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Each movie brings exciting characters, surprising plot twists, touching relationships, and powerful stories that keep you watching until the final scene. From billionaire romances to inspiring life journeys, every film offers a unique experience.
Enjoy HD movies with English subtitles and stay tuned for regular uploads of the latest popular drama films.
#DramaFilm #RomanticMovie #MicroDrama #FullMovieHD #TrendingDrama #LoveStory #AsianCinema #MovieTime #EnglishSub #DramaChannel
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Art et designTranscription
00:00C'est parti.
00:30C'est parti !
01:00A contracté wife was not there for comfort.
01:03Days were for labor.
01:05Destroyed by a night.
01:07My best friend Clara had been contracted out by her husband.
01:10She ended up serving four men in that household.
01:13His father and his younger brother included.
01:16When I heard, I cried for nights.
01:18I never imagined I'd end up the same.
01:21A light flared in the darkness.
01:23A tall figure stepped out of the yard, carrying a light.
01:27It's Rowan.
01:28Lily?
01:29He must come to make sure I wouldn't run.
01:31I walked to his side, a bitter smile tugging at my mouth.
01:35Run?
01:36He thought too highly of me.
01:40Half hour ago.
01:42My husband Edmund had gone down on his knees.
01:45Fingers wrapped around my sleeve.
01:46Face wet with tears.
01:48Lily, this is my last chance.
01:50I need that money for my test.
01:52Just one year, that's all I'm asking.
01:53When it's over, I'll come get you myself, okay?
01:56This was Edmund's fifth failed attempt at the qualifying exams.
02:00His family had nothing left.
02:02After talking it over with his parents, they'd decided to contract me out.
02:05Rowan had offered the most.
02:08Come inside.
02:09It's cold out.
02:09Watch this step.
02:10The threshold's higher than it looks.
02:12A hand touched my wrist, steadied me, then let go.
02:15Warmth faded fast.
02:16I pulled my thoughts back and looked up at him carefully.
02:20Rowan was an outlier here.
02:22His family had trapped and hunted these hills for generations.
02:25He lived alone at the foot of the ridge and kept to himself.
02:29They said he'd trained as a fighter.
02:32That he could kill a wolf barehanded.
02:34That he had a temper.
02:36A thug named Tom had once crept onto his property to steal
02:40and ended up strung to a tree and beaten through the night.
02:43After that, every ruff in the settlement gave Rowan a wide beret.
02:48Tom was the biggest man in the area.
02:50If Rowan had handled Tom that easily, then I...
02:53I swallowed and stole a glance at his broad back.
02:56Then I stopped.
02:57White.
02:58Bright, vivid white in the room.
03:02Rowan had shrugged off his coat.
03:05Under the thin material, the lines of solid muscle shifted with every movement.
03:10In the corner stood a clay vase nearly as tall as my waist.
03:14It was full of winter-fluming branches.
03:17Blossoms open wide, filling the room with a heavy sweetness.
03:21Edna's room on our wedding night hadn't looked half this fine.
03:26Was Rowan getting married?
03:27Then why had he paid $300 to contract me?
03:30Was I here to serve as a maid to his new bride?
03:36You don't like it?
03:38I was told women like flowers.
03:40I stared at him, too surprised to speak.
03:43This was all for me?
03:44But I was just contracted labor.
03:46This wasn't a wedding?
03:48Something shifted in Rowan's expression.
03:50His jaw tightened.
03:52If you don't like it, I'll get rid of it.
03:55He turned to go.
03:56I caught his arm.
03:58Don't!
04:01It's beautiful.
04:03I love it.
04:04That branch alone must have come from an entire flowering tree.
04:08The Blossoms only group in the hills, a long climb behind the settlement, hauling it all
04:15the way back without breaking a single step that would have taken real effort.
04:19And besides, the contract had been signed at the village elder's office.
04:24Both parties were bound.
04:26I was going to share a roof with this man for a year, whether I liked it or not.
04:30I couldn't afford to make an enemy of him.
04:37One punch from Rowan and I'd be lucky to keep all my teeth.
04:45You really mean it?
04:46I looked at him properly for the first time.
04:48He was striking.
04:50Clean, sharp features.
04:52The kind of roughness that came from years outdoors and not from hardship.
04:56A strange feeling moved through me.
04:59Maybe.
05:01Possibly.
05:02It was just possible that Rowan actually liked me.
05:07He walked to the table with both his hands and feet doing slightly different things,
05:12picked up two small cups, and carried them back to me the same way.
05:18Drink.
05:19And then settle in.
05:21Make yourself at home here.
05:22Was this a wedding cup?
05:24I had no idea why he'd arranged everything like a proper ceremony,
05:27but I took the cup and dipped my head.
05:30All right.
05:35It wasn't the first time I'd drunk one.
05:36When Edmund married me, he'd been giddy as a boy finding treasure.
05:39He'd held me all through our wedding night and talked until morning.
05:43Telling me he'd admired me for years.
05:45Telling me I was the prettiest girl in ten miles.
05:49Marrying me was the best thing that would ever happen to him.
05:54A year later, I was a chore he'd forgotten to do.
06:00His mother complained I wasn't pregnant.
06:05Edmund himself lamented that I couldn't read,
06:08and there was no point discussing books or ambitions with me.
06:14A real wife could be discarded that easily.
06:17A contracted one for a year had no chance at all.
06:20I lifted the cup and swallowed it in one go.
06:26That burned.
06:27It went down my throat like a lit match and landed in my stomach like a small fire.
06:32My eyes watered immediately.
06:38Hey, are you okay?
06:40That's my fault.
06:40I should never have bought the rough stuff.
06:42Here, here, water.
06:43Drink this.
06:44The man in front of me split into two and merged back together.
06:48I shook my head and tried to focus.
06:51Rowan was fussing over me the way someone handles a child who's hurt themselves,
06:55carefully tilting a bowl of water to my lips.
06:58I sipped.
06:59It was slightly sweet.
07:01Better?
07:02A little better?
07:04His hand moved in slow circles across my back,
07:07steady and warm even through several layers of cloth.
07:11A tall, handsome man talking to me in a low, gentle voice.
