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?”