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Queen of Masks - FULL | Reelshort
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00:02My half-sister couldn't get pregnant, so she asked me to sleep with her husband instead.
00:07No! I can't!
00:09I am an unmarried girl, and I am very afraid of him.
00:13The first time, he'd come to stay at our estate.
00:16Half the maids in the house had found excuses to walk past his door.
00:20He's stunning.
00:21And at his age, with that kind of power, if a girl could land him as a kept woman, she'd
00:27have made it.
00:27What? Clara, you're pretty enough. Why not try your luck tonight?
00:31Clara actually did it.
00:37It didn't go the way she planned. He didn't touch her.
00:40Come, someone! Beat her hard!
00:43By morning, the blood had soaked through her clothes.
00:46Her screaming had carried through the entire house.
00:49I thought about that.
00:51No, I... I can't.
00:52She didn't get angry. She just smiled and reached out to stroke my hair.
00:57Vera, I remember your mother's been unwell for a long time.
01:00She needs those medications every day just to stay stable.
01:03What do you think would happen if I asked mother to cut her off?
01:06You've always been such a good girl.
01:07Just help me with this one thing.
01:09Your mother will be taken care of.
01:10I promise.
01:12She brought me to Calloway Manor.
01:14My sister introduced me smoothly.
01:16This is my younger sister, Vera.
01:18She's been missing me, so I had her come stay for a while.
01:24Once you've given me a child, I'll find you a good match.
01:27You remember my cousin David?
01:28He's been married twice, but he's comfortable.
01:30You're not exactly a prize, Vera.
01:32Marrying him would be a step up.
01:35Over the next two days, she had me study her.
01:38Mimicking her mannerisms was manageable.
01:40Her voice was harder.
01:42I practiced for hours and still didn't quite have it.
01:45One evening, she slapped me across the face
01:48and screamed at me to pitch my voice higher, more like hers.
01:51When I still didn't get it right, she had me kneel outside.
01:56Vera, think hard out there.
01:58If you can't get it right by morning,
02:00I'm stopping your mother's medication.
02:05It was the first time I'd been close enough to really see his face.
02:09He was exactly as beautiful as everyone said
02:12in a way that felt almost unfair.
02:20He was wearing almost nothing under his coat.
02:23I pulled out my handkerchief and started blotting at his chest.
02:26Why were you kneeling out here?
02:28Did she punish you for something?
02:30I made a mistake.
02:32She wanted me to think it over.
02:34You don't need to explain what happened.
02:36Just go inside.
02:37If she asks, tell her it was my idea.
02:42Put that on.
02:43Don't get sick.
02:46I'll have it cleaned and returned to you.
02:48Don't bother.
02:49Keep it or throw it out.
02:51Either's fine.
02:55She gave me a book that afternoon.
02:56It's a book that teaches people how to make love.
02:59She sat across from me looking completely unbothered.
03:03Don't be shy.
03:04Study it.
03:05You'll need it.
03:06When he came back, she set a proper dinner.
03:09They ate together, the two of them,
03:11while I was dressed to look like her
03:13and taken quietly upstairs to wait in his room.
03:16She told me she'd put something in his drink.
03:21I put something in his drink.
03:23He wouldn't be able to resist.
03:27What happened after that was up to you.
03:29I gripped the edge of the covers and waited.
03:32After about half an hour, the door finally opened.
03:37I could smell the alcohol before he crossed the threshold.
03:40He wasn't walking straight.
03:41I stood and moved to steady him.
03:43I'd checked the mirror beforehand.
03:45In this situation, even I couldn't tell the difference
03:48between myself and my sisters.
03:51Why are you in my room?
03:54I pitched my voice high and thin,
03:56the way she drilled me.
03:59I missed you.
04:01He didn't respond, just kept watching.
04:04I gathered every nerve I had,
04:06reached out, and touched his belt.
04:09He inhaled sharply when I pressed my palms to his back.
04:12I pressed closer, buried my face in his chest.
04:15I rose up on my toes and tried to reach his mouth.
04:19I had, it turned out, no idea what I was doing.
04:22The book had been theoretical.
04:24The reality of it was different in every way.
04:43He picked me up like I weighed nothing
04:45and put me down on the bed.
04:49Who are you?
04:51My heart stopped.
04:52I ran through everything I'd done.
04:54The room was dark.
04:55There was no way he should know.
04:57Who else would I be?
04:59It's me.
05:00It's Rachel.
05:01He released my jaw.
05:03He let me kiss him.
05:12His voice had gone soft.
05:14Did I hurt you?
05:16I stared back at him,
05:17and my mind drifted strangely
05:19to the first time I had seen him.
