- 2 months ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Three days after the funeral, I seduced my dead mate's brother in front of the coffin.
00:04His fingers sank into my jaw like hooks.
00:06His thumb dragged across my lip.
00:08If you're the one coming to me, why are you shaking?
00:12Candlelight flickered.
00:13I wore nothing but thin morning linen.
00:15My back pressed against cold oak.
00:18I was outside, watching the snow.
00:21Fragile thing.
00:23Then he covered me with his body, I lied.
00:25I wasn't watching snow, I was watching death approach.
00:27In my first life, Silverstone Pax sent me to Blackstone as a peace guide.
00:32My mate Alistair died three days after our wedding, sealed with his father in battle against my own people.
00:37Three months later, his mother, Luna Morrigan, gave me poisoned wine in this same hall.
00:42Daughter of the enemy, cursed widow.
00:44Your death will sever the Alliance and declare war!
00:55My soul rose up, trapped, forced to watch everything.
01:00I watched this man, Cassian, the one now pinning me against his brother's coffin, spend three years drawing Silverstone blood
01:07until the Pax bowed to one rule.
01:09I watched him hold a dagger to his own mother's throat for a shepherd girl with grey eyes.
01:14And it was in the mother-son pair's fight, and the only locket flew and passed through my ghostly heart.
01:19I woke up in the morning hall.
01:21I woke up in the morning hall.
01:23Three months from now, that silver cup would come again.
01:25I needed a way out, a way that would make Luna Morrigan spare me something like...
01:29Focus.
01:30The man above me bit out, impatient.
01:32Cassian.
01:33My voice sounded steady, steadier than I felt.
01:36Then be rougher.
01:36His breath caught.
01:38I kissed him first.
01:39He froze for half a heartbeat, surprised perhaps, that I dared.
01:43Then his hand locked at my skull, and he took the kiss deeper, harder, like a man starving and I
01:47was the only meal in reach.
01:49The coffin was ice against my back.
01:51His palm was fire against my breast.
01:53I climbed his shoulders, let the morning gown slide down one arm, and felt his teeth graze the pulse point
01:58of my throat.
01:59Or ragged breathing filled the hall.
02:01Candlelight threw our tangled shadows across the coffin lid.
02:04I needed a child.
02:05A child Luna Morrigan would believe was the last bloodline of her dead eldest son.
02:09I needed to survive.
02:11That night after.
02:12The study.
02:13The garden.
02:14My side chamber.
02:15By the bookshelf.
02:17In the snow.
02:18Beside Alistair's coffin.
02:19I learned his scent.
02:20I learned when his guard dropped.
02:22I learned to wrap my legs tighter to make him spend himself inside me with desperate force.
02:26Every time he fell asleep beside me.
02:29I would take out a moonbloom leaf and press it to my flat belly.
02:33Close my eyes.
02:34Pray in silence.
02:35Moon goddess above.
02:37Tell me the result.
02:38After a moth, I opened my eyes and saw the moonbloom leaf glowing silver in the moonlight.
02:43Poison cup arrived as I sat beside Alistair's coffin.
02:46Luna Morrigan wore Black Morning, the silver cup in her hand.
02:49Her eyes like two blocks of ice.
02:52Alistair has been gone three months.
02:54Now, it is time you are to join him.
02:57The liquid in the cup was clear.
02:59I knew that taste in my first life.
03:01It had burned like fire flowing down my throat.
03:04I cannot join Alistair.
03:06I carry his child.
03:08Her hand froze.
03:10Impossible.
03:11Alistair never marked you before his death.
03:14He marked me.
03:15Our wedding night.
03:16Don't you remember?
03:17I was gambling.
03:18Gambling that a mother would choose to believe her son had left behind blood.
03:22Gambling that she would not.
03:23At this moment, kill her own grandchild with her own hands.
03:26She stared at me for a long time.
03:28Then she set down the silver cup.
03:30Summon the moon priest.
03:33Verify.
03:38Verify whether the child in her womb carries my son's blood.
03:42Madam Cecilia, swear upon the moon goddess and any lie she'll find no hiding place under her.
03:48The priest held the moon bloom leap, his gaze sharp as winter frost.
03:54Witnessed by the moon goddess, I, Cecilia Silverstone, swear that the child in my womb is Blackstone Blood, Luna Morrigan's
04:01grandchild.
04:04The moon bloom leaf in the priest's hand burst into silver light.
04:08The moon bloom tree confirms it is true.
