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The Man I Saved Burned My Family - Short Drama Full HD 720p #ASM
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00:03My sister was tortured before she died.
00:05They threw her into the corpse pit behind the parish graveyard outside the city,
00:09without even a rough linen shroud to cover her birdie.
00:12Last night, she had been sitting by the fire, stitching a lace veil for her wedding.
00:16Eleanor, once I'm married, I'll bring you with me.
00:19But no, her fingers were a bloody mess.
00:21Her neck snapped, her back was a lattice of wounds,
00:23and between her thighs, mud and dried blood had cakes together.
00:26Not far away, the black carriage sat waiting.
00:28A hand extended from the carriage window and tossed a gold coin.
00:32The coin struck Alice's cold body with a dull thud.
00:36Clean this up properly. Don't let Victoria see anything unisely.
00:41Back then, he'd collapsed at the door of my herb-gathering cottage in the woods,
00:45poisoned half to death. I watched over him day and night.
00:48He gave me a badge, engraved with his family crest, a token of his word.
00:53Damien, is that the saviour you spoke of? She looks rather like a beggar.
00:57A country herbalist's daughter.
00:58Does she even deserve to be called my saviour?
01:01If I weren't afraid, she'd take that badge and barge into the London season,
01:04dragging you and me both into scandal.
01:06I wouldn't spare her a second glance.
01:08I thought I had saved a fallen gentleman. Who would have guessed?
01:11What I nursed back to health was a wolf that devours without leaving bones.
01:18I carried Alice home on my back. The house had already been burned to ash.
01:22My parents' bodies lay in the ruins, charred beyond recognition.
01:25I did not cry. Tears cannot bring back my family.
01:28I dug a grave with my bare hands.
01:29I buried Alice beside my parents and found a stone to serve as a marker.
01:33He swore, word by word, Alice, father, mother, wait for me.
01:37Wait until I have destroyed everything they hold most dear.
01:40Their title.
01:41I turned without looking back.
01:42I walked into the vast, blinding snow.
01:50I walked into an abandoned church, packed with the displaced and the destitute.
01:54Dangerous. Walking at night in a snowstorm like this.
01:57Why not huddle up with us?
01:58I'm an herbalist.
02:00Sprains, frostbite, fever, cough, I can treat them all.
02:03In exchange for two loaves of bread and a mouthful of hot water.
02:07Please, save my child.
02:09I pressed my hand to the child's forehead and checked his pulse.
02:13Find an iron kettle, boil three cups of water down to one and get it into him.
02:18Mother.
02:19Then did the people in the church begin to trust me, one by one.
02:22They came to have their injuries treated.
02:27Child, your skills are impressive.
02:29How did you end up like this?
02:31My family is gone.
02:33Someone had them killed.
02:35These days it's always the poor who suffer.
02:37Those with titles and land, what do they care whether we live or die?
02:39Take the Duke of Ravencroft.
02:41Ambushed on the northern border three months ago, barely survived.
02:44Came back to London and married the Lord Chancellor's daughter.
02:46Brother to the king, decorated war hero.
02:48The whole of London bows to his shadow.
02:50And he dotes on that Victoria of his.
02:52The entire social circle knows it.
02:53Word is he dismissed every old servant in the household for her sake.
02:57I sewed the badge, engraved with the Ravenclaw family crest,
03:01into the lining of my undergarments.
03:03This badge is my shame.
03:09On the road to London, at every town I passed through,
03:12I visited apothecary shops, village doctor surgeries, and second-hand bookstalls.
03:16I no longer devoted myself solely to the art of saving lives.
03:20I began to study how the very same herbs could kill a person without a sound.
03:24How to brew a draft that mimics death for 12 hours.
03:27How a single silver needle could induce labor, unconsciousness,
03:30even harm an unborn child without weeding a trace.
03:33To test my formulations, I drove myself to the edge of death
03:36the first time I tested the death-feigning draft.
03:39But that time I misjudged a dosage.
03:41When I woke, it was already the dead of the following night.
03:44My body was rigid.
03:45I had nearly frozen to death.
