I looked straight at Sybil and questioned her again, "You only started working at the department store a week ago. However, I was locked up by my own husband a week ago in the security department after he falsely accused me."

"How could you possibly know whether I was slacking off at work? Not to mention, I’ve been repeatedly recognized as an outstanding employee. Why would I slack off?" I asked.

Sybil's eyes flickered as she stole glances at Blake several times.

I sneered. "Did Blake tell you that?"

Blake immediately pulled Sybil behind him. "I'm the one who told her. Stop giving her a hard time!"

My eyes wandered to the pair of adulterers in front of me and I pinched my thigh hard. Then I turned to the crowd with teary eyes and asked them, "Do you see this? They keep insisting they have nothing between them, that they’re completely innocent. Yet here my husband is, shielding her while confiding in her about my personal affairs. Ladies, would your husbands do this?"

The faces of a few married women in the crowd turned into uneasy expressions.

Sybil quickly feigned anger and with anger in her voice, she asked, "Blake, how could you? Jane is your wife. You should be protecting her! My late husband’s dying wish for you to take care of me means nothing."

Then she made her stance clear, "I understand that Jean has a lazy and jealous nature and that you don’t like her attitude. So, I understand that sometimes as a human, you need to vent to me. However, she’s your wife for life. From now on, we shouldn’t see each other anymore."

Tears streamed down her face, yet she looked heartbreakingly noble like a woman resisting temptation.

I scoffed internally. What a performance. No wonder she could string so many men along.

Sybil counted to the scenario that I would react like I did before, that I would fly into a jealous rage and attack her. That way, she could naturally paint me as an unstable, hysterical wife.

However, this time, I kept my expression calm and spoke evenly, "Whether you two see each other or not in the future, it was not my concern, but you need to return my money. It's one hundred and twenty dollars in cash and my food stamps."

Sybil stiffened. "What do you mean one hundred and twenty dollars? What food stamps do you mean? I don’t know what you’re talking about."

I pulled out a thick stack of receipts and an IOU note from my pocket then spoke again, "After we got married, Blake and I saved three hundred dollars together. One hundred and twenty dollars of that was mine, along with my monthly food stamps and they all had gone. With all the proof, how dare you say you did not take them?"

Every single receipt and IOU bore Sybil's signature. The IOU was written by Sybil herself. She was pretending she couldn’t possibly accept Blake’s money for free.

"None of the things he bought ever made it into my hands. They’re all in your house!" she refuted.

I grabbed her wrist and raised it up. "This woman's wristwatch is an exact match to the one Blake bought. Should we compare it to the receipts and check the serial number?"

The crowd gasped in shock.

"Didn’t Sybil claim this watch was her late husband’s wedding gift? How could it become a gift from Blake"

"Yeah, but Jean had the receipt? What can she say in front of the evidence?"

"It's one thing to give her some food stamps to help out but to give her an expensive watch like that? Something feels off!"

"Wasn't Jean said that one hundred and twenty dollars that she had was lent to another without her knowing? That’s stealing!

Sybil lowered her head because she did not dare to refute anything.

Blake scowled and leaned in to whisper in distressed in my ear, "Are you still not over this? You still did not calm down and make a scene here even though you had spent a week in custody, huh? If you keep this up, aren’t you afraid you’ll drive Sybil to her death?"

I met his gaze, my eyes like ice.

In my past life, I had always believed that Blake had simply been deceived by Sybil. I foolishly held onto the hope that he would eventually return to our marriage. However, after being transmigrated back to life, I realized the truth that Blake had always known everything.

He enjoyed Sybil’s delicate affection, her cunning ways and her beauty. He willingly indulged in her charms, all while keeping me as the wife he was forced to marry under his parents’ pressure.

Yet back then, after my parents died in the line of duty, I had the option to live with my father’s comrades in the military compound, but it was Blake's own parents who had sworn to treat me as their own daughter. They even promised that Blake would be my husband in the future.

Blake had been standing right there. If he had objected, I would have left without hesitation. However, not only did he not refuse, he smiled at me. 

From that moment on, I believed we were in love and that our marriage was built on mutual affection. I assumed he was just naturally reserved, which was why he always remained distant.

When I thought about it now, I couldn’t help but sneer.

His parents only cared about the prestige of raising a fallen soldier’s orphan and the generous pension that came with it. They had never truly cared for me.

As for Blake, he had never seen me as his wife. He saw me only as a burden he had no choice but to bear. Yet he wasn’t willing to let go of the benefits I brought him either, so he married me under the guise of duty.

I let out a cold laugh and looked Blake straight in the eye. "Let’s get a divorce."

His face darkened instantly. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

The evidence I had just presented about the relationship between Blake and Sybil, combined with my declaration of divorce, made it clear to the bystanders what was really happening. 

"Jean loved Blake so much," they whispered. "For her asking for a divorce meant that he and Sybil must have crossed the line, right?"

"No woman would destroy her own marriage for no reason, especially when it's so good. Blake must’ve done something that is so unforgivable for Jean to ask that!" said them to one another.

Blake's breath quickened as the rage set in.

"How long are you going to keep making a scene?" he snapped. "As the manager of the department store, I gave you a chance to intern there out of kindness, but you were lazy and even stole from the company!"

