Meridel’s POV

The scene descended into chaos.

Milton, still vigorous for his age, kicked me hard and sent me sprawling.

Emerson held her blood-smeared aunt steady while glaring at me.

“Are you out of your mind?! Aunt Schandra came here with good intentions, and you treat her like this instead of thanking her!” he barked.

‘Thank her?’ I thought, stunned.

The murderer inflicted a secondary harm on her victim, and I, the only family member present, was supposed to be fucking grateful?!

Enid clapped a hand to her aunt’s chest, her eyes rimmed red.

“Mom, you’re being absolutely ridiculous! If anything happens to Aunt Schandra, we definitely won’t let you off!” she snarled.

The murderer only suffered an injury. And yet, my husband and my children had lost all composure over her and even lashed out at me.

Was that what they called being reasonable?

I coughed up a mouthful of blood and fixed my gaze on Schandra.

That murderer should be the one to thank me. I’d been exhausted and off my aim these past two days. If not for that, that shard of glass would’ve found her carotid.

The farewell ceremony ended hastily. Afterwards, I forced myself to the hospital.

The doctor flipped through the scans. “Two broken ribs. They’ll need to be stabilized for healing. Do you have any family with you?”

When I thought of Milton and our two children, my heart went cold.

“No, I don’t have any family,” I answered flatly.

I managed my wounds alone and collected my own prescriptions.

As I was leaving, Milton’s voice reached me like an accusation.

“Meridel?! You actually followed Schandra to the hospital?! Perfect timing! She nearly didn’t make it because of you. Go to her now and apologize!” he ordered.

With that, he grabbed my arm and dragged me straight into Schandra’s hospital room.

Emerson and Enid were there, attending her with solicitous concern.

A stranger would have thought Schandra was their real mother.

Emerson frowned. “Dad, why did you bring her here? She stabbed Aunt Schandra deep enough!”

Enid put up both of her hands in a protective gesture. “If you lay a finger on Aunt Schandra, I’ll disown you as my mother!” she threatened.

These were the children I had carried for ten months and raised despite the challenges.

Seeing them turn against me, I felt nothing but a coldness that reached my bones.

‘Thank goodness,’ I thought, ‘I’ll leave them soon and start a new life.’

“Had I known you couldn’t tell right from wrong, I should’ve left you to die in the desert!” I snapped.

That remark set the twins off into furious shouting.

“How dare you say that! If you hadn’t insisted on suing Aunt Schandra, would we have had to suffer there, huh?” one of them spat.

“You were the one making trouble for no reason and dragging us into this! You should count yourself lucky we haven’t come for you!” the other snapped.

Making trouble for no reason? I couldn’t believe my ears.

“She killed your cousin, the only blood left of your uncle! Carolee’s the one you treated as a sister when you were young!” I cried.

But my son’s expression only grew more contemptuous. “That kind of woman slept around with men. Good riddance! If you want to stir up trouble for her, go ahead, but don’t drag us down with you!”

My daughter echoed him. “Exactly. She wasn’t married yet and got pregnant—was that a decent woman? Aunt Schaundra was just trying to introduce Carolee to some suitable men so her baby would have a father. That niece of yours was the one who wanted attention and seduced those men! She got what she deserved!”

Carolee’s husband’s identity had been kept secret; they had to marry in private.

Who would have thought my own family would use that to slander Carolee?

The fact that Schandra could speak such clumsy lies and that they would believe them was unbearable.

I snapped. One hard slap landed on my daughter’s face.

“You’re a woman yourself! How can you speak of Carolee like that?!”

Enid pressed her trembling fingers to her cheek and retorted, “If she was that bold, why would she be scared about what people say? There are worse things online than what I say!”

It hit me then—Schandra’s posts were still spreading; the whole internet was condemning my niece.

I snapped my head to Schandra.

“Delete those posts now, Schandra, or I’ll kill you!” I warned.

She just smiled faintly. “I can delete them. Sure. But you put me in this state, Meridel. Don’t you think you owe me something?”

“What do you want?” I asked.

She answered coldly, “Kneel, apologize, and beg me.”

Her demand was absurd, but no one objected.

