- 1 hour ago
The Scar of Vengeance - Full Engsub
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🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Mi hija murió porque el rey dijo que era muy hermoso.
00:03Eso es todo lo que se tomó.
00:04Una complimentación y, por la noche,
00:06Chloe ha llevado un bronzo de estilos de su boca hasta que se despeda respirar.
00:10Ellos llevaron a casa de la blanca.
00:12Lo sacó de vuelta a mí mismo.
00:14Ella era caliente, ya que era muy caliente.
00:16Yo heldé ella hasta que no había más lluvias.
00:19Lo que había dejado no es la tristeza.
00:21Es la revenge.
00:22Para llegar a Chloe, yo tenía que entrar en el palacio.
00:25Yo sabía que ella sufrió la cruz de Helios.
00:27The blinding head fire that comes without warning
00:30So I spent a year learning the old remedies
00:33The herbs
00:34The pressure points the Thessalian healers passed down in silence
00:37When the palace opened for servant selections
00:39I stood in front of my mirror
00:41And painted a long, ugly scar down my left cheek
00:44Purple-black
00:45Grotesque
00:46I walked in
00:47I was assigned to the laundry quarters
00:49I waited
00:50Then Chloe's episodes came back
00:52And the court physicians failed her
00:54My turn
00:55They brought me to her
00:56She was gripping her own head
00:58Face twisted in agony
01:00I can try, my lady
01:01She looked at my scar
01:02If you fail, I'll have your tongue
01:05I pressed my fingers to the points along her skull
01:08And ground the herbs into her temples with slow, deliberate circles
01:12Her face relaxed within minutes
01:14You're useful
01:16Stay
01:16She trusted me completely after that
01:19My skills helped her
01:20My face made her feel safe
01:22She had no idea those were both lies
01:24One night the king sent it to her
01:26She was preparing herself when the episode hit
01:29She called me in
01:30The king waited in the outer chamber
01:32I could only see the edge of his robe
01:34Deep, tyrian purple
01:36Heavy wool
01:37I knelt at her side and worked the pressure sequence one pass at a time
01:41Then I reached into my case for the final compound
01:43The one I had prepared weeks before
01:46Odorless
01:47Tasteless
01:48It would not be felt in contact
01:49But it would move
01:51Slowly
01:52Through her blood
01:53Toward her heart
01:54I just had to be patient
01:55Her pain cleared
01:57But the king had already lost interest and left
02:00Chloe was furious
02:01She smashed everything in the room
02:03Then had three servants dragged out and beaten
02:06I was one of them
02:07Twenty strokes
02:08Face down on a cold stone
02:10I bit through my lip and didn't make a sound
02:12Lying there I thought about my sister
02:14How she'd been in this same position
02:16How she'd never done anything wrong
02:18Killing Chloe isn't enough
02:20I thought
02:21I'm going to take everything she has first
02:23The next day
02:24The king came to check on her
02:26The first time I saw his face
02:28Dark robes
02:29Straight back
02:30And handsome
02:31Chloe had already ordered us to cover our bruises before he arrived
02:35She didn't want him knowing what she was
02:38As he turned to leave
02:39I let my sleeve fall
02:40He saw the marks on my arm
02:42What happened to you?
02:43I looked up
02:44Let my eyes fill
02:45Used the voice I'd practiced a hundred times
02:48Nothing my king
02:50Please don't worry
02:51Just please visit her more often
02:54When the pain comes she gets upset
02:57He was a king
02:58He wasn't going to investigate a servant's bruises
03:01But the seed was planted
03:03Spring
03:04The king's mother held a garden gathering
03:06Chloe arrived late
03:08Leaning on my arm
03:09And spent the first hour insulting every other woman at court
03:12Those people were cheap
03:14That hairstyle was sad
03:16That woman had the taste of a fishwife
03:19I was pouring her wine when I let my wrist tip
03:21Just slightly
03:22The cup emptied across her skirt
03:24She grabbed a cup of water and threw it in my face
03:27You stupid girl
03:29The scar dissolved on contact
03:31I felt the pigment peel away
03:33I had no time to think
03:35I didn't bother
03:36A voice from behind us
03:38What's going on?
