“I what?” Marissa tilted her head and laughed happily. “What did you see just now?” One of the servants shouted, “I saw you spilling soup all over Nia! I’m going straight to Mrs. Nash to tell her. Just wait for the punishment!” The servant then began rushing toward where the birthday party was unfolding
Marissa quickly grabbed the servant by the hair, pulled her back sharply, and forced a pill into her mouth. “Ah… Hmm…” The servant suddenly covered her neck and fell to the floor, her face twisted in pain, unable to make any normal sounds. It was clear the pill was affecting her throat
The other servant was terrified. She froze, trembling, her eyes wide with fear, and her arrogance vanished. Marissa gave her a gentle smile and asked softly, “What did you see just now?”
“I-I saw her, she-she…” The frightened servant pointed at her colleague struggling on the floor and managed to say, “She made a mistake. Nia punished her, and in a rash move, she threw boiling soup on Nia’s face.”
“Wow! You’re really something!” Marissa smiled and patted the servant on the back, then slipped another pill into her mouth. The pill dissolved instantly. By the time the servant tried to spit it out, it had already been swallowed. She covered her throat in fear, expecting to experience the same fate as the first servant. But after a few seconds, she felt no unusual effects
Marissa said slowly, “I poisoned her with a different drug. She will never speak again. I gave you a chronic poison. As long as you take the antidote I provide regularly, you won’t be in danger. But if you miss a dose… Haa!” She left her sentence hanging on purpose. Then she looked at the frightened servant and added, “You know what to say later, don’t you?”
The servant, frightened and unsure of what to do, stood there, afraid that Marissa would harm her. But if she went to Balthasar later and lied to him, she was afraid that Sansa would teach her a lesson. Just then, a commanding voice asked, “What’s happening here?”
Marissa turned to see a woman approaching, accompanied by several servants and a young girl. The woman was Sansa. The young girl beside her was Ayla, who was highly praised by the servants. Ayla was dressed in luxurious clothes and adorned with precious jewelry. As the cherished daughter of the family head, she carried herself with an air of arrogance and delicacy
“Tiffany, you’ve caused such trouble before, making Mr. Connor Daniels take his anger out on the Nash family. Why didn’t you apologize to your grandpa as soon as you got back today? What are you doing here?” Sansa asked, exuding the authority of the head of the household’s wife
“Sansa, I was just about to explain things to Grandpa when I walked in and found two servants in a fight. I tried to intervene and break it up,” Marissa replied
“Fight?” Ayla scoffed
“Nia is the housekeeper for my mother. The others should show her respect. Who would dare to confront her? It must be you who has hurt them! Today is Grandpa’s seventieth birthday. You ruined his soup and even attacked the housekeeper and a servant. Are you trying to upset Grandpa?” Ayla accused
Marissa responded calmly, “Ayla, please don’t accuse me unfairly. We have a witness right here.”
Everyone turned their attention to the maid standing next to Marissa. Ayla asked, “What’s going on, Stacy?”
Stacy Crawford glanced from Marissa to Sansa, too frightened to speak. In the past, regardless of the truth, Stacy would have sided with Ayla. Ayla didn’t like Tiffany, and everyone helped Ayla mistreat Tiffany. This was an unspoken rule among the servants. But today, Stacy was afraid of Tiffany as well. Tiffany had always been a coward. As a descendant of a medical family, she wasn’t skilled in either medical or medicinal practices. However, no matter how poor her skills were, she might have learned something about poison. Zoe Davidson, the servant still struggling on the floor, was proof enough
Stacy wasn’t sure what terrible effects the poison Marissa forced her to ingest might have, so she didn’t dare take the situation lightly. Seeing Stacy remain silent, Ayla kicked her angrily. “You’re useless. You can’t even speak!” Then she turned to Zoe, who was lying on the floor, struggling in pain. “Did Tiffany beat you?”
“HMM… HMM…” Zoe made some gestures, but no one could understand her. Ayla walked up to Zoe and inspected her throat. “It’s strange. Her throat isn’t red or swollen. There’s nothing wrong with it. Why can’t she speak?”
Sansa suddenly said, “Well, it doesn’t matter whether someone witnessed it or not. Anyway, there are cameras in our house. We can check the videos later and see who did what and who lied. Bring them along to the birthday party for Balthasar to decide.”
With that, Sansa headed off to the birthday party. The servants then helped the injured Nia and Zoe, following Sansa to the celebration. Only Marissa and Ayla remained behind. Ayla looked Marissa up and down with disdain
“You did everything to marry into the Daniels family. So what? Mr. Connor Daniels doesn’t care for you. You’re still just a joke to all of us! I saw that old motorcycle you came on. Is it because Mr. Connor Daniels wasn’t willing to provide a decent car for you? And those worn-out clothes you wear. Hasn’t Mr. Connor Daniels bought you any nice outfits? TSK, TSK, Mrs. Arabella Daniels is already ninety years old. How much longer can she last? Once she’s gone, I bet Mr. Connor Daniels will kick you out, and you’ll be the talk of the town again, won’t you?”
Marissa looked at Ayla’s scornful expression and realized that Ayla must have covertly instructed Nia and the two maids to target Tiffany. Tiffany had always been the family’s laughing stock. But her sudden marriage to Connor had angered many, especially Ayla and Sansa. They had wanted to disfigure Tiffany just now!