07:16My head swam harder.
07:18I was drunk, I thought.
07:21Definitely drunk.
07:22I reached out, grabbed Rowan's arm, and started pulling him toward the bed.
07:27Come on.
07:28Let's get this done.
07:30Rowan didn't move.
07:32He caught my hands with a look of something like panic.
07:35Face bright red, stumbling over his words.
07:39That won't be necessary.
07:41You've just arrived.
07:44Everything must feel strange.
07:47We can take our time.
07:49Get to know each other first.
07:51And when you feel more comfortable, we can...
07:53I let go and gave him a flat smile.
07:57It takes two minutes to drink a glass of water.
08:00You're suggesting we drag this out for two weeks?
08:04Before I married, my sister-in-law had sat me down
08:07and explained what happened between a man and a woman.
08:11My wedding night with Edmund, I'd been nervous.
08:14Then it happened.
08:15And I realized it bore no resemblance to what I'd imagined.
08:20It was fast.
08:22Clothes off.
08:23A brief fumbling.
08:25Two or three movements.
08:26And it was finished.
08:28Quicker than drinking a glass of water.
08:32Rowan looked like something had broken in his face.
08:34He stared at me like he'd misheard.
08:37My head was spinning worse, and my patience was gone.
08:42Stop standing there.
08:44Come on.
08:45We shared everything.
08:47Even the last of our food.
08:49When Clara was first contracted out,
08:51her face was bruised daily.
08:53Two months in, she was pregnant.
08:56After that, things improved.
08:57They stopped hitting her.
08:59She put on a little weight.
09:01Rowan's throat moved.
09:03His eyes held something like banked fire.
09:07Both hands were clenched at his sides,
09:10the tendrons standing out,
09:12a visible effort at restraint.
09:16Are you sure you want tonight?
09:19If you mean it, then I...
09:21I didn't answer.
09:23I walked to the bed and started taking off my clothes.
09:29The quilt had clearly been aired recently.
09:32Up close, it smelled like warm sunlight.
09:35It was going to be wonderful, comfortable to sleep under.
09:38Better than the lumpy, matted thing Edmund kept on their bed.
09:43I was exhausted.
09:45I just wanted this finish so I could sleep.
09:50Lily.
09:51Rowan's breath was hot against the back of my neck.
09:54I looked down at my own waist and found two large, steady hands wrapped around it.
10:05A night with no sleep.
10:08The old wooden bed creaked and groaned through every hour,
10:11rattling the wall against its frame.
10:13My knuckles had gone white on the sheets.
10:16My fingers ached at the joints.
10:18My breathing came ragged and uneven.
10:21And my throat felt raw, even trying to draw air.
10:25Rowan's palms burned.
10:27His grip pinned me.
10:30Without effort.
10:32His presence wrapped around me from every direction.
10:38My eyelids were heavy as stone, but there was no space to close them.
10:44Every bone in my body felt taken apart and re-estembled wrong.
10:49The dark at the window faded slowly.
10:52Gray light crept up in the east.
10:55I stared at the patch on the canopy above and understood, distly, that it was morning.
11:01Rowan had gone all night.
11:03This was supposed to be a two-minute thing.
11:06How had it gone all night?
11:08The last thought I had before I lost consciousness.
11:11Men were not all the same.
11:14The difference was enormous.
11:19I was woken by sunlight.
11:21I half-opened my eyes, looked at the brightness pouring through the window,
11:27and scrambled upright in a panic.
11:30My legs buckled, and I sat back down on the bed.
11:34I thought about the night before, and couldn't help a short, disgusted sound.
11:43Rowan.
11:44He had the face of a simple, straightforward man.
11:48The reality was apparently far more complicated.
11:52Where had he learned any of that?
11:58I wanted to pull the quilt over my head and stay there.
12:04The door opened and a shadow filled most of the frame.
12:07I had overslept badly.
12:08You're up.
12:09By the position of the sun it was well past mid-morning, nearly noon.
12:12I had never heard of a contracted wife sleeping this late.
12:21I'm sorry.
12:22I didn't mean to.
12:23Last night just wore me out.
12:24Please don't be angry.
12:25I'll start the cooking right now.
12:27Rowan looked at me for a long moment with an expression I couldn't name.
12:30Then he sighed.
12:31Eat first.
12:32I noticed then that he was carrying a wooden tray loaded with four or five dishes.
12:37Scrambled eggs with chives, rich and yellow.
12:39Half a stewed chicken, tender and dark golden.
12:42Salt pork with cabbage.
12:43A plate of pickled cucumbers, pale green and bright.
12:46And in front of my place, a bowl of hot rice, piled high enough to overflow.
12:51My god.
12:51A landlord's table didn't look like this.
12:54I hadn't eaten in two days.
12:56My mouth was already watering and my stomach had started to plane.
13:01I grew up the oldest of five girls before my parents finally had a son.
13:06In a house like that, daughters ate last and least.
13:09I had gone a full year without tasting an egg.
13:12After I married Edmund, I found that his family's prosperity was mostly appearance.
13:16His parents ringed out every coin they had to keep him in school.
13:19Edmund got an egg for breakfast each morning to help him study and ate meat twice a month.
13:23I got stale cornbread and pickled scraps.
13:26Right.
13:27Food like this couldn't possibly be for me.
13:31The moment I reached for it, Rowan would call me a greedy, shameless woman and use it as an excuse
13:38to hit me.
13:43Lily.
13:44Rowan's voice sharpened.
13:45Here it was.
13:46Every muscle in my body locked up at once.
13:50Was he going to hit me?
13:52Good.
13:52At least get it over with.
13:54The waiting was worse than anything else.
13:56I paid to contract you.
13:57That means you do what I say.
14:00Doesn't it?
14:01I straightened, trembling, and nodded hard.
14:04Something flickered in his expression.
14:06Pained.
14:07But his face stayed firm.
14:09Then I'm ordering you to eat every single thing on that table.
14:11Every bite.
14:12I have some business to take care of.
14:14When you're done, tidy up the house and wait for me.
14:17He turned and took two steps toward the door, then came back and lightly tapped the top of my head.
