So in the beginning, I wasn't actually angry.

I told myself the same thing, over and over.

As long as I treated Gwendolen with sincerity, heart for heart, surely she'd be won over and call me Mom in the end.

But I was wrong about that too.

In my last life, after the wedding banquet.

I wanted to win them over, so I upgraded their honeymoon trip.

But Gwendolen wasn't pleased in the slightest. She rolled her eyes at me instead.

"If you could upgrade it, why wait until now? You just want me grateful to you, don't you? What a scheming little witch!"

With Karl backing her up, I started thinking Gwendolen had a point.

So the next time I gave her a gift, I went straight for the best from the start.

But while Gwendolen loved the gift, her face stayed just as sour toward me.

"Your money is my money. You spend my money to buy me a present, and I'm supposed to thank you for it?"

…

Time after time I tried to please her, and time after time she met me with cold contempt. So I cooled off. But the moment I cooled off, the moment Gwendolen stopped getting anything out of me, she panicked.

She wouldn't let me visit her family. She wouldn't let Karl come see me.

And when I asked why.

She said.

"I made it perfectly clear at the wedding. From now on we're strangers. You didn't object back then, so what are you making a scene about now?"

So in the end.

I lost my daughter-in-law, and I lost my son too.

All I could do was watch the son I'd raised wear himself to the bone serving his in-laws…

The memory came back to me.

I looked at Karl.

"Heart for heart. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But you tell me. Does Gwendolen have any sincere feeling for me?"

"Or does it only count as sincerity if I, the elder, grovel at her feet? Then what would you call the way she's acting?"

"As I recall, the first time you went to meet your in-laws, you knelt and kowtowed and called them Mom and Dad. Did your in-laws trade you their sincerity for yours back then?"

The words landed.

A scatter of mocking murmurs rose from the floor. No one could make out exactly what was being said, but a few key words came through clearly enough.

【No manners… ungrateful snake… vicious daughter-in-law… cruel…】

Quinton Dale and Tamara Dale, who'd been sitting above it all as if none of this concerned them, couldn't stay put any longer.

The two of them came to either side of me with placating smiles, urging me not to be upset.

"Our Gwendolen isn't a bad sort, she just speaks a little too bluntly."

"It's not that she'll never come around to calling you Mom. The thing is, she's slow to warm up. You have to give her some time."

"After all, everyone knows our Gwendolen is exceptional, a rare gem of a daughter. Once she accepts you, she's sure to treat you well too."

The corner of my mouth lifted slightly.

"I don't like forcing anyone. If she doesn't want to accept me, I won't hold it against her."

"Everyone here knows it. There's no one more good-natured than me."

There was nothing wrong with what I'd said. Any other mother-in-law in this situation might have caused a huge scene. I was simply taking the easy way out and leaving. That was about as generous as it got.

So the crowd's mocking grew louder, quickly turning into open chatter, then curses, all of them blaming Gwendolen for going too far.

I hadn't planned to linger, so once I'd said my piece I made to leave.

Gwendolen had meant to put me in my place, but she never expected me to actually walk out. If I left, what would that make her?

So her lips puckered and the tears came spilling down at once.

"Fine, fine, fine, I'm the wicked daughter-in-law, I won't get married, I'll go. That works for everyone, right?"

Gwendolen made a great show of getting ready to leave.

Karl went into a panic on the spot. He pulled Gwendolen into his arms, and the look he shot me was nearly spitting fire.

"This is my wedding. Can't you rein in that rotten temper of yours for once?"

"You apologize to Gwendolen right now and sit down for the reception like a decent person. If you actually dare walk out of this hall, then I no longer have a mother!"

I stopped, but I didn't turn around. I simply said one cold word, "Fine," and walked straight out.

After I left, the wedding went on as planned. The only difference was that the people who'd come to give their blessings had turned into people watching a spectacle. Before the reception even ended, what had happened was already common knowledge.

Everyone knew.

They all knew that Gwendolen had refused to call her mother-in-law "Mom" at the wedding, that she'd sneered and demanded her mother-in-law treat her like a stranger, and that she'd ended up making her mother-in-law so angry she walked out on the spot.

Gwendolen felt too humiliated to show her face. She didn't even go on the honeymoon they'd booked, hiding at home and crying for days.

Which had Karl beside himself, fretting over her.

He had no choice. He had to forget every word he'd said at the reception and slap his own face, texting me.

"Gwendolen and I only get married once in our lives. You ruined the wedding. Are you going to ruin our marriage too?"

"Hurry up and buy Gwendolen some gifts and apologize properly, or I really will disown you."

After Karl sent those two messages,

he followed up with a long list, including designer handbags, shoes, some gold jewelry, and skincare and cosmetics.

I didn't reply.

But I did buy everything on the list. Just not for Gwendolen. For myself. And I didn't just use it all, I made a point of posting about it on social media.

【Spending money on myself just feels so good!】

The second that post went up, Karl and Gwendolen completely lost it. This time they didn't text me. Instead they copied me and put up their own post taking veiled shots at me.

Saying I'd lost my mind.

Too bad their post landed without a ripple, and it didn't scare me one bit.

When that didn't work on me, they started a group chat, and in front of a whole crowd of relatives and friends, dropped a statement severing family ties right there in the group.

The relatives and friends all knew what had happened.

But in the spirit of family harmony making everything prosper, of urging people to make up rather than break apart, they still told Karl and Gwendolen not to be rash, and told me to give my child another chance.

I just took a screenshot and saved the statement Karl and Gwendolen had posted severing ties.