“Ayla, I’ll make sure Grandma lives a long life. You won’t see me kicked out anytime soon.”
“Humph!” Ayla cast a scornful glance at Marissa. “With your poor medical skills, you think you can make the sick old lady live longer? You should worry about explaining to Grandpa why you ruined his precious soup. It’s supposed to help him live longer. Tiffany, don’t think you’re better than me just because you have Mrs. Arabella Daniels’ support now. Every dog has its day. Did you expect today’s events? Haa!” Ayla laughed smugly before turning and heading toward the birthday party
Marissa smiled and thought about Ayla’s words. Every dog has its day. Well, she would make sure Ayla went to hell one day
When Marissa walked into the banquet hall, the atmosphere was already extremely tense. Balthasar sat at the table, his eyes blazing with anger. Everyone else wore cold expressions. Nia, who had been unconscious, had woken up and was crying, covering her red, swollen cheek. Zoe was also in tears, holding her throat, while Stacy kept her head lowered in fear. Clearly, Sansa had already complained about Tiffany to Balthasar
As soon as Marissa appeared, Balthasar slammed the table angrily. “You rascal, get down on your knees!”
Although Balthasar had handed over the family leadership to Rex, he still held complete authority in the Nash family. No one dared to defy him. When he was angry, everyone remained silent
Ayla smirked, waiting for Marissa to be punished. Sansa pretended to be guilty. “I have treated Tiffany like my own daughter since she was a child. If she made any other mistake today, I would cover for her. But she destroyed your Longevity Soup. I cannot overlook such a significant matter.”
Ayla pretended to comfort Sansa, saying, “Mom, don’t blame yourself. Everyone knows how important the soup is. The whole family has guarded this pot of soup like a treasure for generations. But Tiffany didn’t care and did such an ominous thing.”
Hearing the word “ominous,” Balthasar grew even angrier. As he grew older, he became more fearful of death and placed great value on his health. To live a longer life, he tended to be paranoid. Many elderly people, even in ordinary families, were obsessed with health products. Balthasar was obsessed with Longevity Soup, believing it would extend his life. Every year on his birthday, he had a bowl of it
Now, he was in good health and spirits, and he credited it to the soup. But this year, the soup had been destroyed on his birthday. To him, it was ominous, as if his long life had been cut short. He was both sad and furious
Marissa still didn’t kneel. Balthasar slammed the table again. “You rascal, why don’t you get down on your knees? Do you think you can ignore your grandfather after marrying into the Daniels family and getting Mrs. Arabella Daniels’ support?”
Although Tiffany was now Connor’s wife, no one took it seriously because they knew that Connor hated her and had been forced to marry her by Arabella. The Nash family was never happy about the marriage. They worried that if Arabella passed away, Connor would vent his anger on them because of Tiffany
Marissa understood the situation completely. Standing there, neither humble nor pushy, she asked, “Grandpa, what mistake did I make?”
“How dare you pretend to be ignorant?” Balthasar pointed at Marissa and shouted. “You ran away on your wedding day. No one knew where you were. Mrs. Arabella Daniels got sick because she was too anxious. Mr. Connor Daniels vented his anger on the Nash family. You almost ruined the whole family. I haven’t blamed you for that yet. How dare you ruin my soup as soon as you came back? You’ve been nothing but trouble!”
“Grandpa, it was wrong of me to leave unannounced on my wedding day. I’ve addressed the issue over the past few days. Connor won’t hold a grudge against the Nash family anymore. There’s no need to worry,” Marissa replied calmly. Then she changed the subject and firmly said, “As for the Longevity Soup, I didn’t ruin it. Don’t blame me for that!”
Before Balthasar could respond, Ayla cut in, saying, “Tiffany, since you ruined Grandpa’s soup, you have to kneel and apologize to him. How can you deny it?”
Nia quickly echoed, “Mr. Nash, as soon as Miss Tiffany Nash walked in, she said that since she was now Mr. Connor Daniels’ wife, she should be treated like a queen in the Nash family, and everyone, including you, must show her respect. She noticed us handling the soup. Without hesitation, she grabbed it and splashed it on my face, saying that it was a warning to the Nash family. We tried to explain the significance of the soup to her. She ignored us, became angry, attacked me, and even poisoned Zoe and Stacy. It’s one thing to disrespect us, but to treat you this way, sir…”
Nia’s slander and false accusations clearly irritated everyone
“Tiffany, are you even aware of how Mr. Connor Daniels sees you? How dare you claim to be a queen? Being delusional is one thing, but to come back here and flaunt yourself in front of our whole family is ridiculous! It’s bad enough that you’re unaware, but to ruin your grandpa’s Longevity Soup? You know how much that soup means to him! This is outright disrespect!”
“Ever since you were young, you’ve embarrassed us countless times. Your academic performance was terrible, you dropped out of high school, and your engagements have been annulled multiple times, tarnishing the Nash family’s reputation. You inherited none of your father’s talents!”
“You manipulated Mrs. Arabella Daniels and forced Mr. Connor Daniels into marrying you. Instead of trying to earn his respect, you returned here to boast. Don’t you see that our whole family is in danger because of you?”
“Now, Mrs. Arabella Daniels is alive, so Mr. Connor Daniels puts up with you out of respect for her. But once she passes away, he will certainly seek retribution for your behavior. You’ll be expelled, and our family will face consequences because of your actions. You’re a curse!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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