Back to the Banquet

I knew perfectly well that people from the Emirates do not eat pork.

Yet this time, I watched in silence as my husband's childhood sweetheart insisted on placing a pork dish on the table. In fact, I even supported her decision.

In my past life, when our company hosted a welcome banquet for powerful investors from the Emirates, she had been desperate to flaunt her cooking. Against all reason, she forced a pork dish onto the menu.

I stopped her then. I explained that pork was forbidden by religious belief, and that offending the investors could cost us everything. If they withdrew their funding, the company's finances would collapse overnight.

She took my warning as jealousy. In a fit of rage, she ran out of the banquet hall and was struck by a car, leaving her in a permanent vegetative state.

I thought my husband would break down. Instead, he remained calm, stayed through the dinner, and secured the investment in surprisingly calmness.

The truth revealed itself later. After the company went public, he brought me abroad under the guise of business, only to drag me onto a medical ship in international waters.

As my kidney was cut from my body, I cried and asked him why.

His answer came with a slap.

"If you hadn't been jealous back then... If you hadn't tried to sabotage her, she wouldn't have ended up like that."

I died in agony on the operating table.

After my death, he used the money from selling my organs to cure his beloved childhood sweetheart, and the two of them went on to live rich, comfortable lives together.

And then I opened my eyes again, back to the very day she decided to serve pork to the clients.

Emily Larson's shrill voice echoed through the banquet hall.

"This meatball dish is something I paid a fortune to learn from a master chef at a five-star hotel. It's a perfect harmony between meat and vegetables. The broth is rich and fragrant, and its plating exquisite. How could the clients possibly be unhappy?"

Hearing that familiar voice of my nemesis, I snapped fully awake and realized that I had been reborn.

Her voice drew the other colleagues, who quickly gathered around.

Emily's eyes instantly reddened, her tone filled with grievance.

"Everyone, please judge for yourselves. I paid out of my own pocket and spent a lot of money learning this cooking just to entertain our guests properly, but Ms. Hardings refuses to let me do it. I only want to make the clients happy. How is that wrong?"

She turned to me and continued, "I know you've always been jealous and held a grudge because I grew up with Kenneth, but that's all in the past. You're his wife now. I'm just a humble intern hoping to pass my probation and get a permanent position. Can't you just be merciful to me?"

The looks my colleagues gave me immediately turned hostile, and they–one after another–began criticizing me.

"Ms. Hardings, you're one of the senior executives. Don't tell me you lack even this much tolerance."

"Exactly. We understand that you're being strict with the sales team as it's for the company's performance, but bullying a young woman is a bit much, don't you think?"

My husband, Kenneth Septon, rushed over as well, quickly pulling Emily behind him. He glared at me with clear displeasure.

"Are you done yet? You keep digging up ancient grudges to make things difficult for her every single day. Don't you have anything better to do? At least Emily knows how to worry about me and help me keep the clients happy.

"What about you? Not only are you slacking off, but now you're even trying to sabotage her, too."

Even though I had already prepared myself and knew he would side with her, his attitude still felt like a sharp blade driven straight through my heart.

It was then that my past memories flooded my mind.

...

In my past life, when the company's capital chain was on the verge of collapse, I reached out to a close friend who helped introduce a wealthy investor from the Emirates.

However, at the welcome banquet, Emily insisted on adding a pork dish. I explained to her that the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, explicitly classified pork as an 'unclean' substance and strictly forbade its consumption. It was a rule rooted in religion's extreme emphasis on purity.

Including pork on the menu would be a grave insult to them.

Still, after hearing this, Emily was utterly dismissive.

"You're just jealous that Kenneth and I are close, and you don't want me stealing your spotlight, right? If you don't want me to get a permanent position, just say it. Don't keep stirring up trouble and targeting me every day. Aren't you tired of being so petty?"

Seeing that she refused to listen and with time running out, I did not bother wasting words. I snatched the menu and coordinated with the kitchen.

Emily, with her explosive temper, slammed the door and stormed out, only to be struck by a speeding car. The car crash left her in a vegetative state.

I thought this would devastate Kenneth. Unexpectedly, he calmly chatted with the investors, quickly signed the investment agreement, and the company was saved from the brink of collapse.

Later, after the company went public, he took me abroad for business. Upon arrival, he dragged me straight onto a medical ship in international waters.

He strapped me down to an operating table and ordered my organs to be harvested. Helpless, I could only watch and suffer in pain as they cut into me. The moment my kidney was cut out, I cried and demanded to know why he did this.

He slapped me viciously. "If you hadn't been jealous and deliberately targeted Emily back then, how could she have ended up like that?"

In the end, I died in agony on the operating table.

...

Thinking of the injustice I suffered in my past life, I swore that this scumbag of a man and his shameless mistress would pay the price for what they had done.