My mother said I was a born beauty and was able to charm any man. She told me not to touch a man before my twentieth birthday.

In the previous timeline, I listened to her, so when a wealthy heir was dosed with an aphrodisiac, I pushed him away when he tried to take me into his embrace.

But the effects of the skincare routine I did transferred to my mother after my twentieth birthday. I used face masks, but my face became wrinkled and spotted. Meanwhile, my mother glowed with smooth and youthful skin.

I danced, but I only became fatter while my mother became slim.

Seeing how I looked like a fifty-year-old woman, my father called me a useless piece of trash and wanted to marry me off to a bald man as his second wife.

I cried and begged my mother for help.

But she said this was for my own good, her twenty-something face a mask of hypocrisy.

I was forced to run away from home, but doing so only sped up my aging.

Three days later, I died on the streets right by a trash heap.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back in time to the night I met that rich heir.

This time, I did not push him away but straddled him in bed.

It seemed that my mother was absolutely right.

Gordon Frost, a wealthy heir, had fallen for my charms. He ravished me again and again.

In the midst of our passion, he gifted me his unique cufflinks.

“Darling, you’re one of a kind. Bring these when you come and find me, and I will give you the best of everything in the world.”

I was not too excited about all that. At that moment, all I cared about was one thing.

Had the curse of my previous timeline been broken because I had managed to lose my virginity just before my twentieth birthday?

I rushed home and put on my skincare products.

The thing that was nearly making me break down was how the age spots around my mother’s eyes once again appeared on my face.

I thought back to the previous timeline, before I had come back in time. The more I used this skincare product, the darker my skin got. It got more blemished, and my face became more lined with wrinkles. Just recalling it sent a wave of hopelessness through me.

Even though I had gotten another chance, things had not changed despite the fact that I had gone against my mother.

When she saw me come home, my mother, Harriet Pendleton leaned against the door frame and asked coldly, “Where’d you go off to last night?”

Looking at her face, which had become just the slightest bit fairer, I clenched my teeth and put my skincare product on her face.

I wanted to see if the spots on my face would disappear.

I refused to believe that nothing had changed.

What disappointed me was that her face only became fairer, and the spots on mine became more distinct.

Harriet shrieked and shoved me away. “What did you put on my face, you wretch? I don’t just use any skincare product!”

She rushed to the mirror. In the reflection, I saw her pleased, smiling face.

I had left quickly and had not told Gordon that I was leaving. Thus, he had posted on his social media account, which had more than ten million followers.

[Looking for someone. You left this at my place last night. Contact me when you see this.]

The attached photo showed a woven bracelet and my work badge with my name. There was also a photo of me working at the bar, blurry and only catching the side of my face.

My father rushed over excitedly with his phone. “Emery, is this you? I know I’ve seen you wearing that bracelet.”

Sounding more excited than if he had won the lottery, he asked, “Did you sleep with him?”

“What?”

Harriet’s expression changed drastically. She grabbed me by the hair and shoved my face into the floor. That was not enough to defuse her anger, so she slapped me a couple of times.

“Didn’t I tell you to not touch a man before your twentieth birthday? You loose woman. Couldn’t you have waited just another night? How could you be so cheap? I’ll kill you!”

My dad, Warren Chase, did not side with Harriet for the first time in his life. Thus, he quickly pulled Harriet away. “Don’t hit her face. Don’t you know who Gordon Frost is? Maybe we can get a good deal out of marrying this useless wretch off.”

Seeing how scheming they both were, I could not help but remember what had happened in the previous timeline.

Harriet had always told me not to touch a man before my twentieth birthday, and I had listened to her.

But the moment my birthday came and went, I realized that something was horribly wrong.

Whenever I used my skincare products, spots and blemishes would show up on my face.

My smooth and fair skin became rough with wrinkles and lines.

Meanwhile, Harriet’s became brighter and flawless. Her face practically glowed.

I liked learning dance moves from videos of girl groups.

But the more I danced, the fatter I became. In the end, I ballooned up so much that every movement made me go out of breath.

Meanwhile, my mother became more slender. Her movements became more energetic and youthful. She seemed to have transformed.

Warren had always said that my best feature was my face.

Seeing that I had become ugly and fat, he kept calling me useless. He wanted to marry me off to some old bald guy as his second wife.

I had cried and begged for Harriet to save me, but she never even looked at me. She only happily looked into the mirror and said, “Well, they promised to give us a wedding gift of fifty thousand dollars. It’s an honor that you’re marrying into that family. Your dad’s only doing this for your own good.”

In despair, I had bought a bus ticket and ran away from home that very night. But the further I got, the quicker I aged.

By the time I reached the next city, my hair had turned white, and my body had shrunken in on itself. Every step I took made my joints scream in agony.

I could not find a job, and I had no one to rely on. In the end, my heart gave out, and I died by a heap of trash.

Since I had gone back in time, I was determined to use this opportunity. I would not let this life end like it had in the previous timeline.

Gordon’s post sparked a wave of lively discussion online.

[A wealthy heir is looking for a woman online with a bracelet? This is just like a fairytale!]

[Emery Chase? What a pedestrian name! Hurry and save her from poverty!]

[Please! Please find her soon! With her name, it shouldn’t be hard to find her at all.]

The trending headline online was:

[Looking for Cinderella.]

Soon, someone found a photo of me from my school days.

[Wow, she’s gorgeous! It’s no wonder our golden boy can’t forget her!]

