Sophia turned and walked back inside.

Moments later, she returned holding a small brown medicine bottle.

"One pill a day." She handed the bottle to Victoria. "Once you deliver the money to Jack's family and kneel at his grave for three full days and nights, I'll give you the antidote."

Victoria snatched the bottle and swallowed a pill.

Within minutes, the itching on her face subsided.

Her arrogance returned instantly. "Fifty million is too much. How about five? And three days is excessive—half a day should suffice. My father was your mentor. He can surely concoct the antidote."

Sophia smiled faintly. "You can wait three days. But then the price will double to a hundred million. And the kneeling period will extend to six days."

"You—!" Victoria's face twisted. "I'll report you for assault!"

"There's surveillance at the spa entrance," Sophia said calmly. "You struck first. I acted in self-defense. These are my terms. Choose wisely."

Victoria stormed off.

"Oh," Sophia called after her, "that bottle for Victor? I made that too. He sought my mentor's help—useless. In the end, he still crawled back to me. He could afford to wait. Your face can't."

She enunciated her final words with chilling clarity: "It. Will. Rot. Away."

Victoria faltered mid-step before quickening her pace.

Outside the gated community, she immediately called Vincent. "Father, can you prepare the antidote in three days?"

Coughs crackled through the line. "Difficult. Sophia used rare ingredients—some I've never encountered."

"She was your student!" Victoria seethed. "How can you fail?"

"She was always exceptionally gifted," Vincent sighed. "Three days is impossible."

Victoria stamped her foot in frustration.

Paying fifty million felt like carving flesh from bone.

Kneeling for three days was worse than death.

But faced with the looming threat of doubled terms, she gritted her teeth and turned back.

Consider it disaster relief money, she thought bitterly.

Her mind seethed with venomous curses for Sophia.

Returning to Sophia's doorstep, Victoria shouted at the window, "I accept!"

Sophia pushed the window open. "Deliver the money to Jack's family—you have their number. Then kneel for three days. I'll have someone watching."

"You won't cheat me?" Victoria eyed her suspiciously.

Sophia scoffed. "Not everyone shares your morals. Believe what you will."

Victoria gnashed her teeth, powerless.

She wrote the check and sent a bodyguard to Jack's widow.

After tending her wounds, she arrived at Jack's grave with her entourage.

Sophia's envoy was already waiting.

A bodyguard laid out a cushion. "Madam, kneel."

Victoria shot him a glare before reluctantly lowering herself.

If not for the watcher, she'd have sprawled outright.

The pill had dulled the itch, fueling fresh energy for silent curses.

Suddenly, thunder split the clear sky.

Victoria trembled violently.

Jack's tombstone seemed to leer at her—his honest face now grotesque.

She shrieked and tried to flee, but a hand clamped her shoulder.

"Mrs. Valentine," the watcher said coldly, "three days means three. Not a minute less."

Torrential rain poured.

By the time her umbrella arrived, Victoria was drenched.

The mountain night loomed eerie and grim.

Rustling leaves made her shiver uncontrollably.

As if Jack might claw from his grave any moment.

Never had she hated anyone so deeply.

Meanwhile, the object of her hatred stood frozen before her phone.

Her account had just received an unexpected deposit.

One hundred million.

US dollars.

An international wire, labeled as a donation.

The bank refused to disclose the sender.

This mysterious fortune left Sophia utterly bewildered.