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🎥This Time, She Chose the Serpent King | New Movie 2026 Full Drama Movie
📺 Now streaming on DramaFlix Hub — binge This Time, She Chose the Serpent King | New Movie 2026 for free! The entire drama compiled into one movie. Grab your snacks, get comfortable, and enjoy the ride.
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🔔 Follow to never miss a new release!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00My half-sister and I both chose a shifter mate.
00:03In our previous life, she picked first and chose the Hawk Clan heir with the perfect looks and powerful family
00:08background.
00:09She left me the lowly serpent.
00:11Three years into her marriage, the Hawk Shifter's mistress and illegitimate son knelt before my sister and humiliated her completely.
00:20Meanwhile, I took control of the entire serpent clan and earned my husband's devotion.
00:25She pushed me off a cliff out of jealousy.
00:27When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day we chose our mates.
00:30My sister barely concealed the excitement in her voice as she rushed to wrap her arms around the serpent's tail.
00:36I knew then that she had been reborn too.
00:39The serpent clan are lustful by nature.
00:41I wonder how long she'll last.
00:43When Victoria threw her arms around that serpent tail, face flushed with open adoration, even Lady Hargrove went still.
00:50Everyone knew the serpent clan was considered the lowest of the shifter races.
00:54Cold-blooded in every sense.
00:56The Hawk Clan, by contrast, made it for life.
00:59One wife, no exceptions.
01:01Loyalty written into their bones.
01:03And the Hawk male standing in the room today was the future clan leader.
01:07Sharp-eyed, broad-shouldered.
01:09The kind of man every woman in the room had been silently hoping to catch.
01:13Victoria still wouldn't let go of that tail.
01:16Lady Hargrove's expression curdled.
01:18She'd brought the serpent here specifically to humiliate me.
01:21She hadn't planned on her own daughter falling for it.
01:23Are you sure about this?
01:26Mother, he's the only one I'll ever marry.
01:28Even the serpent turned to look at her.
01:30His tail coiled hard around her waist, pulling her tight against his chest.
01:34That was what a serpent did when he felt something.
01:37The beginning of desire.
01:38Victoria's face went scarlet.
01:40Her resolve locked into place.
01:42Lady Hargrove pressed her lips together and gave in.
01:44With that settled, the Hawk male, Adrian Ashford, turned to me.
01:48He dipped his head in a slight, unhurried bow.
01:51Then it's you, Miss Alara.
01:53I'll send the betrothal gifts tomorrow.
01:55In my past life, it was Victoria who had chosen Adrian.
01:59She'd walked into the Ashford estate as its new mistress,
02:02draped in the prestige of the most powerful Hawk family in the region.
02:06He seemed devoted on the surface.
02:08Three years of polished appearances.
02:10Then a woman appeared at the gate with his ten-year-old son.
02:12Victoria came apart.
02:14She ran home to her mother, dignity in pieces.
02:17But Adrian had spent years building his reputation carefully.
02:21He brought the woman and boy home under the excuse of a drunken mistake.
02:24And to protect the Hawk clan's tradition against taking a second wife,
02:27he divorced Victoria outright.
02:29Lady Hargrove marched back to the Ashford estate to demand answers.
02:33The mistress met them at the door, chin lifted.
02:35I'm Mrs. Ashford now.
02:37My son has awakened his abilities.
02:39What exactly are you going to do about that?
02:41Give it time.
02:42I'll be the clan leader's wife, then his mother.
02:46They were thrown out publicly.
02:47After that, Victoria unraveled.
02:49She sat in the courtyard every day, vacant and muttering.
02:52When someone passed close enough, she'd grab their leg with both hands, her face twisting.
02:58I'm the clan leader's wife!
03:00I am!
03:01I am!
03:02She never came back from it.
03:03My serpent husband, by contrast, had been born into nothing.
03:06But he dismissed every one of his kept women.
03:09He trained relentlessly and built his clan up from scraps.
03:13People said I'd made the better choice, after all.
03:15Even Lady Hargrove, who had never bothered to hide her contempt for me, started showing up at my door with
03:21smiles she didn't mean, asking me to visit.
03:24Then, Victoria had one of her lucid moments.
03:27She lured me to the edge of the cliff.
03:29I'll drag you down to hell with me.
03:31Her eyes opened her hatred as she shoved me over.
03:35Now she's chosen my husband instead.
