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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.
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00:00Grazie a tutti.
00:32Grazie a tutti.
01:04Grazie a tutti.
01:06Grazie a tutti.
02:15Grazie a tutti.
02:22Grazie a tutti.
03:06Grazie a tutti.
03:12Grazie a tutti.
03:21Grazie a tutti.
03:27Grazie a tutti.
03:42Grazie a tutti.
05:12Grazie a tutti.
05:43Grazie a tutti.
06:13Grazie a tutti.
06:45Grazie a tutti.
06:46Grazie a tutti.
06:54Grazie a tutti.
06:57Grazie a tutti.
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09:09So...
09:09He glanced at me, coughed lightly, and skipped the criticisms I'd heard a thousand times.
09:13I cannot let the court gossip that I'm neglecting state affairs to dote on my fiancé at Westglass House.
09:17As he spoke, his brow frerroed again.
09:20The elders of the Privy Council droned on at me for nearly an hour today.
09:23I couldn't out-argue them.
09:25Just ignore him for two days, Your Majesty.
09:27He'll settle down on his own.
09:29What?
09:30I put the chess pieces back into their box, speaking casually.
09:33He talks so much because he wants everyone to see his loyalty.
09:36The more you debate with him, the more he puts on a show of loyalty.
09:38Oh.
09:40I flashed him a grin.
09:40His expression froze awkwardly, so I quickly looked down again.
09:43That man's desperate to stand out.
09:45A little cold shoulder will do the trick.
09:47Lucian stared at me for a long moment.
09:48I kept my head down, tidying the board.
09:51Just my casual remark, Your Majesty.
09:53Don't take it seriously.
09:57He left with a markably better mood.
10:00Those turnips of yours?
10:02Send me some when they're ready.
10:04Of course.
10:05That very night, the Royal Herald came with news.
10:08The Emperor would dine at Westglass House the following evening.
10:13The palace erupted in shock and gossip overnight.
10:16That night, Lucian slept in the bed.
10:18I settled on the long couch by the window.
10:20A wide gap lay between us.
10:21You're not coming here?
10:25Your Majesty's had a long day.
10:27Get some rest.
10:29No way.
10:29That bed was far too narrow.
10:31One restless turn in my sleep, I'd kick him right off.
10:34Lucian chuckled.
10:35Then get up.
10:36Let's play another game in the yard.
10:38That night, we played ten rounds of chess, ending five all.
10:44The next day, he came again.
10:46Soon, it became a habit.
10:48Officially, we were simply fulfilling the duties of a betrothed pair, but it felt more
10:51like a friendship.
10:52Sometimes we didn't even play chess.
10:54He'd sit on the porch, sip tea, vent a little about court troubles before falling silent,
10:57lost in quiet thought.
10:58I'd listen while I gardened.
11:00Occasionally, I'd reply.
11:01Most of the time, I didn't.
11:02He seemed to like it that way.
11:05The best blessing of Westglass House is that I don't have to put on a pretense.
11:09Must your Majesty perform everywhere else?
11:11I asked.
11:13He smiled and didn't answer.
11:15Still, gossip within the palace only intensified.
11:18They said I must have betwitched Lucian.
11:20Why else would he keep coming here?
11:22I listened as Fitch relayed the rumors.
11:24I looked in the mirror and sighed.
11:27If I truly possessed such power, do you think I'd still look like this?
11:30On that day, Lucian was speaking to me of the Black Frost March.
11:33The tribes out there have grown restless of late.
11:35I was washing a turnip I had just pulled from the soil.
11:38When I entered the palace, I didn't bring much.
11:41Just these seeds.
11:43Seeds?
11:43My grandmother used to say,
11:45People fear hunger.
11:46Every household should keep seeds that can save them from famine.
11:49I'm not clever.
11:49I just know how to grow turnips.
11:51Lucian's eyes gradually lit up.
11:53I knew he understood.
11:54Just then, Selene walked in, holding a bowl of soup.
12:01Your Majesty, I made this myself.
12:04The moment she stepped inside, she saw me sitting with my legs apart,
12:07holding half a turnip while Lucian's maps lay spread across the table.
12:10She froze.
12:11This did not look like romance.
12:13It looked far more like two bandits divided.
12:15Your Majesty, are you discussing military affairs with Lady Vainheart?
12:20Set it down.
12:21Leave us.
12:23As Selene departed, she looked at me like I was some kind of monster.
12:26Gossip stirred anew among the nobility,
12:29claiming I had bewitched the Emperor with love potions into his tea.
12:32The wildest rumor was that I wasn't here to be queen at all,
12:35that I was a male advisor in disguise, planted to counsel Lucian.
12:38I looked at my face in the mirror.
12:40If I wasn't built like this, Lucian probably wouldn't be so relaxed.
12:43After all, this face of mine, it's hard to inspire any romantic feelings.
12:46Lucian came again one day.
12:48He walked in, collapsed into a chair, face drained of color.
12:52What happened?
12:53Argued with those old fisses all day.
12:55Win?
12:56Lost.
12:57Want to pull some turnips? It's good for letting off steam.
12:59I'm the Emperor. That's undignified.
13:01Think of it as humble inspection of your people's livelihoods.
13:04For the next hour, Lucian looked like a gardener.
13:06I had to stop him, or he would have tore up the entire turnip patch in his frustration.
13:12Feels good.
13:16Quite sweet, Margo.
13:20Of course.
13:21I grew them myself.
13:23He took another bite, his mood visibly lightening.
13:26From then on, he came even more often, sometimes with documents, reading while chatting with me,
13:30sometimes just to play cheese, grumble about a few ministers, then pull my turnips.