Then, copying the way Gwendolen used to reply to my messages, I sent back a "1" and left the group chat right away.

Less than a minute after I left the group, Karl's call came through.

"What's that supposed to mean, what you posted in the group?"

I gave a little laugh.

"Whenever I used to text Gwendolen, she'd always reply with a '1.' I asked you about it once, and you said it meant she'd already seen it. So why are you asking me now?"

Karl was nearly apoplectic.

"How is it you pick up the bad habits and never the good ones? This is a serious matter. How could you just reply with a '1'? That's so disrespectful."

"Gwendolen's crying her eyes out."

I, on the other hand, found it deeply satisfying.

"So it turns out you all know perfectly well that replying with a '1' is brushing someone off, that it's disrespectful, that it's something worth getting angry about."

"And here I thought you didn't know. Here I thought I was overthinking it. Here I thought it was a perfectly proper reply."

"But either way, as long as you understand what it means, that's enough."

Karl went mute.

Only then did it occur to him that throughout his years of dating Gwendolen, she'd been brushing me off this exact same way the whole time. At most I'd simply learned by example, paid them back in their own coin.

Seeing that Karl had gone quiet, I grew impatient and moved to hang up.

That got him panicking.

Through the phone came the sound of a door opening and closing. I figured he'd slipped out to the balcony.

For a long moment he said nothing. Then he spoke.

"Mom, none of those messages I posted in the group chat were real. How could I ever bear to cut ties with you? I just saw you ignoring me, and I wanted to get your attention, that's all!"

"I called to apologize, actually."

"These past few days, I've really regretted it—"

I knew perfectly well these words came from somewhere other than his heart, so I cut him off.

"Enough. Spare me the useless talk, I don't want to hear it, and I don't believe a single word of it. Just say it. What did you call for?"

Karl had no choice. He stammered it out.

"The hotel's pushing for the remaining wedding balance today. When are you going to pay it?"

I let out a cold laugh. So it was about money.

"A wedding banquet I never even attended, a stranger's wedding banquet. Why on earth should I be the one paying for it?"

Karl didn't know what to say.

Then, from the other end of the line, came the sound of a door opening again. A moment later, Gwendolen's voice carried through the phone.

"Layla Black, are you done making a scene?"

"Take a good look at what you've done. How could I ever call you 'Mom' and mean it?"

"At the wedding, I was only testing you, seeing what kind of character and morals you had. And lo and behold, one little test was all it took to show your true colors!"

I only let out a flat, sarcastic "Oh."

"Well, aren't you something. Then stop contacting me, this demon, this monster, so I don't drag you down!"

Gwendolen got even angrier.

She drew several deep breaths.

"Layla Black, I'm giving you one last chance!"

"If you really keep this up, I really will cut ties with you. From now on you'll be all alone in this world, and even when you drop dead, I won't let Karl go collect your body!"

"Is that really what you want to happen?"

I said nothing.

Gwendolen called out "hello?" several times, and when I didn't answer, she assumed I'd already hung up. Flustered and furious, she said,

"The little bitch actually dared to hang up on me."

"I've already got it figured out. She's only got you for a son. If she's willing to apologize to me properly, I'm still willing to treat her like your mother and show her respect."

"But if she won't, then I'll go post about her online and expose her. I'll ruin her name until everyone's screaming for her head, and I'll drive her straight into her grave. Once she's dead, her money's ours anyway!"

Karl didn't answer.

But after the sound of several slaps, Karl finally spoke up, meek and groveling.

"My wife's right."

The two of them started scheming it out in detail, planning to start by spreading sexual slander about me, step by step, until everyone was cursing my name.

Hearing this much.

I hung up the phone in silence, and half an hour later I sent Karl a message.

"I'll come over tomorrow!"

"Let's have a proper talk."

The next day, at the agreed-upon time, I arrived at Karl and Gwendolen's home. Just as I'd guessed, the two of them had called in Quinton and Tamara, along with a few relatives, to give themselves a bit more backbone.

The moment they saw me.

Karl, eyes brimming with tears, called out, "Mom."

"I was wrong."

"And it's not just me who was wrong. Gwendolen knows she was wrong too."

The whole crowd of relatives, along with Quinton and Tamara, started smoothing things over, going on and on about how the most important thing was that the kids could recognize their mistakes and change, urging me to give them a chance. They tugged Gwendolen forward, pressing her to apologize.

Gwendolen looked reluctant, but she furrowed her brow and put on a pitiful, wronged expression as she spoke.

"The truth is, it's not that I'm unwilling to call you 'Mom.'"

"It's mainly that I have no sense of belonging in this family. I always feel like I'm living under someone else's roof, like I have no say in anything."

"So, here's what I've decided. I can call you Mom. But I want you to make sure I never feel that way again, starting with... starting with you signing this house over to me!"

"The day you pay off this house and transfer it into my name is the day I call you Mom!"

I waved a hand, smiling sweetly.

"No need."

Karl and Gwendolen exchanged a glance, as if they hadn't expected me to be so agreeable.

But then it seemed to make sense to them. In their eyes, I could never survive without them, which was exactly why I'd jumped at the chance to meet the moment they reminded me there'd be no one to bury me when I got old.

So the two of them got a little smug, immediately bustling about to arrange the transfer, and bustling about to get me to pay the remaining balance at the hotel.

But I didn't move.

"No rush."

"I'm not refusing to call you Mom because I'm stupid, or because I've forgiven you. It's because I never intended to be your mother in the first place."

Karl froze.

"Then what did you come here for?"

My gaze drifted from Karl to the house.

"What did I come here for?"

"To throw the strangers out of my house, obviously."