03:37I wonder if she can handle the serpent's excessive affection.
03:41The Ashford betrothal gifts arrived quickly.
03:44They filled half the courtyard.
03:45Victoria didn't spare a glance for the serpent clan's meager offering.
03:49She sweet-talked Lady Hargrove into patting her trousseau until it groaned.
03:53Ivy told me that Victoria and her serpent had been meeting in secret.
03:57Someone had spotted them coming out of an alley together.
04:00Clothes barely clinging to them, her face still flushed.
04:03Half the street had seen it.
04:05She came to me the same afternoon, brimming.
04:07My fiancé loves me!
04:09What does that have to do with you?
04:11This is just how he shows his love for me.
04:14And if you say a single word to mother about any of it,
04:18I'll make your life miserable.
04:21I just watched her go.
04:22She looked nothing like the girl she used to be.
04:24The softness was gone.
04:26Whatever innocence had been in her face had been thoroughly used up.
04:29On our wedding day, two wedding horse carriage left the estate together.
04:33Drums, horns, the whole performance.
04:35Adrian Ashford sat high on a pale horse in his wedding white.
04:39All clean lines and devastating bone structure, looking exactly like someone who knew it.
04:45I knew why he'd gone through with this.
04:46The matriarch once said to him,
04:48You are the only heir.
04:49You must marry a noble woman to continue the bloodline.
04:52That was the only condition for me to inherit the clan leadership.
04:55But his mistress was low-born, ineligible.
04:58He needed a proper wife.
04:59If she gave him a son first, better.
05:01Either way, he didn't lose.
05:03I set down my wedding bouquet.
05:04Two familiar figures had appeared at the side of the road.
05:07Father!
05:08The boy lunged toward Adrian's horse.
05:10The word was barely out before a beautiful woman yanked him back and smothered his mouth with her hand.
05:14Forgive us, everyone.
05:15My son misses his father.
05:18He got confused.
05:19He didn't mean anything by it.
05:21Adrian pulled his reins top.
05:22He exhaled once.
05:24Today is my wedding.
05:25Can't you keep your child in hand?
05:27If he'd startled the horse carriage, I'd have had all your heads.
05:31Get them out of here.
05:32The woman's face went white.
05:33She bit her lip and stepped back.
05:35I'm so sorry.
05:36We're leaving.
05:37I wasn't about to let this dissolve quietly.
05:40Husband, don't be so hard on them.
05:43The child didn't mean any harm.
05:45And today is a happy occasion.
05:46Why not do a good deed?
05:48I actually need another servant woman as my side.
05:50If she's willing, she could come along with us.
05:53This woman had one obsession.
05:55Becoming Mrs. Ashford.
05:56Now that Adrian had taken a wife, she was already fraying at the edges.
06:00One of my people needed barely three sentences to maneuver her into showing up here today.
06:04If I offered her a door to the estate, she'd walk through it without thinking.
06:08She hesitated for half a breath, then looked away from Adrian's sharp, warning stare.
06:13Thank you, ma'am.
06:14The carriage rolled on.
06:15She followed behind, boy in hand.
06:17The crowd murmured approvingly along the route.
06:19The new Mrs. Ashford is something else.
06:22Even after that scene, she finds them a position.
06:25Must run in the family.
06:27The Ashfords are good people.
06:28After the ceremony, I sat at my vanity and began fixing my hair.
06:32Ivy dismissed the others and shut the door, her face barely holding its composure.
06:37Ma'am, the master just had a servant quietly move that woman and boy into the side courtyard.
06:42I wasn't surprised.
06:43Ma'am, the Hawk Clan has rules against taking a second wife.
06:47And he's doing this on your wedding night.
06:50We could expose him right now.
06:51Go back to your family.
06:52End this before it starts.
06:54Calm down.
06:54I didn't come here to lose to a kept woman.
06:57I had no family worth running back to.
06:59No mother, no father who would take my side against the Ashfords.
07:02I'd walk through that gate as a piece on someone else's board.
07:06If I walked back out, I'd be spit on from every direction.
07:10I hadn't come all this way for nothing.
07:12What I wanted was the Ashford estate itself.
07:15Adrian could rot on the inside.
07:17I didn't need him to be good.
07:19I needed him to give me an air.
07:21A knock at the door.
07:22I smiled at Ivy.
07:23My leverage just arrived.