04:12Luna Morrigan's eyes narrowed upon me, suspicion coiling like smoke.
04:16How convenient this child's timing.
04:17I held my breath, but she only turned her gaze to the glowing leaf, then waved her hand at me.
04:23Go.
04:24Rest.
04:24My legs trembled, but I steadied myself, walked calmly out of the morning hall.
04:29I stepped into the sunlit corridor.
04:30For the first time, the air of the third month tasted sweet.
04:33Then darkness crashed over me.
04:35Suffocation seized my throat.
04:37Cassian pinned me against a corridor pillar, his fingers ironed around my neck.
04:41You schemed on me.
04:42Not a question, a verdict.
04:45His eyes burned with the same fury I had seen in my first life when he pressed his dagger to
04:49his mother's throat.
04:51Three months.
04:54You schemed to approach me.
04:56All for this child?
04:58I looked up at him, my back pressed against the pillar, cold as the coffin had been three months before.
05:03Yes.
05:04He faltered.
05:05Perhaps he had expected denial.
05:07Wait for death, or fight to live.
05:09Which would you choose?
05:11Perhaps you.
05:12You think I should accept my fate with meek obedience?
05:15You know I was Silverstone's sacrifice.
05:17You know I had nowhere to go.
05:20You know your mother, Luna Morissel.
05:22Once the war between Blackstone and Silverstone erupts fully, she will kill me as a banner for battle, you know?
05:27My voice cracked.
05:29You know nothing.
05:30You think I watched Clonely from the side?
05:32You have no idea what merciful arrangement I made for you.
05:36I froze.
05:37He stared at me.
05:38Fine.
05:40Since you think me an accomplice, let me show you what an accomplice can do.
05:44He seized my wrist, dragged me down the corridor, kicked open a door.
05:47I fell onto the bed.
05:49The shadow fell over me like a storm long overdue.
05:52You schemed on me.
05:53He breathed against my ear, his teeth grazing the lobe.
05:57Then scheme this to the end.
06:00That night, he had no gentleness left.
06:02His teeth sank into my shoulder.
06:04My nails carved furrows down his back.
06:06Yet his hands cradled my belly with desperate care.
06:09At dawn, he fell asleep.
06:10I turned to study him.
06:12Moonlight poured through the window.
06:13Gilding his lashes, softening the hard lines of his face.
06:16In sleep, he looked almost harmless.
06:18I rose quietly, gathering my scattered clothes from the floor.
06:22Where are you going?
06:22His voice came from behind me, sharp, despite the hour.
06:26Luna Moriare will send someone to check.
06:28I cannot be found here.
06:31I prepared a deathfall streft for you.
06:33My hands stopped on my bodice.
06:35Cabin in the north.
06:36A new name.
06:37His voice was low, almost hollow.
06:39You could have lived.
06:40Freely.
06:41Not as my brother's widow.
06:43Not as...
06:43He paused, the word catching.
06:45Not as the woman who schemed on me.
06:46I turned to face him.
06:48He sat up in bed, the sheet sliding to his waist.
06:50His eyes bright in the darkness.
06:52Cassian, would you defy your mother's command to set me free?
06:56He looked at me for a long time.
06:58Come here.
06:59I walked over.
07:00He pulled my hand, dragged me into his arms.
07:02His heartbeat was fast, matching mine.
07:05I plan to hide you.
07:06Make you belong only to me.
07:07The Blackstone's secret draft.
07:09False death.
07:11New identity.
07:12His fingers tangled in my hair.
07:14You will be mine.
07:15Not my brother's widow.
07:16Not Blackstone's young mistress, just...
07:19He lowered his head, kissed my forehead.
07:21Mine.
07:22Mistress in the dark.
07:23The idea detonated in my skull.
07:25I shoved him away hard.
07:27This is your mercy?
07:29What?
07:29False death.
07:30New identity.
07:32Hidden away.
07:33To be your secret mistress?
07:34Cecilia.
07:35What difference is there from waiting to die?
07:37It's walked toward the door.
07:38The difference is, you would live.
07:41I stopped at the door, hand on the latch.
07:43Live.
07:44As your pet.
07:45Until I die unknown?
07:47I pulled the door open, walked out.
07:49Morning light stabbed my eyes.
07:50After that day, Cassie and the other were battered.
07:53Luna Morrigan no longer mentioned the poisoned cup.
07:55But under her silent order, the servants ignored every request I made for daily necessities.