14:23If you honestly can't finish it, leave it.
14:25Don't make yourself sick.
14:27Then he was gone.
14:29I stood in the middle of the room like I'd been planted there.
14:31The clean, sharp smell he left behind, wood smoke and soap and open air, faded slowly.
14:37The smell of the chicken soup kept moving into the space it left.
14:40I looked at the chicken leg.
14:42I had never eaten one in my life.
14:43Better to die full than die hungry.
14:45Even if this earned me a beating later, a meal like this was worth it.
14:51The eggs were soft and fragrant.
14:54The chicken fell apart at the touch, bones tender enough to chew.
15:00The salt pork with the cabbage was rich and savory with a faint sweetness underneath.
15:06Even the small dish of pickled cucumbers was perfectly crisp and clean.
15:11I ate with my head down, one bite at a time.
15:15Not stopping.
15:19Somewhere in the middle of it, without any reason I could name, I started to cry.
15:31In my parents' house, I had worked myself raw, raised the younger ones, nursed sick grandparents,
15:37done everything asked of me, and I never once saw a piece of meat from it.
15:43In Edmund's house, I rose before light and wove cloth by moonlight, and I never once got
15:49an egg from my trouble.
15:52But here, in this house, the man who had paid money to contract me had made me a chicken
15:57leg.
15:59I set down my chopstick slowly, feeling something I couldn't explain.
16:04I had cleaned the table completely.
16:07A full stomach meant there was work to do.
16:12I picked up a rag and a broom and walked out to the yard.
16:17And stopped.
16:19There was nothing to clean.
16:21The flagstones were spotless.
16:24The chicken wee poop had been raked that morning.
16:27Even the weeds in the kitchen garden along the wall had been pulled to the roots.
16:32Rowan, this huge, rough-edged man, was apparently very particular about cleanliness.
16:41Lily?
16:43Lily, you there?
16:44A fist hit the gate hard.
16:47Twice.
16:48I was already heading over to wipe down the door for me when Edmund poked his head in,
16:52checked that the yard was empty, and slipped inside, pulling the gate show behind him.
17:00Lily, you must have had such a hard time.
17:04He'd barely said two words before his eyes went red and his voice broke.
17:08I'm sorry.
17:09I'm so sorry.
17:10Did he hurt you?
17:10He was looking at me while he talked, looking me over.
17:14I was looking at him, too.
17:16My eyes moved from his pale, fine-featured face down to his waist.
17:20Back at Edmund's house, I had kept a patch of squash in the kitchen garden.
17:24Always strange things, squash.
17:26Came from the same soil, the same row.
17:29And some came out thin as a thumb while others grew thick as a man's arm.
17:32So men were like squash, too.
17:34You, you.
17:36He stopped.
17:37He touched you.
17:38He did, didn't he?
17:40Something in his face shifted.
17:41The guilt curdled into outrage.
17:44I looked down and found my collar open at the neck.
17:46The skin along my collarbone was marked with deep red.
17:50I thought of the night before, and heat rushed to my face.
17:53It had been exhausting.
17:54But the kind of exhausting that left a strange, warm feeling behind.
17:58Sweet and sour together, with something else underneath that I didn't have a name for.
18:02My legs were still unsteady.
18:04How could you let him touch you?
18:06Why didn't you fight?
18:07Why didn't you fight him?
18:09Edmund's voice tore through me.
18:10I looked at him, flailing and stamping, and the face I'd once spent hours glad to look at
18:15became suddenly repulsive.
18:17Edmund, have you lost your mind?
18:20You knew exactly what a contracted wife was for before you signed those papers.
18:24A contracted wife serves the man of the house.
18:27You sold me to Rowan.
18:29What did you think was going to happen?
18:30I served him well.
18:32Rowan is satisfied.
18:34You should be happy.
18:36With every sentence I spoke, he took one step back.
18:40By the end, he was against the wall with nowhere left to go.
18:45His lips worked for a moment.
18:47He looked at me with the expression of a man who has been deeply wronged.
18:51Lily, why would you say that?
18:53I told you this was a necessary sacrifice for our future.
18:56Why would you degrade yourself like this?
18:58How can you do this to me after everything I've given up for my studies?
19:05I grabbed the feather duster off the hook and went at him with everything I had.
19:09Oh, very noble.
19:11Very fine.
19:13You sold your own wife to another man.
19:15Get out.
19:16Get out of my sight.
19:17I don't want to see your face.
19:19You're out of your mind.
19:21I came here out of the goodness of my heart and you attack me.
19:24The gate slammed.
19:26I leaned against it.
19:28Chest heaving.
19:29A fire burning somewhere behind my ribs.
19:31I knew it had been a mistake to drive him off.
19:34In a year, when the contract ended, I'd go back to being his wife.
19:38Back to that house.
19:39I'd made things worse for my future self.
19:42But I couldn't hold it in any longer.
19:46The fire died down slowly.
19:49I slid down against the gate and sat in the dirt.
19:52My hands were still shaking.
19:54Edmund had stood there, red-eyed and trembling, calling himself wronged.
19:59Saying I had degraded myself.
20:00Asking how I could do this to him.
20:03He had sold me.
20:04Like a piece of furniture.
20:06And then he came here to stand in another man's yard and tell me I owed him something.
20:10I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.
20:14A year.
20:15I had to get through one year, then go back.
20:18Back to the cornbread and the pickled scraps.
20:21Back to his mother's complaints about my empty womb.
20:25Back to his father's resentment.
20:28Back to Edmund's sighing that I couldn't discuss literature with him.
20:33I sat there until the shaking stopped.
20:37Then I got up.
20:38I went inside.
20:40And started on the mending.
20:46Rowan came home before dark.
20:49He stopped in the doorway and looked at the clean room.
20:52The swept yard.
20:54The pot warming on the stove.
20:57Something in his face softened.
21:01You didn't have to do all this.
21:06I wanted to.
21:07And I meant it.
21:09He sat down at the table and we ate together.
21:12He told me about the hills, the trails, the animals he tracked.
21:17His voice was plain and easy.
21:20He didn't perform.
21:22Didn't try to impress.