03:39The king
03:40Chloe transformed instantly
03:42My king
03:43Just a clumsy servant
03:44He glanced at her
03:46Then at me
03:46His gaze stayed one beat too long
03:49I excused myself to change
03:51I didn't go to my room
03:52I went to the stone columns near his root back and waited
03:55When I heard his footsteps
03:57I started crying
03:58Not loudly
03:59Just enough
04:01Who's there?
04:02I stumbled out and dropped to my knees
04:06Forgive me
04:06I didn't know you were passing
04:08He recognized me
04:10You
04:12Chloe's healer
04:12He was already moving on
04:14I had seconds
04:15I raised my face
04:16Please
04:18Pretend you didn't see me
04:20Don't tell anyone what I really look like
04:22I'm begging you
04:24He looked down at me
04:25A woman in the dirt
04:26Tears on a face that wasn't scarred at all
04:29A face he wasn't expecting
04:30After a long moment
04:32I won't say anything
04:35What's your name?
04:36I shook my head
04:37Said nothing
04:38Let him wonder
04:39I was nearly back
04:41When one of the younger servants came looking for me
04:43And called my name down the corridor
04:44Behind me
04:45I heard him say it quietly to himself
04:48That was the first real move
04:50Chloe hosted a feast
04:52Three days later
04:53The hall was full and loud
04:54She sat in the place of honor
04:56Wearing the king's gifts
04:57And every woman there
04:59Had to pretend to be happy for her
05:00I stood behind her
05:02And remembered what day it was
05:03One year ago today
05:05This same hall
05:06My sister
05:07When the feast hit its loudest point
05:09I slipped out to the garden pool
05:11At the far edge of the grounds
05:12A few small oil lamps floating there
05:14By other servants for luck
05:16I lit a bundle of dried laurel
05:17And lowered a plain white lamp
05:19Into the water
05:21Sister
05:22Wait for me a little longer
05:25I'll give it all back
05:26Every bit of pain she put you through
05:28A hundred times over
05:30Footsteps
05:31The king
05:31I didn't turn around
05:33I had about two seconds to decide
05:35I stood up and stepped off the edge
05:37Into the pool
05:37It wasn't deep
05:38Only waist height
05:39But I went under
05:40And when I came up
05:41My scar had washed away completely
05:43He was calling for someone to come help
05:45Lamplight behind me
05:46Hair loose and wet
05:48I looked at him across the water
05:49With the expression I'd practiced
05:51Until it felt like breathing
05:52Someone who had run completely out of hope
05:54Don't help me
05:56I let him look
05:56Counted to three
05:57Then I took a breath and went under
05:59Swam hard along the bottom to the far bank
06:02And was gone before anyone reached the water
06:04By morning the story was everywhere
06:06The king had seen a woman appear in the garden pool and vanish
06:09Searched all night
06:10Hadn't slept
06:11Chloe put her fist through her favorite realm's mirror
06:14Some sorceress is working tricks on him
06:17When I find her
06:18She drowns
06:20For real
06:22I'm sure it was nothing my lady
06:25Even if it wasn't
06:27I could make her disappear
06:28A ghost
06:30She called me
06:30She was more right than she knew
06:34After the garden
06:35The king and I had a secret
06:36Neither of us named it
06:38He kept coming to see Chloe
06:39I kept staying out of his line of sight
06:42Or
06:42Keeping the scarred side toward him
06:44Eyes down
06:46Movements
06:46Stiff and correct
06:48Men like him were used to women who came to them
06:50Distance was more interesting
06:52Then came the royal hunt
06:54The whole court rode out to the countryside
06:56Banners
06:57Horses
06:58Noble suns
06:59Showing off
07:00Halfway through the morning
07:01A storm hit fast
07:03Cold and hard
07:04Everyone scrambled back to the hunting lodge
07:06That night
07:07The king had a fever
07:08The head fire came back with it
07:10The court physicians failed him
07:12One after another
07:14Chloe paced the corridor outside his room
07:16Turning in circles
07:17Then she grabbed my arm
07:19You treat these episodes
07:20Go
07:21My face was her guarantee
07:23She wasn't worried
07:24The room smelled of medicine
07:25And sweat
07:26The king was on the bed
07:28Flushed