07:25Adrian was drunk, but gracefully so.
07:28His steps wandered a little.
07:29It did nothing to make him less attractive.
07:32Ivy moved to steady him.
07:33He shrugged her off.
07:34I only want my wife.
07:35I swallowed the contempt rising in my chest and sent Ivy out.
07:39He played the part of a restrained gentleman, even when he was half gone.
07:43I had to admire the consistency.
07:45I took his arm.
07:46You've had too much.
07:48Should I have the kitchen send sobering soup?
07:50The kitchen sat close to the side courtyard.
07:52At this hour, they'd probably be preparing food for his little family.
07:56Adrian's shoulders went rigid.
07:58Then his hand caught mine.
07:59He buried his face against my shoulder.
08:02No.
08:03This is our wedding night.
08:05Don't leave.
08:06He let out a slow breath and lifted me.
08:08I looped my arms around his neck.
08:10In my past life, Adrian had used drunkenness as an excuse to avoid Victoria's wedding bed entirely.
08:16She'd had to fight for three months before he relented.
08:18And only after she humiliated herself back into his good graces.
08:23If this was going to happen eventually, I'd rather it happen on my terms and in my time.
08:28I let myself go still, let my body stop resisting.
08:32Adrian's voice dropped.
08:33Whatever restraint he'd been maintaining came loose.
08:36The candles burned down to nothing before the room went quiet.
08:40I was too exhausted to move a finger.
08:42I passed out where I lay.
08:44He was the one who cleaned me up afterward.
08:46We were late for the morning tea ceremony.
08:48The matriarch was good-natured about it.
08:49She directed her mild scolding at Adrian, who was leaning back in his chair, looking thoroughly satisfied, in a generous
08:55mood for once.
08:56He cut her off to defend me before she could finish.
08:58That we had a boke you missed me.
09:01My fault entirely.
09:02I kept her up and told the staff not to wake her.
09:05Don't blame her, mother.
09:06My face burned.
09:07The matriarch laughed.
09:09She took the tea I offered with both hands.
09:10I knew I liked you the moment I saw you.
09:12I was half afraid they'd send that other girl.
09:15Luckily, she made a fool of herself so we could have the better bargain.
09:18You're the lady of this house now.
09:19These belong to you.
09:21There's no rush and nothing to be afraid of.
09:23If you need guidance, come to me.
09:24I kept my hands steady as I accepted them.
09:27With those keys, no one in this estate could question my standing.
09:30No one could use my birth against me.
09:32In my past life, as a wife in the Serpent Clan, I'd had to claw my way through sisters-in
09:37-law,
09:38who outranked me by blood and never let me die.
09:41It had taken months of careful maneuvering just to find my footing.
09:45That was behind me now.
09:46The matriarch saw my expression shift.
09:48She sighed softly and took the necklace off her own neck, placing it onto mine.
09:52This child has suffered enough.
09:54You treat her well from here on.
09:56I mean it.
09:57Adrian blinked.
09:57He looked at my slightly reddened eyes and almost without meaning to, nodded.
10:01On the way back from the matriarch's rooms, I walked half a step behind Adrian,
10:04already thinking through which accounts to look at first.
10:06He spoke without turning around.
10:07What do you plan to do about that woman and the boy?
10:09And tucked my hand into the crook of his arm.
10:11I didn't realize you were so concerned about them.
10:13Isn't that sweet of you?
10:15He avoided my eyes.
10:16I just feel sorry for them.
10:17A widow with a child.
10:19Perhaps they could work in the outer courtyard, do some light tasks.
10:22The outer courtyard was full of staff.
10:23No one would track a woman's particular history there.
10:25Adrian would find ways to meet with her in private, use the crowd as cover.
10:28I exhaled slowly, as if thinking it through.
10:30A pretty woman with a child alone people might take advantage.
10:34You really haven't thought this through, have you?
10:36What if we put them somewhere quieter, near the garden behind the study?
10:40Adrian's brow tightened, almost imperceptibly.
10:42A long pause.
10:43Then his face settled into something soft.
10:45Good thinking.
10:46There's a small room off the study anyway.
10:47They can stay there.
10:49How thoughtful of you.
10:50I smiled.
10:50My nails were nearly through my palm.
10:52The study.
10:53He'd have every excuse to be near her.
10:54And the boy.
10:55He'd be able to teach him in private.
10:57Pass him what he needed to awaken properly.