21:29After supper he washed the bowls himself and wouldn't let me take over.
21:34That night he was gentle with me.
21:38Careful in a way I hadn't expected.
21:41And wouldn't have asked for.
21:46I lay awake afterward in the dark.
21:49Listening to his steady breathing beside me.
21:52I didn't understand this man at all.
21:56The days settled into a shape.
21:59Rowan went out early.
22:00Sometimes before I woke.
22:02I kept the house and the yard.
22:04He came back in the evenings with game or herbs.
22:07Or sometimes just his empty hands and a tired, honest face.
22:13He never raised his voice at me.
22:15Never found fault with the meals or the cleaning.
22:19Never made me feel like a burden he was tolerating.
22:23He asked me things.
22:25Not testing questions with correct answers.
22:28Real questions.
22:30What I liked.
22:32What I remembered from growing up.
22:34Whether I was warm enough at night.
22:36I started answering him like I meant it.
22:39One morning I found a bundle of wild flowers left on the table.
22:43No explanation.
22:45Just the flowers.
22:46I put them in a jar and said nothing.
22:49But I kept looking at them all day.
22:52The village didn't leave us alone entirely.
22:54People found reasons to pass the gate.
22:57Glances over the fence.
22:58Whispers when I went to the well.
23:00A contracted wife living well.
23:02That was interesting enough to watch.
23:05Some of the women were kind to me.
23:06Some weren't.
23:08Clara came to see me.
23:09We sat in the yard with a pot of tea between us.
23:11And she held my hands and looked at my face for a long time.
23:15You look different.
23:16She said.
23:17Different how?
23:18She thought about it.
23:20Less afraid.
23:22I didn't say anything to that.
23:24She told me how things were for her now.
23:26In that household.
23:27I listened.
23:28I didn't cry this time but my chest was tight for a long time after she left.
23:33Edmund came back.
23:34Not crashing in through the gate this time.
23:36He stood outside it.
23:38In the lane and called my name.
23:40Quiet.
23:41Almost careful.
23:42I opened the gate and looked at him.
23:44He had lost weight.
23:46His scholar's hands were dirty at the nails.
23:49I want to apologize.
23:52What for?
23:55For what I said last time.
24:02You should go.
24:03Lily!
24:04Edmund!
24:06He stood there a moment longer.
24:08Then he turned and walked away.
24:10I closed the gate and went back to the yard.
24:13The tightness in my chest didn't come this time.
24:16Word reached me a few weeks later through one of the village women.
24:20Edmund had told people in town that I had gone eagerly to Rowan's house.
24:24That I had wanted to go.
24:26That the contract had been my idea.
24:29A scholar's rotation.
24:32That was what it came down to.
24:34He couldn't be the man who had sold his wife.
24:38So I had to be the wife who had sold herself.
24:44I was drawing water at the well when I heard two women talking on the other side of the fence.
24:48Not even ashamed of herself.
24:49Walking around like she belongs there.
24:51They didn't know I was there.
24:52Well, some women are just built for that kind of life, aren't they?
24:56I set the bucket down.
24:57I stood very still for a moment.
24:59Then I picked up the bucket and went home.
25:02Rowan wasn't back yet.
25:04The house was quiet in the way a house is quiet.
25:07When it belongs only to itself.
25:11I thought about what Edmund had told people.
25:14I thought about my parents' voices saying they had no such daughter.
25:20I thought about how it felt to be sold and then blamed for being sold.
25:24I sat down on the step and I cried.
25:27Not in front of anyone.
25:29Just by myself.
25:31On the step.
25:32Until I was done.
25:34Then I wiped my face and went inside to start supper.
25:37When Rowan came home, I was at the stove.
25:39He walked in.
25:40Stopped.
25:41Looked at my face.
25:42Who upset you?
25:43No one.
25:44I said.
25:44He didn't push.
25:45He just came and stood beside me and watched the pot for a while.
25:48That was enough.
25:52Rowan still wasn't back yet.
25:53The house sat empty and hollow around me like that same hollow place in my chest.
25:58My heart had already died the day Edmund sold me.
26:01I had known that.
26:02But a small stubborn piece of it had kept on wanting things it had no right to want.
26:07That day, looking at Edmund's face and seeing the self-interest dressed up as feeling,
26:12that piece finally let go.
26:15I wiped my eyes.
26:16I was tired.
26:18Kind of tired that lives in the bones.
26:20I wanted to sleep for a long time.
26:22Lily!
26:22What happened?
26:23Who did this to you?
26:25Rowan was back.
26:26He came through the door still cold from outside, dropped everything at his feet,
26:29and crossed the room to me in a few steps.
26:32He held me at arm's length and looked me over, front and back,
26:35lifted me slightly off the ground and turned me around once.
26:37Did you fall?
26:38Are you hurt?
26:39Where does it hurt?
26:40Show me.
26:42We're going to the doctor.
26:43Right now.
26:46I shook my head.
26:47I stepped forward and put my arms around his waist and held on.
26:50Rowan went completely still.
26:52Every muscle in his body tensed.
26:54He stopped breathing.
26:56I pressed my face against his chest and love his heart beat fast and hard.
27:02Rowan, I don't want to go back to Edmund's house.
27:08That night he didn't touch me.
27:10He heated a full pot of water and let me soak in a long hot bath.
27:14Afterward he held me the way you hold someone who is tired, and he sang to me, badly.
27:19He was clearly making up the tune as he went, but he kept going until I fell asleep.
27:23When I woke in the morning, the yard was already swept and something warm was waiting on the stove.
27:28Rowan was in the yard, shirtless despite the cold, splitting wood with great cheerful enthusiasm.
27:34He saw me come out and grin.
27:35Did I wake you?
27:37I figured you'd be up by now.
27:39He was going back into the hills for five days.
27:41He wanted to earn more money.
27:43He wanted things to be comfortable for me.
27:46The morning he left, he made a pot of broth that would last, told me to eat on schedule and
27:50not go looking for trouble.
27:51I nodded.
27:53I watched him shoulder his rifle and walk out into the early mist, and I felt something I didn't want
27:59to examine too closely.
