No one said rose was the only flower allowed in the garden, so I chose to be an oleander, foul-smelling and poisonous.

I no longer sought shelter from the rain; I became the storm.

From that day on, I stopped living by the rules as I did in my previous life.

When the teacher asked us to pay the classroom fund, I told her outright I had no money and wouldn’t be joining any class activities.

She had no choice but to call my father for the payment.

That evening, my father sat in his study, his gaze stern as he asked, “Why didn’t you pay for the class fund?”

I answered honestly, “Because I didn’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Because paying it would leave me with no money. I can save that money to buy dinner rolls.

“You said this was called increasing revenue by cutting expenses, or saving from your own pocket. I think it’s a good idea. Worst comes to worst, I just sit out of the class activities.”

When the school required us to buy workbooks, I bullied the classmates who had bullied me in my past life and took theirs.

In this life, they hadn’t yet formed a clique to bully me, so I struck first, bullying them and cutting off every possible path.

Soon, the parents of those bruised and battered students complained to the school, and the school had no choice but to summon my father.

The one who came, however, was the nanny.

At the school gate, the nanny who had been so arrogant in my past life still bore a haughty attitude.

“Nadia, I’m here on behalf of Mr. Stone. I’m your “mother” now, so don’t get it wrong later.”

I stared at her calmly, speaking with a childish candor. “But you’re not my mom. She’s gone. Are you my father’s new wife?”

The nanny gasped, quickly covering my mouth as she whispered, “What nonsense are you spouting!”

I struggled to pry her hand away. “You’re always tattling to my father. I hate you!

“When I’m in charge one day, I’ll kick you out of the house! I’ll make sure your whole family starves, forcing you to dig through garbage and eat like rats!

“That stingy madam before? I stabbed her, and the police couldn’t do anything to me. When I’ve saved enough money, I’ll buy a longer knife and stab you the same number of times I stabbed her!”

Terrified by my childlike bluntness, the nanny obediently helped smooth the bullying incident at school for me, and handed in her resignation to my father that very night.

Although my father realized his strict parenting might have backfired, my father showed no intention of changing his tactics.

After all, just because one woman couldn’t carry his child anymore didn’t mean another couldn’t.

So I decided to pull off a big heist.

…

With reckless abandon, I extorted large sums from the boys who had bullied me in my past life. I also forced several girls who had tormented me before to take nude photos of themselves with their smartwatches and sell those images to pedophile websites.

With the money, I bought two bottles of gasoline and set fire to the principal’s office.

The two school buildings were donated by my parents back in the day, so the principal naturally knew who I was.

The impact of the incident, however, was too massive for him to cover up. He called my father to explain the gravity of the situation.

The trouble this time was so severe that my father was nearly driven mad with rage. He sent people straight to the school to drag me home.

“Did I send you to school to cause trouble? Can’t you spare me the headaches?

“First, you bullied your classmates, and now, you set the principal’s office on fire. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”

In the study, my father was beside himself with fury, his gaze fixed on me as if I were a living embodiment of catastrophe.

“Nadia Stone, do you think that just because you’re my daughter, I can’t do anything to you?”

“You’re this young and already starting fires? Keep this up, and you’ll be saying hello to delicious prison meals!”

I looked utterly aggrieved but held my head high, refusing to apologize.

“I did nothing wrong. I was just making money. What’s so wrong with that?”

He exploded with rage, cursing immediately, “Making money? Is this how you f*cking make money?

“You set the principal’s office on fire and still claim you did nothing wrong?”

I remained stubborn. “I did nothing wrong. But if you want to punish me, I’ll take it.”

“You burned the principal’s office. And that’s still not wrong?”

“Yes, I did that. But I did it to make more money.”

My father’s eyelid twitched, and a sudden sense of dread crept in.

“Pray tell. What does making money have to do with burning down the principal’s office?”

“Dad, if you were in business and did something others wanted to do but were too afraid to, what would happen?”

He jolted upright from his chair, his gaze locking onto mine.

“Who taught you this?”

“Did you forget? You taught me.

“You said that to make others respect you, you have to do something that scares them. That way, they’ll fear me. The best way to make others obey is to make them afraid of you.

“So I burned down the principal’s office. Now every student in the school knows who’s the most powerful here. If I dare to burn the principal’s office, then dealing with them is a piece of cake.”

If an adult committed such radical acts, they’d either be branded a psychopath or locked up in a mental institution.

When such extremity appeared in a seven-year-old girl, though, no one would think the child was troubled. Everyone assumed the problem lay with the child’s upbringing.

When a child became a problem, the child would be the least of a problem among her entire family.

Mr. Stone, who dominated the business world, was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of helplessness and slumped back into his chair.

“What’s next then? You’ve burned down the principal’s office. What do you plan to do now?”

My face radiated with absolute confidence as I said, “Start collecting money, of course.

“Tomorrow onward, everyone in the school pays me a dollar. It doesn’t sound like much, but there are over five hundred students. That’s five hundred dollars a day! No more rummaging through trash bins, no more selling scraps!

“Anyone who doesn’t pay, gets beaten. Any class that doesn’t pay, gets burned down. And if anyone tries to defy me…”

I pulled out several more switchblades from my backpack.

“I’ll stab their parents after school. Whenever they pay, I’ll let them go.

“I’m a minor anyway. There’s a law protecting minors. I bet the law won’t dare stab me back.”

I looked at my father’s ashen face and smiled as if seeking praise.

“Tonight after school, a brawl at the gate, parents dying. Doesn’t that sound delightful?

“Keep track of who paid and who didn’t. Those who paid are on our side. Everyone else… stab them all!”