03:47The moment I came to you, I coughed blood and cried for the first time.
03:51Because I thought of Alice.
03:52When she died, how much pain she must have felt.
03:55How terrified she must have been.
03:57I wiped my tears, recorded the residual dosage,
03:59and reformulated.
04:01Along this journey, my herb satchel grew heavier by the day.
04:04I wore through one medical text after another.
04:07Until at last, I arrived in London.
04:09I knew that as I was narrow, I needed a new identity.
04:12One that could walk through the doors of Ravencroft House.
04:16That day, I was passing through a narrow alley
04:18when I saw a group of ruffians kicking and beating an old woman.
04:21She clutched a wooden box to her chest.
04:23I rushed in.
04:24A few needles and the ruffians' limbs went numb.
04:26They staggered off cursing.
04:28I crouched down and helped the old woman to her feet.
04:31Her face bore several old scars,
04:33running from the corner of her eye down to her jaw.
04:35I helped her back to the crumbling room nearby,
04:37cleaned her wounds, and applied a poultice of herbs.
04:40Mrs. Mayo told me she had once served as a dressing maid to the queen,
04:43and that she was skilled in disguise,
04:45voice alteration, and the manners of the aristocracy.
04:48Three years ago, she had offended Vittoria.
04:50Vittoria found a pretext.
04:51She had Mrs. Morrow's faith flashed,
04:53one eye pull out, her tongue cut so her voice was ruined,
04:56and then cast her from court.
04:57She survived by doing up the faces of women.
04:59The moment I heard the name Victoria,
05:01my heart slammed against my ribs.
05:03That night, I brought half a bottle of cheap gin
05:05and told Mrs. Morrow everything.
05:07Mrs. Morrow drained the gin from her cup
05:08and slammed the tin mug on the ground.
05:10A brute draped in a nobleman's coat.
05:13A duchess fattled on other people's flesh and blood.
05:16I should have died three years ago.
05:18Child, if you mean to have your revenge,
05:21I will help you,
05:23so long as I live to see Victoria fall from her heights.
05:27This broken body of mine is a price worth paying.
05:32Mrs. Morrow began to teach me disguise,
05:34voice alteration, accent mimicry,
05:36and control of posture and bearing.
05:38She also taught me the rules within aristocratic households,
05:42the hierarchy of servants,
05:43and the filthy secrets hidden behind respectable facades.
05:47Her art of disguise was a craft carried out
05:49from the palace itself capable of transforming
05:51a girl of 17 into a woman past 30.
05:53At first, I learned slowly.
05:55The resin adhesive wouldn't hold.
05:57The wrinkles I painted looked stiff and lifeless.
05:59I practiced the hunched gait
06:01until my back was covered in blisters of raw, bleeding skin.
06:04The hardest part was the voice.
06:06Every day I practiced with new leaves pressed against my tongue,
06:08and I did not stop even when my throat bled.
06:10I had no time to rest.
06:12Alice was still beneath the ground.
06:13Waiting for me.
06:14My father and mother's deaths were still unavenged.
06:16After a year of training,
06:18I could shift between identities with ease.
06:20I gave myself a new name.
06:22Susan Marsh.
06:23I would wear this false face into Ravencroft House
06:26and dismantle them from within.
06:28Piece by piece.
06:30Before long, the name Mrs. Marsh had spread.
06:33Wives of minor government clerks and merchants
06:35began sending for me as well.
06:37The first time I attended the wife of a senior treasury secretary,
06:40I walked into a twin birth god mom.
06:41I steadied the mother's pulse with silver needles,
06:44then manually repositioned the babies.
06:46The secretary's family was overwhelmed with gratitude.
06:49He sang my praises at his gentleman's club and at dinner parties.
06:51I gathered intelligence on the great families,
06:53especially Ravencroft House.
06:55I learned that Victoria had finally fallen pregnant,
06:57that the pregnancy was unstable.
06:59You incompetent fool!
07:01That royal physicians were attending high martation.
07:04The duke's mistress,
07:05Rydia Captain the East Wing,
07:07was also pregnant.