10:59Adrian didn't notice.
11:00The careful coldness he usually wore had softened around the edges.
11:03In a few years, when our child comes, I'll make sure they have the best of everything.
11:06I leaned against him.
11:07The passing maids whispered to each other.
11:09Master and mistress.
11:11So in love.
11:12Rosalyn heard it too.
11:13That same night, she went to find Adrian, and he turned her away at the door.
11:17Three nights in a row, he came to my room instead.
11:19He was decent enough to read the room.
11:21He didn't push past what I could manage.
11:28The day we returned to visit my family home, Victoria didn't arrive until almost noon.
11:32She swept into the room, blowing, cheeks high with color, trailing a thick cloud of powder and perfume.
11:37Lady Hargrove stared at her for a long moment.
11:39Don't fuss, mother.
11:40My husband spoils me.
11:42My husband spoils me.
11:42Very restorative herbs.
12:13She straightened, and I noticed that her figure had changed.
12:13The way she used to when we were younger, to grab and drag.
12:16Adrian walked in.
12:17There was a smile in his eyes as he spoke to me gently.
12:19Laura, I just came from the room you used to live in.
12:24Victoria's hand froze in midair.
12:26She stared at Adrian in shock, stunned by how different he was from the man in our previous life.
12:34How is this possible?
12:36Lady Hargrove's expression folded.
12:37They both knew.
12:38The room...
12:49When my birth mother had a bad fever, and I'd gone to beg for a doctor, I'd knelt in the
12:53courtyard in the snow.
12:54The snow piled up on my shoulders, while Lady Hargrove and Victoria stayed warm inside, laughing at something I couldn't
13:00hear.
13:00She finally came out when I nearly passed out.
13:02Get the doctor.
13:03Don't let her die in my yard.
13:05It's bad luck.
13:06The doctor came.
13:07He kept my mother alive a little longer.
13:08I held her hand and sobbed until I couldn't breathe anymore.
13:11Keep going.
13:13No matter how hard it gets, don't give up.
13:17I never got to go back to her.
13:18By the time I was reborn, she was already gone.
13:20I smoothed the front of my dress and stood up.
13:22Husband, let's eat.
13:24At the table, Victoria and the serpent fed each other and giggled like they were alone in the room.
13:28She shot me looks every few minutes, daring me to react.
13:30Lady Hargrove could see something was wrong.
13:32She kept trying to quietly reel Victoria in.
13:34Victoria snapped back, loud enough for the table to hear.
13:39My husband loves me.
13:41Am I supposed to be ashamed of that?
13:43Should I live like I'm already a widow?
13:46The moment the meal was over, she dragged him out the door.
13:49Adrian and I didn't linger long after that.
13:51When we got back to the main hall of the Ashford estate,
13:53I found Rosalind crouched beside the matriarch,
13:55kneading her shoulders with practiced hands.
13:58The matriarch had her eyes half closed,
14:00looking more comfortable than I'd seen her in days.
14:05Rosalind, you have such skilled hands.
14:11Come do this for me often.
14:16Rosalind, I didn't realize she'd caught your eye.
14:19She came in with us on the wedding day.
14:22Quite a hard life, raising a child alone.
14:24I've tried to look out for her.
14:26I know what kind of heart you have.
14:29The Ashfords are lucky to have you.
14:31Rosalind stepped back.
14:32Her teeth pressed into her lip.
14:34The matriarch and I moved naturally into conversation about the estate,
14:38the accounts, a few household matters that needed settling.
14:42When something important came up,
14:44the matriarch waved Rosalind out of the room without thinking about it.
14:47I watched the hatred pool behind Rosalind's eyes as she left.
14:51Over the days that followed,
14:53Rosalind pushed hard for the matriarch's favor,
14:55massaged every ache,
14:57laughed at every small joke.
14:59It worked.
14:59The matriarch grew genuinely fond of her and started giving her gifts.
15:03Master Adrian says be careful.
15:04Don't draw attention.
15:05He was so frustrated,
15:06he stopped seeing her altogether
15:08and started conducting estate business from my room instead.
15:13I was deep into the Ashford accounts.
15:15Shops, properties, land deeds.
15:17The full picture of what this family actually owned.
15:21It was substantial and deliberately tangled.
15:23Once I understood it, I called in the shop managers.
15:26They came in uncertain, squinting.