[I know her! She’s from my high school. Her house is just by Birch Road.]

[We found her! Someone tag Gordon quick!]

My old photo was so full of youth. Then, I glanced at my rapidly aging face in the mirror and felt a wave of terror.

In the end, I ran over to Harriet and asked tentatively, “Mom, why do you look younger while I look older? What skincare routine do you follow? Can’t you teach me?”

Looking pleased, Harriet continued to apply her skincare products. When she heard my words, she shot me an impatient glance.

“Didn’t I tell you not to touch a man? You’ll turn older faster if you do. It’s your own fault for not listening to me! See how it turned out? You deserve what you got!”

She was lying to me. That was not the case at all.

In the previous timeline, I had obeyed her, but I had grown older all the same.

I watched as the skin where she applied the skincare product got fairer and smoother.

I looked at my reflection again. The spots were getting bigger.

I could not handle it anymore and broke the mirror.

Harriet shrieked and yelled, “You little wretch, are you throwing a tantrum?”

I ignored her and went back to my room. I dumped all of my skincare products that were on my table into the trash.

Since any skincare routine I followed would benefit only her, there was no point in putting any of that stuff on my face.

Not only was I going to ignore my skincare routine, but I would also consciously focus on getting uglier and fatter.

That should show her that she could not use me.

I intentionally used makeup of poor quality on my face, and my skin immediately reacted badly. It reddened and swelled up.

I stopped learning dance moves and ate and drank freely. My figure became bloated and fat.

During this time, I observed my mother. Soon, I realized that nothing I did caused any change in her. She was still getting younger and prettier.

Harriet had transformed so much that people might actually believe her if she said she was eighteen years old.

When my dad came home and saw me, he cursed and said, “You useless wretch, how did you end up looking like that?”

Cursing at me did not appease his anger, so he hit me.

“You’re nothing but bad luck! Gordon Frost is going to visit and find you like this! You’d better start dieting right now. Do you honestly think he’d still want you looking like that? And if he dumps you, you’ll ruin your brother’s shot at a wealthy future. If you dare mess that up, I swear I’ll kill you!”

Harriet seemed unaffected, even when she saw that he hit me. She casually put on a face mask and said coolly, “Did you catch something from sleeping around? Is that why you look like this now? You’d better go for a checkup at the hospital.”

I gritted my teeth and endured every hit Warren threw at me.

I limped back to my room and found the cufflinks. I took a picture of them, posted it online, and tagged Gordon.

I locked myself in my room. I was too afraid to come out. Terrified, I realized that I was experiencing symptoms of early menopause.

I had no choice but to rush to the nearest hospital. The doctor said that my ovaries were failing.

She sounded apologetic as she said, “Your symptoms are unusual. You’re very young for this. We’ll need to run more tests to understand the cause.”

I knew that this issue would not be solved by medical science.

Someone had snapped a photo of Harriet and me picking up takeout and posted it online.

[Do you all remember Emery Chase, the woman Gordon’s been looking for? This is what she looks like now.]

[Goodness, who’s that hag? Was there a mistake? Emery’s the other woman, right?]

The photo went viral. Something inside me broke when I saw the two women side by side in the photo.

I looked at the white hairs that had started to appear at my temples and the liver spots on the backs of my hands.

I could not deal with it anymore. In a frenzy, I barged into Harriet’s room and ripped the mask off her face.

“What did you do? How are you getting younger while I’m aging overnight? How are you reaping every benefit of my skincare routine?” I asked.

Harriet’s expression twisted with rage before she slapped me. “What are you going on about, you wretch?”

The noise brought Warren running into the room.

He did not say anything when he saw me but slapped me hard.

“Didn’t I tell you to go on a diet? Look at you! You looked pathetic! If Gordon doesn’t like you, I swear you’ll marry that bald guy back in our hometown! You’re such a waste of space!”

I covered my face and glared at him. “You think I haven’t tried? Why don’t you look at her? Tell me this isn’t strange to you! After I turned twenty, whatever skincare I did only benefited her!

“You hit me so openly. Why don’t you ask her what she’s done?”

Warren shot Harriet a look.

In the past, he always cursed at her and called her a hag. He always said that he could not take her anywhere with him because he could not stand looking at her.

But that had changed. Harriet’s skin was fair and smooth. Her figure looked like it belonged to a young woman.

Warren looked shocked.

Harriet cried and said, “Have you seen a doctor? You must have some kind of disease. That’s why you look like this now! How could you come in here and blame me for this?”

Warren nodded. His eyes were glued to Harriet, like he could not bear to look away. He suddenly moved and pulled Harriet into his arms.

He no longer treated her like a hateful hag. He looked at her like she was a goddess.

He turned and kicked me in disgust. “Shame on you! How could you blame your mother for this? You’re just jealous that she’s prettier than you!

“Look at yourself! You don’t look like you’re twenty. You look way worse than your mom.”

I could only scoff as I looked at them. “You keep hitting me and yelling at me. Aren’t you worried I’ll cut you both off once I marry into a wealthy family?”

Warren seemed to be stunned by the fact that I would say such a thing. His expression changed as he looked at me in disbelief.

Harriet covered her face and sobbed loudly. “What a horrible daughter! After everything we’ve done for you, you dare to turn your back on us! Warren, I don’t think we should let her stay here anymore. Get her out of this house so we don’t have to see her again!”