07:08Yet she lived in conditions worse than a servant's.
07:12Rose beaten death by Victoria,
07:14then thrown out onto the street.
07:17Thomas whose parents were driven to their deaths
07:19by the Ravencroft estate land agent.
07:21Catherine whose father was framed by Damien
07:23and widdered away in despair.
07:26I took them in.
07:27I placed Rose in the mistress's residential floor.
07:31I placed Thomas in the kitchens.
07:33I placed Catherine in the butler's office.
07:36They did not know I was Eleanor.
07:38They knew only that Mrs. Marsh
07:39could help them have their revenge.
07:41Only late at night,
07:42when I peeled away the resin and salve,
07:43and my fingers traced the scar on my wrist
07:45where I had tested Damien's poison against my own blood,
07:48only then did I remember who I truly was.
07:50Damien grew frantic.
07:51He stationed royal physicians
07:53inside Ravencroft House around the clock.
07:55Whoever could ensure the safe delivery
07:57of the Duchess and his heir 1,000 gold coins.
08:00And through apothecary shops,
08:02parish priests
08:03and migwifery circles
08:04quietly put out a bounty.
08:12I raised my hand
08:13and under the stunned gazes of the crowd
08:15gently peeled off the notice from the wall.
08:17I brought the notice,
08:18still bearing its Ravencroft whack feel,
08:21to the side entrance of Ravencroft House.
08:24You're the one who took the notice.
08:25You don't look like someone with any real skill.
08:28Sir, my name is Susan Marsh.
08:29Three generations of midwives in my family.
08:31So long as the Duchess still draws breath,
08:32I can ensure both mother and child are delivered safely.
08:34Bold words.
08:35Come in then.
08:36But if anything goes wrong,
08:38it's your neck.
08:39I kept my head low
08:40and followed him through colonnaded corridors,
08:43past gardens and fathoms.
08:44Every inch of respectability in this estate
08:46was stained with my family's blood.
08:53At last I saw him.
08:56Damien.
08:59He was more imposing than before.
09:01Victoria,
09:02these were just picked from the hothouse.
09:04Sweet with a touch of tartness.
09:06Try one.
09:06I don't want any.
09:07They're far too sour.
09:08The Duchess who destroyed my entire family out of jealousy.
09:11Damien,
09:11is this midwife reliable?
09:13She's not another fraud, is she?
09:14Susan Marsh,
09:15at your grace's service and her grace's.
09:18But he looked away almost immediately.
09:20He did not recognize me.
09:22The herbalist's daughter who had saved him barefaced,
09:25thin,
09:26clean.
09:27Eleanor,
09:28wait for me.
09:30I will come back to repay you.
09:32How could she possibly be this coarse,
09:33wrinkled woman bowing and scraping before him?
09:39Lift your head.
09:41The royal physicians have examined your methods.
09:44They say you possess certain skills of your own.
09:46I'll keep you on for now.
09:48If the Duchess delivers safely,
09:511,000 gold aims.
09:52But if anything goes wrong,
09:54I'll have your entire family buried alongside her.
09:57Damien Ravencroft,
09:58my family is already dead.
09:59The dead do not fear dying again.
10:01I will do everything in my power to ensure her grace
10:03and the child to live it safely.
10:05And so I stayed.
10:07I became the Duchess's personal midwife.
10:10Victoria was impossibly difficult to serve.
10:12Every day I brewed herbal tonics for her,
10:14massaged her swollen legs,
10:16pressed too hard and slapped it land.
10:18Your filthy hands are hurting me.
10:21Aside from Victoria,
10:22I also,
10:22happened,
10:23to tend to Lydia,
10:24have to meet his friend.
10:25She was Damien's mistress installed within the estate.
10:27Low-born,
10:27unfavored,
10:28and now pregnant with no one to care.
10:29Whenever I brewed tonics for Victoria,
10:31I would quietly set aside a bowl
10:33and carry it to the east wing under cover of night.
10:35You're the only one in this househouse
10:37who treats me like a human being.
10:39You're carrying a child.
