At that moment, I rushed forward, kicked Layla away, and tightly held my daughter in my arms.

My daughter had been trembling all this time, but seeing me, she couldn't hold back her sobs and started crying uncontrollably.

"Mom... I'm so scared..."

"It's okay, Mommy's here."

I hugged her tightly, comforting her with all my heart.

At the same time, I felt incredibly relieved. Thank goodness...

Heaven gave me this chance, so I could still see my daughter again and protect her before anything worse happened.

I suddenly kicked Layla to the ground, catching her off guard. Her head hit the school's iron gate, and it took her a while to get up.

"You bitch! How dare you hit me..."

She gritted her teeth, her face full of rage, as if she was about to strike back.

I could feel my daughter's small body trembling, which showed just how terrified she had been moments before.

I shielded her behind me, not backing down at all as I faced Layla.

"Go ahead and try hitting me back.

"The cameras are watching. If you dare hurt me today, I have plenty of ways to make you pay until you're bankrupt."

Hearing the threat of losing money, Layla hesitated, forcing herself to back off, but she still spat out.

"No wonder you raised a little slut like her. I guess you're no better, huh?

"Your daughter gave my son a filthy disease. Tell me, how do you plan to settle this?"

Layla dragged her son over, pulling up his shirt to show the red marks on his skin to everyone around.

Those were bites from pubic lice.

"My daughter keeps herself very clean. Don't project your dirty thoughts onto her!"

I smirked coldly.

"Who knows, maybe you're the one who gave it to him...

"And now you want to blame my daughter for it?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Layla was furious.

I scoffed. "Is it nonsense? You know better than I do. If I'm not mistaken, you're a single mom...

"And from what I've heard, you've been quite friendly with several dads in our class."

As soon as I said that, a few of the fathers nearby started looking a bit uncomfortable.

Layla had been widowed years ago, and loneliness had gotten the better of her. Every time there was a parent-teacher meeting, she would chat up other students' dads...

"Don't you dare slander me! I'm completely innocent!"

Layla's face looked terrible, though she didn't seem guilty.

I smiled. "If you're so innocent, why don't you come with me to the hospital for a check-up?

"Let's see if it's really you who passed the pubic lice to your son, dragging my daughter into this mess!"

"Why should I..." Layla was not about to fall for it.

I raised my voice, cutting her off.

"If it turns out it wasn't you, I'll bow before you and apologize in public, and I'll compensate you and your son for everything.

"So, what do you say? Do you dare?"

I stared at Layla, challenging her.

I had shown enough sincerity. If she refused now, it would only make her look more guilty.

"If you have nothing to hide, this is a risk-free deal! Why not take it?"

"Exactly! Let's go to the hospital for a check-up right now. We'll go with you, just to make sure she doesn't weasel out of it!"

The other parents began to chime in, egging her on.

I watched as Layla's face grew paler and paler, a hint of amusement in my smile.

"Come on, it's such a great opportunity. You don't want to miss it, do you?"

"I-I don't have time for this..."

Just as Layla was about to storm off, a figure approached from a distance.

"What's going on here?"

It was my husband.

He walked over, took a look around, and finally frowned in disapproval as he scolded me.

"School's out, and instead of taking our daughter home, you're standing here, picking on another parent? What's the meaning of this?"

Hearing his words, Layla immediately regained her confidence and grabbed his arm.

"You're just in time!

"Your daughter has infected my son with a filthy disease! And not only did your wife not handle it, but she also turned around and bullied us instead!

"You need to give me an explanation for this!"

My husband's face grew even darker, and he turned to pull our daughter from behind me.

"You little brat, what kind of shameful thing have you done behind our backs!?"

My daughter has always been afraid of him, and at his words, her eyes welled up with tears as she shook her head, trembling.

"I didn't..."

Terrified, my daughter clung tightly to me.

I slapped away his hand as it reached for her, my expression growing cold.

It was only then that my husband seemed to remember my presence.

"And you! How can you still have the nerve to trouble others after what you've done? Hurry up and apologize!"

"Oh, I don't deserve such treatment..."

Layla raised her chin, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"I should already be grateful that she didn't slap me on the spot.

"How could I even dare expect an apology?"

Narrowing my eyes at her smug face, I slapped her hard across the face.

"Since you want to be hit so badly, I'll oblige."

"Ahh."

Layla wasn't prepared, and her face swelled up from the slap.

After recovering, she went crazy, looking as if she wanted to rush over and kill me.

My husband was shocked too. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"You're the one who's lost it!"

I turned, glaring at him coldly.

"What? You just believe whatever others say? If she claims it was our daughter who spread the disease, you believe it?

"And when our daughter says she didn't, didn't you hear that?"

Having lived this life again, I now only felt disgust and hatred toward this man I'd been married to for over ten years.

How ridiculous.

Last time, I came too late. No one was there to help my daughter...

So, from start to finish, this so-called 'father' never showed up even once.

But this time, with Layla at a disadvantage, he rushed right over.

"Well... it's not like someone would accuse our daughter out of nowhere for no reason!"

My husband hesitated for a moment before retorting.

"Why not? How do you know she's not the one who's sick, spreading it around and trying to frame our daughter for it?"

I paused, then stepped closer, pressing him further.

"Or, have you gone to her house and confirmed it yourself?"

The method to confirm a dirty disease... wouldn't exactly be clean.

My words were met with a few low chuckles from the crowd around us.

My husband's expression faltered, and he averted his gaze, clearly feeling guilty.

Because he had.

Those lice he had picked up from fooling around with Layla who knows which of them gave it to the other.

He knew exactly what had happened, yet to please Layla, he tortured our daughter like she was some kind of animal...

Poor me, only finding out the truth after my death in the last life.

My husband started to get angry.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"If that's not the case, then why are you siding with an outsider?" I stared at him, deliberately emphasizing the word 'outsider.'

My husband hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice.

"I'm just trying to avoid making a big scene...

"Our daughter just started her first year of college; she's got four more years with them... If things get too tense, it won't be good."

I laughed coldly. "So just stand by and watch our daughter get beaten to death? That's better?"