The familiar sound of the courtroom bell rang.

"The trial is about to begin. Silence in the courtroom."

The presiding judge struck the gavel, swept a cold gaze over the room, and began reading out the procedure for the trial.

"The plaintiff is Joseph Miller. The defendant is Quin Olson. The charge is ingratitude. For this trial, whoever makes the claim must provide the evidence. Next, four segments of the plaintiff, Joseph Miller's memories, will be shown publicly. The verdict will be decided by a public vote. No party is allowed to withdraw during the trial. Anyone who does will be executed on the spot."

Following the judge's announcement that the court was now in session, the courtroom began to broadcast the first segment of Joseph's memories.

Joseph and I had started a company together.

Back then, the company was just getting off the ground. The two of us were so busy every day that we hardly had time to care for our daughter. Both of our parents happened to be back in their hometowns, too.

I was worried about leaving my daughter at home alone. So, I shoved her into Helly's arms and said, "Aren't you always acting like a saint and looking after my husband? Well, you can take care of my daughter, too. Oh, she can't have any of that cheap formula. Make sure you buy the one that costs one hundred a can."

Helly looked at me, wanting to speak. But in the end, she just nodded tearfully. Meanwhile, I stretched out on the couch, air-conditioning blasting and laughing out loud as I watched the television.

"Helly, go cut me some fruit!"

"Helly, I only eat grapes if they're peeled! Go peel them!"

"Helly! What did you just cook? Redo it!"

I called for Helly nearly every minute, and I would have her redo anything I wasn't satisfied with.

At home, I had Helly. At the office, I had Joseph. I completely stopped caring about anything.

The next day, I texted Joseph, then left for a beach vacation without a second thought.

At the company, Joseph was so busy he barely slept for days.

At home, our daughter cried every day. Helly even had to keep an eye on her while using the bathroom.

One day, while rushing to make some milk using the formula, Helly accidentally poured boiling water over her own hand. Finally, she broke down crying and begged, "Quin! Please come home and check on the baby already! I have too much on my plate! Just come home for a few days. Once I recover, I'll take care of her again, okay?"

I simply sneered, "You moron. If you can't manage it, just hire a nanny. You get paid, don't you? Oh, and by the way, the company has some capital issues, and Joseph was so worried he couldn't sleep."

The moment Helly transferred her salary to me, I ordered an extravagant seafood platter.

Meanwhile, the livestream filled up with a flood of viewers.

[Goodness. What a nice woman. She's not even with her ex-husband anymore, but she's still helping him look after his kid. I'm about to cry here.]

[Wow, does Quin even have a conscience?]

[Seriously, what's wrong with her? How can she treat someone who's helping her out of the kindness of her heart like a maid?]

[I'm going to keep watching. Quin doesn't look like someone so wicked. Maybe there's something more to this story, right?]

-

"Order in the court!" The judge's voice rang out. "Now, I will present the second segment of the plaintiff, Joseph's memories."

The scene changed.

I was bleeding heavily at the scene of a car accident. There was blood everywhere, bright and scarlet.

Joseph and Helly arrived just in time. They called for an ambulance and followed it all the way to the hospital.

During the emergency treatment, the hospital's blood bank ran low. There was no time to ask for a transfer from another blood bank.

Helly rolled up her sleeves without hesitation. "Take mine."

"The patient has RH-negative blood, and it's a rare blood type. You'll need to take a test to confirm your blood type."

"No need! I know I'm RH-negative. Use mine!" In the end, Helly still had to be tested at the doctor's insistence.

On the operating table, Helly had given so much blood that her face was ghostly pale, her lips turning purple. Eventually, she collapsed from exhaustion.

When I woke up, Joseph was at my bedside, his eyes full of worry. "You're finally awake. Do you know how much you owe Helly for saving you this time? You lost a lot of blood, and the hospital ran out of blood mid-treatment. If it weren't for Helly, you wouldn't have survived! I've always told you that Helly is a good person. She watched our daughter until she got sick, and you still treated her terribly. She even bought you all kinds of supplements."

I glanced at the table and swept all the supplements to the floor without a second thought. Bottles shattered everywhere. "This cheap stuff? You think I'm a fool? Please, if she really has the money, then she should have bought me something better. I'm going to have a word with her."

With that, I stormed into Helly's hospital ward. Helly lay weakly on the hospital bed. I slapped her awake, grabbed her ear, and said, "Giving me blood was the least you could do. Who told you to pretend to be so nice all the time? And your hospital room is way too expensive! Aren't we supposed to be friends? Friends are supposed to help each other!

"Staying in a room like this is a waste of money. Save the money to buy my daughter the best formula and diapers!"

Then, I dragged Helly up by the ear, off her bed, and ordered her to go home and look after my daughter.

Helly held my daughter in one arm while sweeping the floor with the other. She could barely stand and pleaded through tears, "Quin, I just donated blood to you, and I feel very awful. Can you let me rest a bit?"

I sneered. "It's just a little blood. You're not going to die, so quit whining and clean up! If you rest, who's going to take care of my daughter?"

With that, I tossed a handful of pumpkin seed shells onto the floor with a wave of my hand and pointed at her. "Clean this up! And be careful while you're working. Don't you dare drop my daughter. She's precious!"

As soon as Helly finished sweeping, I spat out another mouthful of shells. Helly looked at me, her expression one of pity.