10:41Take care of your health first.
10:43I'll help you.
10:47Victoria's child,
10:48also a boy,
10:49Lydia's child.
10:50On the other hand,
10:51the pulse was steady,
10:52the positioning ideal,
10:53and I had more than enough means
10:54to collapse that fortnight
10:55into a single day.
10:56A night of crashing thunder
10:57and driving rain,
10:58Victoria was seized by unbearable pain.
11:00Her waters broke.
11:02The entire state erupted into chaos.
11:03Amy and Ravencroft
11:04stood outside the birthing room,
11:05acing back and forth in a friend's...
11:06Save the Duchess!
11:07Save the child!
11:09Or none of you will live to see mourning!
11:12Save me.
11:13Oh, Mrs. Marsh.
11:15Save me.
11:17Inside the birthing room,
11:18my hands were slick with blood.
11:19This moment,
11:20she was no longer the chess
11:21who looked down on the world
11:23from her gilded height.
11:24I directed the hambenet
11:25and precision boil water
11:26passageers the same time.
11:28I caught the eye of another hambenet
11:29with a discreet glance.
11:30He was one of mine
11:31placed inside the estate long ago.
11:32Within this estate,
11:33there were many more like her,
11:34all of them buying no time
11:35for the moment vengeance
11:36could be struck.
11:37Your Highness the Duke,
11:38Miss Lydia of the Eastern Wing
11:39has been startled by the thunder
11:40and is now in labor.
11:41All of them lying in wait.
11:42Boom word came from the East Wing.
11:48Your Grace,
11:49the Duchess will not deliver
11:50for some time yet.
11:51The East Wing has also
11:52gone into labor.
11:53The child Lydia carries
11:54is your flesh and blood as well.
11:56Perhaps you might allow me
11:57to look in on her.
11:58Get out.
11:58Damien's mind was consumed
12:00entirely by Victoria.
12:01He waved me off
12:02with an impatient hand.
12:04Good boy.
12:06Your fortunes are about to change.
12:10A tincture brewed
12:11from Belladonna birthing linens,
12:12concealed him beneath
12:13her rain-soaked cloak
12:14and followed me back
12:15to the Duchess's birthing room.
12:16Victoria was still screaming,
12:17her voice shredded raw.
12:19Several handmaidens
12:20and midwives
12:20turned to look at me.
12:21Hush!
12:22I can see the head.
12:26As I spoke,
12:27I drew a silver needle
12:28from inside my cloak
12:29and drove it hard
12:29into a critical point
12:30between her lower back
12:31and abdomen.
12:31He's here.
12:32Congratulations,
12:33Your Grace.
12:34A boy.
12:36Good.
12:37You shall be handsomely rewarded.
12:39In the same instant,
12:40I delivered the child
12:42that had been prepared
12:43all along from beneath
12:43the bedding.
12:44Damien was so elated
12:45he nearly lost his composure.
12:47He snatched the child
12:48into his arms.
12:49In Victoria's true child's...
12:52I returned to the birthing room
12:53and looked at Victoria
12:54still unconscious.
12:56I delivered the stillborn,
12:57placed it into the wicker basket
12:58I had prepared beforehand.
13:00When Victoria woke,
13:01what she saw was Damien
13:02cradling a healthy,
13:03robust son in his arms.
13:05She did not know.
13:07My child.
13:10Mother's precious daughter.
13:12The infant in her arms
13:13was born of the very mistress
13:14she despised most,
13:15just as she had once
13:16ordered my Alice
13:17thrown into that same pit.
13:18Lydia had hemorrhage
13:19during a difficult labor.
13:21Mother and child,
13:22both dead.
13:23The baby, too,
13:24was stillborn.
13:25Illumened.
13:26As for Lydia,
13:27the next day,
13:28word came from the East Wing.
13:29Lydia had hemorrhage
13:30during a difficult labor.
13:31Mother and child,
13:33both dead.
13:33The baby, too,
13:34was stillborn.
13:35Damien did not even go to look.