28:02Those five days I swept the yard every morning and kept a plate warm on the stove each evening.
28:07On the fifth day, at dusk, with the sky burning orange and red along the ridge, his shape appeared at
28:13the far end of the lane.
28:14He was walking fast.
28:15His face was lit up.
28:17His game bag was full and heavy.
28:20Lily, I'm home!
28:21He'd barely made it through the gate before he set the bag down and came toward me, eyes bright.
28:26I stepped forward to help him with the rifle, but he caught my hands.
28:30Hold on.
28:31I brought you something.
28:33He crouched down and opened the bag the way you'd open something that might break.
28:37Slowly, gently, with both hands.
28:39At the mouth of the bag, two white shapes appeared.
28:42Long necks, faint golden markings, soft as winter light.
28:47A pair of fesses.
28:49White ones.
28:50Rare enough that most people lived and died without seeing one.
28:56Are those white fesses?
29:01My eyes went wide.
29:03White pheasants were considered a lucky omen.
29:05Some people said they appeared only once in a generation.
29:08Rowan nodded, stroking the feathers with one finger, voice gentle.
29:12Found them deep in the backcountry.
29:13Took two days of waiting to catch them.
29:15Not a feather out of place.
29:16News moved fast.
29:18By the next morning the whole settlement knew about the birds.
29:20A crowd had gathered at the gate, everyone up on their tees trying to see over, voices tumbling over each
29:26other.
29:27Lord above, they're real.
29:28Just like the old people used to describe.
29:30That's a genuine lucky omen.
29:32You know what those are worth to the county magistrate?
29:34At least a hundred dollars as a gift.
29:37Rowan's made his fortune.
29:39A hundred dollars!
29:41That's a regular family's whole lifetime!
29:44Someone pressed forward to tell Rowan with a face full of flattering
29:46that gifting them to the magistrate might get him a proper appointment somewhere.
29:50Rowan gave them a flat look and said nothing.
29:52He turned and carried the cage to the shaded corner of the yard,
29:55set it down, filled a small dish with millet and water for the birds.
29:59Don't listen to them.
30:01Once I've made the arrangements, I'll take them to town.
30:05I know someone reliable there who can get them to the county seat safely.
30:09I watched his serious face and felt something warm move through my chest.
30:14I nodded.
30:15I thought that was settled.
30:16I was wrong.
30:18That same afternoon, urgent fists hit the gate,
30:20and with it came a sound that made my stomach drop.
30:23Mrs. Hartley's voice, sharp as wire.
30:27Lily!
30:29Open up!
30:31Open this gate, Royal!
30:36Rowan read my face and put a hand on my shoulder.
30:39I'll get it.
30:40You stay inside.
30:41Don't let her get under your skin.
30:43I shook my head and took his hand off.
30:45I'll go.
30:47It was always going to come to this.
30:48Mrs. Hartley stood in the lane with the deliberate look of someone who has decided she has owed something.
30:53A few curious neighbors had already gathered behind her.
30:55Her eyes went past me the moment I opened the gate.
30:58Straight to the corner of the yard, straight to the cage.
31:00Something lit up in her face that I didn't like at all.
31:02There it is.
31:04She pushed past me and walked directly to the cage,
31:07craning her neck to look at the birds inside.
31:09The hunger in her expression kept getting bigger.
31:12Rowan stepped in front of her, jaw set, voice cool.
31:15Mrs. Hartley,
31:17what brings you to my house?
31:18She turned,
31:19gave him a brief glance,
31:20and spoke with the confidence of someone stating an obvious fact.
31:23Lily is my son's wife.
31:25She's been contracted to you for a year,
31:27but she's still an Edmund Hartley family woman at the end of it.
31:30Whatever comes to her while she's in your house belongs to us.
31:33I heard that and felt the heat rise in my face.
31:37That is the most outrageous thing I've ever heard.
31:40I was contracted to Rowan.
31:42These birds are his.
31:44He caught them.
31:45Your family has nothing to do with any of it.
31:48Her expression went through two or three colors,
31:51and then, she launched into her speech.
31:55Edmund had sacrificed everything.
31:57The family had given up everything for his studies.
32:01Contracting me out had been done for our future,
32:04for my benefit,
32:05so I could one day be a scholar's wife.
32:07And now here I was living comfortably in another man's house
32:11and refusing to acknowledge what I owed.
32:13The white phaiocies were a lucky omen.
32:16If Edmund presented them to the county magistrate as a gift,
32:19the magistrate might be so pleased that he'd approve Edmund's credentials by hand.
32:24Edmund would pass.
32:25I would return to the Hartley household as a scholar's wife.
32:28Wasn't that better than staying with a trapper?
32:33The more she talked,
32:35the less any of it resembled reality.
32:38The neighbors were murmuring now.
32:40The glances aimed at me had turned strange.
32:43I looked at her shameless face and felt sick.
32:47No.
32:48The birds are Rowan's.
32:50I won't give them to you.
32:51Get off this property.
32:53If you don't leave,
32:53I'll have At Rowan remove you.
32:55She saw my face and saw Rowan's expression,
32:58which had gone dark and still,
33:00and something in her flinched.
33:02But she didn't back down.
33:03Don't push your luck, Lily.
33:05If you won't hand over those birds,
33:07I will go down on my knees right here in this yard
33:10and let every neighbor in this settlement
33:12watch you turn away your own husband's mother.
33:14Let them all see what kind of woman you are.
33:18Rowan moved first.
33:20He stepped forward and blocked her.
33:22His voice dropped to something close to freezing.
33:24Mrs. Hartley,
33:25I strongly suggest you leave.
33:28This is my yard,
33:29not your stage.
33:30If you don't go now,
33:32you won't like what happens next.
33:33He was a full head taller than her
33:35and built like a man who had spent his life in the hills.
33:37The force of him standing there,
33:39quiet and certain,
33:39went through her like a cold draft.
33:41She straightened up,
33:42shot me a look full of venom.
33:44Fine, the two of you.
33:46Don't think this is over.
33:47We'll see how this ends.
33:48She turned and marched out.
33:50The neighbors drifted after her,
33:52most of them stealing one last look at the cage
33:54before they went.
