I'm Sophie Gould, the only daughter of the wealthiest man in Arberton. My mother doesn't like me, though. She treats her niece, Tanya Hall, like her own and allows her to take over my identity.

At a banquet where all affluent families are gathered, Tanya takes my seat before I can. Then, she says in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "You wouldn't even be here if not for Mom wanting me to show you around so you can expand your horizons, Sophie.

"Remember this—you might not be a member of the Gould family, but your actions are linked to us. Don't disgrace us."

In the past, I would've stood there with my eyes red, at a loss for what to do. It was too bad I'd been reborn.

I smile icily at Tanya and kick her off my throne. "I should've expected this of an impostor. To think an insignificant banquet like this is enough to make you act so obnoxiously! And did you say you're part of the Gould family? You have no idea the sort of trouble you'll be getting yourself into!"

Everyone went quiet as I kicked Tanya Hall to the floor.

Letitia Ingram, my personal butler, was shaking in fear. She tried to help Tanya, but a glare from me made her remain in her spot. "Letitia, despite working for the Gould family for so many years now, are you still unaware of who your real employer is?"

With her hands frozen in the air, Letitia looked at me in terror. "M-Miss…"

I strode up to the seat in the center, reserved for the daughter of the Gould family, and slowly sipped from a teacup before asking airily, "What's the matter? Do you want to help her up? Sure. Go ahead. Once my father comes home in a few days, I'll tell him to fire you."

Upon hearing that, Letitia turned pale from fright. She vehemently shook her head before hurrying over to me, too scared to even spare a glance at Tanya.

Tanya's eyes immediately pooled with tears. In that pitiful state, she turned her gaze onto the surrounding young women from various established families, and as expected, everyone looked at me with frowns on their faces.

Amy Wagner, the daughter of Hank Wagner, a sales manager at Gould Group, was the first to react. She rushed over to Tanya and helped her up. Then, she wagged her finger at me and screamed, "Hey! Who the hell are you? How dare you treat Tanya like this?"

"That's right!" someone else piped up. "Everyone knows that Tanya is the sole heir of Gould Group! Who do you think you are?"

I sneered. It made sense. In my previous life, I was weak and pathetic. My mother never attended such functions with me, allowing Tanya to do whatever she wanted. No one had ever seen me before, even though I was the real heir of the Gould family.

Lifting my head, I looked Amy in the eye and remarked, "You're just a manager's daughter. What gives you the audacity to stick up for her?"

"Why, you!"

Amy probably didn't expect me to have the guts to argue with her in public. Infuriated, she grabbed a teacup from the table and tried to throw its contents at me.

The other young women shrieked at the sight, but I calmly remained in my seat. With a flick of my hand, I watched as the tea splashed onto Amy's face and fear-stricken eyes instead.

Seeing this, Tanya shot to her feet and screamed at me, "Sophia! Don't think you can cause a scene here today just because you're related to my family! I was kind enough to bring you along so that you can expand your horizons a little. Don't you dare push it!"

Wiping the tea off her face, Amy shouted at the security guards behind her, "Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and chase her out. If you don't, I'll tell my father about this, and you'll all get in trouble!"

I held my head up high and smirked at the crowd. "I'm the daughter of James Gould, the chairman of Gould Group! Let's see who dares to lay a finger on me!"

Tanya's eyes flickered briefly in panic before she screamed at Letitia, "Letitia! Speak! Tell everyone who the daughter of the Gould family is!"

Alas, Letitia was terrified by what I'd said earlier, so she dared not answer Tanya's question. She merely bowed her head even lower.

Unruffled, I looked at Letitia and said coolly, "Get my mother here."

Letitia looked up at me in shock. After all, my mother, Naomi Briggs, had always turned a blind eye to everything Tanya did. Why would she help me?

Nevertheless, Letitia shakily hurried off anyway.

Seeing this, Tanya couldn't resist snorting. "Sure. We'll let Mom decide who's in the wrong here!"

I scanned the guests present. None of them held a higher status in society than me.

