Reborn to Ruin the Scumbag Who Made Me His Second Wife

After the vows, just as we were supposed to head to the bridal chamber,

Henry Cox pressed a cup of tea into my hands and told me to kneel and serve it to his widowed sister-in-law.

"My brother passed too young and left Mavis behind, so I've decided to carry on both households and look after her in his place."

"Mavis and I have a marriage certificate, but as long as you love and respect your elder sister here, you're just as much my wife. No first, no second."

I refused.

His sister-in-law swore to me on the spot that it wasn't real.

"If Henry doesn't take on both households, my parents will drag me off and marry me to some old bachelor."

My mother-in-law raised her hand to heaven and swore I was overthinking it.

"Carrying on both households just means giving your sister-in-law a roof and a meal. She'd never come between the two of you."

I believed them. I really thought it was only a stopgap.

So, half unwilling and half pushed into it, I knelt and served the tea.

I thought I was just taking on one more "mother" to support.

But less than six months into the marriage, his sister-in-law's belly was swelling.

When I demanded an answer, Henry Cox and his sister-in-law rolled their eyes at me.

"You're the one who knelt at the wedding and served her tea and called her elder sister. Bit late to take it back now."

"We're the ones with the certificate, the legal married couple. What say does a woman with no name, no standing, have in this?"

I was so furious I rushed at them to have it out.

And Henry Cox shoved me into the rushing river and the current swept me away...

When I opened my eyes again,

I smashed the tea Henry Cox had handed me to pieces and swung my hand back across his face.

"Carry on both households, don't carry on both households. All I know is the marriage law says one husband, one wife."

……

I put every ounce of strength into that slap. Henry Cox never imagined that a woman about to kneel would suddenly fight back, so it caught him completely stunned.

"You hit me?"

"Today is our wedding day, and you actually—"

I let out a cold laugh and cut him off with another slap.

"So you do know today is our wedding day?"

"Back when you told me I was marrying into a good life, then had me finish the vows only to tell me I was here to be a concubine, why didn't you mention it was our wedding day then?"

Henry Cox's head was ringing. He badly wanted to hit back, but I still hadn't served the tea, so he gritted his teeth and kept talking.

"Look at the state of you. If I'd told you sooner, would you ever have agreed to marry me? I acted first and explained after because you forced me to!"

"And we explained it clearly. If I don't carry on both households, her own parents will destroy her."

"You're a woman too. Can't you show a little sympathy?"

I rolled my eyes.

"So you knew all along that if you'd told me sooner I'd never agree, which is exactly why you waited until the wedding was done to force me to bow my head."

"You schemed against me like that, and I'm not stupid enough to just go along with it. I won't serve this tea, and I won't stay in this marriage."

Henry Cox sputtered a few outraged how-dare-yous.

My mother-in-law, Stella Finch, spun in circles, frantic.

"We're talking to you about filial duty, about the obedience and compassion a woman ought to have, and you throw the marriage law at us? What is that supposed to mean?"

"And we've all promised you it isn't real. You can't even give your sister-in-law a roof and a meal?"

Mavis Cobb, who had been sitting so serenely in the seat of honor, could no longer keep up the peaceful act either.

She walked over to me, holding the tea, and dropped straight to her knees, staring right at me.

"Beth Harding, I'll be the second wife. Please?"

"I only ask you to keep me. From now on I'll do all the dirty, backbreaking work in this house, and I swear there'll be nothing real between me and Henry."

"For the sake of how good I was to you in the past, give me a way to live. Please?"