33:55I watched her go
33:56and let out a long breath.
33:58The anger was still sitting in my chest.
34:01Rowan came up beside me
34:02and ruffled my hair lightly.
34:04Don't let it in.
34:05She's making noise.
34:06She can't actually do anything.
34:08I leaned slightly toward him.
34:11I'm not worried about the noise.
34:13I'm worried she'll go after the birds.
34:15He was quiet a moment.
34:17You're right.
34:19Leaving them here overnight is a risk.
34:21I'm going into town now.
34:23I have someone I trust
34:24who can get word to the county seat.
34:26Have him send someone official
34:28to collect the birds.
34:30That's the safest way.
34:34I grabbed his arm.
34:36Just take them with you.
34:38I don't like them sitting here.
34:40No.
34:40These birds are fragile.
34:42The road to the county settle is rough.
34:45I don't want anything to happen to them on the way.
34:47If the magistrate's office sends a proper escort,
34:50that's safer for everyone.
34:51He paused.
34:53Then added,
34:54After I leave,
34:55lock the front gate.
34:56Lock the inside door too.
34:58Whatever you hear outside,
34:59don't come out until I'm back.
35:00I won't be long.
35:02I looked at his worried face and nodded.
35:06I know.
35:08Be careful out there.
35:11He pulled me in briefly,
35:13held on for a second,
35:15then walked out fast.
35:16I followed him to the gate
35:18and watched his shape disappear into the evening dark.
35:21Then I shut the gate,
35:22slide the bolt across,
35:23and checked it twice.
35:24The yard was quiet.
35:25Just wind in the leaves.
35:27The night came in fast.
35:28The moon went behind clouds
35:30and took the last of the light with it.
35:32I sat inside with my needlework,
35:34trying to keep my hands busy.
35:36It didn't help.
35:38I kept pricking my fingers.
35:40Small beads of blood dotted the cloth.
35:43After a while,
35:44something moved on the other side of the wall.
35:46Faint,
35:47like someone testing their footing.
35:49I set the needlework down,
35:51stopped breathing,
35:52listened,
35:52a soft thut.
35:53Someone landing in the yard,
35:55then careful footsteps on the flagstones.
36:01I was on my feet before I'd made a decision.
36:04I went for the door.
36:05Then I heard the voices.
36:07Move fast.
36:08Quiet.
36:09Don't wake that little rat.
36:10She's asleep by now, Ma.
36:12Let's just grab the cage and go.
36:14Edmund, get the lash open.
36:15Be careful, don't spook the birds.
36:17These are our ticket out of all this.
36:21I threw the door open.
36:23Stop.
36:24Right there.
36:26All three of them spun around.
36:28For one moment,
36:29something like guilt crossed their faces.
36:31Then it cleared,
36:32and they looked at me like I was an inconvenience to be moved.
36:35Mrs. Hartley put her hands on her hips.
36:38We're taking those birds tonight,
36:40and you are not going to stop us.
36:42Keep out of our way if you know what's good for you.
36:44Edmund stood to the side,
36:46but the careful, softly spoken scholar was gone.
36:48What was left was flat and cold.
36:50Lily, be reasonable.
36:52These birds can change everything for me.
36:54That's good for you, too.
36:55Let us take them.
36:56When I've passed and earned my credentials,
36:57I'll bring you home.
36:58I won't contract you out again.
37:00You have my word.
37:01I laughed.
37:31Your word.
37:32You ungrateful little wretch.
37:35You dare stand in our way?
37:36I will teach you exactly who you belong to.
37:39She kept hitting.
37:40His father joined in.
37:42I fought back with everything I had,
37:43which wasn't much against three adults.
37:45I went down.
37:46My arms burned.
37:47My legs hurt.
37:48My face was wet.
37:50I wasn't crying because of the pain.
37:52I was crying because of the cold truth of it.
37:57Edmund crouched down and grabbed my hair,
37:59forcing my head up.
38:00His face above mine was stripped of everything
38:02I had once mistaken for feeling,
38:04just contempt and something greedier underneath.
38:06Lily, you really are pathetic.
38:09Rowan is a trapper in the dirt defending his property
38:11than stand on your own two feet.
38:13You'd rather be his contracted woman than be my wife.
38:16Let me tell you something.
38:17Whatever you think you are here,
38:19you're still just a contract,
38:20a year's agreement.
38:21You'll never be anything more,
38:23but I will be someone.
38:24I will be respected.
38:26And when that day comes,
38:28even if you beg me on your knees,
38:30I won't want you anymore.
38:31Not a woman without a shred of loyalty or virtue.
38:34I looked at his face and felt nothing but nausea.
38:38I gathered what I had left
38:39and bit into his forearm with everything I had.
38:43Edmund screamed and kicked me away.
38:45She bit me!
38:47The woman's feral!
38:49Mrs. Hartley pulled him back.
38:53Forget her.
38:55Let's take the cage and go before Rowan comes back.
39:03They grabbed the cage and ran.
39:06I lay on the cold stone and stared at the sky.
39:09Rowan had spent two days in the hills waiting for those birds.
39:12Not a feather out of place,
39:13he'd said.
39:14I hadn't been able to protect them.
39:16The gray of pre-dawn was starting at the edge of the sky
39:18when the gate swung open and Rowan came in fast,
39:21a uniformed officer of the county court right behind him.
39:24He saw me on the ground.
39:25He stopped being calm entirely.
39:29Lily.
39:31Lily, are you hurt?
39:34The officer looked around the yard and frowned.
39:37Looks like you had a break-in, friend.
39:44Rowan saw me settled
39:45and went straight to the Hartley house
39:47with the officer behind him.
39:49The Hartleys had brought the birds home
39:51and put them in the cage,
39:53fed them water and leftover scraps.
39:55By morning, both birds were dead.
39:58I found out later that this was something
40:00At-Rowie had known would happen.
40:02White pheasants were high-strung creatures.
40:05Captured and put in a strange place
40:07without the right conditions,
40:08they would simply die of distress.
40:11The officer's patience ran out completely.