While this banquet was ostensibly held to celebrate Gould Group's opening of several subsidiaries abroad, in reality, it was a chance for these people to latch themselves onto the Goulds, the richest family in town.

Naomi didn't intend for me to attend this event. To her, this daughter of hers was nowhere near as likable as her sweet and obedient niece, Tanya.

If my father, who was abroad, hadn't heard about it and called me up to tell me to enjoy myself, I would've still been held up at home by Naomi, under the guise of me needing to prioritize my studies.

In my previous life, when Naomi stood by and watched as Tanya tormented me, I kept asking myself why. Why did my own mother who raised me from birth treat me like this?

But, in my final moments before death, I found out the truth…

Now that I had been reborn, I was going to see who would end up humiliated this time.

Soon, a middle-aged woman came in. I looked over, but it wasn't Naomi who came. It was Sally King, the butler who'd been serving the Gould family for many years. A young man was beside her—Richard Burke, the son of the Burke family who owned a convenience store chain in Arberton.

In my previous life, I'd saved him from upcoming traffic, but he avoided me like the plague and fell head over heels for Tanya instead. Not only did he help her humiliate me, but he even went around spreading false rumors about me.

Richard eyed me in scorn before checking Tanya carefully.

"I'm glad you're alright, Tanya," he said gently.

Sally chimed in, "Mr. Burke rushed over when he heard something happened to you, miss!"

Ignoring Richard, I looked at Sally and scoffed. "What's this? My mother isn't coming over herself?"

Sally rolled her eyes at me in disdain before saying, "Mrs. Gould is busy with something, so she asked me to take a look and see who's the fool who dares to mistreat the daughter of the Gould family."

"Oh?" I slowly rose to my feet and approached Sally. "When you say the daughter of the Gould family, are you referring to Tanya Hall?"

As soon as I said that, all the young women around us exclaimed in shock.

"Tanya Hall? Why would her last name be Hall?"

"Gould Group is owned by the Gould family!"

Tanya wobbled on her feet, looking frail and pitiful. "Sophie, Mom only brought you back to the Gould family out of pity for you! How can you make up malicious lies about me like that?"

Seeing this, Amy became even more convinced I was lying. She raised her voice and hollered, "How ridiculous this is! How dare a needy relative try to cause a scene here?"

After hearing that, all the other socialites in attendance started mocking me. Some even got physical with me in the hopes of currying favor with Tanya.

Caging me in, they started yanking at my clothes and hair. Some even tore off the jewelry I was wearing and threw it onto the floor before stomping on it.

"What an ungrateful woman you are! The Goulds wasted their kindness on you!"

Amy shoved me to the floor and stomped on my back before jeering arrogantly, "Hey, weren't you quite the talker just now? Why aren't you saying anything now?"

Tanya covered her mouth, but she couldn't hide the upturned corners of her lips as she smugly declared, "Sophie, I warned you, but you refused to listen to me. You're nothing in the Gould family!"

Richard raised his arm to block Tanya's view. "Don't look, Tanya. She's nothing but a disgusting toy for us to play with."

As I struggled against the people attacking me, I fixed my eyes on Tanya and asked, "Do you know that my father will be coming back in two days?"

Gould Group was a massive conglomerate with an emphasis on international dealings. Three years ago, one of the subsidiaries abroad fell into a crisis. My father didn't want to give up on it, so he decided to head over there and deal with the situation himself.

Not only did he succeed in turning things around, but he even got it publicly listed. Since his job was done, he was coming back in a few days.

His impending return was precisely why these wealthy families wanted their children to establish a connection with his daughter.

In my previous life, when Tanya and Naomi found out my father was coming home soon, they decided to kill me. The night before he returned, Tanya drugged me before dumping me in the back alley behind a bar. Naomi stood in the distance and watched as a group of men assaulted me.

I couldn't take the torment. That very night, I jumped off a building to take my own life.

Even though I had been reborn, just the thought of the pain and anguish I went through made me feel suffocated.

After hearing what I said, Tanya panicked for a moment, but she quickly regained her cool. Pretending to be unaffected, she lowered her voice and whispered in my ear, "So what if I do? Richard is going to get engaged to me tomorrow. Once that happens, it'll only be a matter of time before I become Mrs. Burke!"

