Kafka's gaze swept slowly over each woman in the little semicircle outside the curtain. None of them dared to meet it for more than a second before their heads dipped, shame softening their shoulders.
The silence was so thick that the faint sound of Olivia shifting inside the trial room seemed deafening in contrast.
He then exhaled through his nose and then spoke in that calm, low register that somehow cut sharper than a shout.
"Honestly...at first." He began. "I wasn't going to drag this out. I was going to let you all go."
That made more than a few heads snap up in surprise. June's brows flicked up briefly, and one of the younger clerks blinked like she wasn't sure she'd heard correctly.
"Yes." Kafka continued, nodding slowly as if to confirm it. "I'm not blind to the fact that I'm...also at fault here. Engaging in something like this, in a place like this...not exactly exemplary behavior, is it?"
His smirk softened for just a breath, almost self-deprecating.
