"Based on the evidence presented above, do you plead guilty?"
The judge looked down at the publisher in the defendant's box. He wore reading glasses, and whenever he looked at people, he had to lower his head slightly so his gaze could pass through the gap between his brow and the frames and look over the lenses.
Otherwise, at this distance, the reading glasses would only make everything he saw even blurrier.
In truth, the judge knew that the publisher had been somewhat... unlucky. The article had been published the previous year. Normally, if nothing had happened then, nothing should happen now either.
But who could have known that the article had supposedly been seen by a wealthy minority capitalist, who then began taking action?
He gathered a group of capitalists of the same caliber to support him, then launched a political offensive. Even members of Congress were running around for this matter, so... the publisher had simply been down on his luck!
What an unfortunate fellow! The judge looked at the publisher, planning to give him a little hint after the publisher said, "I plead not guilty."
Putting up a hard fight at this point would not end well. It would only further anger the minorities whose emotions had already been stirred up, as well as the tycoons spending money to satisfy themselves.
The publisher did not give him that chance. He pleaded guilty directly, in a way no one had expected.
He pleaded guilty very readily, completely unlike his attitude at the previous hearing.
The judge looked at the publisher. "Are you sure you plead guilty?"
He repeated himself, afraid that he had misheard or that the publisher had misspoken.
The publisher then raised his head and looked at the judge, saying loudly, "Yes, I plead guilty. I