be careful when you go outside the castle. That greedy old man might do something unpredictable.”
“I will.”
Ludmila smiled sweetly at Beressa, who was worrying about her as if they were old friends, and raised her glass.
The conversation continued for a while after that, but it was mostly about trivial matters.
In the end, the simple evening drinking session concluded when Beressa, who had emptied her glass faster than others, fell asleep first from the alcohol.
After seeing off Beressa, who disappeared led by her nanny’s hand, Ludmila headed to her room and glanced to the side.
Aden, who had been silently drinking without joining the conversation, seemed somewhat strange today.
She knew he wasn’t a talkative person, but he wasn’t the type to remain silent during conversations either.
Feeling puzzled, she moved her steps, and when she finally reached her room, Ludmila realized the identity of what she had been feeling was strange.
The fact was that they had already passed Aden’s room long ago.
By the time she realized this, the two of them had already stopped in front of Ludmila’s room.
As Ludmila hesitated while looking for her key, she seemed to be pondering something as she rolled her eyes, then slowly turned her body.
“Um… Thank you sincerely for what you did today.”
“What I did today?”
As he tilted his head with a face that didn’t understand what she meant, Ludmila released her bitten lip and smiled sweetly.
“The canvas. You moved it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“As I said earlier, it was to keep an idle noblewoman from poking around the castle. There’s no need to thank me.”
“Still, my gratitude remains unchanged. Thank you again. For being thoughtful.”
“…It’s nothing.”
Aden glanced at the door and then took a step back.
Ludmila, who had been looking at his eyes that indirectly expressed his intention to leave now, thought about what to replace the goodnight greeting with, and finally found something appropriate to say.
“Fortunately, it seems the money problem will be resolved smoothly. If I use this as capital to find an investment, I should be able to escape the financial difficulties without any problems.”
She thought he would be pleased with good news that was several times better than a simple ‘good night’ greeting.
That’s what she thought as she spoke, but Aden didn’t smile. Rather, he just looked at her with dry eyes.
“Aden?”
“…I see.”
When Ludmila called out again in confusion, Aden closed and opened his eyes, then put on a dry smile.
“That’s good news. Thank you.”
“What? Oh, yes…”
Ludmila nodded glumly at the somewhat unsatisfactory response.
Aden turned his body after leaving a final bow and the greeting, “Well then, good night.”
The gaze fixed on his receding back remained until Aden disappeared.
It was a strange feeling. Like she had committed some sort of sin…
Not knowing the identity of that feeling, Ludmila could only follow his vanished footsteps with her eyes before turning her body.
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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