After her rebirth by Cici

Chapter 85

Katniss rolled her eyes a bit. "Maximilian, if we gotta go through this, can we talk to my Uncle Wesley about the engagement? If my parents find out I'm marrying you, they'll try to squeeze money out of you." Maximilian stayed calm and added some food to Katniss's plate. "If they want to blackmail me, let them try. Now, stop being so picky. Where'd you pick up these bad habits?" Katniss opened her mouth to argue but just muttered, "Okay," and stared at the food.

She was almost 20, and if you counted her past life, she was pushing 60. Yet here she was, getting a lecture about being picky with food. Couldn't she just eat what she wanted? Wasn't that one of life's few pleasures? Suddenly, the phone on the table buzzed. Looking for an escape, Katniss grabbed it to check the screen. It was that unknown number again.

"A quick snap, sharing today's good mood with you," it said, with a picture of a city park attached.

How ridiculous. In 2004, phones with cameras were just becoming a thing. Was Ramon showing off that his phone could take pictures? Big deal.

By today's standards, it was indeed something to brag about. Her phone could only make calls, send texts, browse the news, and didn't even have a camera, let alone games.

As someone who'd seen the internet age explode, this kind of showing off was just embarrassing. She deleted the message without a second thought.

"What's up?" Maximilian asked.

"Nothing, just spam," Katniss replied lazily.

But it reminded her of Kieran. Saskia's son was born in winter 2005, and now it was early December. She had maybe two or three months to let Saskia know Kieran's true colors. Thinking of this, Katniss turned to look at Maximilian. She didn't say anything, but her big, watery eyes were full of a silent plea.

his hands with a handkerchief. "Go ahead, what's

that even before they were married, she was already starting to trouble Maximilian. She wondered if

people and was always afraid of being a nuisance, probably a leftover trauma from her

1:20 now. I gotta leave by 1:30," Maximilian said, rolling up his sleeve to

"Maximilian, can I

"Don't worry, it's nothing illegal. Remember my cousin-in-law Kieran? I think he's cheating, but I have no proof. I want them

"Are you and your cousin

I was a mess. My parents and classmates all looked down on me, so I became

teacher. Pretty smart

family actually treated her like she

matchmaker, setting up the girl Micah liked with Dylan to win his favor, Micah still cared for her deep down. He'd scold her

to be Saskia and Micah's sister, rather than being

like she was recalling some distant memory, calm and composed, like

Mira said, placing a plate of

piece and found

mess up your relationship with your cousin." With Maximilian's reminder, Katniss got what he was worried about,

think I'm that dumb? Once I get the evidence, I'll send it to Saskia anonymously and then nudge things along

out. Kieran's cheating was a private and embarrassing matter for Saskia, and the fewer people who knew,