Scoffing, Amy said imperiously to me, "You're still being so stubborn! Soon, Tanya will have both the Gould family and the Burke family backing her up, so let's see what's going to happen to you then!"

She even crouched down to grab me by the jaw.

In my previous life, I put up with everything and avoided all conflict, but all I got in return was humiliation and death. This time around, I wasn't going to repeat my mistakes!

My gaze turned to ice as I deftly dodged Amy's hand. Then, I grabbed her by the wrist and twisted it hard.

Amy shrieked in anguish, and I seized this chance to throw her to the floor. Dad was the one who personally taught me this self-defense technique.

Tanya didn't expect me to fight back either. She froze in shock.

Dusting my hands off, I eyed them coldly and smirked. "What is it? Do you guys want to get a taste of it too?"

As soon as I said that, a shrill, frantic voice screamed, "How preposterous!"

It was Naomi. She'd finally arrived.

As soon as she entered the hall, everyone greeted her sycophantically, "Mrs. Gould!"

I kicked over a table and sat down before eyeing her tauntingly. "What took you so long, Mom?"

Naomi looked furious as she pointed at me and said, "Sophie! How can you be so reckless and immature? Tanya is your cousin! How can you treat her like that? You're so unruly! Did no one ever teach you manners?"

Had this been in the past, I would've cried my eyes out. After all, she was supposed to be my mother.

But now, all I did was scoff. "Even if I'm unruly, it's the result of my father's teachings. It sounds like you're trying to disparage my father."

Naomi was enraged. "Stop with all your nonsense! You're just the orphan daughter left behind by my cousin! I was kind enough to take you in and raise you, but you're still not satisfied!"

Her declarations undoubtedly made it seem like Tanya was the real daughter of the Gould family while I was a lowly impostor.

Those who had attacked me earlier couldn't wait to come forward and curry favor by making their earlier contributions known.

"You're finally here, Mrs. Gould! If you came any later, that impostor would've beaten Tanya up to death by now!"

"Exactly! She was so cruel too! She even wanted to hit Tanya. Who knew what would've happened if we didn't do our best to protect Tanya?"

Hearing this, Naomi frowned and marched up to me with her hand raised, all the while screaming, "Hurry up and apologize to Tanya!"

However, I swiftly grabbed Naomi by the wrist. She shrieked as I slapped her and questioned, "What gives you the nerve to lay a finger on me?"

Everyone was stupefied. No one thought I'd dare to slap my own mother. They were so stunned that they didn't even know how to react.

Seeing this, Tanya hurried over to Naomi and tenderly checked her face—but not without forgetting to level more accusations at me.

"Sophie! I know you're jealous of me, but you shouldn't hit my mother! She's the wife of the chairman of Gould Group! How is she supposed to hold her head up in public after what you did to her?"

I was nauseated by the sight of the two of them, but before I could speak, Richard spoke up.

He eyed me in scorn and detestation. "Mrs. Gould should never have taken you in out of the kindness of her heart. You should've just been left to die somewhere."

I wanted to snort. Was this the man I once loved? I sorely wanted to slap myself in the face.

Raising my head to meet Richard's gaze, I calmly replied, "This is a Gould family matter. Why would an outsider like you have a say in anything?"

Tanya boldly took Richard's arm and declared, "Richard's no outsider! He's my fiancé!"

Naomi looked at Tanya affectionately and declared, "Tanya is the only daughter of the Gould family and the heir to the Gould Group!"

"Is that so?"

As soon as Naomi finished speaking, a sharp, authoritative voice rang out from the entrance. The voice made Naomi stiffen up as though someone was holding her in a chokehold. She dared not utter another word.

Letitia came rushing in. She muttered to me, "Miss, I did as you instructed and brought Mrs. Gould Senior here too!"

My grandma, Irene Norris, slowly walked into the hall with the help of her cane. Her piercing gaze latched onto Naomi as she commanded, "Repeat yourself! Tell me who the daughter of the Gould family is!"