The judge raised a hand, silencing both sides.
"And what is the purpose?"
The lawyer's next words caused another uproar.
"To determine whether Miss Zhi may have actually been pregnant at some point, despite the current records indicating otherwise."
Yeri's expression changed.
Her lawyer immediately stood. "Objection! This is pure speculation."
"Your Honor, consider the sequence of events. Miss Zhi claimed she was pregnant. Shortly afterward, Miss Ricci, who was already under enormous emotional and legal pressure, traveled to confront her. Then Miss Zhi was involved in an incident in the Arctic, after which the pregnancy rumor disappeared."
He turned toward Yeri.
"What if Miss Zhi really was pregnant but there were issues? What if she became afraid that she would be blamed for whatever happened afterward? What if, instead of admitting the truth, she constructed a narrative in which Calin Ricci became responsible for everything?"
"Objection!"
"And if Miss Ricci was blamed for the incident, Miss Zhi would accomplish two things at once."
The lawyer's voice echoed.
"She would eliminate the woman who's a threat between her and Shin Keir... and if Miss Zhi had actually lost a pregnancy during the incident, she would also have someone else to blame for the loss."
They all understood what Calin's side was doing.
They weren't trying to prove Yeri had been pregnant.
They were throwing every possible accusation into the courtroom and letting the public decide which version they wanted to believe.
And outside, the internet was already doing exactly that.
"This is absolutely terrifying if it turns out to be true. What a conspiracy! I'm not saying Calin is innocent, but she also doesn't deserve to be blamed for something she didn't do." one netizen commented.
"The sequence of events is indeed too much of a coincidence. Let's just say what happened with Hadi wasn't intentional. But then why use a pregnancy as the reason? Either she intended to blame Hadi Keir, and unfortunately Shin Keir arrived sooner, forcing her to improvise."
"I can't with all these revelations. My mind is going haywire 😫 Anyway, I think Calin and Yeri are both no good."
As usual, Yeri's haters couldn't wait to jump on the hate train.
"I never liked Yeri from the moment she was introduced as Shin Keir's fiancée. Do you all remember when she rolled her eyes at the reporters waiting to interview her outside her school?"
"Exactly! And whenever she attended events with Shin Keir, she couldn't be bothered to acknowledge the media."
"Kudos to the legal team for uncovering such a premeditated scheme. In my opinion, Yeri couldn't have done it alone. They should investigate her best friend Nina too. Shin Keir may have known something as well."
"Perhaps the only reason Yeri successfully got engaged to Shin Keir was because she was pregnant. And when she lost that pregnancy, she panicked and needed someone to take the fall. I'm calling on the Keir elders to look into this. Clearly, Shin Keir is too in love to see what kind of woman he wants to marry."
-
Back in the courtroom, there was a brief recess.
When the hearing resumed, the judge permitted Calin's legal team to request an examination of Yeri at another hospital unaffiliated with the Neri family.
Madam Ricci could barely contain her grin as she scrolled through the comments before turning to the lawyer.
"Take a look at these comments. They're tearing that vixen apart."
Contrary to her mood, however, the lawyer looked uneasy.
"What?" Madam Ricci asked.
Calin also turned toward him, sensing the change in his expression.
The lawyer hesitated.
He had been paying particular attention to Shin's side throughout the entire hearing, especially Shin Keir.
While preparing for this case, the lawyer had naturally conducted an extensive investigation into Shin Keir. His background, his temperament, his business dealings, his reputation, even the stories people told about how he handled situations that displeased him.
If you had angered Shin Keir, you would almost prefer to see him angry.
People who had dealt with Shin Keir often claimed that the most dangerous moment wasn't when he raised his voice, but when he stayed indifferent.
And right now, Shin Keir had barely reacted to anything.
It didn't take long for that uneasiness to receive an answer.
When it was Shin's legal team's turn, they didn't simply stay on the same topic either. Instead, they began digging into Calin's history, including her vanity, tendency toward violence, history of bullying, which was already publicly known, and even her messy private life.
Calin's lawyer objected repeatedly, but just as Calin's side had done earlier, Shin's legal team argued that the information was relevant because it helped establish Calin's character and mental state, particularly why she had developed such hostility toward Yeri.
This time, however, the revelations were even more explosive.
Calin was a celebrity, after all.
Apart from Allen, the men she had dated over the years were either wealthy second-generation heirs or celebrities.
Two of those celebrities were particularly well known. One was a popular idol with a notoriously toxic fanbase, while the other was an award-winning actor.
But that wasn't the scandalous part, it's because the actor had already been married.
"Objection! This is absolutely irrelevant to the case!" Calin's lawyer hollered. "You're dragging people who have had nothing to do with my client into this courtroom and potentially ruining their reputations in the process. Do you people have no conscience?"