15:28Then they read the room.
15:30New wife, asserting herself.
15:32A few of them visibly relaxed into condescension.
15:34I let them sit with that for a moment.
15:36I finished my tea.
15:38The matriarch has placed all Ashfield business in my hands.
15:41I'm not going to waste her trust.
15:44I've been reviewing the last three months of records.
15:46I've already noted the discrepancies.
15:49I set down my cup.
15:50Ivy laid the ledgers open.
15:52A small personal notebook slipped out,
15:54filled with my annotations.
15:55Some of the managers exchanged glances.
15:58The ones with nothing to hide sat straight.
16:00The ones who didn't went pale.
16:01I looked at Ivy.
16:03She picked up the notebook and dropped it into the fire.
16:07New management.
16:09Old accounts are closed.
16:11But I have no tolerance for what comes next.
16:14I trust everyone understands that.
16:17Yes, ma'am.
16:18The estate's internal structure wasn't enough.
16:21Real power in the Hawk clan ran through these shops.
16:24These trade networks.
16:25The money that had kept the family elevated for generations.
16:29They needed the root.
16:30I came home late, satisfied.
16:32In the courtyard, I stopped.
16:34Rosalyn was crouched beside her boy, face lit with joy.
16:38Adrian stood nearby, watching them with a small smile.
16:41I moved before I'd finished thinking.
16:43I walked over and took Adrian's hand.
16:48What's happened?
16:51The boy.
16:52His abilities came in.
16:53A smile dropped off my face.
16:55In my past life, this had happened three years later,
16:58right before they entered the estate.
17:00Not now.
17:00Not this early.
17:02Aren't you something?
17:03Abilities at your age.
17:05Giving your mother so much to be proud of.
17:08You'd better take good care of her when you grow up.
17:11You're the bad woman who stole my dad.
17:14I'm so sorry, ma'am.
17:17I've spoiled him terribly.
17:19He doesn't know what he's saying.
17:21He really is spoiled.
17:22Speaking to his beauties this way is a serious breach.
17:25Per estate rules, he kneels in the courtyard for two hours.
17:29Rosalyn's color drained.
17:30She looked instinctively at Adrian.
17:32Adrian's brow pulled together.
17:34He's only a child.
17:35This is excessive.
17:36Let it go.
17:37If a child has no father to correct him, the mother answers for it.
17:42Or have I lost even that much authority in my own home?
17:45Is a servant woman more important to you than your wife?
17:48He closed his mouth.
17:49Rosalyn grabbed my sleeve.
17:50Her face was wet.
17:53I don't matter, but I'm due at the matriarch's, and if I'm late, she'll be displeased.
17:58I laughed once, short and cold, and had a chair brought out to the courtyard.
18:03How bold.
18:04A woman brought in off the street is lecturing me in my own house.
18:07Someone go ask the matriarch if she'd weigh in on a servant who just spoke down to the estate's mistress.
18:12You're going too far.
18:13The boy didn't mean anything.
18:15Rosalyn stood just behind his shoulder.
18:17She reached out and curled her fingers gently around his sleeve.
18:20The three of them, together in the moonlight, they looked like a family portrait.
18:24Adrian was trembling with anger.
18:25He grabbed Rosalyn and the boy and started to walk them away.
18:28Ivy was faster.
18:29The matriarch says he kneels, three hours, and cut off their meals and move them to the servant's storage room
18:34for the night.
18:34I looked at Adrian.
18:37Well, I left before he could answer.
18:39Adrian wouldn't defy the matriarch.
18:41The clan leadership still hadn't been formally transferred, and the matriarch said little, but punished any disobedience.
18:47Even Adrian knew better than to cross her.
18:49That was why I had spent every effort from the beginning, making the matriarch love me.
18:54That night, Adrian didn't come to my room.
18:56He sent a servant boy with a message.
18:58He'd be sleeping in the study.
19:00Ivy didn't take it well.
19:02The study.
19:03Right.
19:03She paced the length of the room, voice rising.
19:06Before the wedding, I actually thought you'd finally caught a break, miss.
19:09A decent man for once.
19:11Turns out he's just another wolf in silk.
19:13She caught herself.
19:14A hawk.
19:15Whatever.
19:15Same thing.
19:16I sat at the desk, ledger open in front of me, perfectly calm.
19:19Adrian was a predator.
19:21Fine.
