On the day, my husband, Eugene Doyle, receives the offer to further his studies in the city, he serves me divorce papers instead.

I, Maria Johnston, am eight months pregnant with his child.

He tries to console me. "Maria, ever since my elder brother, Edgar, passed away, Janice has had nobody taking care of her. She can't survive on her own.

"I'll marry her for the time being, just on paper, until she manages to find her footing in the city. After that, I'll come back and marry you again."

Everyone assumes that I will patiently and obediently wait for Eugene to return because of my pregnancy. However, I tear up his written oath to me and terminate the pregnancy that same day.

Then, with the offer letter for the National Archeology Certification in my hands, I leave our little village and disappear from Eugene's life.

Five years later, I become a successful archeologist and return to the same village for a survey. My current husband, Rupert Kingston, can't come at the same time as me due to an emergency meeting, but he has informed the villagers to welcome me with open arms ahead of time.

To my surprise, I meet my ex-husband instead.

He says, "I know that you lost your baby at eight months. There's no need to be ashamed about it. It's about time you came back after running away from home all those years ago.

"Janice is about to give birth. We need you to be her nanny."

A huge banner that read "Welcome, Ms. Archeologist!" was hung up in the village at the most eye-catching spot.

There was also a huge group of people waiting under the banner. Standing at the frontmost spot of the group was my ex-husband, Eugene Doyle.

Janice Lockhart, his current wife, stood next to him, along with the other village officials. They looked all around them, anxiously waiting for the arrival of said archeologist.

"Hey, look! Mr. Doyle, isn't that your ex-wife, Maria Johnston?" one of the people in the group asked, suddenly elbowing Eugene.

Eugene's face lit up when he caught sight of me. However, the smile vanished almost immediately.

"I told you that she was just a village girl who'd never be able to survive out there on her own, especially after suffering a miscarriage like that. It's been five years since she ran away from home. It's about time she came back."

The group of people began to laugh.

"Hey, Maria!" one shouted. "Did you come back because you heard that Mr. Doyle had been promoted to manager at our factory and regretted leaving him years ago? Are you back to try and lick his boots or something?"

"Look at you!" another said with a sneer. "You should have taken better care of yourself, even if you'd been divorced by him back then. What kind of stupid, ragged clothing are you wearing?"

"I bet she must have been pinching pennies after leaving Mr. Doyle," a woman added. "She can't even afford a proper, decent-looking shirt. Otherwise, she would have known to put some makeup on!"

In the past, no matter how poor we were, I would still save up every penny we had to splurge a little on some skincare and makeup.

I would get up before the sun had even risen just to take care of my appearance because I didn't want to embarrass Eugene and make him upset.

But now, there was no need for that anymore.

My husband didn't care if I dolled myself up prettily or maintained my appearance for him. He only cared about my happiness.

Judging from the condescending looks the villagers were giving me, I knew at once that they had no idea that the archeologist they were supposed to be welcoming and celebrating was me.

My old neighbor, Penny Nielson, tried to break the tension when she realized that I still hadn't said a word in return.

"Maria! You're finally back! Did you know that Mr. Doyle kept coming back to this village for the past five years to look for you? He'd been waiting for you to come home!"

Eugene had an unnatural look on his face. He looked at me solemnly and said, "I was only looking for her because I needed a nanny to take care of Janice and the baby after she gave birth."

He sounded very arrogant and condescending as he talked to me, obviously still treating me like his villager wife from years back.

However, I wasn't the old Maria Johnston who had nothing and nobody but Eugene in my mind anymore. I stared off toward the hills in the background and began mentally planning my work for the day.

Just as I was about to reveal my identity, Janice suddenly spoke up. "Maria, I know that you must be very sad that you lost your baby back then. I'm going to be a mother too, and I know how terrible that must have felt for you.

"But don't worry about it. If you're willing to work as my nanny, I'll let my son acknowledge you as his godmother after he's born, if you want.

"I think it's a pretty good deal for someone like you, seeing that you're doing so poorly in life and know nothing about civilized society. You'd make a good nanny.

"Also, Eugene is the factory manager now. It wouldn't be embarrassing for you to be our nanny at all."

I looked at Eugene and Janice coldly.

Five years had passed, and yet, Janice was still as pompous and conceited as ever. She made it really easy for people to dislike her.

Still, there was something I didn't quite understand. I had terminated my pregnancy back then. Why did the villagers all think that I'd miscarried instead?