40:15He clapped all three Hartleys and irons
40:17and brought them, dead birds and all,
40:20back to the county courthouse.
40:24The magistrate had already sent word ahead
40:27to the regional governor's office.
40:29He had been waiting for that gift.
40:32What arrived instead was two dead pheasants
40:34in a family of thieves.
40:37He was so furious he could barely speak.
40:39He ordered 50 slashes apiece.
40:42When he learned Edmund had been studying
40:44for the licensing's exams,
40:45he added a permanent ban.
40:47Edmund Hartley would never sit
40:49for another qualifying exam as long as he lived.
40:51All three came back unable to walk.
40:54Mrs. Hartley's health was already poor.
40:56The punishment broke something in her
40:58that didn't come back.
40:59She went home with a fever that climbed
41:01and wouldn't break, barely conscious.
41:04His father took to his bed
41:05and couldn't feed himself.
41:06Edmund sat in the yard all day
41:08with the look of a man
41:09who's somewhere else entirely,
41:11muttering,
41:11The exams, my exams.
41:13I can't sit for the exams anymore.
41:15His hair went gray at the temples
41:17almost overnight.
41:18He aged 10 years in the week.
41:19Everything he had worked toward was gone.
41:22Every plan,
41:23every sacrifice he had justified
41:25to himself and to me.
41:27The exams had been the only thing,
41:29and now they were taken away
41:31and he had nothing left inside
41:32to hold himself up with.
41:34No money for a doctor.
41:35No money for medicine.
41:37Mrs. Hartley's fever kept climbing.
41:40Edmund had nowhere left to turn.
41:42So he came to me.
41:44That afternoon,
41:45he dragged himself to Roe's gate,
41:47knelt in the dirt,
41:48and knocked.
41:52Lily!
41:53Lily, please!
41:54Open the door!
41:55He was filthy.
41:56His face was streaked with dust
41:58and dried blood,
41:59and he looked 10 years older
42:01than the man I'd married.
42:03He pressed his forehead
42:04to the ground when he saw me.
42:07Please.
42:09I'm begging you.
42:11My mother is going to die.
42:14The fever won't break
42:15and we have no money for a doctor.
42:19Please lend me what you can.
42:21I will repay you.
42:22I swear I will repay you.
42:24He kept bowing.
42:26Tears and snot ran down his face together.
42:29There was nothing dignified left in him at all.
42:34I looked at him.
42:37Do you actually think I'd help you?
42:40You sold me.
42:45You stood in this yard and held my hair
42:49and told me I was nothing.
42:52You let your parents beat me
42:56and then you stole from the man
42:58who housed and fed me.
43:03What happens to your mother
43:04has nothing to do with me.
43:05I turned toward the gate.
43:08He lunged forward
43:09and grabbed the hem of my coat.
43:12Lily.
43:14Please.
43:15I know I was wrong.
43:17I know it.
43:18I'll do anything.
43:20I'll give up the exams
43:22forever.
43:24I'll work with my hands.
43:25I'll take care of you properly.
43:29Just please.
43:30Please help my mother.
43:33I'll see you later.
43:34Rowan appeared beside me.
43:35He reached down
43:36and detached Edmund's grip.
43:38Voice empty of warmth.
43:43Edmund.
43:45Don't do this to her again.
43:48She's not going to help you.
43:50You brought this on yourselves.
43:52Go home.
43:54Edmund looked up at Rowan's face
43:56et puis à mine
43:57et compris que c'était l'heure
43:59il let go
44:02il s'est repris
44:03il s'est repris en la lane
44:04et il n'est pas rien
44:06il est allé
44:07il dit
44:08tout le monde
44:11il est allé
44:17il est allé
44:18il went door-to-door
44:19dans le settlement
44:19asking pour le money
44:21pour le docteur
44:22il n'est pas
44:25il n'est pas
44:55il n'est pas
45:25le lenders
45:26came to collect
45:27she did not understand
45:29how money-letting worked
45:30the debt doubled in days
45:32then doubled again
45:33her fever improved slightly
45:35the lenders came to collect
45:37three large men
45:39walked into the Hartley yard
45:40one afternoon
45:41Edmund and his father
45:43shook and begged
45:44for more time
45:44the men were not interested
45:46the men were not interested
45:47in more time
45:49Edmund's writing hand
45:50was broken
45:51his father's leg
45:52was broken
45:52they lay on the ground
45:53and screamed
46:23mrs. Hartley sat on the ground
46:24the palace
46:24the palace
46:26the palace had gaps in the walls
46:28and a roof that leaked
46:29no food
46:30no blankets
46:31they survived on whatever
46:32they could beg from passersby
46:34Edmund had come undone completely
46:35his writing hand was broken
46:37he couldn't hold a pen
46:38he couldn't sit for exams
46:40he couldn't do the one thing
46:42he had organized
46:42his entire life around
46:43he sat in the corner
46:45of the chapel
46:46and rocked slightly
46:47and said the same things
46:49over and over
46:49my hand
46:51my exams
46:52I shouldn't have been greedy
46:53I shouldn't have contracted
46:55Lily out
46:56when Rowie heard
46:57what had happened
46:58he took three dollars
47:00went to find the Hartleys
47:02and bought a legal divorce document
47:04from Edmund on the spot
47:06he came home
47:07and put the paper
47:08in my hands
47:10his face had that open
47:11lit up look
47:12it sometimes got
47:14Lily
47:16you're a free woman
47:18then he seemed
47:19to make a decision
47:21he took my hand
47:22and held it
47:23and his eyes
47:24were completely steady
47:27Lily
47:29will you marry me
47:30not a contract
47:31a real marriage
47:33you and me
47:34for the rest of our lives
47:36I looked at him
47:37this man
47:38who had cut winter blossoms
47:40in the dark hills
47:41and dragged them home
47:42for a woman
47:42he didn't know yet
47:43who had ordered me
47:45to eat until I was full
47:46and then pretended
47:47it was a command
47:48who had held me
47:49while I cried
47:50about someone else
47:51and asked nothing
47:52in return
47:53my eyes were filling
47:57yes
48:02Rowan threw himself
48:03into the wedding preparations
48:05the way he did everything
48:07completely and with great enthusiasm
48:10he spent everything he'd saved
48:12from years of trapping and hunting