19:22Then I'd be the still water he didn't notice until he was already drowning in it.
19:27By the following morning, it was everywhere.
19:30Adrian Ashford kept a mistress.
19:32The boy was seven years old.
19:34No one knew where the information came from, but the woman's name, her background, her address, the boy's face, and
19:40description had all surfaced with the kind of precision that suggested someone very organized had done the releasing.
19:47Adrian's years of carefully maintained reputation collapsed in a single day.
19:52Within the hawk clan, doors that had been opened quietly shut.
19:55Victoria sent a letter.
19:56It said I'd be divorced within the year, and when I was out on the street, I shouldn't come crawling
20:02to her.
20:02I set it down on the corner of the desk.
20:06Ivy mentioned, almost as an aside, that Victoria had been passing out in bed.
20:11That several doctors had told the serpent in plain terms that they needed to stop.
20:16That neither of them had listened.
20:19Victoria was swallowing expensive tonics by the handful just to keep upright, while the serpent was looking sharper and more
20:27energetic every week, his abilities growing stronger.
20:32I'd figured this out in my past life, stumbled onto it late.
20:36The serpent clan could only train and advance if the physical appetite was fed.
20:42Without that release, their cultivation stalled.
20:45With it, they drained whoever was closest to them.
20:48In that life, when I finally understood, I'd spent a sleepless night deciding what to do.
20:54And then I'd done the only thing that made sense.
20:58I found a doctor, confirmed it wouldn't block his ability to train, and introduced something into a gift from one
21:05of my sisters-in-law.
21:06A substance that made him permanently unable to function that way.
21:10He found out.
21:12Eventually, I cried until I couldn't breathe,
21:15and told him that sister-in-law had been plotting against him for months.
21:19That she'd wanted to destroy him.
21:22That I'd only just discovered it myself.
21:25He checked.
21:26Everything I said was true.
21:28Because I had made sure it would be true.
21:31After that, he dismissed the kept women, stopped visiting other beds,
21:35and trained with a focus he hadn't had before.
21:39He treated me like something worth keeping.
21:42Victoria didn't have that knowledge.
21:44She'd decided the serpent was simply devoted to her,
21:47and she'd locked herself inside that story.
21:50I wondered how much longer her body could hold.
21:53Adrian's voice came through the door, strained and urgent.
21:57Could you say it?
22:48Thank you
22:55I let my eyes go soft. I lowered my head and pressed one hand gently to my stomach. My voice
23:01came out barely above a whisper. But I'm carrying his child. Are you asking me to leave with a baby?
23:08Both of them went completely still. Adrian stared at my hand against my stomach. The color left his face.
23:16I'm sorry. His voice cracked. I'm so sorry. The matriarch needed a breath to decide. Get that woman and her
23:25boy off this property immediately. The Ashfirm family has one mistress of this house. And the child she's carrying is
23:32the only heir I'll recognize.
23:34I turned my face into the matriarch's shoulder and let myself cry. I thought you didn't want me anymore. None
23:42of it touched me inside. This was what had needed to happen.
23:46Adrian had just lost any path to the clan leadership through that boy. Without the matriarch's recognition, Rosalyn and her
23:54son were nothing. All the groundwork I'd laid had just closed around them like a door.
24:00In the corner where no one was looking, something in me smiled. Rosalyn and the boy stood at the estate
24:08gate for half the day. She screamed every promise Adrian had made. The people passing stopped and listened with wide
24:16eyes.
24:16The last of Adrian's golden reputation crumbled in real time. The story that came out of it, somehow, was that
24:25the new Mrs. Ashford had handled everything with grace. Victoria had come by to watch. She was there at the
24:32gate when it happened.
24:34She drifted into the main hall afterward, looking like she'd forgotten how to arrange her face. I was eating the
24:40pastries Adrian had walked three streets to find for me.
24:45What brings you all the way here in person?
24:48She was tired. The brightness she'd walked in with last time was gone. Her smile, when she tried it, didn't
24:56work properly.
24:57How did you do it? I smiled and touched my stomach.
25:02When you have something better, why would you settle?
25:06She understood immediately. Her eyes dropped to my hand. She went very still.
25:12Then the stillness broke, and what came out was pure envy.
25:18You're just lucky. Everything always falls into place for you.
25:22The smile left my face. I set down my tea.
25:25Lucky. My birth mother died in front of me.