Eugene mistook my silence for embarrassment and shame. His ego swelled as he said, "Alright, alright. Since you can't even take care of yourself and are living worse off than a beggar on the streets, just be good and come home to me!

"That old hut is still around. I've kept it for you. That should be more than enough for you to feel grateful. All you have to do is make yourself useful as Janice's nanny, and I'll be good to you as well."

As soon as Eugene was done talking, the rest of the villagers immediately burst into laughter.

"You poor thing, Maria! You don't have a dime to your name, and you're obviously doing much worse than us all," one of them jeered. "Mr. Doyle is still so nice to show you some kindness and take you in. Aren't you going to drop to your knees in gratitude and kiss the shoes on his feet or something?"

"Exactly!" another chimed in. "All you have to do is be their nanny! Isn't that so much better than living on the streets for years?"

Janice proudly circled her hands around Eugene's arm and said, "Don't worry, Maria. I won't make things hard for you. You just need to cook and clean every day!"

Eugene scoffed. "Why are you worried about that? She was born to do hard work. Her best talents are feeding pigs and serving people anyway!

"We were forced to divorce due to some external circumstances back then. I promised her that I would come back to remarry her, but she ran away from home for five whole years!

"And now, she's crawling back to me with her tail between her legs. She deserves all the hardship that's coming, if you ask me!"

My expression darkened when I heard that.

So, it turned out that Eugene didn't think that divorcing me while I was eight months pregnant and marrying Janice right afterward was a huge matter at all.

I couldn't believe those words had come from Eugene's mouth. He used to give me piggyback rides while walking through muddy fields, ate as little and saved as much as possible to buy skincare for me, and promised me that he would repay me for all my hardship for the rest of his life.

That old Eugene was long gone.

However, it didn't matter anymore. That chapter of my life had ended. I had remarried and even gave birth to a little boy afterward.

I took a deep breath and spoke to them in a calm voice. "Weren't you all here to welcome a highly-celebrated archeologist? Let's go."

The villagers were stunned. They exchanged looks amongst themselves.

Janice doubled over in laughter, revealing the pearly white teeth hidden behind her blood-red lips.

"You? An archeologist? Nonsense!"

She then stood on tiptoe to point at the banner hung above our heads. "Do you even know how to read? Can you read this? Do you know anything about history? I bet you can't even read half the words on this banner!"

The other villagers joined in, laughing harder.

"Exactly! The person we're welcoming is a world-renowned archeologist expert, and she's also the wife of the billionaire, Mr. Rupert Kingston!" one exclaimed.

"Mr. Kingston is a model husband who's even been interviewed by The Daily Newspaper before," someone else added. "He would always cook for his wife, no matter how busy he is, and he's still very sweet and intimate with his wife even after five years of marriage!"

"You? Seriously?" another villager scoffed. "Do you think your life is a fairy tale? You're not even worthy to dust the shoes on his feet!"

Their insults somehow made me feel warm and cozy inside.

Rupert was nothing like Eugene. Eugene would always let Janice make things extremely difficult for me, but Rupert would dote on me and spoil me with his love every day.

No matter how busy he was with work, he would always remember to bring me my favorite breakfast sandwich from the Urban Hotel. If it rained, he would always show up at my work holding a massive umbrella over his head.

Even when I stayed up late all night working on my reports, he would always prepare hot cocoa in a thermal flask for me and leave it on my desk.

While I got lost in my memories, Janice's sarcastic laughter snapped me back.

"Oh, Maria," she said in a singsong voice. "Did you really think that you were some sort of archeologist? Were you imagining what it would be like to be the billionaire's wife?

"By the way, don't you think it's a coincidence? My little cousin, Jack Harthrow, is Mr. Kingston's driver, and he told me that Mrs. Kingston always wears a special gold locket because that was Mr. Kingston's engagement gift to her, and he'd spent a fortune on it at the auction."

Janice suddenly stopped and yanked me by my collar. "So why do you also have a gold locket around your neck?"

The villagers immediately fell into stunned silence.

Eugene froze. Then, he glanced at the locket around my neck disdainfully and said, "And which dumpster pile did you get that dumb locket from, Maria Johnston? Did you really think that would make you rich? Aren't you a little too obsessed with marrying rich now?"

I ignored him and gently caressed the locket around my neck. The look in my eyes softened, and the corners of my lips curled upward.

Janice was enraged by the sight. She immediately grabbed the locket and tore it off my neck, breaking the necklace.

