This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita understood now. That skill did indeed affect mind-reading, reducing the damage by 30%, which made the thoughts harder to read clearly. But even a few leaked key words could still be dangerous at times.

Rita wasn't ready to give up yet. "Can you try guiding my thoughts?"

MightySocks, eager to get this over with and send this person away, reluctantly focused her thoughts: *"MightySocks has it rough. I should ease up on her."*

Suddenly, Rita's mind was flooded with the thought: *MightySocks really does have it tough... Maybe I should let it go.*

If Rita hadn't been prepared for this, she wouldn't have doubted that this thought was her own. Even with her passive skill reducing the damage, it didn't seem to weaken this particular ability.

Wait—wasn't this a form of mind control? Or was her resistance still not high enough? Rita made a mental note to—*No, stop! Think about this at home.*

She shook off the thought, got to the point, and said, "You can stop now. We're even after yesterday."

MightySocks sighed with relief. The reason she had agreed to follow Rita's requests was because she sensed that Rita wasn't ruthless. She wasn't one of those maniacs who would kill you the moment you crossed a line. As long as they could talk it out, they could settle things. If Rita said they were even, then they were.

Plus, Brooks knew using her mind-reading ability uninvited had been out of line—though she'd still do it again.

Rita continued, "Is this place secure for a conversation?"

MightySocks took out a lollipop and stuck it in the middle of the table. "It's safe now. Only someone who touches the table can hear anything within a meter of it."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Rita recognized the lollipop from her previous life. She quickly used her *Insight* skill again to verify its effect. Sure enough, it was exactly as Brooks said. Satisfied, she began, "I have some free information about the Lopez family's eldest daughter. You can sell it to anyone—the White family, the Lee family, whoever.

But you must sell it to someone in the Lopez family, whether it's Matthew, Mateo, or Theodore."

Brooks wasn't so easily fooled. She wagged a finger at Rita. "You're just using me to do your dirty work because you can't expose yourself. That costs extra."

Rita wasn't surprised. She knew from the start that Brooks was shrewd. "Is information about the Lopez family's eldest daughter worth nothing?"

Brooks shook her head. "That's a separate issue. I can pay for your information, but you wanting me to pass it along is an additional service."

Rita had originally planned to reveal only that Zoey was using her Divine Gift as payment to cooperate with the Special Affairs Bureau. Zoey couldn't hide that for long anyway, so Rita was willing to spill it early. But since Brooks wanted to play hardball, Rita decided she might as well make money off Zoey's abilities. "In that case, you might owe me instead.

This information involves the eldest daughter's Divine Gift."

Before Brooks could respond, Rita added, "By the way, can you still tell if I'm rich or poor, how much money I have?"

MightySocks finally broke. "Granny! Do you know what color my underwear is too?!"

Rita quickly waved her hands. "Granny doesn't know and isn't interested. Don't slander me!"

MightySocks took a deep breath, closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she reopened them with a smile. "Granny, let's talk business. What's the level of this Divine Gift, and how detailed is the information? If it's B-rank or below, we'll stick to our original deal—you give me the info for free, and I'll handle your task. If it's B-rank or above, I'll pay you and help you."

Rita leaned in, intrigued. "I only know the rank of her Divine Gift and one of its skills. The info isn't too detailed. How much are you willing to pay?"

Brooks' eyes widened slightly. This meant the Divine Gift was at least B-rank. "Three gold for B-rank, seven gold for A-rank, and fifteen gold if it's S-rank. Since you only know one skill and it's not that detailed, I'd pay more if you had more comprehensive information."

Rita didn't hesitate. "She has an S-rank Divine Gift. One of her skills can increase someone's attributes, but it has a cooldown that's not yet clear. Recently, she's been using this skill to barter with the Special Affairs Bureau, not only to gain access to their training camp but also to enlist their help in contracting that popular dragon everyone's talking about on the forums."

Using her *Hopeful Hymn* as leverage to get the Special Affairs Bureau to help her with the dragon, as well as gaining professional training from their experts—either of these alone would have made the Lopez family uneasy. But with both happening in succession, it sent an unmistakable message: Zoey was prioritizing her personal development over the family's.

Would the Lopez family be okay with Zoey using her S-rank Divine Gift to trade for outside resources? Stay connected with empire

The answer was obvious: no.

To the Lopez family, Zoey could compete with her siblings, throw tantrums, and even take whatever she wanted from the family treasury. But her most valuable asset—her S-rank Gift—was not hers to use for personal gain. It belonged to the family.

Why did Rita understand this so well? Because in her previous life, when the news broke that Zoey's high-level healing skill could restore lost limbs, everyone had been gathered at the Wilson family estate. Zoey had joked that her skill wasn't meant for just any cat or dog.

Yet, before the meal was over, the Lopez family had made an official announcement on Zoey's behalf, telling anyone interested in collaborating with her to contact the family patriarch.

The look on Zoey's face at that moment had been chilling, and for the first time, Rita had felt a bit sorry for her.

"Zoey's everything belongs to the Lopez family, and everything about her is decided by the family patriarch." For someone like Zoey, that approach was an outright insult to her dignity.

Not long after, Theodore was dead.

Rita wouldn't have connected the two events in her previous life, but with everything she had learned this time around, she couldn't help but wonder if there was more to the story. Perhaps things weren't as simple as they had seemed. She realized now how shallow her understanding had been before.

This move wasn't entirely secure—Rita figured she had about a 90% chance of success.

But if it worked, it could spark a major conflict between Zoey and the Lopez family. And most likely, Zoey, who was still at a disadvantage, would be the one forced to back down.

What if it failed? Well, there were always other ways to stir the pot.

Rita pocketed the twelve gold coins Brooks handed her and stood up to leave. But before she could step away, Brooks stopped her. "Want to add me as a friend?"

Rita was baffled. "Why did I bother turning into a cat and pretending to be an old lady if we're just going to be friends?"

Brooks sighed. "...Ok. I'm fine."

Rita smirked. "Then good."

With that, she turned and left. She needed to get home and sleep. If she didn't go to bed early, she'd end up messing up the sleep schedule she had just fixed.

Honestly, she couldn't understand why MightySocks had to do all this dangerous business at night. Why not work a normal daytime shift?