07:29Jaw locked with pain
07:30Chloe tried to go to him
07:32My lady
07:33He needs quiet
07:34Perhaps the healer should work alone
07:36Chloe didn't like it
07:37Just me and two servants in the corner
07:40I sat at the edge of the bed
07:41And opened my case
07:42When my fingers touched his temple
07:44He opened his eyes
07:45Blurred with fever
07:47But they found me
07:50I'm going to help with the pain
07:51I kept my hands moving
07:53Ground herb paste into the points along his skull
07:56Dipped my fingers in cool olive oil
07:58And worked down his neck
07:59His breathing slowed
08:00The tight lines around his mouth softened
08:03I started to pull back
08:04I'll leave you to rest my king
08:06His hand closed around my wrist
08:08He pulled
08:08I had no time to catch myself
08:10I went backward and landed across the bed
08:13His arm locking around me before I could move
08:15Cedar and fever sweat
08:17Close and overwhelming
08:18His arm was around my waist
08:20His weight behind me
08:22His mouth near my ear
08:23Don't go
08:24The two servants had already slipped out
08:26And pulled the door shut
08:28You still have a fever
08:29Let me get you back on the pillow
08:32He sat up instead
08:33Keeping me with him
08:34His eyes moved over my face
08:36The scar side
08:37Then the other
08:38Come serve me
08:40Not her
08:41Me
08:42Too soon
08:43Too easy
08:44Easy things don't last
08:46I tried to shift onto my knees to bow
08:48He wouldn't let me move
08:50My king, I'm grateful
08:51But Chloe gave me a place when I had nothing
08:53I can't repay that with betrayal
08:55Please
08:56Let me keep this much
08:57I looked at his face
08:59Loyalty to someone who hurts you
09:01That was the thing that would work on him
09:03Every woman at court came toward him
09:05A woman who held a line was something different
09:07He looked at me for a long time
09:09Something shifted behind his eyes
09:11Frustration
09:12And underneath it
09:14Sharper interest
09:15He let me go
09:16Fell back on the pillow
09:17But his hand stayed loosely around my wrist
09:20All night
09:21His fever broke before dawn
09:23His grip loosened
09:24I fixed my robe and left quietly
09:26Outside
09:27Chloe was still waiting
09:28How is he?
09:30The fever's down
09:31The pain eased
09:32He's sleeping
09:34Then she slid a bracelet off her wrist
09:36And held it out
09:37Plain carnelian beads on a copper wire
09:40You did well
09:41Go rest
09:42I thanked her
09:43And walked away
09:44A dead girl's blood
09:45Is worth more than a string of carnelian
09:47I thought
09:48I said nothing
09:49The hunt resumed two days later
09:51Chloe was tired
09:52And it showed
09:53One of the other women at court noticed
09:55And smiled
09:56You've been working so hard sister
09:58Why not ride out today?
10:00Show the king what you can do
10:01Everyone knew Chloe couldn't ride
10:03The woman was doing it to watch her fail
10:05Chloe started to make an excuse
10:07I stepped forward
10:09My king
10:10Lady Chloe hasn't been well
10:12She shouldn't strain herself
10:13I'd be honored to ride in her place
10:16Every eye in the courtyard went to the scarred servant
10:18Who'd just put herself forward in front of the king
10:21Chloe caught on fast
10:22She's rough
10:23But she can ride my king
10:24Let her go
10:26Permitted
10:26I walked to the horse they'd brought out
10:28Big, white, bad-tempered
10:31It was stamping and tossing its head
10:33The other women watched with expressions ranging from bored to amused
10:37A scarred servant playing at hunting
10:39I ran my hand along the horse's neck
10:42And pressed my thumb into the hollow below its jaw
10:44The point my sister had shown me for calming animals
10:47The horse stilled
10:49Nuzzled my palm
10:50I mounted and rode into the field
10:52Fast and low
10:54A hair broke from cover
10:55I took the shot without thinking
10:57Cleaning
10:58Through the neck
10:59I didn't go deeper
11:00This wasn't about showing off
11:01A king doesn't want a hunting dog
11:03He wants something he can't fully predict
11:06I brought the hair back and knelt
11:08I hope it serves my king
11:10He looked at me for longer than he needed to
11:13Undisguised
11:13Interest
