The day I became the wife of a handsome, capable man five years my junior, drawing the envy and jealousy of countless noble ladies.
With a wedding tiara atop my black bob and clad in a pure white dress, I was supposedly the happiest bride… yeah, right.
I barely managed to clutch the arm of my husband—who had hidden a knife in his sleeve—as I walked down the aisle.
In other words, I was becoming the wife of a man who threatened to behead me if I tried to run away.
The acting skills of Duke Sikar Blake, my soon-to-be husband, were surprisingly excellent. He smiled brightly at the crowd, then spoke with tightly pressed lips, as if performing ventriloquism.
“Try managing your expression a bit?”
“How about you manage your expression after putting down that knife?”
“That’s difficult. This is the only way I can ensure I catch a bride who’s just waiting for the slightest chance to flee.”
He’s a villainous husband who casually threatens to kill me—did I look like I wouldn’t run?
Moreover, even if it was a contract marriage, becoming the wife of a villain swept up in history’s whirlwind to meet a tragic death?
I felt as if doom had already cast its shadow over my future.
Chapter 1. The Villain Found Out This Place Is a Novel (1)
I hadn’t been in this world for very long.
I was working as a daycare teacher that day, seeing the children off after school.
Despite being on high alert due to frequent accidents in school zones, I still saw a car running a red light speeding toward a child.
Driven by instinct and the solemn duty to protect the child, I leapt into the road and pulled the child into my arms.
Then, when I opened my eyes—I was here.
I had suddenly fallen into this novel world, with no connections whatsoever, waking up in a dim alley near the plaza.
I wasn’t even a supporting character in the novel, let alone an extra.
I was simply, truly, a single human being who had dropped straight out of the sky into this world.
The man who is now my husband, Sikar, was a villain destined to meet a brutal death near the novel’s end.
In the novel, when he died, the line about never having smiled even once since birth struck me as deeply sorrowful.
Along with wondering when I myself had last laughed with true relief, I found myself empathizing with the villain’s final words.
Was that why I fell into this place?
I arrived here completely empty-handed.
In short, I was utterly penniless and destitute.
Of all times, I landed in winter—I shivered from the cold, wandering the streets like a homeless person, when I saw a crowd gathered in the plaza, shouting raucously.
“Execute the tyrant, the deposed king!”
“Kill the deposed king!”
Though I’d never heard this language before, I understood every word—which felt miraculous—so I headed toward the gathering.
On the central platform in the plaza, a man sat bound with rope, bleeding from multiple wounds inflicted by the stones thrown at him by the crowd.
Then, a man dressed in a splendid uniform stepped forward. In his hand was a long, sharp greatsword.
“It’s Duke Sikar Blake!!”
“Lord Sikar Blake!! Please execute the deposed king who ruined our kingdom!!”
The moment I heard that name, I was certain—this was the novel I had read.
Sikar Blake was the villain who overthrew the deposed king and installed a new monarch—a terrifying figure who could read people’s memories with a mere touch.
Judging by the unfolding events, today must be the day the deposed king was to be executed.
Then this must be the moment the novel begins.
At that instant, I recalled an empty house where I could temporarily stay.
I was so cold and hungry I felt I might collapse on the spot, but I somehow managed to reach Mount Hill, located a short distance from the city.
Mount Hill was a small village within the Blake territory, where the protagonist was meant to temporarily stay in a small farmhouse.
That house, prepared in the novel as the childhood residence for the protagonist, was originally unoccupied—an empty house.
There was hardly a safer place to stay, even briefly.
Inside the house, it seemed as if everything had been prepared for the protagonist’s arrival—plenty of food, firewood, and the kitchen supplies were all fresh, as if just purchased, which felt astonishing.
‘Of course—it’s a house meant for the protagonist, so naturally everything is preserved in fresh condition.’
Though I was starving, I was even more exhausted by the cold, so I immediately lit the fireplace.
In the bitter cold, my teeth chattered audibly; I sat rigidly before the hearth until my entire body thawed.
Only after some warmth returned did I begin to feel the gnawing, intense hunger.
Feeling slightly guilty about eating food meant for the owner, I quietly murmured as if asking the protagonist’s permission before drinking the milk from the kitchen shelf.
‘I’ll just have a little.’
Since the protagonist would arrive in about a week, I needed to find at least a monastery where I could stay temporarily.
In this world, monasteries provided food and shelter for the homeless—so for me right now, that was the only option.
First, I went to look for the well in front of the house to fetch some drinking water.
Suddenly, an elderly woman came rushing toward me, panting heavily.
“Unni! Unni!”
The moment she saw me, she called me “Unni” and chased after me.
At first, I was utterly bewildered—but then I remembered my own grandmother, lost to dementia, and couldn’t just turn away.
Also, living alone in this place with poor security felt slightly frightening, so after some deliberation, I brought the grandmother to the protagonist’s house.
After all, when I eventually found a monastery to relocate to, I could just bring her along too.
After bringing the grandmother home, I first changed her ragged clothes and prepared a meal for her.
Of course, since I had to leave enough for the protagonist, we could only eat enough to avoid starving to death.
That amount of food couldn’t fully satisfy our hunger, but I suppressed my desire for more and left the rest.
