The Wish That Stood Trial
Fetyukovitch tells the jury that tavern threats are a brawler's noise, and that being in the garden is not killing. He may have looked through the window and fled. The town has already chosen the simpler story.
Key Insight
The defence names the distinction the whole book has been holding: presence, want, and the servant's wound are not the same as the killing. Vicarious guilt is real. It is still not the act. A culture that cannot hold both will convict the louder sinner.
