Chapter 1 Chapter 1

At the Court of Judgment… I walked up to the bench with a numb face. Everyone stared at me, their faces full of different emotions. Anger, resentment, contempt, disgust, mockery… But there was no sympathy. "I heard she was still struggling before coming up here. Clearly, she didn't want to face the court. She must feel guilty.""Hmph! She abused her parents, cheated on her fiance, stole her adopted sister's assets, and even tried to kill her own older brother... Any one of those charges would be enough to put her away!""Yeah! Vicious people like her are better off dead.""If you ask me, there's no need for a trial at all. Just euthanize her and be done with it." Hearing their comments, I gave a bitter smile. In their eyes, I was a vicious woman who had done nothing but evil. They all wished I would just die here and now. I was a little over a month pregnant. Just when I was looking forward to my wedding, my fiance dragged me before the Court of Judgment along with my parents and brothers. They piled charge after charge on me, trying to make sure I would be put to death in the name of justice. If the judge found me guilty, I would be executed on the spot. After I died, my cornea would be transplanted into my adopted sister, Sandy. My assets and my insurance money would go to them as well. I never thought that one day, I would be betrayed by both love and family. It was a fatal blow! I touched my stomach. Even though I had a new life growing inside me, I felt like a broken, lifeless doll. Unbearable pain spread through every part of me, and tears quickly welled in my eyes. Even though my fiance knew I was carrying his child, he didn't care about the baby or us. He still chose to hurt me. When I saw him with my adopted sister in his arms, I finally realized… He had fallen for her. He betrayed me and abandoned our love. My parents and brothers hated me, too. They had always favored my adopted sister. For eight years, they had made my life miserable. All along, I was just supposed to pave a path for her. When she lost vision in one eye, they wanted me to donate my cornea. My refusal was the reason my fiance, my parents, and my brothers staged this trial. They accused me of every crime they could imagine. At times, I even wondered if Sandy was the real daughter and I was just an unloved orphan. I used to yearn for love, craved it desperately. I had always humbled myself and tried to please them, just to get even the tiniest bit of affection. It wasn't until I entered the Court of Judgment that I finally saw through it all. They had never loved me. No… They weren't worth loving. The so-called love and family were nothing but a joke! And so, when my fiance and my family stabbed me in the back… I decided to retaliate. I asked the judge to use the latest medical technology to extract my memories and project them on the big screen, so he and hundreds of jurors could see everything for themselves. "Lauren Baker, are you sure you're ready to face the consequences if you lose this trial?" the judge asked with a cold and stern expression. "If I lose, I die," I answered nonchalantly. Death didn't scare me—but I wasn't going to let them have their way. The judge turned to my parents and my brothers, and raised his voice. "If you lose this case, then…" Before he could finish, my father, Arnold, cut the judge off impatiently. "We're not going to lose! This witch has committed so many crimes. Any one of them is enough to execute her." My mother, Miranda, agreed. "That's right! There's no way we'll lose." My oldest brother, Carl, urged irritably, "Let's just get started! The sooner she's dead, the less trouble for everyone."