25:28I spent years in this house as furniture, useful only when needed and invisible the rest of the time.
25:35Every gain I'd made in my past life, and this one, had been mapped out, move by move, late at
25:42night, alone.
25:44Lucky wasn't the word.
25:47I hear things haven't been going so well for you. You look thin.
25:51She shot to her feet.
25:53I'm perfectly fine. My husband comes only to my room. He dismissed all the others.
25:58I run my own household. No one dares touch me.
26:01I let myself laugh.
26:03She heard it for what it was, and it hit her somewhere deep,
26:07because she spun around and walked out without another word.
26:11The serpent had dismissed those women because he was afraid of being found out, not because he felt anything.
26:18His visits to her room were maintenance, nothing more.
26:22The more she gave, the more he took.
26:25Her body was already paying the bill.
26:29In the end, she'd believed what she'd wanted to believe.
26:32I didn't know how much longer she had.
26:35The pregnancy was easier than I'd expected.
26:38The baby was cooperative, which gave me room to keep running the shops and managing the estate.
26:42Adrian hovered constantly, asking after every small discomfort, following me from room to room.
26:49I found it exhausting and started leaving the estate to get away from him.
26:52It was on one of those outings that I heard Victoria had miscarried.
26:56I didn't know she'd...
27:05...
27:08...
27:55and then something changed in my body. I grabbed Ivy's wrist. The doctor had said she wasn't far
28:01enough along. There shouldn't have been a reaction this sudden, this strong. I stopped
28:07thinking about Victoria and let Ivy steer me out. The Ashford midwife was already prepared. The
28:12doctor arrived within minutes of being called. Outside the delivery room, I could hear the
28:16matriarch and Adrian talking in short, urgent sentences. I was soaked through, Ivy's hand
28:23almost breaking in mine. If something goes wrong, save me. If I didn't survive this, Adrian would
28:29bring Rosalind's boy back. And whatever happened to my child without me here to stand between them,
28:35I didn't want to imagine. I had to stay. The pain came in waves and then in walls. Then a
28:41cry split
28:42the room and I went under completely. When I opened my eyes, there was a small warm weight on the
28:47bed
28:47beside me. Ivy was kneeling, smiling so wide it looked like it hurt. Congratulations, ma'am.
28:53It's a girl. I stared at her for a long time. Then I reached out very carefully and poked her
29:01cheek
29:01with one finger. She woke up. She didn't cry. She just looked at me and smiled. Something in my chest
29:07came loose. I closed my hand around her tiny fingers. From today, she was the Ashford heir and I
29:15was going to make sure she lived her life on her own terms. Not mine, not anyone else's. Adrian was
29:21happy
29:22about the baby. And also a little lost. The way men get when reality lands differently than they'd
29:27planned. He circled around the subject for weeks before finally floating the idea of trying again
29:32in a few years. A son, he meant, to carry the Ashford name. I told him no without softening it.
29:39The matriarch promised me, if you'd like to revisit that conversation, go talk to her. He didn't. He went
29:45back to making faces at our daughter instead. After my recovery, I finally turned my attention to why the
29:50birth had come early. The doctor could only tell me that something sharp and chemical had triggered
29:54it. He couldn't identify the specific substance. I thought about Victoria's room, the smell that had
29:59sat in the back of my throat. Ivy came back from asking questions with her face flushed red.
30:04Mom, Rosaline has been meeting with Miss Victoria, the place she's been living since she left here,
30:09and Miss Victoria arranged it. Two women with nothing to lose and the same target. If I'd lost the baby,
30:15Rosaline's boy would have been the only option left. She'd have been back through the gate within
30:20the week. But I'd learned every corner of this estate before the baby came. The staff here were
30:24mine in the way that mattered. They were careful, attentive, loyal enough when loyalty was earned.
30:29Nothing had reached me that shouldn't have. Has Adrian had any contact with them since they left?
30:33Once. Right after they were removed, he went to see them. They had a fight. He hasn't been back.
30:38He's cut the boy off too. Good. I exhaled. He's finally reading the room.
30:43And my half-sister, lately. Ivy's voice took on a certain quality. She's determined I'll give her
30:48that. Her body is in the state it's in and she's still having people in, still calling doctors,
30:52trying to keep going. I sighed. She was stubborn to the point of self-destruction. She always had
30:57been. Life in the Ashford estate settled into something close to peace. The baby's name was
31:01Sarah. The matriarch chose it herself, and she announced formally in front of the clan that Sarah
31:06Ashford would be the next family head. Some members objected. Lord Ashford Sr. shut them down in four
31:11sentences and didn't look up from his tea. Adrian sulked quietly about it for a while, then adjusted.
