Chapter 1

My daughter is a somewhat famous fashion director, but she always looked down on me. She thought I was too "white trash" and ruined her high-class aesthetic.

I used to think she was just joking.

Until one day, she left an important file at home. Worried she'd get in trouble, I skipped lunch and rushed to her office to deliver it.

One of her colleagues saw me and whispered, "Where did that trailer-trash lady come from?"

Because of that single comment, my daughter harbored a deep grudge against me. She screamed at me in front of the entire office.

"You old hag! Can you stop coming out and dragging down my social status? Haven't you embarrassed me enough?!"

I looked down at the only decent sweater I owned. At that moment, I finally saw her for the ungrateful leech she really was.

I turned around, took the bus back to my small country town, but died in a terrible crash on the highway.

When my daughter heard the news, she actually laughed.

"Good. She’s dead. Now I don’t have to look at her tacky country face anymore!"

When I opened my eyes again,

I was back to the day she called me to be her live-in maid.

"Mom, I know you’re totally out of touch with the modern world, but you can still cook and clean my toilets. Catch the earliest bus tomorrow morning. Don’t make me late for work."

The agonizing pain of being crushed by a semi-truck hadn’t even faded yet when my daughter Chloe's sharp, screeching voice rang in my ear.

That was when I realized I had been reborn. I was back to the day she called to demand I become her maid.

The shock of getting a second chance at life kept me silent.

On the other end of the line, Chloe’s voice spiked a few octaves.

"Mom! Are you deaf?! I told you to bring all the organic farm-fresh eggs from the coop. I need to gift them to my boss! And make sure you dress nicely when you get here. Don't embarrass me. I'm a fashion director, remember?"

Chloe’s father and I divorced when she was very young. He didn't want a daughter, so he abandoned us.

I was the one who worked day and night, growing vegetables and raising livestock to pay for her college. I even paid the down payment on her apartment in the city.

Meanwhile, I ruined my own health working myself to the bone, only to end up being despised by her.

In my past life, I always thought it wasn't easy for a young girl to make it in the big city. I tolerated her attitude.

But I never expected her to be so cold-blooded that she would literally laugh at my death.

Thinking of this, my heart turned to ice.

I cut off her endless rambling.

"I’m not coming."

She was stunned. She never expected me, her historically submissive mother, to reject her so bluntly.

"Not coming? You're my mother! Taking care of me is your job!"

"I didn't even complain about how tacky you are, and you’re rejecting me?"

She was lying.

She claimed she didn't mind, but in my past life, the moment I arrived at her apartment, she handed me a list of dozens of house rules.

I wasn’t allowed to go out without her permission. I wasn't allowed to reveal I was her mother in front of outsiders—especially her colleagues. I was forbidden from interfering in her life except for doing her chores.

I looked down at my patched cardigan and spoke coldly.

"Yeah. I don't have a single decent piece of clothing. I don't want to embarrass you. You should hire a fashionable nanny who fits your high standards."

Chloe might be a fashion director, but she spent every penny she earned on luxury goods to show off.

Sometimes she even begged me for money. She had absolutely no budget to hire a professional housekeeper.

That was why she targeted me—the ultimate free labor.

"Mom, what is that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing. I've just worked hard for so many years, and I think it’s time for me to enjoy my own life."

"Like you said, I want to try being trendy too. I want to be a fashionable old lady. Being a maid doesn't suit me anymore."

With that, I hung up.

I didn't feel the worry I expected. Instead, a wave of pure relief washed over me.