"Sybil got her job fair and square. She didn’t steal anything from you and you couldn’t stand seeing her succeed, so you started spreading rumors and now this? Another ridiculous scene?" he asked.

Blake pulled out a small box from his pocket. "You accused me of giving Sybil a watch. Then tell me, where did this one come from?"

I looked at it carefully and froze. It was an identical watch to the one on Sybil’s wrist.

Sybil's immediately burst into tears. "This watch was a gift from my late husband! Blake only bought another identical one because you’re always asking him for gifts. He thought it would make you happy!"

Then with a sobbing voice, she added, "I never expected you to turn this against me and use it as proof to slander me and Blake! Don’t you understand how important a woman’s reputation is? You’re a woman yourself, so why are you trying to ruin me?"

With just a few words, they had twisted the entire situation in their favor.

Blake glared at me with pure disgust and said, "I always knew you were petty and cruel, but I never thought you were this vicious! Do you want to push Sybil to her death?!"

I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. In my past life, I had personally witnessed Blake putting that watch on Sybil's wrist. I didn’t know why he had two of the same watch, but I knew one thing for sure it was never meant for me.

I refused to let them manipulate the narrative any further. My voice was calm but firm. "Fine, let’s talk about something you can’t twist. This IOU. How about this?"

I held up a piece of paper with Sybil's own bold writing that she was in debt for one hundred and twenty dollars.

"The average person makes barely a dollar and eighty cents a month. Who in their right mind would lend out three hundred dollars without a second thought?"

"Besides, one hundred and twenty dollars is from my personal wages. I want it back. Now."

Sybil's face turned red as she asked, "How am I supposed to come up with that much money all at once?"

I sneered. "You can't come up with that much money, but you sure had no problem spending it."

Blake grabbed my wrist and tried to drag me outside, his face cold. "I was the one who lent Sybil the money. Her son needed surgery. Stop making a scene."

I clamped my teeth hard on Blake's wrist. His face wrinkled in pain and flung me off.

"This is unbelievable!" I cried out. "My own husband cheats on me and gives my hard-earned money as much as one hundred and twenty dollars to his mistress! Are you trying to force me to my death?"

Sybil stared at me in shock, completely unprepared for me to start shouting shamelessly in front of everyone. Her face turned even redder. "Jean, stop talking nonsense!"

There was no reasoning with people like her. The only way to deal with this was to tear off the mask and expose everything.

I crumbled, sat on the floor and wailed, "Give me my money back! Give me my money back!"

Blake gritted his teeth, his voice was hoarse with frustration. "Do you even realize how ridiculous you look right now? Wailing and sitting like that? Get up!"

"I'll give you your one hundred and twenty dollars when we get home," he added.

Sybil shot me a smug glance before turning to Blake with a look of concern. "Blake, where are you going to find one hundred and twenty dollars? Maybe I should just go to the hospital and get a refund. If Lea dies, then it’s my fault for being useless. It has nothing to do with you."

Blake looked at her with distress. They seemed to be some tragic lovers caught in an impossible situation.

However, I knew better. If I followed him home, I would not just lose my money, instead, I might end up locked away again.

So I fixed my cold gaze on Blake. "Give me the money now."

Blake stared at me in disbelief. "How am I supposed to get one hundred and twenty dollars right now?"

I let out a cold laugh. "I’ll count to three. If you don’t give me the money, we’ll see what happens."

"One!"

Blake scowled, "What kind of nonsense are you sprouting?"

I counted, "Two!"

Blake lunged toward me and tried to grab me, but I dodged.

"Three!"

Blake sighed impatiently. "Fine. I promise I'll get you the money. Just stop this."

However, I suddenly bolted through the crowd and ran straight into the department store.

Blake and Sybil panicked. They thought I was heading to the manager to report them. They rushed in after me and the onlookers, eager to see how things unfolded, followed suit.

This did not stop me and I ran straight for the upper floors.

Realization finally dawned on Blake. He reached out to grab me, but I was too fast.

I ran all the way to the rooftop, climbed over the railing and stood on the edge. As I stood there, my body swayed dangerously in the wind.

"Stay back!" I screamed.

The crowd below gasped in fright and they tried to coax me.

"Whatever happened, just come down first!"

"Don't do anything rash! If you fall, it's all over!"

"They've pushed her to the point that she wants to jump off the building. Blake and Sybil must be having an affair!"

"Why else would he be willing to give her so much money?"

Sybil turned pale as a sheet. No matter what happened next, whether I jumped or not, my actions had cemented her reputation as a homewrecker.

Blake realized this too and his voice was anxious as he shouted, "I'll go to finance and get an advance on my salary! Just come down!"

He tried to step forward, but I let go of the railing with one hand and screamed, "Don’t come any closer!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that an air cushion had been set up below. I edged even further out. It created an illustration of how I might fall at any moment.

Sybil’s legs went weak. She turned as if ready to run away.

As long as she wasn’t at the scene today, she could lie and claim she had nothing to do with it later.

However, there was no way I would let her get away just like that, so I yelled, "Sybil, Give me back my hard-earned money!"

Seeing that Sybil was trying to slip away, someone immediately yanked her by the arm.

“Jane is about to jump off a building and you still won’t return her money?” he said.

Tears welled up in Sybil's eyes, she was exasperated because she had already spent all the money a long time ago. She had nothing left to give.