31:16He spent his mornings making Sarah laugh and telling her she'd better remember who her father
31:21was when she was running things. It might have stayed that way indefinitely. Then one of my shop
31:26managers came in with a report. He could barely get through it without going red in the face.
31:32Victoria had purchased something from one of our suppliers. A particular kind of compound.
31:37When I pressed for details, the man turned the color of a peony and started examining the floor.
31:43I understood. Victoria was pregnant again. She announced it with a dinner party. The invitation
31:48arrived on my desk. Ivy told me not to go. Why wouldn't I? Running away was never my style.
31:55The party drew the wives of every major shifter clan. They found me within minutes of arriving
32:00and pulled me into a circle of warm, elaborate compliments. Victoria's face went through several
32:06difficult stages before she managed to control it. She breathed in, breathed out, and crossed the
32:12room to me. The smile I gave her was direct and had teeth. Look at you. Jealous? Her composure buckled.
32:20She turned and walked away in fast, rigid steps. I finished my drink. My eyes drifted to the maid
32:26standing just behind her. I smiled to myself, said something low to Ivy, and watched her slip away
32:32through the crowd. Later, a group of us walked out to the back garden. We heard it before we saw
32:37it.
32:37There, half hidden behind a stone wall, the serpent was pressed against a serving girl, unhurried,
32:43as if he'd forgotten or didn't care that there were guests 20 feet away. When we got close enough,
32:49he still didn't stop. One of the wives sucked in a sharp breath.
32:53Isn't that the woman who was thrown out of the Ashford Palace? Every head turned toward me.
32:58Someone clicked her tongue. Honestly, and that boy? Who even knows? Victoria came through the garden
33:03gate with her attendants, reached the two of them, and wrenched them apart with shaking hands.
33:08How dare you? She hit him. He looked at her the way you look at something mildly inconvenient,
33:14the smear of lip color still on his jaw. You can't keep up. I'm not going to starve because of
33:19that.
33:19Don't make a scene. He shoved her back, not gently, then curved a protective arm around Rosalyn
33:25as they retreated through the gate. Victoria hit the ground. Red bloomed beneath her. She stopped
33:31being a person for a moment. She curled into herself and started murmuring over and over.
33:37Even again? Why is it always like this? She tried to crawl toward me, hands reaching.
33:43Adrienne came through the gate behind her and kicked her back before she could reach me. Not
33:48carefully. The gathered wives had lost their appetite for the evening. They called for their
33:52maids and started for the carriages. After that, I never saw Victoria again. Word came in pieces over
33:59the following weeks. She'd lost herself completely. She paced the Serpent Clan estate, muttering about
34:04second chances and how it wasn't fair and she deserved another turn. She was kept inside. Lady Hargrove
34:10was no longer permitted to visit. The Serpent had grown bored of Rosalyn too and filled the estate
34:16with new kept women. The pattern reset. I went home to my daughter and my ledgers. The days became
34:22quiet and full in equal measure. Sarah turned one, then two. Adrienne found reasons to stay close,
34:28not out of obligation anymore, but out of something that had slowly grown into genuine need. He brought
34:34me things without being asked. He stopped making excuses to avoid being in the same room. He understood
34:39the situation, I think. He knew what he could lose if he overplayed his hand, so he didn't. He showed
34:45up
34:45and kept showing up. And over time, the effort became habit and habit became something softer.
34:51He taught Sarah everything he knew. Every technique, every hot clan form, every shortcut he'd learned
34:57over years of training. She was three when her abilities came in. I was sitting in the courtyard when
35:02it happened. Late afternoon, the light going gold. Adrienne came running out of the practice yard with
35:07Sarah on his shoulders, both of them shouting at once. I watched them from my chair, hands folded
35:12in my lap. This life was not without its damage. My birth mother was still gone. The years of careful,
35:19invisible work I'd done to arrive here would never be visible to anyone but me. But I was here.
35:24Sarah was here. The estate was mine in every way that mattered. I laughed softly to myself in the
35:30afternoon light. This life, I thought, was not worse than the one before. It was better.
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