“The Memory Extractor had three levels of pain, the faster the process, the worse it felt. Seeing Juliette like this, Owen must have chosen the highest level!”

“Someone who protects a criminal deserves the harshest pain!”

“When the extraction ends, Juliette will be nothing but a fool!”

The mocking voices echoed endlessly in my ears, but scenes from thirty-eight years ago began to flood my mind.

A large, crystal-clear screen appeared before me. It showed the time eight years before the case, the day Zara confessed her feelings to Owen.

When her gentle face appeared, my mother clutched her chest and cried uncontrollably.

“My poor Zara! You had just found love and barely tasted happiness, and now you’re gone with regrets. How can I ever accept this?”

On the screen, Zara blushed as she handed Owen a love letter, her expression shy and warm.

But my eyes stayed fixed on Owen standing before her, my heart filled with longing and unwillingness.

The crowd burst into shouts and curses as the footage played. “I knew that woman Juliette had been after Owen all along!”

“She must have driven Zara to her death on purpose, that’s why she protected the murderer!”

“Just because she liked Owen, she let innocent Zara die?”

The memory was being torn from me, the pain so fierce that even my tongue felt numb, yet I still looked at Owen with a trace of affection. They weren’t wrong, the person I had truly loved was always him.

People began picking up stones and clumps of dirt, some even kicked off their shoes and threw them at me. I was hit again and again until blood ran down my face, humiliation washing over me completely.

Owen’s bloodshot eyes locked on me before turning toward the screen.

In the footage, I had sighed and taken Zara’s love letter. She spun around, her face glowing with joy as she said she had baked an egg cake and would go home to bring it.

But the moment she left, I wrapped my arms around Owen.

The crowd exploded. “My God! Is that even human!”

“Her sister just left, and she hugs her sister’s boyfriend! How shameless can she be!”

“What a heartless woman, are there no men left in the world? She even steals her sister’s boyfriend!”

In the footage, Owen also raised his arms to hug me, but anger crossed his face, and he quickly pushed me away.

“When I confessed to you, you said you already loved someone else. Now that I’ve accepted your sister’s feelings, what is this supposed to mean?”

“Are you really trying to take your sister’s boyfriend?”

He lashed out at me, but lost in love, I could only give him a faint smile. “I’m the one who hurt you…”

Tears gathered in my eyes, and just as I was about to speak, Zara came running back, holding the egg cake with a bright smile.

“Sister! Owen! Come try the egg cake I made!”

But I couldn’t hear her at all, my eyes stayed fixed on Owen. I mouthed silently to him. “If it weren’t for my sister, I would be with you.”

The crowd burst into furious shouts. “No wonder she covered for the killer! She wanted Zara dead all along!”

“Maybe Zara’s rape case is tied to her, she must have planned it!”

Owen’s eyes trembled with disbelief as he looked at me, his voice heavy with shock.

“Could it be that you really wanted your sister dead?”

“Have you forgotten that when you were bullied in school, it was your sister who risked herself to protect you. She almost ruined her own face for it?”

I nodded, my eyes red. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. But that doesn’t mean I have to give up the man I love for her. When I said that, I truly believed that if my sister didn’t exist, we could be happy for a lifetime. But I….”

….never wanted her to actually die.

Before I could finish, my mother, consumed by grief, rushed at me, grabbing my throat and shaking me hard.

“You could have competed fairly if you loved Owen! Why did you have to let her die!”

“Who killed Zara?! Tell me right now!”

Voices of anger and accusations filled my ears, but I clenched my teeth and refused to break.

“I won’t say it. Knowing the truth won’t help any of you!”

Owen slapped me hard across the face. “Even now, you still protect the criminal!”

“Fine. If that’s how it is, then I’ll show no mercy.”

“Everyone knows the Memory Extractor has three levels, but in reality, there’s a fourth, Special Level! The pain feels like being crushed and forced back together again.”

“Will you speak, or not?!”

