When Amanda saw me, she immediately raised her little hand and hurled something at my face, she used Leslie's memorial photo to smashed my head open and made it bleed.

Dexter lounged on the leather sofa, he held Emma in his arms with a look of doting affection. He said, "Good job, Amanda. If you're still mad, smash her a few more times."

Instinctively, I grabbed the photo to look. Judged by the strokes, it was clearly drawn by Dexter himself. But he didn't even know Leslie had two moles on the right side of his face.

My grip loosened. The photo frame crashed to the floor, shattered into pieces.

Faced my bloodshot eyes, Dexter narrowed his phoenix eyes and smiled, "Leslie pulled a prank today that made Amanda get a shot at the hospital. I just set up this little shrine to cheer her up. Don't make a fuss."

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails drew blood from my palms. I sneered, "Aren't you afraid you'll really curse Leslie to death like this?"

He paused, then crushed his cigarette and pressed it hard against my arm, branded a scar. He cursed angrily, "Victoria, what nonsense are you spouting? Only idiots like you care about this feudal crap."

"Some stinky priest once said I wouldn't live past twenty. Look at me now, strong as ever and with a net worth of hundreds of billions, right?" he mocked.

Emma cradled a frightened Amanda in her arms, the child sobbed pitifully. She said, "Victoria tricked Leslie into drugging Amanda, that was already too much. But now she even smashed the photo frame and cut my poor Amanda's hand. Huhuhu, my poor baby girl ..."

The wound was finer than a strand of my hair. But with just one glance, Dexter nearly lost it. He forced me to kneel on the shattered glass and yelled, "Apologize to my daughter now!"

This mortal body was incredibly weak, my knees oozed thick blood.

I struggled to straighten my spine, I bite back tears with a bitter smile, "But Leslie really is dead. He died in the carousel."

Silence fell instantly.

Dexter had never seen such lifelessness in my eyes. His hand loosened slightly, but when he heard the mother and daughter cried again, he gripped even harder, almost crushed my shoulder blade.

He mocked, "Shameless. All this just to avoid an apology? You're lying Leslie is dead? If he were, why hasn't anyone reported it to me?"

"Fine, since you say he's dead, I'll just burn his room down." With that, he stormed upstairs to our son's bedroom and tossed in a Cartier lighter.

Flames instantly spreaded from Leslie's children's books.

"No!" I cried out. The blaze stung my eyes.

Leslie's final lingering soul might be hid in those very belongings!

I stumbled up the stairs, grabbed a bedsheet to smother the flames, collapsed among the embers as most of my skin burned.

Amanda followed behind, she clapped and laughed, "Wow! Fireworks! I want to see more!"

"If Amanda likes it, then let's burn it again." Dexter smiled indulgently and lit the fire again.

A wave of intense fury and hatred surged inside me, made me cough up a mouthful of blood. But right now, I was just a powerless mortal.

Father once told me, when weak, endure the shame. When the time comes, made them paid a hundredfold.

I crawled before Amanda, I begged in a pitiful voice, "Amanda, I was wrong. I apologize on Leslie's behalf. Please don't hold it against us."

For once, Dexter frowned. In his eyes, I was never the kind of woman to swallow her pride.

He irritably rubbed his thumb and dragged me to Emma's feet and said, "You need to apologize to Emma too. You nearly harmed our precious daughter. Hurry up and lick the dust off Emma's shoes."

They must've had several rounds earlier in the day. Aside from ashes, the tips of her shoes also had traces of something white and murky.

Emma coyly rubbed against his chest and said, "Oh, you're so perverted."

Dexter said, "What's there to be shy about? Having a big puppy lick your shoes, how fun is that?"

"She owed you and your daughter anyway. Just an orphan my family adopted. I was kind enough to treat her like a sister, but my mom insisted I marry her, saying she was the reincarnation of the King of Hell. That's what tore you and me apart. Who knows what trick she pulled?" As he spoke, he shouted at my face. "Hurry up."

My eyes widened, I met Dexter's gaze of loathing and my whole body trembled.

Before my tribulation, I had lived a thousand years. I had never suffered such humiliation. Even in my past three lives, he had always cherished me like a treasure in his hands.

But no matter how powerful I had once been, right now I was just a pitiful mother tried to save her son.

Forced my trembling hands to still, I bent down.

Just as my lips were about to touch the shoe, Dexter kicked me away while said, "Ugh, forget it. Your mouth would only dirty Emma."

He gently wiped Emma with a silk handkerchief, then tossed the soiled cloth onto me and raised his phone, shook it mockingly and said, "I recorded that disgusting, shameless look of yours. I'll show Leslie when he gets back so he knows what a disgrace you are. Emma's clearly the better fit to be his mom."

"Unlike you, you'll do anything to get my attention and please me. So cheap!" After finished cursing, he went downstairs, still holding Amanda, off to celebrate Children's Day.

"Has Amanda's pain gotten any better after all afternoon?" He rubbed his nose affectionately against Amanda's chubby cheek, the image of a loving father.

When he saw Amanda frowning in pain, his eyes reddened. A tear slid from the corner of his eye toward the soul-gathering stone in my hand.

I clutched my belly and stood, let a single tear fall as I laughed bitterly.