Milton even said, “Schandra’s too kind. She didn’t make you pay tenfold.”

My children egged me on. “What are you waiting for? Hurry up! Apologize and get out! Do you want us to make you do it?”

My brother had entrusted his daughter to my care before he died.

While she was alive, I couldn’t protect her; after she died, I couldn’t even preserve her reputation.

Overcome by humiliation and guilt, I burst into tears.

Under their cruel stares, I slowly sank to my knees.

With a dull thud, my knees hit the floor. In an instant, pain lanced through them.

“Please… delete the posts,” I begged.

Schandra’s expression brightened with satisfaction. “What did you say? I can’t hear you. Besides, I told you—get down on your knees and beg.”

Pride mattered, but I had already failed my brother and my niece.

If begging could recover a shred of decency for them, I would do it.

I clenched my hands until my palms hurt as I bent forward.

When Emerson and Enid watched me lower myself like that, their voices grated like fingernails on glass.

“You should’ve done this earlier.”

“Beg twice more. Let it make up for the slap you gave me.”

My recently treated ribs ached fiercely, but the pain was nothing compared to the torment in my chest.

I closed my eyes and lowered my head, begging, “Please… Please delete those posts…”

Meridel’s POV

I hit my head so hard I nearly blacked out, but at last, my niece’s innocence was cleared.

Milton drove me home and locked the door behind me.

“Schandra needs rest. You should stay home for the next few days and reflect on yourself.”

I didn’t resist. Instead, I used the time to quietly pack my things.

Thirty years—too many traces of me lingered in this villa.

It took three full days to sort through everything, and whatever I didn’t need, I set aflame.

When the fire reached the framed X-ray film, a message buzzed on my phone—my withdrawal request had been approved. The funds would be in my bank in three days.

At the same time, I heard Milton’s voice behind me. There was a faint tremor in it.

“Why are you burning that?”

That X-ray captured the moment of our first meeting.

Back then, his car sped by, splashing me with dirty water. I chased after him, and in the chaos, he broke a leg. That was the scan from that day.

When we married, he said we had fought before we knew each other, and this X-ray would serve as our eternal keepsake.

But now, he had changed, and things like this had lost their meaning.

“I felt like burning it. That’s all. No reason,” I said flatly.

His face darkened. He seemed about to speak, but Schandra, who had come back with him, cut in at just the right moment.

“Milton, my wound hurts…”

Milton turned instantly to tend to her.

I lifted my eyes and met the wary stares of our children.

The sight was nothing but ironic.

Stepping past them without a word, I headed upstairs. For once, Milton explained.

“Schandra’s injured. It’s inconvenient for her to be alone at home, so she’ll stay here for a few days. Once she recovers, she’ll leave.”

I only murmured a noncommittal, “Mm.”

Something in that tone obviously set him off. He snapped, “I told you—Schandra is only staying temporarily. Why the long face? Who are you trying to show it to?!”

Honestly, I didn’t get him.

Before, when he and Schandra flaunted their closeness, I raised hell, and he grew furious.

Now that they put on this ‘deep sibling affection’ act, and I didn’t react at all, he was still not happy.

I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.

Schandra tugged at his sleeve, her voice sweet but barbed as she turned to me.

“Meridel, my brother and I have lived together since we were young. I’m used to having him around. Now that I’m all alone, he worries about me, so he asked me to stay a few days. Surely, you won’t take issue with that, will you?”

I replied coldly. “Stay as long as you want. It has nothing to do with me.”

That made Milton’s expression grow even darker.

Schandra forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “That’s good to hear,” she said, though her gaze flashed with hatred.

It was clear she had no intention of leaving in just a few days.

The next morning, I slept until the sun was high before I finally got up.

Schandra was in the living room, cracking sunflower seeds. I glanced at her—just one glance—before fury surged straight to the crown of my head.

“Hey! Who told you you could use that plate as a trash bin?!”

The plate in front of her, the one she was tossing shells into, was no ordinary dish. It was a piece my mother had handcrafted for me.

When my parents died, I polished it every single day, treating it like a treasure. No one else was ever allowed to touch it.

But now, Schandra—that criminal—was using it as a garbage dish?!

