The Final Judgment

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.