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

The trial for justice had begun. The first charge against me, the defendant, was violation of the filial support law. My mother Miranda stood at the accuser's stand, tears streaming down her face as she accused me. She claimed our family was poor, that she toiled away on construction sites just to put me through school. When she fell seriously ill, I didn't offer any help or money, nor did I visit her. In the end, her illness went untreated due to a lack of funds. She ended up paralyzed from the waist down. She also accused me of tricking them into selling their house and pocketing the money, refusing to care for them after that. The event left them homeless and forced them to rent, while I used their money to live a high life. After hearing all this, the crowd began to curse me furiously. "I spit on her! How absolutely heartless!""What an ungrateful woman… They should have strangled her at birth.""Those poor parents. She's so ruthless!" I stared at them, unfazed. When I spotted my adopted sister arriving late, however, a surge of anger rose in me. Sandy was wrapped up tight, her face covered with a mask, but I recognized her immediately. Even though I couldn't see her expression, I was sure she was being all smug under that mask. Her eyes kept meeting with my fiance Andy's, the air between them suggestive. At that moment, Miranda lashed out again. This time, she accused me of violating the filial support law. She also claimed that Arnold had even brought her to my workplace after she was paralyzed, only for me to turn them away. The judge's expression turned grim, his voice stern with anger as he questioned me, "Defendant, do you wish to explain yourself?""Just look at my memories," I answered calmly. The staff strapped the Memory Extraction Device onto me. As the electricity buzzed, a stabbing pain shot through my head. Despite the pain, I gritted my teeth and said nothing. Then, one word appeared on the giant screen. "Innocent." The crowd gasped in disbelief. "What's going on?""How can it be innocent?" Miranda looked away from the screen, a guilty conscience flickering in her eyes. Meanwhile, Andy stared at me with wide eyes in utter disbelief. Next, my memories began to play out on the big screen. When I was ten, my brother Carl nearly drowned while swimming in the river. Sandy's parents jumped in to save him, but they lost their lives instead. To show gratitude for their sacrifice, my parents adopted Sandy as their daughter. From then on, the whole family treated her like their savior, giving her only the best. But the day she came into our home, my life became a living hell. Anything Sandy liked and wanted, whether it was clothes, books, toys, or something else, I had to give up. If I refused or resisted, my parents would beat me up. In middle school, a classmate gave me a pencil case for my birthday. I didn't want to give it to her, but my father slapped me hard. "You ungrateful brat! It's just a pencil case. Give it to her already." I refused, so my father tied me to a post and struck me with a stick until I was forced to let go of the pencil case in my hand. Miranda swooped in and picked it up after she saw what happened, quickly handed it to Sandy before cradling her and gently comforting her. When Sandy saw that the pencil case was dirty, she burst into tears. Miranda had no choice but to make a promise. "Don't cry! I'll buy you a new one. Be good, okay?" Meanwhile, I was beaten. In the end, I passed out as my body was bruised and I couldn't even move my finger. My injuries were so severe that on the day of my high school entrance exam, I couldn't even get out of bed. I lost my chance to attend high school. I wanted to continue my studies, so I begged my parents to let me repeat a year. They simply dismissed it. "What's the point of a girl studying so much? Once you're old enough, just get married!" Miranda, annoyed, hugged Sandy and looked at me. "You can forget about it! Your grades are so terrible that you're just wasting our money the more you study. We'd rather spend it on some good food for Sandy, so she has the energy to study."

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

No matter how much I begged, it was useless. Even though I was always at the top of my class, my parents acted like they didn't notice at all. Soon, they found me a job as a cleaner and forced me to work to support the family. "Make sure to send me your salary as soon as you get paid! Carl, Tony, and Sandy all need money. We're all counting on you." Every word out of Miranda's mouth was for her other children, but she never thought about me. The cleaning job had me up early and working late into the night. I was often so exhausted, I couldn't even stand up straight. Luckily, the place I worked at was a school, so I would frequently listen to lessons from outside the classroom. My boss noticed how hardworking and eager I was to learn, so he gave me an easier office job. He even tutored me and helped me apply to a technical school so I could get an education and learn some skills. I sent half my salary home, keeping only some for myself in preparation for school. Once, I was a day late sending the money because I had a cold. My parents showed up and started yelling and beating me. In the chaos, my offer letter and the tuition I had worked so hard to save up fell out of my books. When Miranda saw them, she picked the letter up and tore it into pieces. "You still want to go to school? Secretly saving money so you can study?! Stop dreaming!" Arnold kicked me hard. "Ungrateful brat! How dare you hide money from us!" I crashed into the wall and coughed up blood, but they acted like they didn't see me injured at all and just kept beating me. I begged them to spare me, to give me one more chance. "I'm sorry! I'll never do it again, but I really want to go to school. Mom, Dad, I'm begging you. I promise I'll work myself to the bone for you." But they didn't listen. Arnold's frenzied slaps just kept landing on my face. "Look at your useless self! What's the point of studying? We'll never agree to it!" I tried to pick up the torn offer letter, but Miranda got there first and threw it straight into a burning fire stove. I could only watch as the letter turned to ashes. At that moment, I felt my whole world fall apart. They searched my room, took all my money, and even took everything valuable with them. Before leaving, Miranda ordered me with a brutal expression, "Sandy needs money for her school dorm! Get a second job after work. From now on, if you don't send at least six hundred a month to us, you'll regret it." I broke down crying as I watched them leave. I had nothing left. While my parents thought only of Sandy's needs, they never once considered how I was supposed to survive without a cent. Ha! Whatever warmth I had for my family was completely extinguished that day. My monthly pay was just over two hundred. To meet Miranda's demand of six hundred a month, I started working odd jobs after my shifts every day. I did everything from construction work to food delivery. No matter how dirty or exhausting the job was, I would do it as long as I could make money. Once, I passed out from exhaustion while delivering food. The manager found me, told me to go home and rest, and not to push myself so hard. I couldn't afford to lose the job, so I begged. "Please don't fire me! I promise I'll work hard. Just give me another chance." He sighed and helped me up, but I was so weak I could barely stand. Feeling helpless, the manager pressed a few ten-dollar bills into my hand and told me to get better before coming back to work. I was so grateful, I thanked him repeatedly, clutching the money in my hand. That day was my birthday, and I wanted to eat some meat for once. Unexpectedly, I ran into my parents and Sandy at the restaurant. Arnold saw me and slapped me hard across the face.