11:14Good instincts
11:15Then he praised Chloe for keeping useful people around her
11:19He praised her
11:20Not me
11:21Smart move
11:22Chloe beamed
11:23He gave her gifts
11:24She looked at me differently after that
11:26Like I was actually worth something
11:28You did well, Daphne
11:29She said back at the tent
11:31And gave me two gold pins
11:33I accepted them
11:34And bowed
11:35That night
11:36His summons came again
11:37Another episode
11:38Chloe waved me off without hesitating
11:41The scar
11:42The loyal servant
11:43The safest woman in the palace
11:45An attendant led me to a building at the back of the lodge
11:48The thermal baths
11:49Low light
11:50Steam
11:51Rose petals in the water
11:52The king was already in the pool
11:54Eyes closed
11:55One shoulder bare
11:57The attendant disappeared
11:58The door closed
12:00Your servant didn't know the king was bathing
12:02I'll wait outside
12:02Stay
12:03I stopped
12:05He stood up
12:06Come here
12:07My king
12:08It wouldn't be appropriate for me to
12:09A wet hand closed around my wrist
12:11And I was in the water before I finished the sentence
12:14Water over my face
12:16My robe soaked through instantly
12:17I came up coughing
12:19He was right in front of me
12:21The scar had washed off
12:22Steam and lamplight
12:24His eyes on my face
12:26Fully
12:26With no polite distance
12:29My king
12:30I'm a servant
12:32Please let me go
12:33He took my chin and turned me back
12:35Then he kissed me
12:36No question asked
12:38I pressed both hands flat against his chest
12:41And pushed
12:42Useless
12:43He didn't move
12:44The resistance seemed to interest him more
12:46Eventually he let me breathe
12:48I shoved and got a foot of space between us
12:50I belong to Chloe's household
12:52She trusted me enough to send me here
12:55I can't repay trust with betrayal
12:57I hit hard on those last words
12:59A king who commands everything is rarely told no
13:02Someone who holds a line and means it is rare
13:05Rare things are interesting
13:07He didn't come closer
13:08Go
13:09The next morning I was leaning over to pour Chloe's wine
13:12When her eyes stopped on my neck
13:13Daphne
13:14What is that?
13:19I didn't flinch
13:20The bathwater was cold my lady
13:22I must have bruised myself on the tile
13:24I'll cover it
13:25She stared at me
13:26At my face
13:27At the scar
13:28She was looking for a reason to be suspicious
13:30She found none
13:31My face did its job
13:33Put some save on it
13:35That evening the king held a fire feast
13:37Torchlight
13:38Roasting meat
13:39The noise of people who'd been writing for three days
13:42Chloe fed him from her plate
13:44And laughed too brightly
13:45And kept her body angled toward him
13:47She needed his eyes on her
13:49His eyes kept moving past her
13:51I felt the direction of that gaze
13:53Even with my back turned
13:55I stepped half a pace to the left
13:57Behind her shoulder
13:58And out of his sight
13:59Chloe noticed him drifting
14:01She looked around
14:02Found nothing
14:03On the ride home
14:04She sat in the carriage
14:05Complaining in the dark
14:07He wasn't with me tonight
14:08Some woman is pulling his attention
14:10I can feel it
14:12Her hand went to her temple
14:13The head fire building
14:15Come here
14:16I pressed my fingers in
14:17Moved down her neck
14:19Her shoulders
14:20To the base of her spine
14:21I pressed one point
14:23She cried out and spun around
14:25What are you doing?
14:26Are you trying to cripple me?
14:27My lady, I'm so sorry
14:30I felt a blockage
14:31There's nothing there
14:32You're just clumsy
14:33Kneel here for the rest of the ride
14:35Two hours on jolting wood in the dark
14:37I smiled the whole way
14:39The compound was moving faster than I'd planned
14:41Good
14:42Back in the palace
14:44The king stopped coming as often
14:46Chloe paced
14:46Like something caged
14:48No child
14:49No guarantee
14:50Fifteen months of position
14:51And nothing to show for it
14:53That couldn't be taken away overnight
14:55Without a child, I'm nothing
14:57But I heard it
14:58A few days later
14:59She turned to me
15:00Do you have more of that first remedy?
15:02The one that helped with my cycle?