08:00Cold leftovers.
08:01Thin worn winter clothes.
08:03My belly grew day by day.
08:05I needed a new path.
08:06Asterisk.
08:07I began appearing at Luna Morrigan's side.
08:09Morning herbal tea afternoon walks.
08:11Evening prayers, I did not speak.
08:13Only kept her company.
08:14Two weeks passed.
08:16One day, she spoke to me.
08:17You are a quiet child.
08:19Quieter than I thought.
08:20Also smarter than I thought.
08:22I was gambling.
08:23Gambling that a mother who had lost her son needed someone to fill the emptiness.
08:27Cecilia.
08:28You are finding a way to live?
08:30My heart raced.
08:31But I only nodded.
08:32Show me your value.
08:33Cassian should take a mate.
08:35Help him choose a suitable one.
08:37Yes, Luna Morrigan.
08:38The day Cassian returned, I waited for him at the manor gates.
08:42He rode at the head of a column of blackstone wolf warriors.
08:45A long train of war spoils behind him.
08:47Cassian.
08:48On horseback, his gaze swept over the crowd locked on me, then slid down to my slightly rounded belly.
08:53Then he rode past me without a word.
08:55I stepped forward to block his path.
08:57Cecilia.
08:58Long time no see.
08:59I have a surprise for you.
09:00Tomorrow.
09:01The back garden.
09:02What surprise?
09:04Come and you'll know.
09:05He straightened, lips pressed thin, deigning to nod.
09:08I exhaled, he had agreed.
09:10Then he pointed to a carriage behind him.
09:12Find her some work.
09:14Picked her up on the road.
09:15No sheep.
09:17I turned.
09:18The carriage curtain lifted.
09:19A gray-eyed girl looked at me, timid.
09:22My blood turned to ice.
09:24Ayla, the shepherd girl for my first life.
09:26The one he had killed his mother for.
09:28Of course.
09:29Cassian brings back such a pretty girl.
09:31She must be well arranged.
09:33Cassian's expression turned playful watching me.
09:35Was this his warning not to mistreat Ayla?
09:37Surely his true love from the previous life.
09:40I'll arrange it personally.
09:42How about some simple banquet service work?
09:44Whatever.
09:45Cassian dropped a whatever and left.
09:47The next day, Cassian came to the back garden.
09:49He wore a deep blue formal coat.
09:51His hair bound back.
09:53A bouquet of white roses in his hand.
09:55He smiled, striding toward me.
09:57He looked at me.
09:58Lips curving.
09:59Something in his gaze making my heart skip.
10:01Then he looked past my shoulder.
10:03Saw what lay behind me.
10:04Wolf maidens gathered silk gems' laughter.
10:07Twelve pairs of eyes fixed on him like wolves on fresh meat.
10:10His steps faltered.
10:11The smile froze on his face.
10:13Luna Morrigan stepped out from the pavilion, satisfaction rare on her features.
10:17Well done.
10:18Thorough arrangements.
10:21Cassian even dressed up, knows to bring gifts to please.
10:25Cassian's expression changed.
10:27Excuse us for a moment.
10:28He seized my hand and dragged me into the shadow of a corridor pillar.
10:32White rose petals crushed between his fingers.
10:34Their fragrance sharp.
10:36This is your carefully prepared surprise?
10:37Bringing me here to pick a noble mate?
10:39My back pressed against the pillar.
10:41Cold as the coffin had been three months before.
10:44This was Luna Morrigan's demand.
10:46He stared at me, eyes burning.
10:48Then he laughed.
10:49That dangerous laugh.
10:50Fine.
10:50Then let me show you my surprise.
10:53Cassian pulled me back to the garden center.
10:55Mother, there is already someone in my heart.
10:58He gripped my hand.
10:59I struggled.
11:00Tried to shake him off.
11:01But he would not release.
11:02Luna Morrigan frowned.
11:04Do not jest.
11:05No jest.
11:06I feared he would speak madness.
11:07I wrenched at his fingers with all my strength.
11:10The one I desire.
11:11His hand finally torn from mine.
11:13His eyes on me.
11:14Is her.
11:14All gazes followed his pointing finger to me.
11:17I froze.
11:18Screaming inwardly ruined crashed behind me.
11:20Horse and shadowed.
11:22I turned one step away stood Aayla.
11:24Who is this girl?
11:25Cassian fell silent.
11:26Aayla only looked at him timid.
11:28Sus...
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