The Male Lead Is Mine

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

“I’m the only daughter of Marquis Ian Horissen, right?”

When I opened my eyes, I found myself inside a novel…not as the female lead, but as a supporting character.

Who said only the main characters got a happy ending? I’ve decided to choose a new path and take the male lead for myself!
In the original novel, it would take two and a half years for me to meet him, but I can’t wait that long.

“Bring me a pen and some paper.”

I’ll write a letter to him instead. There’s no time to waste—I’ll make sure the sweet and caring male lead is mine!

Associated Names
One entry per line
TMLIM
남주는 내가 차지한다
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Waking up as Cinderella’s Stepsister (3)
Chronicles of the Kilner Family (2)
My Sweet Heart (2)
Marriage And Absente (2)
I Got Married to a Cursed Wolf (2)
I Reincarnated As an Ugly Woman (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Historical romance fantasy novels
  2. My Reading List
  3. Long-Haired MLs in Aristocratic-themed Romance Nov...
  4. soon to read (het)
  5. The Majestic Long Hair

Latest Release

Date Group Release
05/12/21 wordexcerpt c15
05/06/21 wordexcerpt c14
05/02/21 wordexcerpt c13
05/02/21 wordexcerpt c12
04/25/21 wordexcerpt c11
04/25/21 wordexcerpt c10
04/25/21 wordexcerpt c9
04/25/21 wordexcerpt c8
04/25/21 wordexcerpt c7
04/10/21 wordexcerpt c6
04/04/21 wordexcerpt c5
04/03/21 wordexcerpt c4
03/25/21 wordexcerpt c3
03/23/21 wordexcerpt c2
03/02/21 wordexcerpt c1
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
13 Reviews sorted by


lamb19
lamb19 rated it
May 7, 2021
Status: c14
Why the low rating? Because this novel is hard to swallow.

The translation is great, wordexcerpt is making an excellent work like always — though I believe, this time they made a poor choice.

I love the genre and I can't get tired of the cliché tropes related to it... when it's well done, even when it's so-so it's still acceptable. However, for this novel, none of the above are the case.

What makes this genre so attractive is that classy taste linked with the glorified (and idealised) high echelons of society, power,... more>> riches and romance in an historical fantasy setting. And what does that entail? Balls, tea parties, Etiquette and protocols, poisoned words under elegant smiles, royalty or nobility, arranged marriages, eloping, rising status, secret affairs, politic conspiracies and power schemes, etc

And guess what? This story plot idea was novel but the orchestration was awful.

• Flat characters (even my summary sounds better than how it's portrayed) :

Ian Horrible Horissen: a daughter-con. His only role, aside from being the emperor's loyal vassal, is doting on his legitimate daughter —while segregating his illegitimate daughter (for unknown reasons, as we are informed that the head of the family is willing to accept her in the family register) — and avoid her marriage.

Aris Horissen: the transmigrated MC, an hypocritial noble always hiding her real thoughts and feelings under a practiced bright (fake) smile; willing to use the sincere love of her father and her built reputation (kind, sweet and considerate) as a tool to rob her sister of her man. Never letting slip the chance of treating her sister as her personal maid without any remorse and sending an unwilling 13 y.o peer into the arms of the disgusting, narcissistic and playboy Prince Hiel.

Prince Blergh Hiel: first prince of the empire and heir of the throne. A 19 y.o narcissistic playboy with countless mistresses; willing to covet the beauty of a 13 y.o because he can; attends a royal tea party to select his crown Princess consort and add any aristocrat that catches his eye to his harem. Always followed by an attendant whispering flattering words and worsening his narcissistic tendencies.

Lucine (Horissen) : the OG Female Lead. The sensible and hardworking illegitimate daughter of the marquis with a maid. Currently, the personal maid of her sister, Aris Horissen. Oblivious to her sister's plans and her original fate. Has a hard time trying to control her sister's gluttony.

Marchioness name, whereabouts or status unknown.

Male lead: with a commoner status; an insensitive, invincible, arrogant and dangerous War Hero. Wherever he goes, a carnage follows. Emanating an ominous tyrant vibes, has only gentleness and love for his beloved.

