This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

In the end, Rita still made a purchase, spending 398 gold on a Malice Detector.

**[Malice Detector] (B-rank)**: It trembles slightly when someone with malicious intent approaches; the greater the malice, the stronger the tremor.

A small cross with a tiny hole, she strung it onto the chain of her pocket watch, right next to the ruby-shaped **[Water God's Disgust]**. After earning three gold coins from her session at the Rania Kaiya auction house and attending a class for an hour, Rita's first stop back on Blue Star was to find Shadow.Q for another purchase.

**[Rita]**: Have you heard of a Divine Gift that can detect a person's deepest secrets through their blood?

**[Shadow.Q]**: I've heard. We're also looking for that player to establish a long-term partnership, but they don't trust us.

**[Rita]**: That's too small-minded!

**[Shadow.Q]**: Who says it isn't? So, are you going to donate something to earn the nation's trust?

**[Rita]**: No need for that. I trust the nation; it doesn't need to trust me. I'm the nation's sycophant.

**[Shadow.Q]**: ...

**[Rita]**: Do you have similar skills over there?

**[Shadow.Q]**: Yes. **[Got it, here I come]** can provide insight into one closely related secret that the target doesn't want the user to know, but you need to hold both the target's and user's hair in your hand.

**[Shadow.Q]**: Friendship price: 8 gold each.

**[Rita]**: Don't mention friendship! I'm allergic to it. Can you advance my rent for this month's instances? Give me three of those.

**[Shadow.Q]**: …

**[Rita]**: Hmm? Your attitude is unacceptable. Why are you always speechless with customers?

**[Shadow.Q]**: Fine, got it. I'll send them to you.

**[Rita]**: Great! Now for the remaining four: two **[Anonymous Letters]** and two **[It's You! My Bloodline]**.

The former allows her to inform Aaron's sister-in-law and brother without anyone tracing the sender's identity, while the latter can determine blood relations, meant to be sent to the Jones family's sister-in-law and brother. The three **[Got it, here I come]** will be used on Rick, Samuel, and Scarlett to see what they're plotting against her.

Rita could sometimes be lazy and procrastinate, but when it came to making her enemies uncomfortable, she acted decisively. After obtaining the skill stones, she wrote down Ezra's birth date, the names of his adoptive parents, the relationship between Ezra and Aaron, and that Aaron knew Ezra's identity from the start. She attached the **[It's You!

My Bloodline]** skill stone, made two copies, and addressed the envelopes to Aaron's sister-in-law and brother.

Shattering the **[Anonymous Letter]** skill stone, the two envelopes containing the skill stones spontaneously ignited. They would definitely investigate; could the Jones family not check their own matters?

As for whether this would disrupt Julian and the others' plans, Rita couldn't care less.

She then used **Phantom Cloak** to sneak into Wilson's house that night, snipping a few strands of Samuel's and Scarlett's hair.

Lying in a recliner in the backyard, she prepared to use **[Got it, here I come]** to gain some insight. First was Samuel. She held his hair and her own in one hand and crushed the skill stone with the other.

At the moment the stone shattered, Samuel's voice echoed in her mind.

—"Josephine might as well take me as her son-in-law, but isn't he a bit too old? Will Rita turn against us..."

Rita sat expressionless in the recliner, neither happy nor sad.

It could be said that **[Got it, here I come]** and **[Let Me Guess]** had their pros and cons. The former reveals recent secrets related to the user, which wasn't bad, but this was something she already knew. She just didn't expect this old man to have engaged with Josephine so early.

Was it because her entry into the ranking caused changes, or had Rick arranged for him to join the sunset training group early? But how would the Lopez family's training group know the White family?

She then picked up Scarlett's hair and shattered the second skill stone.

—"Josephine's Divine Gift is way too harsh for wives. Shouldn't I hint to my daughter not to... wait, no, that would mean she'd be single all her life at a young age... What to do? This is really drought for the drought, Scarlett drowns…"

Rita: "...…"

Her earlier excitement was instantly dashed by Scarlett's comment.

Exhausted, Rita closed her eyes and gently rocked the recliner, trying to empty her mind.

Was she sad? Not really.

Samuel was venomous, Scarlett foolish—she had always known this.

After reincarnating, she had wreaked havoc on Rick, Zoey, Sanchez, Aaron, and Julian, even flying to the Taylor family in B City to spread some warmth. Yet she had never targeted these two. Despite her harsh words, she had never truly taken action against them because she couldn't think of a good way to handle them…

In her past life, they had wronged her. Her hatred for them might not be as pure or profound as her resentment for Rick and others, but she had never considered forgiving them, nor had she imagined a happy resolution. But even while constantly thinking about how to deal with them, when it came to killing them, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She couldn't cross that mental barrier.

Even if she suddenly went on a rampage and killed all the strangers running instances at her place, she would only feel upset for a while, but that would eventually pass.

But if she truly killed Samuel and Scarlett with her own hands, she would surely awaken at midnight, staring at the ceiling, questioning herself—was it really worth it?

As long as she turned a blind eye, they could coexist peacefully!

But was it really worth it?

Samuel's instigation and Scarlett's complicity—no, not complicity; she was a knife in Rick's hand…

Rita sighed deeply, suppressing the heat in her eyes.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Her hatred lingered; she couldn't achieve reconciliation.

She tossed the **[Cross]** into the rice cooker, and soon, a thick layer of fragrant, pearl-like rice emerged.

**[Stardust]**: Magical rice, only the royalty of the 12 Holy Races and the lord of a city are qualified to consume it. Long-term consumption can strengthen your most outstanding talent.

Since acquiring the **[Cross]**, she had been using it to make staple foods daily. The rice produced was unlike anything she had seen before, with varieties from different races, and **[Stardust]** appeared most frequently—likely the most common, considering the rice was obtained from various palaces.

Naturally, the royal families and city lords of all races would consume **[Stardust]**, so its drop rate was naturally the highest.

Unfortunately, there was no specific data; how long is "long-term"? What exactly is "most outstanding talent"? How much stronger can it get? It was like the health product ads on Blue Star.

How long until it takes effect? Uncertain, but the effect is as stated; if it doesn't work, it means you didn't persist.

Sometimes when Rita didn't want to eat rice, she would save the other rice, but whenever **[Stardust]** appeared, she would finish it all that day.

Unfortunately, perhaps due to her lack of culinary skills, even the dishes made with **[Stardust]** couldn't reach a score of 95.

Your next read awaits at empire

Where did Rick learn his cooking skills in his past life?

Could he truly be the innate gifted son-in-law? Did he possess all the talents a good wife should have?