To activate the soul-gathering stone, the tears of both parents were required.

Just a moment ago, I was still worried how to make someone as cold and heartless as Dexter shed a tear, turned out, it was this easy.

Unfortunately, his precious daughter wasn't just sick, she was tainted with ghostly energy. There was no way saving her.

Didn't want to watch their display of father-daughter affection any longer, I followed the light of the soul stone to a corner of the bedroom.

There lay a hand-drawn family portrait, its corners curled from being touched countless times.

The lines were rough, like a child's doodle.

But in truth, it had been Dexter's birthday gift to Leslie last year.

That was the only time he ever celebrated Leslie's birthday. He had barely picked up the pen when Emma called, so he rushed to finish the drawing, shoved it at Leslie and walked out.

I carefully folded the paper, tears flew down my cheeks. All Leslie ever wanted was a complete family.

As I folded the paper, I noticed a line of childish writing on the back.

I flipped it over: [I hope Daddy can love Mommy forever, so Mommy will always be happy! :)]

I collapsed to the floor, I laughed and cried at once.

In the dead of night, Leslie's flickering soul slowly drifted into the soul-gathering stone.

Downstairs, every channel on every television was broadcasting, [Wishing little Miss Amanda a happy Children's Day!]

Just a wall away, Dexter was deliberately making Emma scream loudly, even shouted my name now and then. But I no longer cared.

I simply tucked the drawing into my sleeve and whispered through tears, "Don't worry, Leslie. Mommy will make everyone who hurt you pay the price!"

At dawn, Dexter left for work. I walked into their bedroom.

Emma lay spread out in an "M" shape on the bed. Upon seeing me, she deliberately twisted her waist, flaunted the marks all over her body.

A small toy, dirtied between her legs, tumbled out.

This was the wooden carving that Leslie had made for Dexter yesterday.

While children in other families received boxes of gifts on Children's Day, Leslie had worked tirelessly to make a handmade gift to win his father's favor.

Emma sneered, "Ah, no wonder it's from your little bastard, it's fun to play with!"

Seeing them trample on Leslie's heartfelt gesture, my already numb heart twisted painfully and my nails dug deep into my palms.

I pulled out the prepared talisman and advanced step by step toward her.

Emma's face immediately turned pale as she rolled off the bed and asked, "What ... what are you going to do?"

With lightning speed, I grabbed a desk lamp and smashed it onto her, forcefully stepping on her inner thigh and shouted, "That vengeful ghost was released by you, wasn't it? You're a murderer!"

Yesterday, I had already sensed the same aura lingered on Emma that matched the vengeful spirit.

She denied, "No! It wasn't me! You're slandering me, you crazy woman! Let me go!"

But I caught the flicker of guilt in her eyes. Yes, I had truly lost my sanity.

Any woman would go mad, watched her son die in front of her.

I asked her again, "Still not admitting it? Since you like using your body to seduce men and hurt my son, I'll ruin you!"

Just as I was about to press the ghost-infused talisman against her, a violent force suddenly threw me aside.

Dexter had arrived just in time, gently helped Emma up, then grabbed the same desk lamp I had used to hit her and ruthlessly stroke my abdomen.

He yelled, "How dare you harm Emma while I'm not here? Fortunately, I've installed cameras in the bedroom to keep an eye on her at all times."

"You even said Emma killed Leslie? Are you out of your mind? Amanda also rode the rocking horse, how could Emma harm her own daughter?" he said.

The pain nearly made me collapse and I poured my heart's blood to draw the talisman. My body was already on the brink of exhaustion.

With gritted teeth, I used my last strength to open my phone and showed him the video and said, "Leslie is really dead."

In the video, Leslie's body was shattered into pieces, with his eyes and nose contorted in agony. It was clear that he had suffered unbearable torment before death.

He turned pale and dropped the lamp in shock and sorrow, staggered a few steps back. But in the next second, Emma, while clutched her injury, weakly said, "This video must have been made with AI."

Upon hearing this, Dexter's grief instantly froze. He watched the video over and over, then threw the phone aside and roared, "You poisonous woman, you actually made such a video of Leslie. You almost tricked me!"

"How could you lie so shamelessly? It looked fine in the beginning, but he turned into black liquid, what kind of nonsense is that? At least make it believable!" his face reddened with fury.

He turned to the bodyguards who had been there that day and yelled again, "Didn't I tell you to watch Leslie? What exactly happened?"

The bodyguards, saw Emma's silent command, dared not speak the truth and shook their heads, "We only saw Madam take the boy away, saying she was going to hide him to threaten you."

Their testimony only confirmed Dexter's suspicions, which sent him into a furious rage.

He despised being deceived and gritted out each word. He said, "Threaten me? There's no one in all of Transylvania I can't find. Victoria, once I find Leslie, I will divorce you and expel you from Transylvania. You'll never see him again!"

Blood pooled beneath me, reflected the red fury in Dexter's eyes.

I laughed coldly, "Dexter, you fool. The one who will never see Leslie again is you. And yet, you still treasure the one who killed him."

The sting of the word 'fool' made him flinch and he felt that my current state, far more than my earlier silence, only made him even angrier.