13:37And Lydia,
13:38feigning death,
13:39had already been smuggled
13:40out of Ravencroft House
13:41by my people
13:42under cover of night.
13:43When she woke,
13:44she would find herself
13:45in the countryside,
13:46hundreds of miles away.
13:47This, perhaps,
13:48was the last shred of mercy
13:50I still possessed
13:50as a healer.
13:52From this day forward,
13:54Victoria would pour
13:55everything she had
13:56into raising a mistress's son
13:57to inherit the title.
13:58And this was only the beginning.
14:00I would make every person
14:01in this estate
14:02who owed a debt
14:02suffer a fate worse than death.
14:04I would climb,
14:05step by step,
14:06until I stood above
14:07Victoria's head.
14:11Ravencroft House
14:12held a grand celebration.
14:13The priest christened the child
14:15before the assembled guests,
14:16inscribing his name
14:17into the parish register
14:18and into the Ravencroft
14:19family ledger.
14:20The child was named Nolan.
14:22From that moment,
14:23Lydia's son became
14:24the legally recognized heir
14:25to the Ravencroft title.
14:31Victoria,
14:32you've given me
14:33such a fine son.
14:36You must have suffered greatly.
14:38I stood in the corner,
14:40attending them,
14:40I stepped forward.
14:42Under the pretext
14:43of offering a handkerchief,
14:44I gently brushed aside
14:45the swaddling
14:45behind the baby's ear.
14:47They're a tiny brown mole.
14:49Lydia had an identical mole
14:50behind her ear.
14:51What an uncommon
14:53that we know
14:53behind our master's ear.
14:55I recall seeing one
14:56just like it on Lydia.
14:58And I attended
14:59a violin this way.
15:01Damien's movement
15:02stilled just barely.
15:05The child is distressed,
15:06taken away,
15:06I won't have you
15:07even seen
15:07with your guests.
15:08The smile on
15:09Victoria's face froze.
15:12She glared at me
15:13with venom,
15:13but did not dare
15:14make a scene.
15:15Not here,
15:16not in front of Damien.
15:17She could only clutch
15:18the still-wailing infant
15:19and withdraw.
15:22Someone!
15:23Give her twenty flashes
15:24with the board!
15:26The rough wood struck
15:27my face,
15:27searing, burning,
15:28but I did not make a sound.
15:30Every blow
15:31I added to the level.
15:32Victoria,
15:33the harder I am beaten,
15:35the more cruel
15:35and unbecoming
15:36you appear in Damien's eyes.
15:42Victoria started.
15:43Damien,
15:44this serpent
15:44was being infinite.
15:46I was merely
15:46disappointed in you.
15:47Susan Marsh
15:48is Nolan's midwife
15:49and the woman
15:50who saved his life.
15:51If you treat
15:52servants this savagely
15:53and word gets out,
15:54how will that reflect
15:54on the Ravencroft name?
15:55He glanced at me.
15:57Go and have
15:57your injuries tended to.
15:59Thank you,
15:59your grace.
16:01As I rose
16:01on it an old scar.
16:03That scar on your hand.
16:04Your grace,
16:05it's...
16:06it's...
16:07it's an old wound
16:08from gathering herbs
16:09years ago.
16:11Damien began visiting
16:12the private quarters
16:13more frequently.
16:14Not always to see
16:15Victoria and the child.
16:17More often,
16:18he came to see me.
16:19I did not make
16:20my disguise appear younger.
16:21I only changed one thing.
16:23I wore again
16:24the herbal scent
16:24I had always used
16:25in the woodland cottage.
16:27A faint trace
16:28of mint and mugwort.
16:29Cool,
16:30calming.
16:31Victoria could not
16:32detect it.
16:32But Damien could.
16:34One afternoon,
16:35Victoria had taken
16:36the child
16:37to visit
16:37the Pemberton family.
16:39Ravencroft house
16:40was unusually quiet.
16:42Damien sent for me.
16:45But his eyes
16:46never left my wrist.
16:47Mrs. Marsh,
16:48the scent of herbs
16:49on you.
16:50It reminds me
16:51of someone I once knew.