05:21It had been a formal occasion,
05:23and all of us girls had been lined up to greet him.
05:26He'd gone past without stopping,
05:27beautiful and remote.
05:29The kind of man our stepmother had made very clear
05:32was not for the likes of me or my other half-sisters.
05:35I didn't sleep that night.
05:37When the birds finally started outside,
05:39that was my sister's signal.
05:40I got out as fast as I could.
05:42She looked me over.
05:44That's a strong dose.
05:45Wouldn't have worked on him otherwise.
05:46She told me to stay on my back for an hour,
05:49pillow under my hips.
05:50This will help me get pregnant faster.
05:59It was strange, I knew,
06:00but my neck was covered in marks
06:02he'd left the night before.
06:04You see how he doesn't even look at you now?
06:07He only touched you because he thought you were me.
06:09Don't forget that.
06:11I slipped away to one of the unused sitting rooms
06:14to apply some ointment to my shoulder.
06:16I'd taken off half my dress
06:17when the door swung open.
06:19He hadn't expected anyone to be there.
06:21I watched him go still for just a moment.
06:23I'm sorry.
06:27That evening,
06:28my sister sent me back to his room.
06:31I arrived and he looked at me for a moment,
06:34then said very quietly,
06:37You should go get some rest.
06:39I have paperwork, it'll go late.
06:44I should have left.
06:46But his room was warm.
06:47My room had nothing.
06:48It was cold.
06:49He wasn't here.
06:50I'd just sit at the small table for a few minutes,
06:53get some warmth back into my hands.
07:04Sleeping at a table?
07:05Aren't you cold?
07:12Sleep.
07:13You're exhausted.
07:14But I didn't sleep.
07:16I remembered what I was here for.
07:20If you're not tired,
07:21we don't have to sleep yet.
07:23After that,
07:23I stayed every night.
07:42It had been about a week and a half.
07:44You can go, Vera.
07:45I'll take it from here.
07:50My sister and I looked at each other.
07:52If he saw us together,
07:53every lie would collapse at once.
07:55Don't make a sound.
07:57The door had barely shut when he walked in.
08:00The latch didn't catch all the way.
08:02I could just make out the room.
08:06I closed my eyes.
08:07Then I heard his voice.
08:08I'm tired.
08:09Go to bed.
08:13Rachel,
08:14go to your room.
08:20Figure it out yourself.
08:23I waited for him to fall asleep.
08:25He didn't.
08:26He turned over twice and gave up.
08:27Then he stood,
08:28crossed to the wardrobe,
08:29and started opening doors.
08:40I waited for him to haul me out by arm.
08:43Instead,
08:43he lifted me out of the wardrobe
08:45and into his arms.
08:48I told you to go to bed.
08:49Why'd you come back?
08:50He thought I was my sister.
08:54I thought you were tired.
08:56Not anymore.
09:06My sister didn't know what had happened that night.
09:08Every year around the holidays,
09:09they hosted a gathering in the garden.
09:12This year,
09:12my sister managed the whole event.
09:15Invitations had gone out to everyone in the county.
09:22My sister,
09:23for her part,
09:24was performing
09:24and called me her most obedient little sister
09:27and said she'd do her best to find me
09:29an equally excellent match someday.
09:31I drifted away from the gathering
09:33and found a quiet bench near the water.
09:35A neighbor's son found me there.
09:37We'd studied with the same tutor as children.
09:39He was chatty and warm
09:41and didn't stop for 20 minutes.
09:43The whole time,
09:44I had the strange and persistent sensation
09:45of being watched.
09:47Not gently,
09:47something hot about it
09:48and a little impatient.
09:53Nick recognized him and greeted him.
09:55Ethan gave a small nod.
09:57Then he reached across
09:57and took the cloth parcel
09:59out of Nick's hands.
10:00Good of you to bring these for me.
10:02I'll take them.
10:05I've been meaning to speak to you.
10:07I'll be back early tonight.
10:09I didn't know what he was signaling,
10:11presumably a message from my sister.
10:13That night,
10:14I arrived an hour early.
10:26I was crying before I knew it.
10:28I asked him to stop.
10:30He wiped my cheek with his thumb.
10:32Look at you.
10:34So sad.
10:36Do you love me?
10:40Yes.
10:41He touched my mouth carefully.
10:45I've been assigned
10:46to a six-week oversight trip.
10:48I leave next week.
10:50Wait for me.
10:52When I come back,
10:53we do this the right way.
10:55Out in the open.
10:56I was half asleep.
10:57He was warm.
10:58I nodded without quite registering
11:00what I was agreeing to.
11:05My period arrived the next morning.
11:07My sister yanked open my collar.
11:09She looked at everything visible below it.