I sneered, grabbed a used diaper from the trash, and pressed it onto her face. "Stop with the act! Hurry up and clean! I'll beat you if you don't work faster, you worthless trash."

The moment this segment of memory finished playing, the entire courtroom erupted in outrage.

[My! This woman is pure evil! She still made Helly take care of her daughter after Helly saved her life!]

[Does she have any normal human decency at all?]

[My blood pressure is through the roof! Helly helped them so much when they were at their lowest, and this is how she repays her?!]

[Darn it! I'm definitely voting her guilty! She needs to learn what ingratitude will cost her!]

-

For a moment, the comments and spectators went wild as the screen was flooded with angry remarks.

I took off my shoe and hurled it at the spectators off the platform, spitting at their faces.

"Shut up! What do you bunch of shameless nobodies know? It's her good luck that I even allow her to work for me at all! Not only is she not grateful, but she even set me up for trial? You're all just like Helly, if you ask me—desperate to steal someone else's spouse! That's right… Only homewreckers will defend other homewreckers! All of you are so pathetic!"

The anger among the spectators intensified, and some were on the verge of rushing up to me and hitting me.

Just then, the third segment of memories began to play.

I had just stepped out of the shower when Joseph grabbed me in a tight embrace. He looked exhausted, his spirits completely drained.

He stared at me for a long time before finally speaking hesitantly, "Honey, it's Helly… She's sick. She has kidney failure and needs a transplant. And right now… only you can help her. Can you help her, for the sake of her saving you before this?"

Joseph hadn't even finished, and I had already exploded in fury. "You want me to donate a kidney to your mistress? In your dreams!"

Joseph looked like he was going to have a breakdown. "I'm begging you, please help Helly. She's in the final stage of kidney failure… If she can't get a matching kidney soon, she'll die!"

"Oh, you want me to give her a kidney?" I chuckled faintly as I seemed to have thought of something. "Fine. Bring that little homewrecker over and have her wash my feet! When you two manage to satisfy me, maybe I'll consider the transplant. How about that?"

Joseph clenched his fists tightly at his sides and glared at me.

Meanwhile, I pressed down hard on Helly's head, forcing her to kneel. "What are you waiting for, you homewrecker? If you want this kidney, get down and wash my feet!"

My laughter became even louder.

Helly looked helplessly at Joseph, her lips trembling as her tears welled in her eyes. She looked utterly pitiful.

"Quin! Don't cross the line!" Joseph finally shouted.

I sneered. "If you don't want to, that's fine. You can forget about the kidney, too!"

With a heavy thud, Helly dropped to her knees and crawled over, as if heading to her doom. I showed no mercy and kicked her right in the face. "Stop with the act! I'm going to teach you a lesson today! You act coy all day long so that you can seduce other men… Who's even watching?!"

With that, I shoved Helly's face into my foot basin.

Then, Helly sobbed as she washed my feet. "Quin, I've done what you asked… Please, I'm begging you, help me."

Joseph knelt before me, too, almost grabbing my leg. "Quin, please… Save Helly. She really needs this kidney."

I picked up the basin and dumped the water right into their mouths. "You think you can have my kidney, you filthy wretch? Dream on! Let me tell you something! I'd rather throw it out to the dogs than give it to the two of you!"

My laughter was one of complete frenzy.

At that moment, a piercing voice belonging to a woman rang out from the spectators. "Quin, I just want to live a healthy life! What did I ever do wrong? If you weren't the only person in Ryverton who matched my kidney, do you think I'd be begging you like this?"

Helly stood in the center of the spectators, her fists clenched and eyes brimming with tears, looking heartbreakingly pitiful. "Quin, I helped you so much before… Please, just this once, I'm begging you, alright?"

Instantly, the entire spectator stand erupted.

"She should just plead guilty! No trial necessary! There's no one who could possibly be more ungrateful than her!"

"Seriously! Helly watched her daughter and even donated her blood, yet she can't even donate a kidney to the one who saved her life?"

"Exactly! It's just a kidney! It's not like she'll die from it."

"I don't believe there are any twists here now that we're at this stage. Let's just watch Quin getting executed."

"Can't wait to see her get executed too!"

-

Listening to the spectators all taking his side, Joseph curled his lips, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes as he looked at the judge. "Since we've all seen just how vicious she is, can you declare the verdict now?"

Everyone chimed in.

"That's right, judge! Hurry up and announce it! Let her be gutted on the platform! Let her get what's coming to her!"

"I can't wait! How does someone like that even have the nerve to live? Hurry up and die already!"

"Someone like her deserves to be erased completely! She's nothing but trouble if she's still alive!"

"Execute Quin!"

-

"Order!" the judge called out.

The courtroom fell silent as the verdict was being deliberated. Everyone waited with bated breath for the judge to announce the verdict. They couldn't wait to watch me get torn apart, my heart and kidney ripped out for all to see.

The judge's stern gaze swept over the room before he announced icily, "I declare the defendant, Quin Olson, not guilty!"

For a moment, the entire spectator stand and comment feed erupted in disbelief.

[How can someone so heartless be innocent?! If she's not guilty, I'll eat my hat on livestream!]

[Yeah! There's definitely something shady going on!]

[The judge has never gotten it wrong in all these years. Is there something we don't know about?]

-

The gavel struck once more. This time, my memories were projected onto the big screen…