16:53Your grace flatters me.
16:54A coarse woman
16:55such as myself
16:56could hardly
16:57compare to anyone
16:58you once knew.
16:59Three years ago,
17:00I was attacked.
17:01A girl who gathered herbs
17:02saved my life.
17:03She had a scar here,
17:05identical to this one.
17:06A pity she took
17:06the token I gave her
17:07and tried to use it
17:08to climb her way
17:09into the Ravencroft family.
17:10Nearly dragged me
17:11into a scandal.
17:12I despised being
17:13manipulated so I paid
17:14her no further mind.
17:15So that is the lie
17:16Victoria spun for you.
17:17You sent killers
17:18to silence me
17:19yet she made me
17:20the villain
17:20so that even in death
17:21I would carry the name
17:23of a grasping
17:23lowborn schemer.
17:25The person your graces
17:26speaks of,
17:27would her name
17:28be Eleanor?
17:30How do you know
17:31that name?
17:33Because before I came
17:34to Ravencroft house,
17:36I saw a dead girl
17:37in the pompous pit
17:38behind the parish cemetery
17:40outside the city walls.
17:41She was clutching
17:42a badge in her hand
17:43so tightly
17:44that even death
17:45could not pry
17:46her fingers open.
17:47That badge
17:47bore the Ravencroft
17:48family crest.
17:50What did you say?
17:51She's dead?
17:52Yes.
17:54Dead.
17:54There wasn't a patch
17:55of unbroken skin
17:56on her body.
17:58It looked as though
17:59she had been beaten
17:59to death.
18:00The beggars nearby
18:01told me that girl
18:02had been waiting
18:03for her sweetheart
18:03to come for her.
18:04She waited until she died.
18:06He never came.
18:07She said she didn't
18:09covet wealth
18:09or station.
18:11She only wanted
18:12the man who had
18:13promised her forever.
18:14His face was ashen.
18:15In that instant,
18:16I knew he was remembering
18:18the body thrown
18:18into the pauper's pit
18:19that night.
18:20People always beautify
18:21the one who died
18:22because of them,
18:23the one they can
18:24never have again.
18:24And what I was doing
18:25now was forging
18:26that remorse
18:27into a blade
18:27aimed straight
18:28at Victoria's heart.
18:30That night,
18:31Damien drank himself
18:32into oblivion.
18:33He did not go
18:34to Victoria's rooms.
18:35He stayed in the study.
18:36I went in to bring him
18:38a sobering tonic.
18:39Through the haze
18:40of drunkenness,
18:40he seemed to see me
18:41as the dead Eleanor.
18:42He seized my hand
18:43and pulled me
18:44into his arms.
18:47Eleanor,
18:48I'm sorry.
18:49I failed you.
18:50I did not push him away,
18:51but neither did I yield.
18:52My fingers threaded
18:53gently through his hair,
18:54but my eyes
18:55were cold as ice.
18:57When he tried
18:58to go further,
19:00I shoved him back
19:01and struck him hard
19:02across the face.
19:05Your grace,
19:06look clearly.
19:07I am Susan Marsh,
19:08not your Eleanor.
19:12That slap sobered him.
19:14For men like him,
19:15what comes easily
19:15is never treasured.
19:16Only the thorned,
19:18the one who refuses him,
19:19that is what he cannot
19:20let go of.
19:21He stood frozen,
19:22watching me flee
19:22with my clothes
19:23in disarray.
19:24The desire in his eyes
19:25did not fade.
19:26It burned stronger.
19:27That was the hunger
19:27to conquer.
19:28Damien fixed his attention
19:29on me.
19:30He began finding excuses
19:31to bestow gifts
19:32upon me
19:32with increasing frequency.
19:34Jewelry,
19:34bolts of fine cloth,
19:36even rare and costly herbs.
19:37I refused them all.
19:39The more aloof I appeared,
19:40the more he could not
19:40relinquish the pursuit.
19:42Meanwhile,
19:43Victoria because of the child
19:44grew more volatile
19:45by the day.