• No research or world building whatsoever.

Etiquette is non-existent.

Hierarchy follows two echelons: the emperor > everyone else.

They are in war but people are still living pretty comfy.

Best achievements in history: the emperor forcing nobility to purchase manure to lower the prices for commoners... (◔_◔)

And that's it... No mention if they live in a manor or townhouse, if they have lands or only an honorary title; which empire they live on or where it is; what position and influence does the marquis have in the imperialist faction, not even what job or skills does he have; religion and it's influence; politics or economical sectors. Nothing, nothing at all.

** ━━━━━ ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ ━━━━━ **

And I know I'm only at chapter 14, but the rest doesn't look that promising. <<less
49 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
kingeddie
kingeddie
July 16, 2021
Status: --
i actually kind of agree and disagree with lamb19. They are correct in that this is a very kind of bland novel. There really isn't any world building, nor any deep character development.

however, I would disagree and argue that she isn't "trying to steal her sister's man" because her sister and the ML have never even met, let alone fallen in love. It isn't stealing if it belonged to no one in the first place (ignoring how gross it sounds to declare people as possessions). The MC liked him from... more>> reading about it and wants to pursue him. It isn't an elaborate revenge story--it's just a bland romance.

if you're looking for something deep and thought provoking, ignore this. I got really bored reading a lot of the chapters because there wasn't really any action between the ML and MC. Don't get me wrong though, it was incredibly realistic. He's at war and she's living her life, so it makes sense that any communication will be sparse and delayed at best.

the best thing about this novel is the relationships between all the characters. The crown prince is a womanizer but the MC shuts that sh*t down right away. And instead of the crown prince getting upset and wanting to marry her, he literally just goes "aight guess I got a new homie that's cool." they just remain friends (and it's stressed every chapter that she DOES NOT want to get married to him which was lowkey annoying but also reassuring). I don't think the crown prince is as much of a horrible person as lamb19 says he is.

Spoiler

there is a side plot where he does show some interest in the 13 year old candidate for the crown princess, BUT that sh*t is shut down within a couple chapters. The MC has a conversation with him where she literally goes "don't force a child to do anything" and the prince listens and later reassures her that nothing will happen. So like, is he a messy player who deserves to die alone? Yes. But is he the scum of the earth? Nah, I don't think so.

[collapse]

i also think his narcissistic tendencies are kind of funny. They aren't hilarious but they are kind of a rolling-eyes-and-huffing-a-breath-out-of-your-nose funny.

about the ml, I like him I think he's cute. He's a traumatized soldier whose only reprieve from the battle field is a letter from someone who is not pressuring him at all. It's nice to have someone who doesn't treat a relationship as a transaction. The MC likes him and wants him to know. She's kind of just saying, "hey I just wanted to let you know I love you. There is no pressure to respond or worry. Just know that there are people who do like you and want to be in contact with you no matter what you do." it's kind of the beginning of an unconditional love where no matter what a person does or says, the affection is still there and unmoved. (i think that's so f*cking romantic and really rare. Just having someone love you no matter what. An acceptance that comes from the very depths of the heart. Reassuring someone that they don't really have to do anything but just accept the love. If you want to fantasize about cute romantic tropes this is a good novel.)

Spoiler

the MC literally always ends the letters with, "you don't have to respond if you don't want to." so like she isn't a horrible person--she understands what boundaries are and how not to be annoying lol.

[collapse]

the dad isnt that bad either. It's really rare to see a father figure who is actively trying to prevent his daughter from being married at a young age. He literally tries to get her out of so many balls and dances by arguing that she's too young and she doesn't need a man. I don't think he's a bad dad.