15:03There it was
15:04That compound is hard on the body
15:06Using it again so soon could damage you
15:08But I have another idea
15:09I'd learned the king often walked alone
15:11In the palace gardens at dusk
15:13Down near the laurel pool
15:14He went to think
15:15Go to him
15:16Not dressed for court
15:18Go simply
15:18Be there by chance
15:20Bring your kiaka
15:21I described exactly what to wear
15:23Hair loose
15:23Nothing showy
15:25Just her and the music
15:26And the evening air
15:27I pressed a small cloth pouch into her hand
15:29And a vial of oil
15:31Bathe with these tonight
15:32The oil on your wrists and throat
15:34The pouch held dried crocus and iris root
15:36The oil was infused with something older
15:39Chloe took them
15:40Hungry for it
15:41The following evening she went
15:42She found the spot
15:44Arranged herself with the kithara across her knees
15:46And played
15:47The king heard it
15:48Sent his attendants back and followed the sound alone
15:51I watched from the shadow of the colonnade across the water
15:54He slowed down when he saw her
15:56New dress
15:57Dark water
15:58Music in the still air
15:59She looked up at exactly the right moment
16:01Surprised
16:02Composed
16:03Quietly glad to see him
16:05It worked
16:06The lights in her chambers didn't go out until near dawn
16:08I stood outside in the dark and waited
16:10Before sunrise
16:11I moved to a covered walkway near the crossing point between her chambers and the king's morning route
16:17I arranged myself on a stone bench
16:19Mies up
16:19Arm under my head
16:20Robes slightly disordered
16:22I let my lips go pale
16:23I didn't fake the cold
16:25It was genuinely cold
16:26I heard the chamber doors open
16:28I slowed my breathing
16:29Let my eyes go to half focus
16:31The king crossed the courtyard
16:33His gaze picked up the shape on the bench
16:35I jolted awake
16:36Tried to stand
16:37And let my knee buckle just enough to pitch me into him
16:40His hands caught me
16:41For a moment I was very close to his face
16:44He took in the loose hair
16:45The crumpled robe
16:46The pallor
16:47I pulled back and tried to straighten myself
16:49Forgive me my king
16:50I didn't hear you coming
16:52I'll go
16:52What are you doing out here?
16:54Waiting for Lady Chloe
16:56In case she needed anything
16:57I must have fallen asleep
16:59All night?
17:00Please don't be angry with her
17:01She doesn't know I stayed
17:02I chose to
17:03The more I defended Chloe
17:05The worse she looked
17:06I'd learned that
17:07He was quiet
17:08Looking at me
17:09Pale
17:10Shaking slightly
17:11Defending the woman who'd put me out here
17:13He turned and told his attendant to send a physician to check on me
17:16Call the doctor
17:19Before he left
17:20He looked back once
17:21I stood very still
17:22And watched his procession disappear around the corner
17:25Then I smiled
17:26Chloe
17:26You were warm and comfortable all night
17:29And this is what he saw this morning
17:32Everything you don't know I'm doing costs you something
17:37When Chloe came back
17:38The head fire
17:39Hit within hours
17:40The remedy I'd blended for her
17:42Had done its work
17:43I worked the pressure sequence
17:45Three minutes
17:46And the worst of it broke
17:47When she closed her eyes to rest
17:49I pressed my fingers to her wrist
17:51The pulse was there
17:52And something else
17:53Deep in it
17:54An irregular pull
17:55Faint but real
17:56The compound had reached the edge of her chest cavity
17:59Almost there
18:00Chloe recovered
18:01She complained that the episodes weren't going away for good
18:05The symptoms I have are not gone yet
18:08These old afflictions take time
18:10I said
18:11But you're improving
18:12The frequency is down
18:14Give it a few more months
18:16Not a lie
18:17Her episodes were improving
18:19The physician said so too
18:20No one was looking at the other thing
18:23The king had been coming nearly every day since the garden evening
18:26Chloe was pleased with herself
18:28She thought she'd fixed it
18:29She didn't know he came partly to find reasons to be in corridors and side rooms
18:33While she sat in the main hall
18:35For these moments
18:36I was always exactly what he expected
18:38Careful
18:39Eyes down
