The troublemaker had been hoping for a soft punishment, but the ruling handed down was quite what?\nOptions:\n- ruled\n- harsh\n- abrasive\n- hard\n- sensible
A step-by-step solution is:
harsh
Harsh is not related to soft.

Since the troublemaker had been hoping for a soft punishment, but the ruling handed down was quite harsh.

.

So, the final answer is harsh