Blurb：
Ten years after Emily Carter’s tragic death, Olivia Reynolds returns to expose the truth. Using her revolutionary memory extractor, she forces her former best friend Sophia onto a public trial stage. The whole village watches as Olivia vows to reveal the identity of the rapist Sophia protected—but the truth shocks everyone. As Sophia’s memories unfold, dark secrets about Emily Carter’s suicide and Olivia Reynolds’ quest for justice collide in a devastating climax. Who was the real monster? And why did Sophia guard the rapist’s identity until her dying breath?
Content：
My best friend, Emily Carter, was raped and ended up taking her own life. But I decided to protect the rapist’s identity.
Her mother once knelt before me, begging for the truth, but I shut the door in her face.
Even when the villagers came to my house in anger, I let my dog chase them away without hesitation.
Ten years later, when I was dying in bed, my other best friend, Olivia Reynolds, returned to the village.
She had become the richest woman in the country and she came back for revenge.
The first thing she did after coming back was force me onto a public memory trial stage, like the ones used for criminals facing execution.
“Sophia, you heartless monster who covered a crime. Emily and I were blind to ever call you a friend!”
“Emily has been dead for ten years and you let her killer go free all this time!”
“Today, I’ll use the memory extractor I invented to show everyone who you really protected!”
But when the real rapist’s face appeared on the big screen, her expression turned completely pale.
The stage that Olivia arranged for me was huge.
The whole village filled the town square until there was no room left to stand.
Reporters had their cameras ready and the livestream spread across every major platform.
I was already dying. My organs were failing and only medicine and nutrient fluids kept me alive.
Yet they still dragged me out into the town square like a criminal.
A man rushed forward and grabbed my throat, screaming, “Sophia! Why did you protect that monster?”
“You ruined my family! Why didn’t you just die instead?”
He choked me so hard that I almost lost consciousness and my vision gradually went dark.
The crowd went wild, roaring in anger, “What a heartless woman! Her friend was raped before her death and she knew who did it but stayed silent!”
“Her friend jumped into the river to end her life. Her poor mother begged her until her knees bled and she still refused to open the door!”
“She even set her dogs on people. How disgusting can she be?”
All of their curses were aimed at me.
Olivia stood nearby, her brows tightly furrowed.
In this entire world, other than Emily’s parents, no one hated me more than she did.
Ten years ago, Emily Carter, Olivia Reynolds and I were the closest of friends.
However, after Emily was assaulted and took her own life in the woods near my home, our friendship fell apart.
In her suicide note, she wrote that I saw the man who raped her.
From that moment on, everyone believed I was protecting the rapist.
And the truth was… I did protect him.
Olivia stepped in front of me, her voice cold and sharp.
“Sophia, I’ll give you one last chance.”
“Tell me who the rapist is, then turn yourself in to the police. It’s not too late yet.”
“But once I start the machine, the high-frequency pulses will crush every bone in your body again and again. You won’t even have a chance to defend yourself!”
My face went pale in an instant. I struggled and screamed in panic, “Iva, no. You can’t look into my memory!”
She grabbed my wrist tightly, her teeth clenched. “Scared now? It’s too late for that. I’m getting justice for Emily!”
Tears ran down my face as I begged, “Iva, please… don’t do this. If you show my memories, you’ll regret everything.”
She gave a bitter laugh, her eyes red with fury. “Regret? The only thing I regret is ever calling you my best friend!”
Two guards forced me into a metal chair.
Cold cuffs locked my hands and feet in place.
I struggled, but they pressed a heavy helmet over my head.
A thousand tiny needles stabbed into my scalp, digging deep into my mind.
I screamed as my body shook violently.
In that moment, it felt like my soul was being torn apart.
Even so, the crowd beneath the platform stayed furious.
Rotten vegetables and spoiled eggs flew through the air, hitting the stage as they screamed insults at me.
“Fake friend! Rapist’s protector! Go to hell, you witch!”
On the big screen, my memories began to play in reverse.
The first one appeared for everyone to see.
It was three days after Emily’s death.
They had dragged me to her wake.
Everyone demanded that I tell them who the rapist was.
Some spat on me, others threw stones.
One person yanked my arm so hard and then another pulled my hair until it was a tangled mess.
Fists hit my body over and over until my whole body turned black and blue.
I ran away in fear, with the villagers chasing after me like I was the criminal.
When I turned back, I saw smoke rising in the distance.
My house was burning. Those people had set my home on fire.
I just stood there, helpless.
With nowhere to go, I ran deep into the forest with Bruno, my loyal dog.
Unfortunately, the villagers found us again.
Right in front of me, they killed my dog and used its body to make a pot of soup.
Heartbroken, I held one of his bones and cried until I couldn’t breathe.
I was only sixteen then. I had no father, no mother.
On the stage, Olivia looked at my crying face on the screen and let out a cold laugh.
“Sophia, don’t you deserve this? If you hadn’t protected the rapist, would people treat you like that? Do you really think you’re the victim here?”
“You have no right to feel sorry for yourself. You protected a criminal and this is your punishment!”
Others agreed and shouted, “She has no shame! How dare she complain after everything she has done?”
“Trying to use these sad memories to make us pity her, huh? Ridiculous. She helped a rapist! That makes her no different from him. She belongs in hell!”
“Who is really pitiful here? Emily’s family lost everything. A family lost their daughter, the mother went insane from broken heart. Who is more deserving of our sympathy?”
Just then, a soft, cheerful laugh echoed from the screen.
“Emily, wait for me!”
Emily’s young, smiling face appeared on the screen.
On a snowy mountain, she ran toward me, laughing as she threw a snowball. “Catch this!”
“My daughter…” Emily’s father collapsed in front of the screen, crying uncontrollably.
Seeing his daughter’s bright smile again after ten long years broke him completely.
After Emily’s suicide, his hair turned white almost overnight.
Every day, he went to the police station asking, “Did you find the rapist yet?”
But every time, the officers only shook their heads.
Back then, there were no cameras in the village and my house stood apart from the others.
No one knew who followed Emily that night.
The only person who knew the truth… was me.
On the screen, the younger me knelt before the mountain god’s statue, hands clasped in prayer.
“Please bless my friend with health and happiness. May our friendship last forever…”
Watching that, Olivia’s face twisted with rage.
“Sophia, you liar! How dare you pretend to care? You liar!”
She stormed forward, pointing at me.
“How dare you show those memories? You disgust us!”
“Ten years, Sophia. Ten years and you never told us the truth. You don’t deserve to call us friends!”
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