"Lies! You black-hearted people!" Madam Ricci exploded from her seat. "My daughter would never lower herself to date a married man!"
Her face had turned red, veins visibly protruding along her neck.
"Shin Keir, how could you be so vicious? Even if you don't like Calin, our families were very close! Why would you fabricate such a disgusting lie about her?"
Shin didn't even bother looking in her direction, and merely glanced at his watch, his expression suggesting that the entire proceeding was taking far longer than it needed to.
Meanwhile, Calin couldn't take it anymore as she again began screaming and thrashing in her wheelchair.
She wanted to shout that she had never dated that actor, but rather a mere sexual relationship, nothing more.
Reason?
He's ridiculously handsome.
But admitting that in court would hardly improve her situation. If anything, it would simply confirm the very accusation she was desperately trying to deny.
After another recess caused by Calin's outburst and her legal team struggling to regain control of the situation, the hearing resumed.
Shin's lawyer calmly returned to his argument.
"Irrelevant? You have repeatedly argued that your client was manipulated and conditioned by the people around her. You have argued that she acted primarily on emotion, that she was deeply in love with Shin Keir, and that Miss Zhi's alleged pregnancy was one of the factors that drove her emotional deterioration."
The lawyer paused.
"If that is your position, then how do you explain a person supposedly consumed by her love for one man becoming involved with one man after another over the past several years?"
He turned toward the judge.
"If Miss Ricci's actions are to be understood entirely through the lens of romantic obsession, then her history and patterns of behavior are relevant in determining whether her actions toward Miss Zhi were truly the result of uncontrollable love, or whether other factors were involved. That distinction matters."
The lawyer then laid out evidence concerning Calin's rise to fame.
Her career had allegedly been helped along by stolen projects, payments made to influential figures within the entertainment industry, stolen credit, and manipulated award processes.
Even her educational achievements were called into question.
Certificates and academic accomplishments, particularly those portraying her as a programming prodigy, were allegedly fabricated, exaggerated, or heavily embellished.
The courtroom erupted again.
"This is not an attempt to shame Miss Ricci or unnecessarily expose her private life," Shin's lawyer said calmly. "The purpose is to explain the psychology behind her conduct toward Miss Zhi. Her upbringing and the environment in which she developed are relevant when assessing her sense of entitlement, her expectations, and her reaction when those expectations were challenged."
He looked toward Calin.
"It isn't difficult to understand how Miss Ricci developed such a worldview. She grew up in an exceptionally wealthy family. She was accustomed to doing, saying, and acting however she pleased without having to experience the full consequences of those actions. Whenever something went wrong, there were people around her capable of protecting her, repairing the damage, or paying the consequences on her behalf."
Calin's fingers began trembling.
"The Ricci name opened doors. It could purchase opportunities, secure access, and create an appearance of excellence long before excellence had been demonstrated. It was more than enough to secure an impressive educational record and more than enough to establish an instant reputation within the entertainment industry."
The lawyer's gaze sharpened.
"Calin Ricci built her name with the money, influence, and status of her family. But there was one thing the Ricci name could not buy... Shin Keir."
Calin's breathing became uneven. At that moment, every word seemed to strike far deeper than an ordinary accusation.
Because none of it felt foreign to her.
It was the exact worldview she had carried for years.
"The life Miss Ricci envisioned for herself was, by her standards, already perfect."
The lawyer continued.
"She had wealth. Beauty. Social status. Fame. Influence. The admiration of countless people. Naturally, she expected her marriage to follow the same pattern. She didn't simply want a husband. She wanted someone who could elevate her position even further. Someone who matched her status, strengthened her reputation, and possessed enough wealth and influence to give her everything she believed she deserved."
He paused, his gaze shifted toward Shin Keir.
"In her mind, there was only one man who fit that standard. But contrary to the life she had already envisioned for herself, Yeri Zhi entered the picture, and that is where I believe the conflict truly began."
He looked toward the judge.
"This wasn't merely about Shin Keir's affection. It was about comparison. Miss Ricci couldn't understand why Shin Keir would choose Yeri Zhi. She came from what Miss Ricci would likely consider a third-tier family. She had no extraordinary achievements that could compete with the Ricci name. She had a reputation for being frail, frequently ill, and largely kept away from public attention. Aside from her appearance, what did Yeri Zhi have that Calin Ricci didn't?"
Calin's lawyer interrupted, exclaiming it was baseless assumptions but the other ignored him.
He continued, "Because for someone who had spent her entire life believing that status determined worth, the fact that Shin Keir chose someone she considered beneath her must have been incomprehensible."