An idea occurred to me. I let go of Leonard's collar and pretended to be weak.

"Please don't be angry, honey. I'm just too upset knowing that I have cancer. Once someone contracts this illness, they won't have long to live. I'm only in my 20s and haven't borne you a child yet, honey, so I still can't bear to die," I said distressedly.

Leonard sat far away, visibly afraid, but the key points of my story had still gotten through to him.

"How much longer can you live?" he asked.

I replied in a choked voice, "Two… Two months at most."

Leonard and Cynthia could hardly hide the joy in their eyes upon hearing this. They forgot all about their fear of having the stuffing beaten out of them by me just now, their minds filled with the desire for money.

"It's alright, honey. I don't blame you for it. Don't be sad! You'll get better as long as you're in a good mental state! You'll surely live for years to come!"

Years to come? He and Cynthia probably couldn't wait for me to drop dead days from now.

I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Leonard and instead turned to look at Amanda. "Why are you cooking today, Amanda? And you made so much delicious food too."

In response, Amanda took my hand in hers and feigned wiping away tears.

She lamented with a sigh, "Well, I just saw you working so hard, and… How could a great young woman like you just… How could…"

She trailed off with another sigh.

Cynthia interjected, "Alright, Mom. That's enough. The food's getting cold. You can't possibly let Victoria eat cold food before her death, right?"

She then sat down eagerly at the table and stuffed a huge piece of fried chicken into her mouth.

Well, well. She wasn't even considering an outcome where I'd be alive, was she?

I suppressed a smile and lowered my voice. "That's right. Let's dig in first and not talk about unhappy things for now, Amanda."

Forget Cynthia, because even I was finding it hard to restrain myself.

Chili con carne, black pepper chicken chop, spicy grilled chicken kebab, rindswurst, spicy smoked beef brisket, spicy shredded beef…

There were simply too many delicious dishes on the table to count, but there was nothing among them that wasn't either spicy or greasy.

Of course, such a spread was also basically an express ticket to hell for patients with cervical cancer.

However, I could tell these were all ordered via takeout at a glance.

Ever since I married into the Ziegler family, Amanda had never once set foot inside the kitchen.

It looked like Amanda had not only done her due research despite her presbyopia but also invested a lot of money into hastening my death.

Although Cynthia was only 18 years old, she weighed a full 200 pounds. She had a very good appetite and especially favored greasy, spicy food. She ate roughly 10 pounds' worth of spicy pulled pork in record time.

She ate faster than I could put more meat on her plate.

In the past, I did my absolute best to control her food intake and customize diet plans for her.

I didn't expect her to end up hating me for it instead. She would complain about me to Leonard for every little thing.

As she chewed her food, she would shake her head like a dog shaking a chew toy.

Seeing that Cynthia was about to gobble up the entire spicy spread she'd specially prepared for me, Amanda finally couldn't hold herself back from speaking up.

"Control yourself, Cynthia Ziegler! That's the spicy pulled pork I made for your sister-in-law!"

Leonard nudged Cynthia with his elbow as well.

It was only then that Cynthia seemed to come back to her senses and smile wolfishly.

"Yes, that's right! Eat up, Victoria! The dishes Mom made are delicious!" she exclaimed before she'd even finished swallowing her mouthful of pulled pork.

I pretended to take a bite of chicken chop before spooning another large piece of meat onto her plate. "It's alright. You're still growing, Cinny, so it's only right that you eat more."

I then addressed Amanda. "The food you made is delicious, Mrs. Ziegler. Cinny loves it, and so do I. Alas, how could I be so unlucky as to get to taste your cooking only after I'm about to die?"

My eyes were red with unshed tears, my acting skills on full display.

Amanda actually forced out a few tears and said in a choked voice, "Don't worry, Vicky. I'll definitely cook you a few more delicious meals before you die."

I didn't know whether my acting had actually moved her or if it was just because it had occurred to her that I was soon going to die.

Now that I'd manipulated the atmosphere to my liking, I went into Amanda's room and brought out the imported wine she'd been hoarding for years.

Leonard became upset the moment he saw me with the bottle of imported wine and yelled, "What do you think you're doing, Victoria Sausby? That's a memento my father left behind!"

A memento, he said?

How thorough a person Graham must have been to have left behind a memento five years ago, despite dying 18 years ago.

This bottle of wine had clearly been given to the Zieglers by a friend of mine back when I first married Leonard.

Who knew how many of my possessions Amanda had secreted away over all these years?