19:46The boy carried Damien's blood,
19:48true enough,
19:48but he had been raised
19:49into a frail constitution
19:50and with my quiet interference
19:52kept perpetually ill,
19:53crying through the nights.
19:55Victoria was worn haggard
19:56by the ordeal.
19:57She looked half mad.
19:59The contrast between us
20:00sharpened,
20:01Damien grew more impatient
20:02with her by the day.
20:03On one side,
20:04the gentle,
20:05sensible,
20:06Mrs. Marsh,
20:07carrying the ghostly shadow
20:08of an old regret.
20:09On the other,
20:10a hysterical Victoria,
20:12capable of nothing
20:13but complaints.
20:14I wore a thin white dress
20:15soaked through
20:15and stood in the rain,
20:17holding an umbrella
20:17over a rose bush
20:18the storm had bent sideways.
20:20That rose it
20:21was Eleanor's favorite.
20:23Damien came toward me
20:24with his umbrella.
20:25He looked at the slender,
20:26stubborn figure
20:27standing in the rain.
20:28I did not push him away.
20:30Don't go.
20:32This time,
20:33don't leave me again.
20:37Alice, do you see?
20:38I have him.
20:39I have caught this wolf.
20:41I am going to tear his heart out
20:42and lay it at your grave.
20:44But the face that surfaced
20:45in my mind was Alice's,
20:47desperate,
20:47dying.
20:50I became Damien's mistress,
20:51but I did not ask
20:53for a title.
20:53So long as I may remain
20:55at your grace's side
20:57and atone for the sins
20:58of the past,
20:59I am content.
21:01He began to favor me exclusively.
21:03He even rebuked Victoria
21:04for the first time
21:05on my account.
21:05Mrs. Marsh is in poor health.
21:07Stop making her
21:08do rough labor.
21:10Damien,
21:10she is nothing
21:11but a common midwife.
21:12You would scold me
21:14for her?
21:15She is more sensible
21:16than you.
21:17She has more kindness
21:18in her than you.
21:19She has more...
21:20Every time,
21:21Victoria shook the fury.
21:22And in the places
21:23Damien could not see,
21:25she devised ever more
21:26inventive ways
21:26to torment me.
21:35Three months later,
21:36while paying my respects
21:37to Victoria,
21:38I collapsed in front
21:39of the assembled household.
21:48The royal physician
21:49was summoned.
21:49He took my pulse.
21:51His expression
21:52grew complicated.
21:53His head...
21:57Congratulations,
21:58Your Grace.
21:58My felicitations.
22:00Mrs. Marsh
22:01is with child.
22:05Dead silence.
22:07The teacup in Victoria's hand
22:08slipped and shattered
22:09against the floor
22:09with a sharp crack.
22:10At last,
22:11I am with child.
22:13This is my baby.
22:14And it is the greatest weapon
22:15I possess
22:16to take everything from them.
22:18Victoria,
22:18your time is running out.
22:20The news of my pregnancy
22:21fell like a drop of boiling oil
22:23into Victoria's already
22:24smoldering mind.
22:25She began to lie awake
22:27through the nights.
22:28The handmaiden on nightwalk
22:29reported that every evening,
22:31the sound of shattering porcelain
22:32came from the Duchess's bedroom
22:34along with cursing.
22:35She called me a base woman.
22:37A whore who had seduced her master.
22:39To soothe me,
22:40Damien sent gifts into my rooms,
22:42like a river in flood.
22:43That was the color
22:44Victoria favored most.
22:46The one she used
22:47to proclaim her status.
22:48I wore it deliberately,
22:49and I wore it on the nights
22:51Damien stayed.
22:52That night,
22:52Damien traced his fingers
22:54over the red fabric.
22:55Mrs. Marsh,
22:56you look beautiful in red.
23:01More beautiful than Victoria.
23:03Your grace is too kind.
23:05The Duchess is your lawful wife.
23:07How could I dare compare myself to her?
23:09If she found out,
23:10I fear she would have me
23:12kneel on broken porcelain again.
23:14A few days prior,
23:15I had been a moment too slow
23:16bringing tea,
23:17and Victoria had forced me
23:18to kneel on shard.