11:13What exactly are you doing there, Vera?
11:16Six weeks and nothing?
11:18The doctor who'd examined me
11:20before any of this began
11:21had said I was healthy,
11:22capable of conceiving.
11:24He gave her a tonic regimen
11:26and said two months of consistent treatment
11:28should produce the desired result.
11:32In the meantime,
11:33she started treating me well.
11:35My room was heated properly.
11:36I had a decent coat.
11:38My meals included actual meat.
11:42Then a letter arrived at our home.
11:44She read it,
11:45looked at me for a long moment.
11:48You lucky thing.
11:52Congratulations.
11:53You're getting married.
11:54His name is Nick.
12:00I was sent home to prepare.
12:02The whole situation was absurd.
12:04Nick's grandmother had fallen seriously ill.
12:06Doctors had done everything they could
12:08and run out of options.
12:10The family had consulted a specialist
12:12in folk remedies and old traditions
12:14and he told them the only thing
12:15that might help was a wedding.
12:17Nick was the only eligible bachelor
12:19left in the family.
12:20He had one condition.
12:22He'd pick the girl himself.
12:23He picked me up.
12:24My father was thrilled to consent.
12:26My mother,
12:27who knew about my sister's arrangement,
12:29had no real power to object.
12:31The date was set for one month out.
12:34The dowry that had been assembled for me,
12:35which had been embarrassing,
12:37was suddenly multiplied.
12:38My mother's health supplies,
12:39which had been precarious,
12:41arrived in abundance.
12:43At night,
12:43lying alone in my old bed,
12:45I close my eyes
12:46and find myself back in a room
12:48with real warmth.
12:59The Calloway air was back.
13:00The overnight trip finished early,
13:02so Ethan was here.
13:04I sat there thinking about
13:05what I'd call him
13:06the next time I saw him.
13:07He was still my half-sister's husband
13:09and Nick's distant uncle.
13:13In the narrow frame of my veil,
13:15I didn't see his face.
13:16The hall noise fell behind me.
13:18The bridal room was quiet.
13:19I sat at the edge of the bed
13:21and waited for Nick to come in
13:23and lift my veil.
13:24One hour passed.
13:26A maid appeared and said
13:27there had been a mix-up
13:28about which room
13:29and would I please follow her
13:30to a different one.
13:31I could tell something was moving
13:33under the bed in the new room.
13:35I couldn't look down to check.
13:36I was still wearing the veil.
13:43My mind went blank.
13:45I blinked.
13:45He was still there.
13:46I didn't move
13:47and this was my wedding day.
13:48You promised you'd wait for me.
13:50I came back
13:51and you'd already married someone else.
13:53I hadn't promised him anything.
13:56Every word I'd said in that room
13:57had been said in my sister's voice,
13:59playing my sister's role.
14:01I'd never spoken to him as myself.
14:04You knew?
14:06Since when?
14:08The first night.
14:10I always knew.
14:19Where's Nick?
14:22In the room.
14:35Are you out of your mind?
14:36You tied me up in my own house
14:38on my wedding night
14:40and now you're going to sleep with my wife?
14:44He's not a good match.
14:46He has four women on the side
14:47and a reputation.
14:54That was before.
14:55I ended all of it
14:57when I decided to marry Vera.
15:01I meant it.
15:02It was a strange scene.
15:03Nick was the groom.
15:05He was also zip-tied on the floor.
15:07Ethan was sitting beside me
15:08with one hand settled on my waist
15:09like it belonged there.
15:10I actually like her.
15:12I know I wasn't perfect before,
15:14but I wanted to do this right.
15:18Reformed?
15:20Sure.
15:20At least I can marry her properly.
15:23You're already married
15:24to her sister.
15:27You're her brother-in-law.
15:31I'm filing for divorce.
15:33You can't.
15:36You can't just undo a favor you asked for.
15:39I was assigned to that oversight trip.
15:42I volunteered for it specifically
15:44so I could use the outcome as leverage.
15:46I asked for one thing in return.
15:49Permission to divorce and remarry.
15:55Why go through any of it?
15:58A few nights together
15:59and you decided to blow up
16:00your entire life?
16:02It wasn't a few nights.
16:03It was the moment before that.
16:05You were kneeling in the snow
16:07holding bowl of ice water
16:08and you looked up at me
16:09and I couldn't stop thinking about it.
16:12He told me the rest of it.
16:16When my sister had first approached him,
16:18he'd been about to be matched
16:20with a judge's daughter.
16:21Powerful family.
16:22The daughter herself was difficult,
16:24spoiled,
16:25the kind of person who treated every room
16:26like it existed for her benefit.
16:28My sister had offered him
16:29a clean arrangement.