She even lifted it lightly, casually saying, “I know it’s your precious keepsake. That’s why I made sure to use it—to ruin it on purpose.”

The next second, she let her fingers slip.

“Don’t—”

Meridel’s POV

I was a step too slow; the plate fell to the floor and shattered into pieces!

I crouched down, trying to piece the fragments back together.

Even just then, Schandra casually smashed a teacup, too.

“The belongings of the dead don’t belong in this villa. That’s just creepy!”

My whole body trembled with rage. I snatched up a shard of porcelain and slashed it toward her face.

That made her let out a piercing scream. “Ahhh!”

Her cry drew Milton and our children rushing in. Before I could say a word, Schandra was already playing the victim.

“Milton, save me! I only asked one question about your marriage, and she tried to kill me!”

His face darkened, then he hit me hard.

“Meridel! How can you be so cruel?! What has Schandra ever done to you that you can’t bear to let her exist?”

Finally, he snatched up the divorce papers.

“Fine! You wanted a divorce, didn’t you? I’ll give it to you then!”

He signed his name with a furious stroke, then flung the papers at my face.

“From now on, in this villa, Schandra gets to have the final say!”

My own children glared at me, their voices filled with outrage.

“All this just for a few broken plates? To lash out at Aunt Schandra like that—you’ve really gone mad!”

“Let’s see what you’ll do if we smash the rest of this junk!”

The two of them grabbed the dishes and hurled them one after another, shattering the entire set.

The sharp, brittle sounds pierced me like a dull knife, slicing my heart into pieces.

After venting, the three of them clustered around Schandra, fussing over her injuries, dabbing ointment on her cuts—while I lay among the shards, bloodied and ignored.

Wiping away my tears, I picked up the divorce papers and tucked them safely away. Then, I rose quietly and returned to my room.

The next morning, when I opened the door, I saw the four of them already dressed to the nines.

Emerson scowled the moment his eyes landed on me.

“You and Dad are divorced already. Don’t bother coming to our coming-of-age party. You’ll just embarrass us.”

Enid, her arm linked with Schandra’s, sneered.

“With Aunt Schandra by our side, we don’t need some washed-up old woman like you tagging along.”

Their coming-of-age party was something I had prepared for an entire year.

I had crafted gifts with my own hands, pushing myself until my stomach illness relapsed.

I had written them letters, so many that they stacked as thick as a book.

I had walked miles upon miles, wearing out two pairs of shoes, just to pray for their future.

Yet now, I wasn’t even allowed the right to attend.

My thirty years of devotion were swept aside by a single lie from Schandra.

I guessed it was not bad at all. Today was the day I had planned to leave anyway.

Emerson and Enid eagerly ushered Schandra out the door, afraid I might insist on coming.

Milton lingered behind, casting me a look of disgust.

“You look so unpresentable. You really don’t suit attending today’s party.”

I didn’t argue. Instead, I went back to my room, picked up the gifts I had prepared, and held them out to him.

“Pass these to them for me for their party.”

It was my last act of tenderness as their mother.

Milton frowned, studying me closely.

“You’re acting strange today.”

If this had been the old me, being replaced by another woman, I would have made sure no one in this villa had peace.

But now, I was calm. I accepted it all as if none of it mattered anymore.

That unsettled him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Schandra’s voice called from outside.

He gave me one last glance before saying coldly, “We’ll be back early. Have dinner ready, and wait for us.”

Even at this point, he was still bossing around.

But I was no longer the housewife orbiting around their needs.

After they left, I called the delivery guy.

“Tonight, send it here and hand it to Milton.”

Before leaving, I had also prepared a “gift” for my ex-husband.

Then, I erased my fingerprint and face data from the lock system, placed the spare emergency key in the entryway cabinet, and dragged my suitcase toward the door.

Without looking back, I walked away from the place I had lived in for thirty years.

On the way to the airport, I received a message: my niece’s husband had returned early from his assignment.

A faint smile lifted the corners of my lips.

The plane rose through the clouds, and the familiar state shrank, smaller and smaller, fading into the distance.

At last, my suffering had come to an end.

But theirs… theirs was only just beginning.