18:40Loyal
18:41Slightly afraid
18:42Never easy
18:43Never coming toward him
18:44Men who have everything want the one thing that won't come to them
18:48I prepared a new compound for her evenings with the king
18:51Something that would make the hours more vivid
18:53He'd associate those feelings with her
18:55It also contained something slower
18:57Something she'd never taste
18:59The poison was almost in her heart
19:01The compound was building in her blood
19:03Good things come to those who wait
19:06A court feast
19:07The hall was packed
19:08Wine and music
19:09And everyone pretending to enjoy themselves
19:11I'd spent a week on two separate preparations
19:14The first Chloe had been wearing on her skin for weeks
19:17Worked into the oils I gave her each night
19:19The second I carried on myself tonight
19:22In a small cloth pouch
19:23When the two met in the same space
19:26They reacted
19:27Slowly
19:27Just a soft thickening of the air
19:30I moved carefully through the banquet hall
19:32Close to the king's table
19:33Close to Chloe
19:34Spreading the second scent as I went
19:36The king's eyes went heavy
19:38He excused himself to rest in the back rooms
19:40Chloe watched him go
19:42The haze was already working on her too
19:44She moved to follow
19:45I intercepted her smoothly
19:47Called her handmaiden
19:48Suggested the side rooms
19:50Guided her away without her noticing
19:51Then I turned back
19:53I picked up the shawl Chloe had left on her chair
19:55And walked toward the king's rest chamber
19:57I pushed the door open softly
19:59My lady
20:00Your shawl
20:01He opened the eyes
20:02Looked at me
20:03I started backing out
20:04Wrong room
20:05I'm sorry
20:06An arm came around my waist from behind
20:09The second compound
20:10Suddenly this close
20:12Hit the first
20:13The reaction was immediate
20:14What followed was exactly what I'd planned
20:16I lay still afterward
20:18Watching the door
20:19Counting time
20:20A crash
20:21The door came in hard
20:22She stared at the clothes scattered on the floor
20:24And at us embracing on the bed
20:26Her face went white
20:30What is this?
20:48The king moved fast
20:50He pulled me in and got the blanket over my face
20:52Before she could look at me directly
20:54I lay still in the dark
20:55I'd set this up down to the attendant I'd sent
20:58To put the idea in Chloe's head
20:59A strange woman in his chambers
21:01Knowing she'd come running
21:03Knowing she couldn't stop herself
21:04She lunged for the blanket
21:06I felt her fingers grab at it
21:08The king's hand shot out and shoved her back
21:10She sat down hard on the floor
21:12How dare you
21:13How dare I?
21:14You do this and ask how I dare
21:16Everything in this palace is mine
21:17Every room
21:18Every person in it
21:19You pushed me
21:20You've never pushed me before
21:21Get out
21:23Alexandra
21:24Take her back
21:24She doesn't leave her chambers until I say
21:27I heard her footsteps
21:28Fast
21:29Then slower
21:30Then running
21:31Her crying fading down the corridor
21:33The room went quiet
21:34He lifted the blanket
21:35I was trembling
21:36I made sure of it
21:37Are you hurt?
21:39I shook my head
21:40Kept my eyes down
21:41Let me give you a formal place here
21:42You don't have to go back to her
21:45My king
21:45She was kind to me when I had nothing
21:47Everyone will say I used her
21:49Please let me go back
21:50Please let me keep what little I have
21:53Go
21:53I dressed and walked back through the palace
21:55When I came through Chloe's courtyard
21:57Her servants were kneeling in rows across the stones
22:00Chloe stood above them on the step with a riding whip
22:03I went through the gate and knelt
22:05Chloe's eyes locked onto me
22:07Where were you?
22:08Getting food from the kitchens, my lady
22:11I heard something had happened and took the long way back
22:14She stared
22:15No holes in it
22:16But her anger needed somewhere to go
22:17The whip came down across my back
22:19Then again
22:20I pressed my forehead to the stone and made no sound
22:23Hit harder
22:24I thought
22:25Every mark is evidence
22:26She moved down the line
22:28The courtyard was filled with crying and begging
22:30She moved through it like the weather
22:32Stop!
