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?"
