"I am the prosecuting party," Buttercup told the hooded judge.
"I'm sorry, but it's against the law in Florin to prosecute oneself," he answered. "Please don't waste my time."
"Waste your time? How dare you? I am to be your Queen! I demand you hear me out!"
"And why should I? I already know what you'll say. You want to be punished for what you did in the Fire Swamp. You will tell me how wicked, filthy, and heartless you are. What else is there to say?"
"I must say it, I must!"
"Very well, then," said the judge. "Make your case against yourself. I will listen. In return, I will give you a fair sentence. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
The scene changed. Buttercup now stood on a ledge in the ravine she had pushed her beloved Westley into. The hooded judge sat in a golden throne at the top.
"Your honor," she cried above the wind, "I am not guilty of only one, but many, crimes concerning Westley. Firstly, I took advantage of his eagerness to help me."
"He was only doing his job as a farm hand," the judge cut in.
"He did more. He lost sleep trying to keep boys from my window at night. All I ever did was scorn and degrade and taunt him, and all he ever said in return was 'As you wish.'
"Even when I began to love him I didn't do him justice. I only noticed him because I was jealous. Jealous of the Countess Rugen, of all people. And my love was only a deep infatuation. Westley deserved to be loved wholly and perfectly."
"That was the way he loved you, at the time. That's how love begins, really. Otherwise people would hardly notice each other and then where would the human race be?"
"That doesn't matter. He deserves an extraordinary woman."
"You are extraordinary. If nothing else, no one can deny that you are an extraordinarily beautiful woman."
"That's all I have to offer this world! It's why I'm engaged to the Crown Prince. It's the only thing Westley loves about me, it must be. How could anyone love a cold and heartless woman like me?"
A pause. Then, "We're getting off the subject," from the judge.
"I chose life without love over death with him," she whispered (for the wind had died down now). "I left him. I chose Humperdinck over him. I couldn't stand to stay in the Fire Swamp where I had almost died any longer."
"The Fire Swamp where Westley had almost died. You chose life without love over watching him die."
"And now I'm just getting what I deserve, he knows better, he's going to stay away from me now. Westley doesn't love me anymore. He won't rescue me from the wedding. I know it."
"You are wrong."
Suddenly, Buttercup no longer stood on the cliff ledge. Her height was even with the hooded judge, although she couldn't see his eyes.
"I have decided your sentence. Westley would have come for you, but you wish to be punished instead. So as your punishment, you will marry Humperdinck and bear his heirs. You will never know love again."
Buttercup could not help but cry. She had always hated Humperdinck, and now she did even more for taking her Westley away from her. A Westley that, she realized, was no longer hers. Tears dripped in a stream down her face.
Trembling, she said, "Thank you, sir."
He began to walk away.
"Wait," Buttercup called, and he stopped. "It bothers me, not seeing your eyes. Could you lower your hood?"
The judge turned around. "As you wish."
Buttercup's eyes fluttered open.