22:34Then from the gate
22:35The king walked in
22:36He stood still and took in the scene
22:38The kneeling servants
22:39The whip
22:40My back
22:41His face went flat
22:43My king
22:45These servants have been impossible today
22:47I was just
22:48I can see what you were doing
22:49Alexandrus, I have every right to discipline my own
22:51Not like this
22:52He crossed the courtyard and looked at the blood on my robe
22:55His jaw tightened
22:57Not ever like this
22:59Chloe started explaining herself
23:01He didn't let her finish
23:02He announced her confinement in front of all of them
23:05One month
23:05No exceptions
23:07You should stay in your palace
23:08And reflect for a month
23:09Chloe went pale
23:10Then
23:11She made the mistake of talking back
23:26She said things she couldn't say
23:28Old closeness is used as a weapon
23:30She'd known him long enough to know where to cut
23:32She forgot she was talking to a king
23:34He slapped her
23:35She fell
23:36Grabbed at the column beside her
23:38Then doubled over
23:39Hand pressed to her chest
23:40Face draining white
23:41And went down
23:42The servants screamed
23:43The king stood there for one frozen second
23:46Then he shouted for the physicians
23:48The court physician ran in
23:50Kneelt beside her
23:51Checked her
23:51Once
23:52Twice
23:53Three times
23:54Then he knelt lower
23:55Very formal
23:56My king
23:57The lady Chloe is with child
23:59Approximately one month
24:00Silence
24:01Chloe's eyes opened
24:02The words reached her slowly
24:04Then she started to cry
24:06The real kind
24:07Not the kind she performed
24:08The king crossed to her immediately
24:10He took her hands
24:11Cancel the confinement
24:12Send for gifts
24:14I watched from the back of the room
24:16A child
24:17I thought
24:18How convenient
24:18From that day
24:20Chloe treated the pregnancy
24:21Like a siege
24:22Triple tasted food
24:23Four servants walked her
24:25From room to room
24:25Someone at her bedside
24:27Every night
24:28She also became worse
24:29Much worse
24:30A handmaiden was flogged
24:32For sneezing during her rest
24:34Another beaten
24:34For pulling a single hair
24:36While dressing her
24:37I was punished
24:38I was punished several times
24:38I kept counting
24:39I kept preparing her medicine too
24:41The compound I was adding
24:43To her morning coffee
24:44Was carefully measured
24:45Just enough to hollow her out slowly
24:47While making her feel
24:48She was improving
24:49Good days would keep her trusting me
24:51Bad days would keep her scared enough
24:53To need me
24:53The poison was almost at her heart
24:55The child won't survive it
24:57And after that
24:58Neither will you
25:00The pregnancy was not peaceful
25:02Within weeks
25:03She bled three times
25:04Physicians rotated through her room
25:06They all said the same thing
25:08Weakness
25:08Rest
25:09Strengthening herbs
25:11None of them looked further
25:12After the third episode
25:14Chloe threw her medicine cup
25:15Across the room
25:16If I lose this child
25:18Every one of you dies with me
25:20I swept up the pieces
25:22While she raged
25:23Careful what you threaten
25:24I thought
25:25You'll be first
25:27The physicians couldn't find
25:28What I'd put inside her
25:29They weren't looking for a compound
25:31With no taste and no smell
25:33That had been building
25:34In her body for months
25:35They weren't looking for
25:36A slow extraction from a root
25:38That grows in gorges
25:39No court physician ever visits
25:41They just kept refilling her
25:42With remedies
25:43I kept quietly undermining
25:44She was pouring water
25:46Into a cracked jar
25:47And calling it healing
25:48One afternoon
25:49She grabbed my hand
25:50Her nails bit into my skin
25:51Daphne
25:52You have to save this baby
25:54If you do this
25:56I'll give you anything
25:57Anything
25:58I looked at her hollowed out eyes
26:00In her desperation
26:01My lady
26:03I said gently
26:04I'll do everything I can
26:05I added something new
26:06To her morning coffee that week
26:08Something that would lift
26:09Her energy for a few days
26:10She noticed it within two days
26:14You see
26:16You're better than all of them
26:18The lady is very strong
26:20I said
26:21Not for much longer
26:24The coffee was making
26:25Chloe's temper savage
26:26In ways she couldn't control
26:28She threw things away
26:30She had her oldest attendant
26:32Kneeling in the courtyard
26:33For two hours
26:34Because of a single
26:35Pulled hair while dressing her
26:37She swung between rage
26:38And weeping
26:39With nothing in between
26:41When the king visited
26:42She managed to hold
26:43Herself together
26:44Barely
26:45He came every day now
26:46Officially to check on her
26:48In practice
26:49He kept finding reasons
26:51To be in side rooms
26:52And corridors
26:52I slipped out of the main hall
26:54One afternoon
26:55And had barely stepped
26:56Into the adjoining room
26:58When he pulled me in
26:59By the wrist
26:59She was half asleep
27:01In the next room
27:02Her hearing had been
27:03Getting worse for weeks
27:04Another thing
27:05No one had connected
27:06To anything
27:09He turned my arm over
27:11And looked at the bruising
27:12Around my wrist
27:13She did this
27:16I was careless
27:19Stop covering for her
27:21From the main room
27:24Daphne
27:24Where are you?
