The moment she opened her eyes, she heard a cold, masculine voice.
"Do you know what you've done?"
The man stood with his hands behind his back, robes immaculate, eyes full of disgust. His voice was sharp, carrying authority earned over the years.
"Since when does my daughter need permission from you to eat?"
Her head throbbed. Memories that were not hers flooded in—
"a substitute marriage, left alone, hated by the children, a household authority token, whispered rumours."
"Can you explain what I did wrong?" She said slowly, testing the unfamiliar voice that came from her mouth. *Should she try to explain what was happening?*
"Explain?" He laughed coldly. "You still dare to act innocent?"
He stepped closer, his eyes dark.
"Because you withheld the best dishes, Yuer cried the entire night.
"Do you really think I would not find out, just because I spend my time with the children rather than coming to this courtyard for lunch?
"You used this method to take revenge on them."
Her fingers tightened inside her sleeves.
"Listen carefully," he said, each word cutting deep.
"I will never love you. Not in this life."
His gaze sharpened.
"The only woman in my heart is my first wife. You are nothing more than a nominal madam—placed here to manage accounts and silence outsiders."
She said nothing.
"Do not harbor foolish fantasies," he continued mercilessly.
"You have no right to interfere in my children's affairs. Especially my daughter's."
Outside the door, a faint rustle.
A small, trembling voice whispered, "Father… is it true that after the stepmother came… I will suffer?"
His expression softened instantly.
"Who dares spread such rumors?" He snapped, then turned back to her with fury.
"If you dare make my daughter suffer even a little—"
He leaned down, his voice low and threatening.
"I will divorce you."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"You think managing the household gives you power?" he sneered.
"The moment you make another mistake, I will take that authority back."
Silence filled the room.
Just then, she heard him ordering someone. "The Madam is not allowed to eat anything today. Remember that."
He left without looking back, the door slamming shut behind him.
Riya, whose mind was still hazy, sat down and looked around curiously.
Riya was a time traveller who enjoyed visiting various timelines to eat, drink, and have fun, living the "salted fish" life of leisure.
Occasionally, she would also fulfill the wishes of the person who lent her their body.
Whenever she arrived in a world, she would find a body that was pleasing to the eye and nearing death and ask the person if they were willing to lend it to her. If the person had a wish, as long as it wasn't something she couldn't accept, she would fulfill it.
If the wish was unacceptable, she generally wouldn't borrow the body. After all, there were too many people in the world; there would always be someone willing to lend theirs, so there was no need to insist on a body with too many demands.
Once the person agreed, she would rewind time and enter the world at a point she deemed appropriate.
In this world, for example, she had rewound time and entered when the original owner was first punished by the Prime Minister for something she had never done.
But in reality, the original owner *had* never done those things. She had just married into the Prime Minister's house and been given household management rights; she didn't even have the power to do what she was accused of.
The real person who had done this was the Old Madam, the true power holder in the mansion.
She just wanted to show the new madam that even with household management power, *she* was still in charge, so the new Madam should behave herself.
But because of this, the Prime Minister's impression of the original owner became worse, and he stopped coming to her courtyard.
The original owner became a laughingstock in the whole manor. He didn't care; he only wanted to protect his reputation.
In reality, everyone in the capital knew the prime minister had loved his first wife dearly, as they were childhood sweethearts. Because of this, he had never even taken a concubine.
After his wife died, he never wanted to remarry. But as the second-highest-ranking member of the court, everyone wanted their daughter or relative to marry him.
Because of this, he was constantly harassed by women. Some even tried to drug him and sleep in his bed, but they never succeeded and were thrown out by him. Also, his children were close to marrying age, and without a madam in the family, things were not easy.
After being harassed, he finally agreed to marry, but he didn't want a woman from a powerful background who would be difficult to control, as he didn't want his children's position to change.
He only wanted a shield wife so he could focus on his life. But this shield tried to become a real wife. How could this be allowed?
So he used this incident to brush her off.
After understanding all of this, Riya was speechless.
"He wanted a wife so he wouldn't be pestered by others. He wanted her to manage his house and fulfill her duties, but when she did anything a real wife should do, he was unhappy."
"And her mother-in-law, knowing the circumstances of her marriage, had given the household duties to her only to then make her reject them. But the original owner had a timid, soft personality, so she didn't dare contradict her."
But now Riya had come. She would not care what everyone thought.
Since they wanted her to keep to herself and not interfere in the manor's matters, especially with his children, then she would only live her life and not interfere.
She would lie flat and enjoy this house's mess after the original owner had taken care of this family for so long.