48:14fabric
48:15ribbon
48:15food
48:16decorations
48:16he got half the settlement
48:18to come help
48:19and transform the yard entirely
48:20red lanterns everywhere
48:21paper decorations
48:22on every window
48:23the smell of good food
48:24and wood smoke in the air
48:26a hundred times more festive
48:27than the thin quick ceremony
48:29Eden had given me
48:29on the day itself
48:30the yard was full of people
48:32and noise and warmth
48:33half the settlement
48:34came to celebrate
48:34I wore the red dress
48:36Rowan had bought me
48:37silver pins in my hair
48:38bracelets at my wrists
48:40a little color in my cheeks
48:41standing beside him
48:42I felt something
48:43I hadn't expected
48:44to feel again
48:44happy
48:46simply
48:46cleanly happy
48:47Rowan wore a new
48:48rough cloth wedding shirt
48:50and looked like himself
48:51big and solid
48:52and sincere
48:52he looked at me
48:54the whole time
48:54with a softness in his face
48:55that he didn't seem to know
48:56how to hide
48:57we made our vows
48:58in the middle of the ceremony
49:00a commotion started at the gate
49:02the Hartley family had come
49:06uninvited
49:06unwelcome
49:07they had come to eat
49:08someone else's wedding food
49:10Edmund leaned on a crutch
49:11his broken hand
49:11hanging in a sling
49:12his face was gray and hollow
49:14his father was being helped
49:15along by someone
49:16his broken leg
49:17wrapped and dragging
49:18Mrs. Hartley shuttled behind them
49:20vacant eyed
49:20dressed in dirty rags
49:22everything about her at odds
49:23with the red and gold around her
49:25the guests who saw them first
49:26went quiet
49:27then the whispers started
49:29no
49:29their own family and ruins
49:31and they come here
49:31to eat off Rowan's table
49:32after everything they did to it
49:34Lily
49:34have they no shame at all
49:36Rowan's jaw tightened
49:37but he said nothing
49:39he didn't send them away
49:43the Hartley's found a spot
49:44and sat down
49:45and they ate
49:46quickly without looking up
49:48like people who had forgotten
49:49what it felt like
49:49to have enough
49:50Edmund drank
49:51one cup
49:52and then another
49:52and another
49:53until he was past the point
49:55of knowing where he was
49:56he raised his head
49:57and found my face
49:58across the yard
50:00and Rowan's beside mine
50:06and something wrecked
50:07and lost
50:08moved through his expression
50:10he started talking
50:12loud enough
50:13for the people near him
50:14to hear
50:15Lily
50:16Lily I was wrong
50:18I know I was wrong
50:20I shouldn't have contracted you out
50:22I shouldn't have hit you
50:24I shouldn't have said those things
50:26Rowan
50:26I'm jealous of you
50:28I'm jealous you can give her
50:29what I couldn't
50:30my exams
50:32my hand
50:33my house
50:35my Lily
50:36all of it's gone
50:40all of it
50:41the guests went quiet
50:42around him
50:43some looked away
50:45no one argued with him
50:47and no one comforted him either
50:49when the evening was over
50:51the dark had fully come in
50:52a cool wind moved through the lane
50:55Edmund refused his father's
50:57and mother's hands
50:58he was going back to the chapel
51:00on his own
51:01he said
51:01he walked out into the dark
51:03still muttering my name
51:04feet stumbling
51:06listing from side to side
51:08the river at the edge of the settlement
51:10was running high
51:11that time of year
51:12spring floods
51:14fast water
51:17Edmund couldn't see
51:18where he was going
51:20at the bank
51:21his foot slipped
51:24he went into the water
51:28one arm broken
51:29he couldn't fight the current
51:30the river took him
51:31a few weak sounds
51:32and then only the roar
51:34of the water
51:36the next morning
51:37someone found him
51:38down stream
51:38on the gravel bank
51:40soaked through
51:41face a terrible colour
51:44his expression
51:46still carrying
51:46the outrage of a man
51:48who had died
51:49believing he was owed better
51:53nobody cried for long
51:59he had done this to himself
52:06when the news reached Mrs. Hartley
52:08what was left of her mind
52:09let go
52:11she wandered the settlement
52:12for days
52:13hair loose
52:14calling Edmund's name
52:15and asking strangers
52:16when her son was going
52:17to pass his exams
52:18his father was already
52:20bedridden from his injuries
52:21when he heard his son was drowned
52:23and his wife had lost her mind
52:24he couldn't take the weight of it
52:26he stopped breathing there
52:28in the chapel
52:28in the dark
52:29alone
52:29they said his last words
52:31were some version
52:32of I should not have
52:33nobody came forward
52:35to bury either of them
52:36in the end
52:37it was the village elder
52:38who organized a collection
52:40enough to dig
52:41two simple graves
52:42on a bit of unused ground
52:43at the edge of the fields
52:44Mrs. Hartley
52:45was last seen
52:46walking out
52:47toward the hills
52:47no one knew
52:48where she went
52:49a charitable traveler
52:51may have taken her in
52:53she may have died
52:54somewhere far
52:55from anyone
52:55who knew her name
52:56there was no word
52:58either way
52:58after the Hartley family
53:00was gone
53:00there was nothing left
53:01connecting me
53:02to that old life
53:03Rowan still went
53:04into the hills
53:04every morning
53:05he still came back
53:06every evening
53:07he never failed
53:08to bring something
53:09wild berries
53:10or a spray
53:10of something flowering
53:11just because he thought
53:13I might like it
53:13before long
53:14I was pregnant
53:15Rowan became someone
53:16I had not fully seen before
53:18careful
53:18attentive
53:19refusing to let me lift
53:21anything heavier than a cup
53:22he would come home
53:23from a day's hunting
53:24and sit beside me
53:25in the evening
53:25with one hand resting
53:26on my stomach
53:26just there
53:27just present
53:28we kept to our small yard
53:30and our small house
53:31and our small life
53:33three meals a day
53:35four seasons turning
53:37steady and warm
53:38all the way through
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