27:26I straightened my robe
27:27And stepped back
27:28Through the doorway
27:28Chloe looked at me
27:30With narrow eyes
27:31What were you doing in there?
27:34Preparing your afternoon remedy
27:35My lady
27:36She stared
27:37Then her face darkened
27:38And her hand came up
27:39He stepped through the doorway
27:41Who are you about to hit?
27:43Her hand froze in midair
27:45She softened everything immediately
27:47My king
27:48Just correcting a servant
27:50Rest
27:51He said
27:52Stop working yourself up
27:53He left
27:54She didn't hit me
27:56She made me kneel
27:57In the corridor
27:58I knelt in the afternoon sun
28:00And looked at nothing
28:01Not much longer now
28:02Chloe
28:03The night she went into labor
28:05The whole household fell apart
28:07It started at midnight
28:08Screaming
28:09That carried across three courtyards
28:11The queen mother sent her two best midwives
28:13The king broke protocol
28:14And waited in the side room
28:16Chloe's brother
28:17Who commanded armies on the border
28:18Rode through the night
28:20And stood in the outer courtyard
28:21This was the first child
28:22Nobody could afford it to go wrong
28:24Chloe gripped the bed frame
28:26Until her knuckles split
28:27She begged the physicians
28:28To save the baby
28:29She made promises to gods
28:31She hadn't thought about in years
28:32The poison had been moving through her body for nine months
28:35The compound had been layering in her blood since the beginning
28:38The body she was fighting this birth with
28:40Was already running on nothing
28:42The midwives worked until the room smelled of blood and exhaustion
28:45Near dawn
28:46Chloe's screaming stopped
28:48A midwife said
28:49He is coming
28:50The room went completely still
28:52Everyone held their breath
28:53We waited for the cry
28:54It didn't come
28:55The midwife's voice
28:56When it came
28:57Was barely a voice at all
28:59My king
29:00The boy has no breath
29:03The king pushed through the curtain
29:04I stood near the wall
29:05And watched the midwife
29:07Holding the small
29:07Still shape
29:08Perfect hands
29:09Perfect mouth
29:10Not moving
29:11There it is
29:13Chloe turned her head
29:15Let me see
29:16They gave her the baby
29:18She held him
29:19And her whole body understood
29:20Before her mind did
29:22Then the sound came out of her
29:23A single cry
29:24With nothing held back
29:26I dropped my head
29:28Under my breath
29:29Quiet enough that no one would ever hear
29:31That is for my sister
29:36Chloe held the dead child
29:38And couldn't be separated from him for hours
29:40The king summoned every physician in the palace
29:43They knelt in a row
29:44Last month you told me everything was stable
29:49Explain this
29:50No one could
29:51Chloe's brother was not the kind of man who accepted that
29:54He wanted a cause
29:55He wanted someone to blame
29:57I waited three days
29:59Then
29:59While bringing Chloe her afternoon remedy
30:02I deliberately let a folded piece of cloth slip from my hand
30:06I moved to get it back quickly
30:08One of the brother's men reached it first
30:10The cloth held dried plant residue
30:13Dark peddled
30:14With a faintly bitter smell
30:15The court physician was brought to examine it
30:18He held it to the light
30:19Then looked up
30:20This is black hellebay
30:22Forbidden to pregnant women
30:25Even a small amount causes repeated bleeding
30:28It can prevent a child from surviving full term
30:30Chloe turned to look at me
30:32Everything she'd never let herself suspect
30:34Landed on her face at once
30:36Daphne
30:37I stayed kneeling
30:38I said nothing
30:39The poison was at her heart now
30:41She had days
30:42Maybe less
30:43There was nothing useful left to say to her
30:45She threw herself out of bed toward me
30:48Her legs barely held
30:49A cough ripped through me
30:51And blood came with it
30:52Dark
30:53Onto the white wool
30:54She pointed at me from the floor
30:57You
30:59It was you
31:02You killed my son
31:04You
31:04You
31:04You
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