I was caught off guard and lost my balance at once.

Janice laughed. She cackled victoriously and said, "Maria, your locket might look like the locket Jack told me about, but you can't think that the idiot who gave you this stupid locket was Mr. Kingston, the billionaire. Know your place and where you stand."

The rest of the villagers roared with laughter at her words. After all, they could never associate someone as respectable and unattainable as Rupert with a so-called village girl like me. To them, we were from completely different places in society.

Janice cast a smug look at Eugene and raised her voice. "If it were up to me, I'd smash this thing just because of how dirty it is!"

She then raised her arms in the air, looking as if she was going to smash my locket onto a rock.

I stumbled forward to try and wrestle it away from her. "Give that back! This is Rupert's—"

Before I could finish, Eugene immediately shoved me to the side. "Shut up with your nonsense!"

He then said in a stern voice, "Mr. Kingston is not someone you can lightly talk about! Are you trying to get all of us into trouble?"

I had hit my head on a rock when I fell, and blood started trickling from the side of my forehead. Eugene and a few of his friends immediately surrounded me, glaring angrily.

"Maria Johnston!" one of them shouted. "Do you know how important it is for us to properly welcome the archeologist to our village? The person we're waiting for is a world-class pioneer in archeology and also the wife of the world's richest man!"

"This archeologist is very important to us, and we need to get everything right!" another added. "How dare you try to impersonate her? Can you even put up with the consequences if she finds out?"

Patrick Doyle, Eugene's cousin, then gritted his teeth and said, "Eugene had gone through a lot to finally be appointed the manager of this factory.

"He's counting on making a good impression on the archeologist when she comes so he can keep climbing the ladder! Are you trying to ruin his career by doing something this stupid?"

I wiped the blood from my forehead and slowly looked up at Eugene. My gaze was so sharp that he subconsciously took a step back, looking slightly flustered.

When Janice saw that, her face darkened, and she quickly said, "You're so heartless, Maria Johnston! We've already agreed to let you come home after seeing the terrible state you were in. We even prepared a place for you to stay!

"It's bad enough that you don't know how to be grateful for that. But now, you dare to try and cause trouble for all of us?"

She suddenly pointed at my nose and yelled, "Are you trying to get revenge on us because you still hate Eugene for divorcing you?"

Janice's words were like a dull knife hacking into my heart and dredging up the darkest, most painful memories in my head.

I spent all of my days scrubbing the floor tiles while living in the Doyle household, while Janice stepped on my fingers and chided me for not making the floors clean enough.

I stayed up all night and handsewed new clothing for Eugene, while Janice spread rumors about me seducing the neighbors.

At first, Eugene would still come to my defense. "Janice, Maria is not someone like that."

However, ever since Edgar passed away, Eugene became more and more like Janice's puppet.

Ultimately, he abandoned me—while I was eight months pregnant—for her. The final look he gave me before he left with her was cold and icy.

Just like back then, Eugene was staring at me icily. He frowned and yelled, "You stupid village girl! Did I ever say I was going to abandon you? You were the one who abandoned me!"

However, he kept his lips drawn in a tight line after he was done yelling. Then, to Janice's surprise, he pulled out his wallet and dug out a few ten-dollar bills.

Back then, before we'd gotten divorced, I had collected and treasured every ten-dollar bill we came across because I wanted to save them all for a rainy day. I had even carefully wrapped them all in an embroidered handkerchief and kept them safe with me.

"Take this!" Eugene stuffed the ten-dollar bills into my hands. "Take the money and buy some fabric to make yourself some decent clothes!

"If you don't want to work as Janice's nanny, then I'll just talk to the factory general manager and ask them if they have any easy clerical work for you to do."

Then, he straightened up and said smugly, "I'm a manager at the factory now. This bit of cash means nothing to me."

I looked at Eugene's self-righteous expression and felt utterly disgusted. So, I got up, stuffed the bills back into his hand, and grabbed my locket back from Janice while the other villagers watched.

"There's no need for that, Mr. Doyle," I said coldly. "I refuse to accept anything from outsiders."

Eugene's face turned purple with anger. I turned to leave, but he instantly grabbed me by my arm.

"What's that supposed to mean, Maria Johnston? You say I'm an outsider just because five years have passed?"

I yanked my arm away from him and calmly said, "Since we're already divorced, it's best we stay out of each other's lives. I would hate for rumors to spread."