Ten years ago, I was the main culprit of the 715 explosion that shocked the entire country.

Everyone believed that I took huge bribes from a corporation and tampered with safety data. In the end, I ended up burning myself to death out of guilt.

Today marks the tenth year after my death. My former fiancé, Brody Pierce, extracts my soul from the particle database.

However, he isn't doing it to clear my name. Instead, he wants to put my soul on trial in public.

The courtroom is in an uproar.

"Laura Quinn is a criminal! She is utterly heartless! Every cent of the dirty money she took is stained with our family's blood."

"She even betrayed her own fiancé. There is nothing she wouldn't do for money!"

"Mr. Pierce is a righteous man. He's personally putting that wicked woman on trial."

The crowd rages, wishing they could annihilate my soul particles.

Amid the overwhelming curses, the quantum soul analyzer begins to activate.

Yet, when the pure white soul that represents absolute goodness appears, everyone is stunned into silence.

The deathly silence shattered into an even more turbulent uproar.

"How could a greedy woman like Lara Quinn possibly have a white soul?"

"The equipment must be malfunctioning! Check it again!"

Voices of doubt erupted from the crowd like a tidal wave.

Brody Pierce's body froze in place. He stared at that glaring expanse of white, his expression darkening.

"Brody, could there be some hidden reason behind what Lara did?" Ellie Pratt spoke up at just the right moment, her gentle voice carrying perfectly measured concern.

"Impossible!" Brody whipped around, his denial bursting out instinctively.

He strode toward the control panel, his voice ice-cold. "Verify the equipment data immediately!"

The technicians scrambled toward the instruments, frantically troubleshooting. Ellie gazed at my white particles and gently slipped her arm through Brody's, putting on a show of magnanimity.

"People can change. Perhaps at the very end, Lara's conscience finally awakened."

She paused, then lowered her eyes, her voice taking on a hint of grievance. "Brody, it's alright if you still have feelings for Lara. After all, she was the one who stayed with you through those hardest days."

The words struck Brody's most sensitive nerve. He suddenly pulled Ellie into his arms, the movement carrying an unquestionable force.

"That kind of woman who'd betray everything for money? I feel sick just looking at her!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried throughout the entire silent courtroom. "The only person I love now is you, Ellie."

He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then raised his eyes and swept his icy gaze across the entire room.

"Today, I'm going to make everyone see those filthy transactions in her memories. I'm going to nail her to the pillar of shame forever!"

The crowd cheered.

"That explosion killed over a hundred workers, and the leaked wastewater affected more than a dozen surrounding towns. My son died from heavy metal poisoning!"

"Before she died, she was living the high life, eating and drinking better than we common folk! Self-immolation was too good for a parasite like her!"

My past crimes were dredged up one by one. No one believed my soul could be pure white.

Amid the deafening voices, a technician ran over, his face pale. "Mr. Pierce, there's nothing wrong with the equipment."

Brody's expression grew even darker. He waved his hand dismissively.

"The particle coloring might have technical errors, but the memories are absolutely real! Play the core memories immediately."

The massive dark screen slowly lit up. White light flooded out, and my soul trembled.

The image showed the cramped, rundown apartment we'd rented together after graduation.

That year, we turned down every high-paying job offer and chose entry-level positions at the Department of Occupational Safety instead. We wanted to make a real difference.

Brody dropped to one knee in our cramped apartment. But what he offered wasn't a diamond ring.

It was a ring he'd crafted himself from a scrap piece of industrial-grade alloy, polished smooth by his own hands.

"Lara, wait for me. One day, I'll replace this with a real one."

Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn't speak, so I kissed him instead and slipped that heavy ring onto my finger.

"To me, this is more real than any diamond," I said.

The memory tasted sweet, while reality cut like a knife. I swallowed the bitter ache and turned to look at Brody. His eyes flickered with something unreadable.

Ellie bit her lip and sighed, brows furrowing as though she truly pitied me. "If Lara hadn't gone down the wrong path back then, she'd probably have a bright future now. What a shame…"

She didn't need to finish. Brody had clearly followed the thought to what came after. His expression darkened instantly.

He lifted Ellie's hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "She was always calculating, always chasing profit. She could never compare to you.

"If only I'd met you first..."

While they whispered to each other, my memory flickered again.

"Lara Quinn, you're being dismissed."

That day should have been my 25th birthday.

The screen lit up. I stood with my head bowed as someone slapped me hard across the face.

"You'd better get your act together!" The department's loudspeaker began broadcasting my termination notice on a loop.

"Following an investigation, Ms. Lara Quinn, while serving as a safety technician, was found to have accepted corporate bribes and falsified critical safety data, resulting in severe safety hazards.

"Effective immediately, Lara Quinn is dismissed and permanently barred from re-employment."