16:30She'd stay out of his life.
16:32He'd give her the title
16:33and the stability she needed.
16:36She was a reasonable option.
16:38So I agreed.
16:39That explained why my sister
16:40had been so desperate for a child.
16:42Without one,
16:43the arrangement had no long-term security for her.
16:47So why me?
16:49That first night,
16:50I wanted to stop it.
16:51But you kept holding on to me.
16:53And I couldn't.
16:54The second time I sent you away,
16:56I went to the study,
16:57came back and found you asleep at my table
16:58and something in me
16:59just stopped working correctly.
17:05I didn't expose you
17:06because I didn't want you to leave.
17:07And eventually,
17:07I could see that you felt something.
17:09The way you looked at me
17:09when you thought I wasn't watching.
17:10The way you'd look away
17:11the second I took me.
17:12You'd kiss me when I was asleep.
17:14You cut a piece of my hair
17:15and kept it in your pocket.
17:20You mended my shoe
17:21in the middle of the night.
17:23Vera,
17:24you're not subtle.
17:25He had pulled me into his lap
17:27at some point without me noticing.
17:29His chin was resting on my shoulder.
17:31I went south
17:31so I could come back
17:32and do this correctly.
17:33I didn't expect you
17:34to be someone else's wife
17:35by the time I landed.
17:37You were supposed to wait.
17:44I'm not as simple as I look.
17:47My sister had tried to break me
17:49a long time ago.
17:51One winter,
17:52she'd heard from a servant
17:52that soaking a girl in ice water
17:54during her cycle
17:55could make her permanently infertible.
17:56This girl is very beautiful.
17:57She decided to test it on me
17:59because a guest had said I was pretty.
18:02I'd been in that water
18:03for close to an hour
18:05before our grandmother found me.
18:07I spent a year
18:08adding something to my sister's tea.
18:12By the time she asked me
18:14to take her place
18:14in her husband's bed,
18:16she'd already lost the ability
18:17to carry a child.
18:19I hadn't planned for her
18:20to use me as a solution
18:21to a problem I'd already created.
18:24My mother's illness was manageable.
18:25She'd been performing fragility
18:27for years
18:27the same way I performed compliance.
18:29It was protective coloring.
18:30But my marriage was something
18:31my sister's mother
18:33actually controlled.
18:34The night I kneel in the snow,
18:36I made sure I fell
18:37in the right direction.
18:40Testing whether he'd catch me,
18:42whether his hands
18:43would linger.
18:47I never intended
18:48to actually pass
18:49like my sister in the dark.
18:51I intended for him
18:52to figure it out.
18:58I made sure
18:59he saw the birthmark
19:00at my waist.
19:01My sister doesn't have one.
19:06I went to the side room
19:08I knew he passed through
19:09every afternoon
19:09and I made sure
19:10he saw the marks
19:11on my shoulders.
19:13I calculated everything.
19:17I hadn't calculated Nick.
19:25Nick couldn't give me
19:26what I needed.
19:27It wasn't about his history.
19:28It was about trajectory.
19:36He had two older brothers.
19:38No real foothold
19:39in his own family.
19:40I had spent my entire life
19:42studying, planning,
19:43building a mind sharp enough
19:44to do something with.
19:45In a world that gave women
19:46one door.
19:46The door of marriage.
19:49I wasn't going to walk
19:51through it carelessly.
19:52I needed someone
19:52who could give me room,
19:54position,
19:55actual leverage
19:56in the world.
20:06Nick could give me
20:07affection.
20:09Ethan could give me
20:10everything else.
20:11So when Ethan stood
20:12in my bridal room
20:13with his hand on my waist
20:14and told me to divorce Nick
20:15and marry him instead,
20:16I cried.
20:18The divorces went through.
20:22I still don't know
20:23exactly what Ethan
20:24offered Nick's family.
20:25Whatever it was,
20:26it worked.
20:27Nick's grandmother recovered,
20:29which apparently validated
20:30the whole exercise.
20:32His family tried to find him
20:33a new partner immediately,
20:34but he refused.
20:35He went back to his old life.
20:37The parties,
20:37the company,
20:38the lack of commitment.
20:40He told anyone who asked
20:41that he'd tried love once,
20:43it had guttered him,
20:43and he saw no reason
20:44to repeat the experiment.
20:45That wasn't my fault.
20:49The blame landed where it landed,
20:51and it landed on him.
20:53As for me,
20:54I was the victim
20:55in every version of the story
20:56that circulated.
20:57A young woman caught in the middle
20:58of something powerful men
20:59had decided.
21:00No agency.
21:01No choice.
21:03Very sad.
21:09Which suited me perfectly.
21:10Probably.
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