Chapter 4 Chapter 4

"You've been hiding money again, you ungrateful brat!" Arnold shouted at me furiously. Miranda came right at me in a rage, hitting me too. "You've got money to eat meat, but you won't share it with us? When did you become so selfish?!" I tried to dodge, clutching the beef tightly to my chest. They were both dressed cleanly and neatly. Sandy wore a red dress and carried a designer bag, looking every bit like a pampered princess. Meanwhile, my hair was split and tangled, my clothes full of patches, my shoes scavenged from trash bins with holes in my shoes, and my whole body filthy like a beggar. Sobbing, I shoved the meat into my mouth as fast as I could. It was so delicious. I'd never eaten anything so tasty in my life. The moment the beef went into my mouth, all my pain seemed to disappear. Seeing me eating the beef made my parents even angrier. Arnold pried my hands away and smashed the bowl of beef onto my head. "All you know is eat, eat, and eat like a pig! Here! Have your fill!" Chunks of beef stuck to my hair and face. I watched as Sandy wrinkled her nose and backed away in disgust, laughing at me. "So dirty…" Everyone else just saw it as a family matter. No one stepped in to help. Before they left, my parents made sure to take the last few ten-dollar bills I had left. "If you make any money, you give it to us. Got it?" Miranda yanked my ear, warning me fiercely. I nodded obediently. Watching them walk away harmoniously, my eyes went dull. So, they were a family—and I was nothing but unwanted trash! I stumbled out of the restaurant and into a pouring rain, the rainwater washing over my battered body. I finally collapsed on the roadside, rescued by a kind stranger. The scene from my memory shifted. I was holding my mobile phone, listening in. When Carl told me Miranda was sick, I sent him everything I had. I even borrowed three months' salary in advance to send over. To pay it all back, I worked around the clock, so I couldn't go home to visit Miranda. I never knew exactly how much her treatment had cost. Whatever it was, I gave what I could. I had already done my best. I only found out Miranda was paralyzed later, after I returned home. By then, all I felt was helplessness. When the memory ended, the screen froze on the image of my tenacious but small, fragile figure, still hard at work. That sight alone was beginning to tip the scales in everyone's hearts. The staff tried searching for any memory of me tricking my parents into selling the house for money, or spending it on a lavish lifestyle, but found nothing. There was no evidence of me living a high life on my own. The judge and the jurors fell silent. Time seemed to freeze at this moment. After several long minutes, someone finally burst out indignantly. "Outrageous! Are they really her parents?""They're the ones who should be found guilty!""Is Lauren really their biological daughter? Why do they treat her like an enemy?" My parents hung their heads, unable to meet the jurors' eyes. Andy fumbled with his phone, as if trying to make calls to contact someone, but looked completely lost when they couldn't get through. Sandy pulled her hat lower, as if afraid of being recognized. "Jurors, you may now deliver your verdict on this charge. Guilty or not guilty?"