The familiar faces of my colleagues looked at me differently now.

"No wonder she's been wearing designer clothes lately. It turns out she was taking dirty money!"

"Poor Brody. He's about to marry someone with a criminal record!"

I kept my head down and gritted my teeth as I walked home. My eyes stung with tears, but I didn't say a word in my own defense.

When I got home, Brody didn't ask a single question. He acted like nothing had happened and cooked an entire spread to comfort me.

"Lara, it's okay. We can still make a difference outside the department."

I stared at the ribs on the table without lifting my gaze. Then I reached out and flipped the entire table over.

"Can making a difference pay the bills? Brody Pierce, I'm done with this endless poverty!"

His face went white as a sheet. "Don't do this…"

I stood up and cut him off without mercy. "I'm not doing anything! I'm telling you the truth!"

I pulled the ring he'd made for me off my finger and hurled it to the floor. "Wearing this thing makes me feel dirty!"

The sharp clatter echoed through the silent apartment. I stepped on the ring and ground it beneath my heel.

The metal scraped and shrieked. Brody's eyes turned bloodshot.

"Lara!"

I ignored him and kept going, my voice dripping with mockery.

"Let me tell you something. Mr. Wilcox from Apex Industries has already given me a large sum of money. That's worth a hell of a lot more than your pathetic dreams!"

I watched the color drain completely from his face. Then I smiled coldly, turned around, and slammed the door behind me.

The memory paused. The screen went dark, and the crowd in front of it erupted.

"That woman is pure evil! She threw away her conscience for money!"

"Mr. Pierce almost had his entire life ruined by someone like her!"

Furious comments flooded the screen like a waterfall, each one calling for me to be torn apart piece by piece.

In the courtroom, Brody's body trembled slightly. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles went white.

Ellie threw her arms around him at just the right moment, gently patting his back. "Brody, don't be upset."

She let out a soft sigh, her voice carrying perfectly measured sympathy. "Lara only ever cared about money. She couldn't see what really mattered.

"Thank god you saw her true colors in time, or else…"

Brody's breathing quickened. He pulled Ellie tighter against him. "Ellie, I'm so glad I have you.

"Lara didn't deserve my feelings. She didn't deserve my future."

I watched them hold each other for a moment, then lowered my eyes. Apparently, souls could feel heartbreak too.

The screen lit up again, showing a private room in an upscale club. Beneath the crystal chandelier, I wore a tight red dress and moved between a group of sleazy chemical plant executives.

Glasses clinked. I had a sultry gaze as I laughed, all traces of the innocence I'd shown Brody completely gone.

"Ms. Quinn, you're such a pleasure to work with. Here's to you."

Gerard Wilcox from Apex Industries raised his glass, his heavy face plastered with a leering smile. I drained the wine without hesitation.

"You're too kind, Mr. Wilcox. We're all friends here."

I leaned closer with a coy smile, letting his hand slide around my waist. After God knew how many drinks, my hand rested against Gerard's chest as I pouted sweetly.

Finally, he nodded in satisfaction and pulled a bank card from his suit jacket. "This is the first hush payment. From now on, I'm counting on you to… polish our factory's data."

I took the card without hesitation and tucked it into my dress.

"Don't worry, Mr. Wilcox. You know I always deliver."

Raucous laughter erupted from the room.

"Ms. Quinn is so straightforward!"

"Ha! That bookworm Brody Pierce has no idea what women want!"

I smiled brightly, my face a mask of shameless flattery. My pale fingers flirted with his belt, tugging it suggestively.

The next instant, he waved his hand and ripped away my only piece of clothing right in front of everyone in the room.

The image blurred. Outside the courtroom, the crowd's fury reached its peak.

Comments saying "criminal", "disgusting", and "shameless for money" scrolled frantically across the screen, threatening to drown it entirely.

Brody's expression turned completely dark. The rage in his eyes looked ready to burst into flame.

"A woman like her, who only cares about money, deserves to be used by men. Dying in some bastard's bed would be too good for her!"

The comments piled on.

"How can a soul like this be pure white when she was literally selling herself?"

"She's filthy to the core. Mr. Pierce must have been blind to fall for a woman like that!"

Wave after wave of outrage crashed through the crowd.

Ellie wrinkled her nose in disgust, barely masking the revulsion in her voice. "How did Lara end up like this? Just for money?"

Brody's face turned ashen. He stared at me on the screen, his fists clenched so tight the veins bulged.

"Animal!" He spat the curse through gritted teeth.

Just when everyone thought the truth had been laid bare, the scene suddenly shifted. It was late at night in a damp, run-down basement.

Covered in hickeys, I sat beneath a dim yellow lightbulb and pulled stacks of cash from a metal box under the bed. Piles of bills sat on the table as I carefully divided them into hundreds of envelopes.