now about the mc: she's kind of bland. She's written in a way that stresses that she is THE epitome of grace and eloquence a high society lady should have. Like the author praises her every three sentences which can get annoying. She's an alright character. Pretty mediocre. I wish she had more of either a funny or cunning personality, but she literally just wants to marry the ML and not do sh*t for the rest of her life (which honestly is a mood--my dream is also to find the love of my life, be permanently financially stable, and do jacksh*t for all of my life. Lmao I'm so lonely)

so tldr: it's okay. Pretty mediocre but the characters aren't bad. This is a type of novel for when you're kind of bored and want to skim chapters just for the sake of fantasizing about the romance. <<less
39 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leikr_ish bish
Leikr_ish bish rated it
February 11, 2022
Status: c67
I agree with omgpls420 (they've put out a good review which I found helpful) - it is kind of a bland novel, no world building, kind of slice of life. I think that is what the author intended it to be, no deep dives in empire/world building or intrigue, etiquettes not well researched but still I've Enjoyed it and will keep reading it, I've had enough dog blood and fight between families and toppling down empire for the time being.

It's a transmigration novel with the MC doing what every other... more>> transmigrator do best "living their RICH life inside the novel and getting the HOT ml". Transmigrators by virtue are already an aberrant existence in a novel, a bug if you may, most are driven by survival, pity or guilt and some are driven by personal bias like the MC. Having them in the novel is already considered a divergence in the plot. The rub comes on how she will act to achieve her goal and for this MC she isn't a heinous scheming b***. If she were then this novel would've been more exciting but she isn't. The circumstance of her pursuing the ML is legit. She didn't get between two lovers or schemed her half-sister.

Spoiler

the half-sister is the ogFL she works as ogMC maid - her birth was accidental as ogMC father mistook maid mother as his dead wife on a drunken stupor (i know some men just couldn't keep it in their pants!). The half-sister mother is said to be unambitious and just want to live quietly birthed half-sister and got her a place to stay in the mansion as ogMC maid. Half-sister seemed pretty content with her situation -there are no schemes or tropes of an abused half-sister or being left out, it isn't a dog blood/sisters-tearing-each-others-face-off, illegitimate versus legit children kind of novel, I don't know where the other reviewer got that impression. The half-sister is proud of her profession per the half-sister's perspective, she is even competing with the maid of the MC bff, with regards on how to make their Ladies beautiful or stand out in soirees. Half-sister actually thinks that ML is not good enough for MC since he is wasting her lady's effort in writing letters for him and him not replying. I appreciate that the author took time to write out half-sister perspectives as MC maid, to make it clear to the reader that she doesn't harbor any ill will but I thought that it could've been executed well. Even so it showed that half-sister clearly looks out for her Lady and only has her good intentions in mind. As of chapter 67 there wasn't any sign of dissatisfaction from half-sister regarding her situation as marquis illegitimate daughter. Actually there aren't any scenes or perspective from both marquis and half-sister about what they thought of each other. It's always with the dad dotting the MC.


Honestly, the novel is mainly focused on the MC and ML romance development, mostly on how MC pursued ML. ML kind of quickly fell in love with MC.
The ognovel is about the ML being a commoner soldier being granted the ogMC-an eligible spoiled daughter of a marquis to be his wife as a reward and to pull him over to emperor faction. But ogMC ran away and half-sister get sent as collateral, in short ML and half-sister fell in love, foolish ogMC gets dead. Now, our MC reading the ognovel, said that if ogMC was her she wouldn't run away, ML is hot and a respectable kind of guy who respects and treats his wife well, she already has a crush on the ML before transmigrating and made up her mind to pursue him should she have a chance, I mean who wouldn't? Then she fell asleep and woke up as ogMC.

When half-sister and ML met in the current novel, no spark or fireworks flew whatsoever, since by then ML and MC are pretty much head over heels for each other. For half sister I am hoping there might be a potential ship with ML war buddy, which I'm really looking forward to.

[collapse]

I like the MC - she does what she sets out to do, not fickle minded virg*nal saint or meek. Clears up any misunderstanding behind any vague statements. I like the ML too - he's the respectable kind. There are not much frustratingly dumb drama or schemes in this novel. Works for me. <<less
19 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Mmunchkin97
Mmunchkin97 rated it
May 27, 2022
Status: --
I liked this as it is kind of a slice of life and romance fantasy together. The characters, well I like them.