‘I’m so hungry.’
From experience, sleeping is the best remedy for hunger. After the meager meal, I tried to fall asleep as quickly as possible alongside the grandmother.
How long had I slept?
Like a bolt from the blue, soldiers suddenly stormed in while I was asleep. Before I could even beg for my life, they gagged me and covered my head with a hood.
Not knowing who was dragging me or where, I was hauled away by the soldiers.
Inside the silent carriage, where only the creaking of wheels could be heard, I trembled in fear, not knowing where I was being taken.
It couldn’t be because I was too pretty—was it because I looked like a foreigner with strange attire?
Even if they were taking me to interrogate my identity, they’d at least tell me why—so that couldn’t be it either.
Then why…? Was I being kidnapped by people planning to sell me off as a maid somewhere because I “looked capable”?
Biting my lips in fear, no matter how hard I tried to make sense of the situation, I couldn’t deduce anything.
Only after riding in the carriage for a long while did we seem to arrive somewhere—accompanied by the heavy sound of an iron gate opening and the low, bustling murmurs of people all around.
Soon, people pulled me out of the carriage and handed me over to someone else. Again, I was dragged and seated in a chair.
‘Surely this isn’t a torture chair or something?’
Given the situation, ominous thoughts flooded my mind endlessly.
It certainly felt like a torture chair—cold and hard. When I shifted my hips, it even creaked.
At that moment, I felt someone’s hand touch my face, and I jerked my head around, pleading for my life.
Then, a hand removed the hood and gag from my head. The bright light blinded me—I had to blink several times before I could see properly.
As my blurry vision cleared and objects came into focus, what suddenly appeared before my eyes wasn’t torture equipment—but a lavish feast.
“You took care of our grandmother.”
Across from me sat a man, arms crossed, head held high arrogantly, looking down at me.
When I examined his face closely, he was so handsome I felt breathless.
As I stared blankly for a moment, I suddenly remembered where I’d seen this man.
‘Right! The man from the plaza!’
So this man was Sikar Blake, whom I’d seen at the plaza.
Only then did fragments of the novel’s plot return to me, and I could roughly guess the grandmother’s identity.
In the novel, Sikar’s grandmother, who suddenly developed dementia, wandered outside, was accosted by bad men who stole all her clothes and jewelry, and ended up freezing to death while dressed in rags.
Since the grandmother was Sikar’s only remaining blood relative, and Sikar was already half-mad to begin with, he began descending further into darkness after that day.
In short, the grandmother’s death was a plot device to make Sikar even more villainous.
‘The grandmother I briefly took care of turned out to be the villain’s grandmother in this novel!’
I recalled how he had beheaded the deposed king at the guillotine earlier that day—and felt a chill run down my neck.
Outwardly, he seemed very calm and composed—but I knew full well that even his composure was just madness in disguise.
Sikar swept back the hair falling over his forehead and stared at me silently.
The moment our eyes met, even though he was just looking, I felt as if he were reading my memories.
His gaze was that sharp—as if piercing straight through others’ souls.
“Black hair and black eyes… You possess a mysterious appearance I’ve never seen anywhere. Your clothing is bizarre too… Anyway, I’ll generously reward you for taking good care of our grandmother. If you need anything else, speak up.”
So, he was basically offering me money.
There’s a saying: row when the tide comes in.
If not now, when else would I ever get such an opportunity?
I was too starved and frozen to feign false modesty by saying, “I’m fine, really.”
“I didn’t do it expecting a reward, but I’d be grateful for whatever you can give me.”
What I meant was: give me absolutely everything you can. I had to grab whatever was offered just to survive in this world.
Sikar, apparently unfamiliar with humility himself, didn’t seem bothered at all by my lack of modesty and my blunt request for everything.
“I’ll reward you without stint.”
Though his temper was fearsome, Sikar’s personality was refreshingly straightforward—he offered a reward generous enough to live off for several years.
I thanked him profusely until my tongue nearly wore out, then grabbed the thick pouch of reward money he gave me and climbed onto the carriage to leave the duke’s mansion.
But suddenly, the grandmother climbed onto the carriage too, clinging tightly to me.
“Unni! Where are you going! Unni! Don’t go!”
…I was bewildered. No, terrified. I nearly blurted out, “Why are you doing this, Grandma?”
The grandmother cried torrents of tears, begging me not to leave—but honestly, I was the one who wanted to cry.
“Grandma, you can’t do this… I have to go… You’re not planning to kill me, are you?”
‘If I stay here longer and Sikar discovers my memories, who knows what’ll happen to me!’
This place is a novel? He’s the kind of madman who’d kill me and still have energy left over.
But because the grandmother was wailing and clinging, I couldn’t leave the duke’s mansion.
I struggled with all my might, but in the end, I was dragged off the carriage.
‘Is this really how you treat your benefactor?!’
Once again, I was led by soldiers back into the duke’s mansion.
The soldiers seated me in a chair in front of the table where Sikar stood.
He looked down at me and said,
“If you stay here as our grandmother’s companion, I’ll give you enough wealth to live luxuriously for the rest of your life—even with plenty left over. What do you say? Will you make a deal with me?”
Do they always hold a knife to someone’s throat when making deals here?
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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