In the beginning, I hadn't held it over her out of consideration for the fact that we were family. However, now that every one of them was wishing for my death, I wasn't going to play nice anymore.

I raised an eyebrow before saying with tears in my eyes, "But Mrs. Ziegler made me so much delicious food and said such touching words to me. Moreover, I'm already about to die, so what's wrong with me having a drink with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law?"

Leonard was momentarily at a loss for words. He hadn't expected me, who was usually so meek and obedient, to talk back to him, the so-called head of the family.

"That's right! Victoria's just showing Mom her respect and gratitude. Now that she's ill, Victoria won't be able to drink wine in the future, so let's just let her drink to her heart's content today! We're not stopping until we're drunk!" Cynthia declared boldly, putting extra emphasis on the word "ill".

Amanda's gloomy, awkward expression was abruptly replaced with a smile at Cynthia's words.

She graciously poured me a glass of wine immediately.

At the end of the day, she was getting along in age, so it didn't take more than a few glasses for her to become so tipsy she couldn't hold her cutlery properly.

Leonard was even more of a lightweight. He had his face pressed against the table after just two glasses of wine.

Cynthia was the only one left drinking with me.

She was still young, after all, so she started to feel nauseous after a few glasses.

I instantly thought of the research I'd done this afternoon on the adverse effects alcohol would have on patients with cervical cancer.

I quickly drew upon my lifetime's worth of acting skills and started pretending to be sick.

In order to look even more nauseous than Cynthia, I desperately pinched my thighs under the table, causing tears to stream down my face.

Cynthia's pale face was covered in cold sweat. Yet, when she saw my severe reaction, she immediately pushed away Amanda, who was attempting to soothe her.

"I'm alright, Mom. I'm fine. Hurry up and pour Victoria another glass of wine to help with her nausea," she said insistently.

Due to how immersed I was in my performance, I was genuinely starting to experience acid reflux.

I covered my mouth, ran into the toilet, and closed the door. Then, I started vomiting profusely.

While I was at it, I grabbed some of the red-colored disinfectant next to the toilet seat and poured some into the pool of vomit.

The smell of my vomit covered up the smell of the few drops of disinfectant very well, so it seemed no different from actual blood.

After a while, Amanda and Cynthia knocked on the toilet door. They were barely able to conceal the joy in their voices.

"Are you alright, Victoria? Open the door and let us in to take care of you," said Cynthia.

I hesitantly opened the door, then leaned against the doorframe in a show of weakness. "It's a terrible mess, Mrs. Ziegler. I haven't finished cleaning it up yet."

The moment Amanda heard that I wasn't done with cleaning, she pushed me aside and rushed into the toilet.

She and Cynthia leaned their heads together over the toilet, studying the vomit in it.

They looked so hilarious that I almost broke character.

After they'd both nodded in satisfaction and exchanged confident glances, I hurriedly schooled my own expression and asked weakly, "Are we still drinking?"

"Of course we are! Didn't we agree not to stop until we're all drunk?"

Cynthia and Amanda herded me back to the dining table, each holding one of my arms.

"Listen to me, Vicky—the hospital doctors are all frauds. They're all lying when they say that cancer can be cured with early and active treatment. It was also the hospital that caused your father-in-law's death back then," Amanda said strongly.

She lifted her hand to wipe away her tears, but her hand remained completely dry.

Raising her glass to me, Cynthia said in a breathless rush, "Exactly. Mom is… right, Vicky. Just… listen to Mom."

I couldn't help but scoff and ask, "Hey, Mrs. Ziegler. If it were Cinny who had cancer, would we also not seek treatment for her?"

Leonard had snapped out of his drunken stupor at some point and just so happened to overhear our conversation. He barked, "Have we been too lenient with you, Victoria? What nonsense are you spouting? What are you saying about us not seeking treatment for Cynthia if she's the one with cancer? How dare you curse my younger sister when you're about to die!"

He slapped me before I could react.

I cupped my cheek and stared straight at him.

How utterly shameless.

He ate and drank on my money, yet when things came down to it, the Zieglers' lives were worth saving while mine wasn't?

"Fine! Since you think of me that way, I might as well not be a burden on you or the Ziegler family any longer, Leonard Ziegler! Let's get divorced!" I yelled.

Amanda and Cynthia were both frightened out of their tipsiness at this. They blurted in unison, "We won't seek treatment! No matter who gets diagnosed with cancer within our family, we won't seek treatment for them!"