“Even if adoption happens, calling her a younger sister is a bit……. The Lady is about eighteen in human years. Only a year’s difference from a child.”
“That’s right. The twins are seventyfive this year. They must be about fifteen in human years.”
“Should I correct it before expectations grow?”
Irina’s lips were tinged with difficulty.
Mikaela did not answer immediately and pondered.
‘Even if El doesn’t connect with Lapellian, she appears to need a lot of love to heal her heart. In that sense, being under someone’s hand rather than over it would be better.’
Mikaela concluded that it would be better for El to be the youngest here, even if it was only for a short time.
Wherever you go, the youngest isn’t showered with all sorts of love?
In that sense, they wouldn’t adopt, but it seemed better for the twins to think of El as younger rather than older. It seemed easier to shower affection.
“Let me talk about adoption myself. Just have the twins think El is younger than them, keep that part to yourself.”
Finishing her words, Mikaela smirked, her smile somewhat sinister.
Perhaps again, who knows.
‘Receiving all sorts of love, that child might crave another kind of affection.’
Seeing her disconcerting smile, Irina felt a chill down her spine, but she averted her gaze slightly from Mikaela and pretended not to see anything.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
“Also, about El’s title.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Uniformly refer to her as Miss. The Duchess of Mosteros is our benefactor, so make sure to treat her with respect, and instruct the servants beforehand.”
“Yes.”
“To prevent anyone from losing sight and climbing up with wrong thoughts, thoroughly control it beforehand.”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Then, for now……. Ah, check on the bakery. You can go now.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Irina bowed deeply, accepted the last order, and thought as she stepped out,
‘Somehow, it feels like the Lady is plotting something great…….’
(This is a time separator.)
El fell into sleep, not having time to think after eating an unprecedented quality meal and medicine.
The painkiller worked well, so the persistent pain subsided, and she could sleep comfortably.
Unfortunately, El’s nap didn’t last long.
“Adoption? Does that make sense? Do you think this makes sense?”
“What?”
One of the maids who brought El’s clothes grumbled discontentedly. Another maid, Jane, who was opening the closet to organize the clothes, responded calmly.
El stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.
The maid, unaware that El had woken up, spoke again in a sullen tone.
“A pickpocket taking up a guest room and even having a dedicated maid, and now adoption? Ha! It’s not even funny.”
“That’s because she’s the young lord’s benefactor, you know.”
El could not dare to show that she was awake and closed her eyes again, tightly gripping the blanket.
She was even careful about breathing.
The maid acted as though she disliked even touching the clothes that a child from a bad background would wear.
She was full of discontent, idly grumbling.
“It might be intentional.”
“The young master left secretly, how would I know?”
“What do I care. Besides, I’ve contributed more to this house.”
Jane, who was sorting a fairly good number of clothes, shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it.
“You get paid enough for it. Try going to another house. Will you receive treatment like this? Three days off a week and double the salary of other places.”
Jane quickly hung the sorted clothes on hangers and snapped at her colleague, who wasn’t doing anything, to work faster.
The maid who had been idly holding the clothes reluctantly picked them up and complained repeatedly towards El’s lying bed.
“Hmph! What’s the point? A child who might have impure intentions gets better treatment than us! Ugh. It’s annoying.”
“You’ll be punished if you use bad thoughts, you.”
“I want to do it only for the masters. Why should I support a child like that? I don’t like it.”
“Why are you like that when it’s not even your responsibility? Just once you have to help with the clothes.”
“It just makes me feel bad. Aren’t the masters too careless? Bringing in a delinquent like that.”
“The child was abused, they said.”
“How do we know if that’s abuse or just a scheme to get a share?”
With her dissatisfaction, the maid’s hand was rough as she hung the clothes in the closet.
With a loud noise, Jane, who was quietly hanging clothes, scowled.
“Aren’t you doing it right?”
“It’s annoying. We work, and that pickpocket sleeps comfortably in a good bed. What’s this about?”
“You stop talking and quietly do your work.”
“Isn’t that really how she’ll become a noble? Achieve her goal and then reveal her dark intentions, causing a nuisance to the ducal family?”
“Stop it.”
“I can’t trust that kid. Our masters are too naïve. To trust a kid like that.”
The maid picked up another piece of clothing and deliberately shook it loudly and mockingly.
Jane, who had been quietly working, looked around, worrying that someone might hear her colleague’s overtheline behavior.
“Hey, really watch your mouth. We just have to follow what the head of the household decided.”
“Who’s listening? If the head of the household doesn’t send her away and dresses her better and feeds her better than us, I won’t stand still.”
“Ugh. No good. You leave. I’ll do it myself.”
“Fine. Go ahead. It’s better for me.”
The maid dropped the clothes she was holding onto the floor and headed out.
Then, as if she had a thought, she turned her feet toward the bed.
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.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
