- 11 hours ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00gesture looked so natural, as though Lucien were her husband. I was just about to speak when the
00:05royal dressmaker hurried toward her with a bright smile. Your Highness, this way please. Let's try
00:10the veil and see how it falls. She exchanged a glance with Lucien, and they both smiled. The
00:16next moment Adrian, the court painter assigned to document the wedding preparations, brushed past
00:20me with a sketchbook in his arms. Lady Elowen, would you mind stepping aside? You're blocking
00:25the light. In every drawing, Lucien had turned his head towards Serafina. 99 sketches in total. Not
00:31one showed my face. When we were children, we used to play coronation in the manor gardens. Lucien and
00:37Serafina were always the king and queen. I scattered flower petals, smoothed their clothes, and picked up
00:43the wooden crown whenever it fell to the ground. Elowen, could you pass me the crown? When I didn't
00:48move, Lucien walked over. Elowen, what do you daydream about? Go choose the ceiling arm design
00:55for the invitations. Once Adrian finishes this set, I'll come find you. Adrian lifted one eye from
01:00behind his sketchbook. Lady Elowen, could you move a little farther to the left? You're blocking the
01:04firelight. In that moment, I finally understood how unnecessary I was. If this wedding didn't need
01:10me, then I wouldn't attend. I picked up my handbag from the changing stool and turned toward the door.
01:16The brass bell above it gave a soft chime. No one called my name. Unable to stop myself, I looked
01:21back
01:22once. Serafina was spinning before the mirror, her white skirt blooming around her feet. Lucien
01:28stood behind her, reaching up to straighten the ribbon bow at the back of her waist. Adrian held
01:32his sketchbook in one hand, his gaze fixed on them. Perfect. That's the angle. His voice was low.
01:38The quill scratched softly across the page. I looked away and walked out of the hall. By the time I
01:43settled into the carriage, a messenger sent by Mistress Beatrice Rowan, the palace's chief mistress
01:48of ceremonies, arrived with a note. Lady Elowen, the wedding day is approaching. Have you chosen the
01:54ceiling wax design for the invitations? Before I could reply, another message followed. If you are
02:00unable to decide, Lady Serafin may confirm it on your behalf. She has always had excellent taste.
02:05The carriage was very quiet. Quiet enough for me to hear my own breathing. How many times had I been
02:11forgotten in this relationship? How many times had I been replaced? How many times had I been silently
02:16pushed out of a place that was supposed to be mine? Let her decide. I said softly, and I meant
02:22it.
02:23Because in the end, Lucien would listen to her anyway. Before I had even gathered my thoughts,
02:28more papers arrived. Wedding sketches sent by Adrian. I flipped through them one by one.
02:33The firelight illuminated their faces, making every scene look like a royal wedding advertisement.
02:39A bitter smile touched my lips. When we played coronation as children, how badly I had envied the
02:44one who got to wear the paper crown. After my engagement to Lucien, I thought that one day,
02:49I would finally become the person standing beside the crown prince. That was why I cared so much
02:55about this wedding. Why I approached every detail so carefully. As though it were the only chance in
03:00my life to prove that I deserved to be the main character too. I never expected that, in the end,
03:06I would still be pushed out of the picture. I brought Serafina with me because she was the person
03:10closest to me. And something as important as a coronation wedding gown something so formal,
03:16so impossible to get wrong. There could only be one bride in that room, and that bride was supposed
03:21to be me. I thought that this time surely nothing could go wrong. But it was the same as always.
03:26When I returned to my townhouse in the capital, the parchment note I had written myself was still
03:31pinned to the marble wall beside the fireplace. Wedding countdown, seven days. I stood there for a long
03:37time. Then I reached up, peeled the note from the wall, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into
03:42the brazier. When I woke the next morning, the preparation reports from the etiquette office had
03:46already piled across my desk. Beatrice had marked dozens of items in the wedding planning ledger.
03:51The only note addressed specifically to me was a message Serafina had passed along on my behalf.
03:57I hesitated before opening it. Elowen, I changed the wedding hymn for you. The one you picked was a
04:02little too dreary. It's a coronation wedding after all, it should feel more festive and celebratory.
04:08Attached beneath it was a single line written in Lucien's hand. Agreed. The original wasn't suitable.
04:14The original? It had taken me an entire month to choose that hymn. Every time I listened to it,
04:19my eyes stung. It was an ancient hymn that had been sung at my mother's wedding. My parents had left
04:25this world far too early. I had wanted them to be with me at my wedding in the only way
04:29they still could.
04:30Lucien knew that. Serafina knew that too. Yet they still thought it was too dreary.
04:36Beside the note, Serafina had added another comment.
04:40Elowen never really has strong preferences. I'll make these decisions for her.