Blood flowed from my mouth and nose, but I still shook my head stubbornly. The crowd’s faces softened with faint pity, yet when Owen turned the dial to its highest level, all sympathy disappeared.

The next scene showed the day Zara jumped from the building. She wore a white dress, standing on the rooftop, shouting toward me. “Owen, I truly love you, but I’m no longer pure. I don’t deserve to be with you.”

“After you saw me like that, how can I keep living?”

Zara looked at me as if I were her last hope. “Juliette, if you tell the truth and name the man who hurt me, I won’t jump.”

I smiled coldly and said, “Even if you die right in front of me, I’ll never say it.”

My young mother fell to her knees before Zara, slamming her head to the ground again and again.

“Zara, Mom begs you not to jump! Please, Mom can’t live without you!”

Her cries were full of pain, but Zara didn’t move at all.

Bang. In an instant, that once-living soul disappeared before everyone’s eyes.

My mother spat blood as she let out a broken scream, crawling forward on shaking arms to hold her daughter’s cold body.

“Ah! My Zara!”

Even after thirty years, the memory still felt painfully clear.

Tears slid down Owen’s face. When he turned and saw mine, his eyes filled with anger. “Don’t act like you care! Your sister died because of you!”

“If you really feel guilty, then tell us who killed her!”

I bit my lips and shook my head with pain in my eyes. Seeing that I wouldn’t speak, his gaze turned cold. “Then go die.”

Owen tapped the control panel, switching the footage to the day Zara was attacked.

The sound of tearing fabric echoed through the hall, making everyone’s chest tighten.

“Let me go…”

“Please, I’m begging you, let me go…”

In the darkness, Zara’s desperate cries rang out, sending chills through the crowd.

Owen stared at the screen, his body shaking.

All eyes were fixed on the display, but it showed nothing but complete darkness.

“What’s going on?”

“Why can’t we see anything? Did the machine break?”

“That’s impossible! The Memory Extractor shows exactly what the person saw!”

My whole body shook, the pain running through every nerve, unbearable and endless. Owen, unable to see the attacker’s face, grabbed my collar in rage, his eyes wide.

“Juliette! How could you not see who did it? Who was it?!”

Looking at the man I had loved for more than thirty years, I tried to give a weak smile.

“Owen, I really didn’t see.”

“I have night blindness… I couldn’t see anything in the dark.”

Owen froze, his face pale with shock. “Impossible!”

“Zara said before she jumped that you knew who it was!”

My mother slapped me with shaking hands, tears streaming down her face.

“Even if you didn’t see, why didn’t you save her?”

“You could have shouted for help, if you had, she wouldn’t have suffered and died!”

“You killed Zara!”

She struck me again and again, her voice breaking. “Who killed my daughter? Tell me!”

I bit down hard, my lips pressed together, saying nothing.

Owen finally lost control. He grabbed the whip lying beside the gallows and struck me hard across the body.

Pain tore through me as my skin split open, and I screamed in agony like someone losing their mind. But Owen didn’t stop.

“Juliette! Are you going to tell the truth or not?!”

The barbed whip ripped chunks of flesh, blood splattering with each blow. I bit back the pain, my eyes fixed on Owen. Seeing his rage, my heart filled with quiet pity.

“Owen, I did it for your own good.”

“My sister deserved to die.”

The moment those words left my mouth, the crowd burst into furious shouts. “Zara was humiliated and killed herself, and this woman dares to say she deserved it!”

“She called herself a sister for over ten years. How much pain did Zara suffer because of her?”

“If Juliette had spoken up for Zara, she wouldn’t have jumped from that building.”

“There was no murderer, the one who killed Zara was Juliette herself!”

Owen’s eyes turned red as he pressed a knife against his own neck. “You say you love me? If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll die right here in front of you!”

“No!”

My desperate cry broke the memories I had buried deep inside, and they spilled out for everyone to see.

In the dim light before sunset, a man’s face appeared, clear and unmistakable.

Owen’s eyes widened in shock, while my mother fell to the ground, unable to bear it.

“Impossible… this can’t be…”