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."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling when I remembered how Rupert would always pretend not to care every time he got jealous when he actually minded it a lot.

Eugene stared at the smile on my lips for a while. Then, he sighed and said, "I've always been waiting for you. I only had a baby with Janice because she wanted a child to keep her company. That way, she wouldn't have to be lonely and interfere in our lives. I'll remarry you after she gives birth, okay?"

He said it so matter-of-factly as if he knew for sure that I would never reject his offer.

I found it extremely amusing to watch.

Five years ago, he had received word from the government that he'd been selected as one of the few students who were given a full scholarship to study in the city.

Even though I was eight months pregnant, I had looked forward so much to our brighter future together in the city.

But to my shock and horror, Eugene led me to the courthouse, divorced me, and grabbed Janice's hand instead.

I felt the last of my hope die away as I watched Eugene and Janice get on the train that would bring them out of the village and into their new city life.

That night, I decided to accept the offer from the National Archeology Certification and went abroad to further my studies.

A month later, I bumped into Rupert, my first love, who had been leading his own inspection team in the same country at that time.

Later on, we confirmed our relationship and got married. I gave birth to our son, Cody Kingston, just a year later.

If it hadn't been for the National Archeology team asking me to come to this village for a survey, I would never have set foot on this soil again, much less bump into Eugene.

Janice gritted her teeth when she heard what Eugene said.

However, someone then announced, "Mr. Kingston's just wrapped up his work and is on the way to the village now! He'll be observing alongside Mrs. Kingston during the survey!"

Janice grinned at once.

"That's enough of your nonsense, Maria Johnston. Since we never got to meet Mrs. Kingston, that can only mean that she's also coming along with Mr. Kingston. You're going to find yourself thrown in jail if you keep impersonating her like this. Behave yourself!"

The rest of the villagers buzzed with excitement.

"Mr. Kingston's car is coming! He's such a mysterious person. I wonder if we'll get to meet him!"

After all, Rupert had been the one donating all the funds used to build new schools, housing projects, and agricultural infrastructure in the village.

The newspapers had also described him as a 30-something-year-old billionaire with a main factory in Somerville, and had a very adorable four-year-old son who could recite classical works at the age of three.

"Say, with how smart Mr. Kingston is, I really wonder what Mrs. Kingston looks like!" some of the other female villagers exclaimed among themselves. "Since she's an archeologist, that must mean she's very tanned because she worked under the sun for hours."

"No matter what she looks like, we must all properly thank Mr. and Mrs. Kingston for helping improve all the village infrastructure over the past few years!"

An older villager nodded and reminded everyone, saying, "Perk up, everybody! They were also the ones who installed electricity poles in the village. Make sure to thank them well!"

They started getting restless when the black luxury car finally slowed down before them.

A villager tugged me aside and said, "Maria, it's still not too late to beg Mr. Doyle and get back on his good side! You might even get mentioned when Mr. Kingston acknowledges the factory managers later on!"

Meanwhile, Eugene stood proudly amidst the crowd of villagers with a wide smile on his face, clearly waiting for Rupert to acknowledge him and praise him for a job well done.

I narrowed my eyes at him and said nothing. Instead, I just looked at the car.

The luxury car rolled to a stop. The villagers immediately rushed forward, thrusting bouquets of flowers and gifts at the doors in hopes of gaining Rupert's attention.

Janice even shoved the rest of the people aside and stood at the front, opening the door for Cody herself.

"Be careful, little one!" she cooed. "Here, come with me, and I'll bring you to the best food spots in the village!"

Cody was wearing suspenders as he jumped out of the car, but he wouldn't let Janice touch him. Then, he ran straight toward me.

The villagers watched in confusion.

"Mommy!" Cody exclaimed giddily as he stuffed a greasy sandwich wrapper into my hands. "Daddy bought me sandwiches! And I left two for you, Mommy!"