04:43Lucien's response consisted of a single word. Approved.
04:48I stared at that word, for a very long time. Without moving. Page after page followed.
04:54Flowers. Throne drapery. Altar candles. Banquet guest lists. The order of the wedding hymn.
05:00No one noticed me. No one asked what I thought. My involvement in this wedding was practically
05:05non-existent. I realized the last conversation Lucien and I had shared was on the day of the
05:10fitting. I had told him, I'm a little nervous. He had patted my head, and that was it. We hadn't
05:16spoken since. As for me leaving the fitting room early, he had never asked me about it privately.
05:22He had only mentioned it casually to a guard. What's wrong with Elwyn? Was she so nervous she left
05:27early? No one answered. No one thought it mattered. Serafina attached a sketch of a gown
05:33and wrote, Elowen, today's fitting went wonderfully. We finalized the queen's veil too, and that was
05:39the end of it. They moved on to discussing flowers, invitations, and the altar backdrop. Suddenly, I felt
05:45that my place wasn't merely unnecessary. Being unnecessary would at least mean I had once been
05:50there. Now it felt as though I had never really been there at all. While I was packing my belongings,
05:56Serafina suddenly sent a guard with a message. She said she was helping me try on the crown and
06:00that I was taking too long. The guard explained, The queen's bridal styling still hasn't been
06:04finalized. Miss Serafina is trying things on in your place so the palace maids can get a better
06:09sense of the look. I wanted to tell her. Two weeks ago, I already said I wanted my mother's
06:14former maid to do my hair and makeup on the wedding day. Or perhaps ask, Have any of you ever
06:19made one of
06:19these decisions after asking whether I wanted it? But in the end, I said nothing. Hadn't I asked
06:25before? Hadn't I been upset before? Hadn't I insisted before? I had. The answer was always the
06:31same, You're the older sister, you should be more accommodating. Adrian was my childhood friend. He
06:37had grown up beside me, yet somehow, it was always easier for him to stand on Serafina's side.
06:42Later, when Lucien proposed to me, he said I was quiet, graceful, and calm. I thought that was what
06:48he liked about me. But after Serafina entered the picture, his preferences seemed to change.
06:53He began saying that girls should be more lively, more outspoken. That way they seemed brighter.
06:58One day, I finally couldn't hold it back any longer. Could you stop being so close to Serafina
07:03all the time? I had always loved Serafina dearly. Lucien should have known how much courage it had
07:09taken for me to say those words, but he never took them seriously. She's your sister. Do you expect me
07:15to treat the future queen's sister like an enemy? I fell silent. Of course, I didn't want them to be
07:20enemies. But for the first time, I felt as though I couldn't breathe. They had forgotten. I was only
07:26two years older than Serafina. I wanted candy too. I wanted someone to look at me seriously and ask,
07:32Do you like this? Sunlight slanted through the window and spilled across the floor. Suddenly,
07:38I remembered how, after every coronation game we played as children, I would stay behind alone,
07:43gathering the flower petals scattered across the ground, and placing them back into the basket.
07:48The others had already run off. No one ever helped me, and no one ever asked whether I was tired.
07:53I wrote a letter to the steward of my townhouse in the capital, who was currently on leave,
07:58informing him that I would be moving out after today. The old steward wrote back and asked,
08:03Lady Elowen, are you truly leaving? You've lived here for four years.
08:07When Lucian and I first became formally engaged, he had wanted me to move into the crown prince's
08:13palace and live with him. Serafina said that, according to church doctrine, living together
08:18before marriage would be improper. I agreed. Some dignity and boundaries should be preserved.
08:23So I stayed in this townhouse near the outer palace grounds, close enough to visit him easily.
08:29Lucian agreed with the arrangement. Sometimes, he would spend the night here. This place held traces of
08:34the love we once shared. Arguments. Silences. His cloak draped over the back of a chair,
08:40and the sight of him hurrying away. In my reply, I wrote only one sentence. Yes, I'm leaving today.
08:46The steward wrote back again, saying I could simply leave the key in the old mailbox.
08:51Not long afterward, the front door was suddenly pushed open. Lucian and Serafina walked in one
08:57after the other.
08:58We agreed. Remember? After the wedding, I'm taking the little study with the bay window
09:04in the queen's wing, but I'd like the curtains changed to rose gold.
09:07I stood in the middle of the room, convinced I had misheard. She said it so naturally,
09:12as though moving into the same palace and sharing part of our married life was the most ordinary
09:17thing in the world. Lucian didn't object. He only smiled.
09:21As long as your sister doesn't mind.
09:23Elevine loves me too much to mind.
09:25I stood there motionless, and suddenly, something inside my chest loosened.
09:30What if I do mind?
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