The law of the land was broken by the artist. However, were they truly at fault? The rulers of the land seemed to be blind in their eyes.

The sin of dark imagination was committed. Though it appeals to others, it taints the standing of the rulers, the ones who cannot decipher its true meaning.

"This is for your own good (no, rather, it was to protect themselves from being associated)."

"Everything you do ruins us, and you don't care (this was also a lie, for they knew but struggled to fix it)."

"Why can't you see you bring nothing but despair (The infinite time this was repeated, yet the pain of hearing it never ceased)."

Why didn't the rulers sink into lies? They were all liars, weren't they...?

"Can't think...."

The artist's thoughts seemed to be their undoing.
"I didn't mean to-- I just wanted-- Please, don't--"
Pleas were unheard as the artist was robbed of their expression, their freedom, their voice.

"H-Hah... stop it...!"

Ah, of course. The artist knew that they were telling the truth, but it hurt, so much...

"Oh... my h-head... hurts..."

The artist fell down into their despair, and, realizing it was another dream, vanished from that world.

..............................................................

"Though, even if it is fiction, is there not some truth to it?"

"...yes, I'm talking to you, of course."

"The ones who feed on the artist's misery. Tell me, is this merely a story?"

The narrator vanished from the audience's eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you didn't quite get it from the picture, it's almost like a "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil" sort of thing.

One version of the story Rapunzel has the price temporarily lose his sight after falling into a wall of thorns.

The drawing, if it's also not clear, has the person's ear cut off. It's a stretch (and a last minute thing I noticed), but it's similar to how Van Gogh, known as the Tortured Artist, cut his left ear.