After I become successful in life, I sue my wife, Hazel Cooper, also known as the woman who had supported me through thick and thin.

She gets down on her knees and pleads with me tearfully not to divorce her, only for me to shove her away.

My neighbors call me an ungrateful bastard. They keep spitting at me and throwing feces at my doorstep. Even the Internet users gang up on me and bully me on the Internet.

But when the court trial is over, everyone kneels before me, looking extremely remorseful.

A week ago, the news broke that I'd filed a lawsuit against my wife of more than 20 years, Hazel Cooper, the woman who had shared my bed and my life for over half my adulthood.

From that moment on, I became the neighborhood's favorite villain. Everyone called me the heartless man who had climbed his way to success and abandoned his wife and child without remorse.

In their eyes, Hazel was flawless.

She'd married me when I was poor and struggling. She never complained, even when life was hard. She cared for my sickly mother until her final days. She raised our son almost entirely on her own and turned him into a top student, the kind every family boasted about.

She was even named the town's model wife.

"I never thought he'd actually show up to court. I've never seen anyone sue their own wife before."

"Hazel really had terrible judgment when she was young. She built everything with him from nothing, and this is how he repays her. You really do see all kinds of people in this world."

"I lived next door to him for years. He fooled everyone. Who would've guessed he was such an ungrateful piece of trash?"

I bent forward slightly as I looked toward the gallery.

The courtroom was packed with neighbors, relatives, old friends, even a man I'd grown up with, someone who once treated me like a brother.

Every one of them pointed at me, cursed me, and spat words sharp enough to draw blood. They looked at me as if they wanted me dead.

The judge struck the gavel hard, and the noise died instantly.

"Order! The plaintiff, Bryan Zimmer, and the defendant, Hazel Cooper, prepare to proceed."

My fingers trembled. A dull ache spread through my chest. I took a deep breath and walked to the plaintiff's table.

The room stirred as people realized the defendant hadn't arrived yet.

"Hazel isn't even here yet. He did this on purpose. He picked today because it's the same day as their son's registration at an elite college. There's no way she could arrive on time."

Over the past week, insults and threats had become routine.

I'd received anonymous messages telling me to die. Razor blades were mailed to my door. People spat in my face. Buckets of filth were dumped on me in the street. I was even laid off.

They called it karma and said I deserved every bit of it. Some even said someone like me should've died long ago.

And to be honest, I had stopped wanting to live. I reached into my pocket and brushed my fingers against the old photo of my mother. I wanted to reunite with her.

"They're here! Hazel and her son just arrived."

The courtroom doors opened. A woman in a faded white dress walked in, holding the hand of a tall, thin teenager.

"I'm sorry for being late, Your Honor. My son had college registration today."

Hazel wiped the sweat from her forehead, her movements awkward and restrained. She then said to the young man next to her, "I told you I could come alone."

The young man, Alex Cooper, let out a cold scoff and glared at me. "If I didn't come, who knows how he'd try to twist things against you?"

The moment those words rang out, the courtroom erupted again.

"At least the kid didn't turn out like that ungrateful thing."

Alex got even angrier after hearing that. "Don't worry. I'll never become someone like him. When I make money in the future, I'll spend every last dollar on my mom."

Hearing that, everyone in the room started praising him.

"Order! The plaintiff, Bryan Zimmer, and the defendant, Hazel Cooper, prepare to proceed."

Hazel stood there, her lips trembling, tears pooling in her eyes. "Dear, all these years, I never did anything wrong. Just because another woman said something, you want a divorce.

"When I refused, you ended up suing me. Have you ever thought about Alex's future? About how he'll be treated at school, how people will judge him, how he might be bullied?"

I took several deep breaths, trying to steady myself. "Hazel, I—"

Before I could finish, Alex, with tears brimming in his eyes, stepped forward and said, "You don't get to say my mom's name. You ungrateful animal. You don't deserve to be a father."

He wiped away his tears before continuing, "You were barely there when I was growing up. Mom did everything. And now, for another woman, you want to divorce her and sue us. Let everyone here be my witness. I won't be there for you when you're old and gray!"

When Alex finished, Hazel wrapped her arms around him, and they broke down in tears.

The gallery exploded with fury.

"That's right! We're all witnesses! Let him be when he gets old!"

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to speak. "I didn't cheat. The court will deliver nothing but justice."

The man I had grown up with hurled a water bottle straight at my head. "Justice? Please. You've been cutting corners your whole life. Everyone knows!"

That was enough to ignite the room. Bottles flew toward me from every direction, and the courtroom descended into chaos.

Several bottles struck me square in the forehead. I clutched my head and crouched down. My chest convulsed with pain, my breath came in gasps, and I crumpled to the floor, groaning.

Hazel noticed my heart condition was acting up and rushed over. She waved frantically at the crowd. "Stop! Please stop. No matter what, he's still my husband."

Her words only made things worse.

Someone in the gallery shouted, "He's an animal! Don't pity him, Hazel!"

Court security quickly restrained those who had lost control.

When the crowd finally settled, I was lying on the floor, my body twitching.

"Dear, are you alright?" Hazel kneeled beside me, pressing her hands against my chest, shaking me desperately. "Please be okay! I'll agree to the divorce, alright? Your well-being is all that matters!"

