Chapter 5

This time, the live chat utterly exploded. Some cursed the Presiding Officer, others cursed me.

Someone even opened a public voting channel.

That's right, if the tribunal was questioned by the audience, a public vote could be initiated. In just a few seconds, the 'guilty' votes already hit twenty-six percent. If it reached sixty percent, the audience could convict me without even needing the Presiding Officer.

Blake shot me a defiant look. After all, it had come to this point; he didn't need to keep up the act anymore.

The Presiding Officer ignored it and continued to ask Blake for evidence.

Blake puffed out his chest, submitting the final piece of evidence.

This segment was from when Blake and I went on a vacation. We had booked a trip to a tropical island. But when we were about to leave, Seraphina showed up, pulling a suitcase.

My face instantly fell.

Seraphina smiled at me.

"I'm here to take pictures for you two. Professional travel photography is so expensive these days. Anya, don't worry, I'm paying for all my own travel expenses."

But Blake quickly refused.

"Letting you take pictures for us without paying you is one thing, but making you pay for your own trip too? No way!"

Then Blake squeezed my hand, "Right, Anya?"

I yanked my hand away from Blake's, snapping back, my face dark.

"If you have so much money you don't know what to do with it, why not donate it? She's your friend, why should my money pay for her?"

Blake froze. He looked at me, bewildered.

"Anya, we're a team. My friends are your friends, aren't they?"

I scoffed.

"Don't make me sick. Is there such a thing as a 'pure' friendship between a man and a woman?"

I stomped off, leaving the two of them in an awkward silence.

After the video played, the Presiding Officer still said,

"For the third charge, selfishness, the defendant Anya is acquitted."

As his words fell, the voting counter on the big screen started spinning, reaching fifty-eight percent.

This meant that if it went any higher, I could be convicted by the audience without even needing the Presiding Officer's judgment.

【Who says men and women can't be just friends? Anya's own heart must be so dirty, she sees filth everywhere!】

【Even if they're just friends, you should pay for someone to take your pictures, right? How can Anya be so stingy she doesn't want to pay a dime? I hope she goes broke!】

【She can't stand her husband having friends? Why doesn't she just tie him to her hip? What a disgusting shrew, so petty!】

More and more people were siding with Blake.

Blake was completely triumphant. He even tried to speed up the voting by directly saying to me,

"Anya, I know you resent me. I'm not even going to hold it against you that you secretly bribed the Presiding Officer. All I ask for is your loyalty and love, and for you to let me have friends freely. We can still make this work."