Female lead
... more>>
Spoiler

I do have to disagree with the other comments saying that the FL is "snatching" the ML when in the first place and in the original novel the ML is supposed to be wedded to the original side character and the FL is not the original side character so why does she have to follow the trope and what, be dead? It's also hypocritical when the original FL and ML only fell in love in the later stage so no snatching is involved when they weren't even in a relationship. The comments saying that the FL only wanted to live a lavish and lazy life; of course she who died of cancer and had been working all her life, being an orphan, being bullied and being in failed relationships would want to take it easy in life. She also does not manipulate her feelings towards the father, she is revising what the original side character hadn't done; as the FL is living the side characters life of course she wants to make the relationship with the people around her better and her reputation to be better because in the original novels plot the side character's relationship with her father and her reputation are both awful.

[collapse]


The ML
Spoiler

The ML is also like those real life soldiers, he hates war but he can't be bothered to do nothing about it. In both the original novel and the the one with the transmigrated FL, he is an unambitious man who only wants to stop the war and live his life quietly and peacefully. He also didn't object when the emperor originally bestowed a marriage for his as he didn't have a lover or someone he liked. With the FL he wants to have better achievements to be worthy of her, as he is in a sense is a commoner and she is a noble in which may be looked down upon. He is also an honest and loyal man as he only wants to be with only one woman and was saving himself. I liked his character because almost all of the male characters that I've read so far has this "power" to almost do everything but in here he doesn't.

[collapse]

Female Lead's friends
Spoiler

There are also the FL's friends the Duke's daughter Violet, the crown prince Hiel and the Marquis's younger son limontri. The crown prince is what we call a casanova or simply a playboy. He likes people to flock over him and to praise his looks but he still has a clear line. He did like Violet's looks (she's 13 at that time 😑) but backed down when FL told him off and he listened. The way he acts maybe disgusting to other people who'll read this but he is a genuine person who cares for his friends and family. He doesn't bother falling in love as he knew that his future wife maybe chosen for him; I actually have complicated feelings towards this character but I lean more on liking him despite the fact that I hate it when people have many "relationships" at the same time. Moving on to Violet she is just like the FL when it comes to their views of what they like about their future husband. She is extremely mature for her age due to her father's teaching as she will also succeed his title as the duchess so she is trained since she was little be it in terms of socializing, with hunting and discerning people. She has a goal set for her future self; I honestly love her character. And limontri he is also somewhat similar to the FL, same age as the crown prince (19) and future prospect of violet. He is a man who knows his position (for their time as he knew he wouldn't inherite the title) and a man that also cherishes his relationship with people. He is a sincere friend towards the FL and the crown prince (I honestly like them all 😅).

[collapse]

The emperor and Lucine
Spoiler

The Emperor is also a casanova like his son in his younger years but stopped once he met the empress and only love one woman after she died. The Original FL lucine, she didn't have a bad relationship with the FL and her father because she didn't live with them. It's almost like a stranger and not a stranger. In a sense she didn't grew up with them so she is content with what she have now and has a good relationship with FL. They treat each other as sisters (in a sense they are sisters) but act like their position outside of the manor. I also like her character. 😂 There is also the Thurwin which almost serve as the ML love advisor. He is also a soldier and a good friend to the ML.

[collapse]

I also just want to be clear that I'm not siding with the father for being "cold" and dismissive towards the original FL but people tend to forget that this is a novel with a hierarchy type of setting. IT IS COMMON for nobles not to integrate the illegitimate children into the family register or even acknowledge them. It is already a great fit for him that he didn't kill both the mother and child as what happened in history. You don't like it but it also happened in real life history what more in a novel. 🙄 If people who are interested in reading this that doesn't want a hierarchy then don't read this. This novel is just like the history or what people can easily remind of like romeo and juliet. This novel mainly tackles high society so if it's not to your liking then I advice you not to read this. What I also liked about this novel is that it gives importance to the females; here they can have the right to succeed the title unlike some novels and the fathers are actually protective of their daughters. If you also like a story without too many ups and downs and just want to read something consistently then this is for you. I'm honestly getting tired of face slapping and domineering type of novels that's why I tried this.