Alex pulled her away. "Mom, let him be."

"No matter what, he's still your father."

"No. He's not my father. He doesn't deserve to call himself that," Alex answered and pulled her aside.

My hands shook as I took out the emergency heart medication from my pocket and swallowed it.

Once the order was restored, the guards in the court helped me up.

"Order!" the judge said. "Any further disruptions will be punished. The trial will now begin. The plaintiff, Bryan Zimmer, and the defendant, Hazel Cooper, prepare to proceed!"

I forced myself upright and returned to the plaintiff's table.

Hazel wiped her tears and slowly moved to the defendant's side. "So all these years together don't mean a thing compared to a few words from that woman?"

I pressed a hand to my chest, memories surfacing one after another.

Indeed, she had taken care of everything—home, family, all of it. I was always away, either away on business or sent to another city for work.

The gallery had settled down, but the muttering and taunts continued.

"Go through with it, Hazel. You'll win! Choose the death penalty and be done with him."

"That's right. Alex has a bright future. Don't waste your life on a lousy man like him!"

Hazel hesitated. Tears slid down her face as she looked at me. "If you withdraw the case, we can go back and be together again. If you lose the case, you'll suffer terribly."

The people in the gallery groaned in frustration.

"Hazel is too kind! That's how he keeps taking advantage of her."

Suddenly, I stood. I clutched the bottle of pills tightly and uttered through clenched teeth, "I agree! Let the death penalty be the punishment!"

Laughter rippled through the room.

"Another man rushing to his own grave. Might as well sit back and enjoy the show."

Hazel let out a long sigh and tightened her grip on Alex's hand. "If that's the punishment you've chosen, then I accept it."

The judge struck the gavel. "Both parties have agreed on the same consequence. Death will be imposed on the losing side. The trial will now proceed."

Court staff rolled in the memory extraction equipment.

Hazel straightened, putting on a brave face. "I consent to the public release of my extracted memories. I ask the court to judge fairly."

The judge nodded. "The court will conduct a fair and transparent trial. All proceedings are subject to review."

I pressed a hand to my chest and forced myself to breathe evenly as my memories were extracted.

By then, the large screen had already begun playing Hazel's memories.

"Now playing selected memory segments from the defendant, Hazel Cooper," the court staff said.

Onscreen, a younger Hazel leaned shyly against me, beautiful and gentle, her arms wrapped around my waist. "Dear, you're going on a business trip tomorrow. The baby and I will miss you. Come back quickly."

My response was flat, almost distracted. "Okay. Go to bed early. If you stay up too late, the baby will start acting up in your belly and hurting you again."

After that, it was shown that I was almost never home.

Hazel was left to hold the household together—cleaning, cooking, doing laundry—her belly heavy with pregnancy.

She went to every prenatal checkup alone and cared for my frail, ailing mother by herself.

All that exhaustion never earned her a single kind word from me. Instead, she learned to read my moods, to tread carefully around my temper.

Even when she was close to giving birth, I left her at home and went on another business trip. I only rushed to the hospital after she'd already delivered.

However, I only glanced at the baby once before stepping out of the ward. I never even held him.

Throughout it all, I remained distant and indifferent—without a trace of joy or excitement. At one point, I even wandered off to chat with another expectant father in the neighboring room.

The memories sped by in rapid succession. Frame after frame showed my cold expression and Hazel's ingratiating smile.

In the courtroom, Hazel was already in tears, murmuring to herself, "So much time has passed. I've become so old…"

Alex clutched his head and broke down sobbing. "So that's what it took to give birth to me. You must've been in so much pain, Mom. You're not old. And no matter what, I'll take care of you."

The gallery erupted in angry voices.

"So he was irresponsible from the very beginning. What did she ever see in him?"

"She was pregnant and still had to wait on his mother—and tiptoe around his moods."

"How is a piece of trash like him still breathing? Your Honor, hurry up and deliver the sentence!"

"Sentence him now! Death penalty!"

The memory playback was cut off abruptly as fists were raised and voices merged into a single roar demanding my execution.

I pushed myself upright and straightened my back. My conscience was clear.

The judge brought the gavel down. "Order! All memory extraction has been completed. After deliberation by eighteen judges present, a unanimous decision has been reached. The defendant, Hazel Cooper, has lost the trial."

"What? How is that possible?" Hazel stared at the judge, disbelief written all over her face.

Then, she turned sharply toward me, yelling, "You won't stop until I'm completely crushed, will you? Am I really such an eyesore to you?"

Her expression made it look as though I had bribed the judges outright, painting me as ruthless and underhanded.

Alex glared at me with undisguised hatred. "Having money doesn't make you untouchable! I won't let you do this to Mom!"

The sight of the two of them standing together, clinging to each other, ignited the crowd all over again.

Angry shouts erupted from the gallery.

"This is rigged! It has to be!"

"We demand a retrial!"

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest. I quickly swallowed another of my heart pills, forced my expression back into indifference, and looked up at the judge. "I agree to a retrial. I'm willing to make all my memories public."

The judge said, "To ensure fairness, this case will be granted one retrial only. The extracted memories of the plaintiff, Bryan Zimmer, will now be made public!"

"The retrial begins now."

The screen lit up once more. This time, it was my memories that began to play.