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!”

When I heard what she said, I felt afraid for some reason.

In the previous timeline, after I ran away from home, the unnatural aging had accelerated, and I had died out there.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I could not make sense of what was going on.

If it were a trade or an exchange, it did not add up. Harriet was in her forties, so why did I look more than fifty years old?

I hurried back to my room and locked the door. It was not the time to run away from home yet.

But what shocked me even more was seeing Gordon post online that he had found the one meant for him and would soon host the wedding of the century.

Netizens were all buzzing in excitement as they marveled at how quickly he had secured his love.

But I had never even seen Gordon after that one night.

Outside, I could hear Harriet talking sweetly with Warren.

“I’m only going out with him for a bit to string him along. Do you really think Emery can hold his attention looking like that now? I’ll keep him in place for a while. Once Emery’s back to normal, we’ll just swap back.”

On the day of the wedding, I saw Harriet get into the stretch Bentley limousine and leave with all the fanfare.

The entire wedding was being livestreamed. Before it even started, hundreds of thousands of viewers were already waiting to watch it online.

When Warren got home, I showed the stream on my phone.

“Dad, Gordon is getting married today, but the bride isn’t me. Who’s he marrying?”

Warren’s expression shifted dramatically. He searched the whole house but could not find Harriet. He tried calling her, but his call did not go through.

He dragged me to the wedding venue.

The place was extravagantly decorated.

By the time we arrived, the couple was exchanging rings.

Seeing the dazzling figure of Harriet on the stage, Warren shouted, “Hold on a moment! You’ve made a mistake!”

Warren shoved me in front of the camera. “Mr. Frost, the person you want to marry is my daughter. She’s right here! The woman on the stage is my wife!”

The camera swept over my face, and the netizens made snide remarks about my looks.

[Who’s this fat and old hag?]

[Goodness, how can someone just drag a random person to impersonate Emery? They must be super desperate to marry into a rich family!]

Seeing how Gorgon was looking at me with disgust on his face, I took out the cufflinks.

“You gave me these that night! You said I could use them when I came to find you.”

When people online saw the cufflinks, comments started flooding in.

[She does kind of look like Emery Chase. She could be her mother.]

[What kind of mother would try to steal her daughter’s limelight? Did she really think she could take Emery’s things and fool Gordon? Maybe she should take a good look at herself first!]

[She’s a fat and ugly hag. She must be Emery’s stepmother! Bugger off! I want to watch the couple of the year get married.]

Harriet hid behind Gordon and looked at me in smug delight.

The guests below the stage all reacted negatively.

“There’s no way Gordon has such strange tastes. The woman on the stage is much better. If his choice is really this old hag, I want a refund.”

Gordon’s face darkened when he heard that. He glared at Warren coldly.

“I’ve verified it repeatedly. This is the person I was looking for all along.”

Warren was enraged. He grabbed a knife from a nearby table and rushed to stab Gordon.

“How dare you sleep with my wife? I’ll kill you!”

The bodyguards quickly rushed to stop Warren, and the scene onstage devolved into chaos.

I had been away from home too long. I felt suffocated. My heart thumped painfully in my chest.

This was an early sign of heart failure.

I did not want to die right in front of Harriet. My gaze slid over the diamond bracelet on her wrist.

Then, it hit me! I instantly understood what was going on.

The comment section in the livestream had changed.

[Wow, look! What happened to Emery’s face?]

When she saw herself on the big screen, Harriet suddenly let out a scream and rushed to shut down the livestream.

I collapsed on the floor and finally let out a relieved breath.

I could see very clearly that Harriet’s face had regained some of its age spots.

At the same time, Warren turned to me in rage.

“You useless wretch, what did you do to your mother?”