What I don't like about this is some things are just dismissed, the battle is called war when in reality it is almost only in the borders so I would like to depict it as battle. Also the wages of the soldiers is small compared to them putting their lives on the line (just like todays ordinary soldiers. 🙃) Tho I liked that females are given inportance here, it is to the point of plastering their faces every other event (tho I know that this is inevitable). Also the lack of mother's here or rather the deaths of mother's through birth; almost none of the characters mother is alive. 🙃 All in all it still comes to preferences.

P. S. I added my thoughts as a spoiler as it's really long. <<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Kawaii Panda
Kawaii Panda rated it
March 22, 2022
Status: prologue
I agree that the plot is pretty flat, but the characters isn't that bad. Im glad that the OG heroine isn't some two faced that harbour ill intension and she is genuine and kind. The father is also a doting father, at first I thought he would be a jerk because of the OG heroine is a maid despite being his daughter. Even so, he still accept her to his family tree and did not mistreated and abused like the other novels. The prince, who is looking for a crown... more>> princess in early chapters is narcissistic but he isn't that bad. At least he knows boundaries and stuffs, and he's not the type of person that when someone rejected him (like the mc) to be his partner, he will not insist it. The ML, as usual has a traumatic past then MC will be the light of his dark world and bam, he falls in love. <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
HentMas
HentMas rated it
November 19, 2022
Status: c68
hmm... it's nice

It's the kind of story you read to pass time grinning from ear to ear.

Cute interactions, very simplistic politics, no real conflict or drama.

... more>> It's like watching a very interesting wall you just finished painting, dry...

You see how it starts all moist and shiny and then the subtle differences in the thickness make certain sections of the wall dry a bit faster and seem opaque in comparison, then some other places completely dry but the other parts that received a slightly thicker layer of paint are still shinny and form amorphous spots of shining paint that begin to get smaller and smaller till they are completely dry.

Satisfied you smile again at the whole process and admire your completely painted wall completely dry...

Dude... you just watched paint dry...

You enjoyed it, I'm certain of it, but... that's all there is to it...

Remember when you thought a shiny spot was going to last longer than the other but suddenly it became less shiny because the window was open on that side, and you hadn't noticed, and the air dried it faster? that was interesting wasn't it?

What an interesting occurrence, to be so entertained watching paint dry... <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
chande
chande rated it
October 22, 2022
Status: Completed
This story actually wasn't that bad but it wasn't considered that good either. It's passable to pass the time at most because the plot was quite light with almost no drama and misunderstanding. It focused more on MC's effort to catch ML and made him hers. What happened next was quite predictable.

... more>>
Spoiler

She made it of course and ML fell head over heels with MC in almost no time.

[collapse]

The ending was a bit unsatisfying though.

Spoiler

There were too much of side stories about MC and ML while there were lack of side stories about other couple such as Hiel and Elsa and Limontri and Violet.

Limontri and Violet indeed ended up together after being friends for years but I also want to see more of them especially after Violet became an adult (not gonna lie though, I also expect a sm*t scene from them).

And what about Hiel and Elsa? Till the end, Elsa still couldn't trust Hiel. And with Elsa's low status, it must be hard for her to be a crown princess. Don't know if they would make it because the author didn't mention them in the side stories. It's really a pity because Hiel was one of MC's best friend so I hope he would be happy too.

There's also Lucine, the original heroine. I didn't resent MC for snatching ML away from her since if ML was really for Lucine, he won't fall in love with MC no matter how hard MC tried to woo him. But the fact that ML easily fell in love with MC proved that his fate with Lucine wasn't absolute. However, I still hope that she ended up with a good man too and be as happy as if she was with ML. Too bad till the end, she still didn't end up with anyone.

[collapse]
<<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Brasdf
Brasdf rated it
January 7, 2023
Status: --
Very... shallow. This is seemingly a slice of life story, but with poorly written characters and nothing interesting about the world or anything else. Usually there is focus on some topic, like Tea or flowers or magical creatures. Something. Or you have fun characters. Not here. Just bland.

This feels like something a 13 year old girl might write if she didn't put much effort into writing, just tried to imagine something fun in an afternoon. Maybe 13 year old girls are the intended audience and this is the reason for... more>> the form the story took, but I feel like the 13 year old's are being unfairly underestimated.