23:19She wouldn't dare.
23:20That mad woman.
23:22If she touches you again,
23:23I will not show mercy.
23:24I will peel them from you,
23:26layer by layer.
23:27That day,
23:27Victoria could bear it no longer.
23:29She made her move.
23:31It was a bowl of egg custard
23:33sweetened with honey.
23:34The one who brought it
23:35was Daisy Victoria's
23:36senior handmaiden.
23:39Mrs. Marsh,
23:40the Duchess,
23:41had the kitchen pear this specially.
23:43She says it is to
23:44nourish your health.
23:45Beneath the cloying sweetness
23:47of faint metallic bitterness.
23:49Arsenic.
23:50Victoria.
23:51Oh, Victoria.
23:52You truly are desperate now.
23:53Watching me grow more favored
23:54by the day,
23:55my belly swelling larger,
23:56while Nolan wailed
23:57and sickened without end,
23:58how could she not be desperate?
23:59She feared that if I bore a son,
24:01it would threaten Nolan's claim
24:02as legitimate heir.
24:04She feared I would replace her
24:06become the mistress
24:07of Ravencroft House.
24:09A pity.
24:10Her terror had only just begun.
24:13Please thank the Duchess for me.
24:15Only,
24:16my appetite is poor at the moment.
24:18I think I shall rest a while first.
24:20Daisy fled as though granted a pardon.
24:22The moment she was gone,
24:24I drew a silver needle
24:25and pierced the custard.
24:26The needle blackened
24:27almost instantly.
24:28I overturned the trade.
24:31Then pinched the soft flesh
24:33of my inner thigh
24:34with savage force.
24:35Help me.
24:38Someone.
24:39The baby.
24:40My baby.
24:42Damien came quickly.
24:43When he burst in,
24:44what he saw was this.
24:50Mrs. Marsh.
24:51He rushed to me
24:52and gathered me into his arms.
24:54His hands were shaking.
24:55What happened?
24:59The custard.
25:00The custard the Duchess sent.
25:03She wants to kill me.
25:05To kill our child.
25:08Victoria.
25:11Wait here.
25:12I'll be back.
25:14Send for the royal physician.
25:16Now.
25:16I heard it all.
25:18From the direction of the Duchess's chambers,
25:20the thunderous crash of a door kicked open.
25:22It wasn't me.
25:24Damien, believe me.
25:25It truly wasn't me.
25:27How pale a denial.
25:29In Ravencroft House,
25:30the truth has never mattered.
25:32What matters is who holds more favor.
25:34Who appears more the victim.
25:36And besides,
25:36the custard had indeed been sent on her orders.
25:39Witnesses.
25:40Evidence.
25:41All accounted for.
25:42Damien would not believe her.
25:44Just as he had not believed me all those years ago.
25:46An hour later,
25:47Damien returned.
25:49Carrying with him the faint scent of blood.
25:55Don't be afraid.
25:56It's been dealt with.
25:59Victoria has been stripped of all standing for her depravity.
26:02For conspiring to murder my own flesh and blood.
26:06She has been confined to the cauldron in the West Wing.
26:09I have given orders.
26:12Without my express permission,
26:14no one is to visit her.
26:18Even if she dies,
26:20she dies in there.
26:24Your Grace,
26:26the Duchess is still Nolan's birth mother after all.
26:29Don't speak that woman's name to me!
26:32If not for Nolan's sake,
26:34I would have run her through with a blade today.
26:37That boy,
26:38she's ruined him.
26:39Timid,
26:40cowering,
26:41not an ounce of an heir's bearing.
26:43A child in your belly.
26:44That is the one I value most.
26:47From now on,
26:48the keys to Ravencroft's house will be in your hands.
26:51I nodded,
26:52obedient and meek.
26:53But inside,
26:54I was laughing.
26:55Damien Ravencroft.
26:57You think this is the end?
26:58No.
26:59Locking her away
27:00that is merely to let her suffer while she lives.
27:03The true retribution
27:04is only just beginning.