A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady - Chapter 30

Yukima Azuma—charismatic, confident, and utterly unforgettable. He was the man every girl wanted but could never truly keep. One by one, they fell for him, only to be left with memories they couldn’t erase.Kasumigaoka Utaha: “I was his first, the one who taught him love… only for him to use it on other women.”Sawamura Eriri: “If I hadn’t been such a tsundere, maybe things would have been different.”Yukinoshita Yukino: “He was my light in the darkness, the only one who ever truly saw me.”Yukinoshita Haruno: “That bastard ran away after taking everything from me.”Hoshino Ai: “My only true love. The one I can never replace.”And when asked about their relationship with him?“Ex-girlfriend.”But to the women still in his life?Sora Ginko, Kato Megumi, Sagiri, Bocchi, Shinomiya Kaguya, Kirisu Mafuyu, Suou Yuki, Alya—“Thieving cats.”Because no matter how much time passed, no matter how far he went—one truth remained: Yukima Azuma was the one man they could never forget.

Ye Zhen, a female Ph.D. in the Department of Mathematics of Huada University, changed her career to enter the entertainment industry in order to investigate the death of her birth father, Film Emperor Ye Yi. During her interview, she accidentally made CEO Rong Cheng Jue lose face in public. Yet Rong Cheng Jue, unlike what was to be expected, didn’t take old grudges into account and let Ye Zhen join his company. When everyone thought Ye Zhen would become Rong Cheng Jue’s personal secretary, she actually joined the entertainment department. After several twists and turns, Ye Zhen became an errand reporter for Rongcheng Entertainment’s “Treasures of Great Tang”.

Her colleagues’ bullying towards her, the pressure of changing career, and the many obstacles in her investigation all left her confused. Under Rong Cheng Jue’s silent guardianship, she didn’t forget her original purpose, overcame every obstacle, and eventually became an ace producer.

Ye Zhen and Rong Cheng Jue shared a common belief : no matter how bleak the hope is, how thorny and dark is the road ahead, they had only one thought in their hearts: to uncover the truth, and therefore bring peace to the soul of the Film Emperor Ye Yi.

- Description from Novelupdates

The story is about a man who’s opposed to the now-common practice of implanting false memories, but is one day given memories of a fictional childhood friend. This fabricated happiness torments him, but then, to his surprise, he meets her – a girl who shouldn’t exist.