Things that bothered me way too much:

  • That the MC didn't convince her father to adopt her maid/half-sister officially considering she has him wrapped around her finger.
  • The fact the maids force them into weird starvation diets. This could happen if Aris and Violet had a mother that felt this was important and was the source of authority for this behavior, but in the story this looks like the maid's decision. Maids that are teens themselves. A maid can't starve her mistress for her weird fetishes. Feels very off. I'm guessing this was supposed to be... humorous.
  • It kills me the MC's mindset is she wants to live a quiet minimum effort life, yet she makes sure to excel at everything via unreasonable hard work. Her father wouldn't have cared if she was average and had a just an okay reputation. Is this like a Korean trope ? A mental disease ? I can't tell if I'm more annoyed by an MC whose wish in life is to be useless or by the fact she fails at being useless and instead crazily overworks.
  • No, the worst part is that if she kept herself as average or even below average like her original incarnation then her wish of being married to the ML would have happened, and she could have had her no effort life and she knows it.
<<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Eueu
Eueu rated it
November 17, 2022
Status: c33
Plot: person transmigrates into character that would've married the male lead if not for his commoner status. So our MC does her best to improve her character, get good reputation, and tries to get close to the ML before their formal meeting.

I actually like this part of her. She's a people pleaser and practical.

What I don't like about this novel is the author kept telling us about their diets. I get that such sentiments do exist and women do starve themselves to look good and fit into dresses but it's... more>> so annoying to repeatedly read it. And the maids are so obnoxious and the noble ladies are soooo spineless. Lyk why are u letting your maid deprive you from eating a needed meal!! Plss so annoying.

They should definitely add a tag of eating disorder bec MC is like those tiktok girls whose only meal is a collagen drink or whatever it's called. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
znukhsoc
znukhsoc rated it
September 21, 2022
Status: c20
I've seen worst written novels that have more intriguing stories. This one is painfully... empty.
Nothing, absolutely nothing interesting happened in these 20 chapters I just read. I skimmed a little after that I saw that MCs don't interact with each other for an excessively long time too... Like, what am I going to read about? FL's daily lessons, tea parties, what she talks about when OG heroine does her hair??

Also, OG heroine was annoying the hell out of me. She, not letting MC eat anything to show MCs "pretty"... more>> self to the petty prince was... UGH. If I wrote my true feelings that would be against review guidelines.

Not worth it.

The translation is over on the site by the way, did someone forget to update it? <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Libra69
Libra69
May 17, 2022
Status: --
*short story*

The story of the protagonis reborn as a supporting character as well as the knowledge of the future with the aim of taking someone else future lover to be her
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
PtitcaSi
PtitcaSi rated it
March 15, 2023
Status: --
Complete idiocy about the maids. Taken from the anime and beyond measure unfunny. Not a mother, not an older relative, not a governess, but a maid who decides what and when a young and healthy lady will eat, how she should dress and everything else? Seriously?
Further... I don't understand at all why it was necessary to weave this whole story, because at the stage of hitting the heroine it was enough... to do nothing. To get the main character, it was enough for her to sit still, not to... more>> scandal at the news of the engagement and not to run away from home. Well, the heroine of the novel could have been sent somewhere else. It was a good move with the letters, I admit it.
The most interesting character is the prince. The story itself is... s*upid.
I'm writing through a translator, sorry <<less
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Byeoul
Byeoul rated it
December 29, 2022
Status: --
At first, this novel seemed pretty interesting but then all I got was sh*tyy blandness. Honestly I’ve seen terribly written manhwas with more interesting plot than this. Like if we’re talking about the ML and MC, I’d say it was reasonable that the conversations were pretty short considering the fact that the ML is a soldier but at the same time, there was nothing keeping the story in balance and the whole transmigration thing wasn’t needed. And the worst part is, you could miss a few words and chapters and... more>> know what was going on. Overall, if you like simplistic stories with absolutely no interesting plot and everything is just smooth sailing, then this is definitely for you. <<less
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.