13:34When the turnips ran out, I made him pull weeds.
13:36Less satisfying, but it worked.
13:38That autumn, a great victory was won at the Black Frost March.
13:41Rowan Kestrel had led his troops to repel the Frostfield realms,
13:44reclaiming soirs of lost territory, and returned in triumph.
13:46The victory banquet was held at the Whitehall.
13:48Given my current status, I wasn't seated too far back, but I still sat off to the side.
13:53Lucian knew.
13:53With my frame, everyone was more comfortable with some distance.
13:56The noble young ladies occupied the side seats, resplendent in vibrant gowns,
14:01their gazes constantly drifting toward the table of generals.
14:04I saw the man of the hour, Rowan Kestrel.
14:07True to his name, he was quiet and formidable, like distant thunder brewing beneath heavy clouds.
14:11Taller than Lucian, darker than me.
14:14Dressed in a dark formal military gown, he bore a faint scar that stretched from his brow bone to his
14:18temple.
14:18He didn't smile, sat there like a mountain.
14:20The noise around him seemed to have nothing to do with him.
14:23Ministers toasted, he drank without uttering a single unnecessary word.
14:26I thought, he is interesting.
14:28Like me, never fit in with the crowd.
14:31Just then, a woman I didn't know twisted her way to my side and accidentally knocked over my wine glass.
14:36Wine spilled everywhere, the glass rolled away.
14:38She covered her mouth with a fake smile.
14:40Oh, Lady Van Hart, I'm so sorry I didn't see you there.
14:44Laughter riffled nearby.
14:46I bent down to pick up the glass, glancing at my soaked skirt.
14:49This fabric was expensive, and in my size, even more so.
14:53What a waste of money.
14:54As I was thinking this, I accidentally kicked the glass further away.
14:58Just as I was about to reach for it again, a hand picked it up before mine.
15:04That hand was large, with thick calluses at the thumb and ruckles.
15:08It belonged to someone who had gripped a military saber year after year.
15:11He was even darker than I remembered.
15:13Rowan stood before me, holding my glass.
15:15Hard features like a stout, deep-set eyes, a sharp gaze.
15:18The scar was like a drawn bow up close.
15:20Lady Van Hart.
15:20He had no particular expression as he handed me the glass and gave a small nod.
15:24His gaze was ordinary, the way one would look at any stranger.
15:27Thank you, General.
15:27Very few people responded so calmly upon first meeting me.
15:30For once, I was caught off guard.
15:32He nodded and turned away.
15:34I watched his back and thought,
15:36This man's interesting.
15:38He saw people differently from everyone else.
15:41I attended the Royal Ancestral Reits, too.
15:43On the way back, the convoy was ambushed.
15:45It was a planned assassination, targeting Lucian.
15:47Chaos erupted.
15:48Guards were scattered.
15:49The carriages ahead overturned.
15:51Only mine stayed steady enough to push through.
15:53By the time I crawled out, the area was nearly empty.
15:55I'd bruised my forehead.
15:56Blood ran into my eyes, but I didn't faint.
15:59I looked around.
16:00No sign of Lucian.
16:01But I wasn't worried.
16:02That man had always been lucky.
16:04I reached for the dagger at my belt.
16:05Annie had insisted I wear it before we left,
16:07saying a lady could never be too careful in venturing out.
16:09I had no other weapon within reach, so it would have to suffice.
16:11Soon a man in black chased me down, blade raised.
16:13I didn't scream.
16:14I didn't run.
16:15Running would only exhausted me.
16:16I'd save my strength for one decisive stroke.
16:18I gripped the dagger.
16:19Setting into a stoats, I'd learn from the sergeant major as a girl.
16:21I had not practiced in years, yet my foundational skills remained intact.
16:24One stab, then body slam, he'd go down.
16:27Just as the blade was about to fall, a dark figure cut in.
16:29Steel flashed.
16:30The assassin fell.
16:31Rowan stood before me, blood still dripping from his saber.
16:35He glanced back at me, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
16:38He probably hadn't expected my grip on that dire to look halfway convincing.
16:42Get yourself safe.
16:43Stay where you are.
16:45Only then did I see that more than a dozen men in black were closing in behind us.
16:49It was a vicious fight.
16:52When Rowan cut into them, it was like a son who got near him went down.
16:56But he'd taken a long gash across the arm.
16:59He sat down on a rock by the row side and began tearing at the hem of his clothes, intending
17:03to ban...
17:03His majesty of fey injury and the physicians have already showed himself to him.
17:06You needn't worry.
17:06I knew Lucien had a stubborn knack for surviving.
17:09Still, I let out a breath of relief.
17:11With only one hand free, Rowan's movements were a little awkward.
17:14I walked over and crouched in front of him.
17:16My lady.
17:17He looked up, clearly about to refuse.
17:19Let me do it.
17:19The strip of cloth from his hand and wrap the wound myself, quick and efficient.
17:22Keep bleeding like that, and you'll bleed yourself dry.
17:25As I worked, the muscles in his arms stayed tense beneath my hands, hard as stone.
17:29You're not afraid?
17:30Of course I am.
17:31I tied the knot a little too tightly.
17:33He gave a low junt.
17:34Fear won't get us anywhere.
17:35If more assassins come, do you think I can handle them?
17:37You need to stay alive first.
17:39The corner of Rowan's mouth moved.
17:40It was the first time I'd seen anything close to a smile on his face.
17:44After I finished dressing the wound, I noticed the old scars on him.
17:48There were quite a lot of them.
17:50You've got plenty of old injuries.
17:52Battle scars?
17:53I have one too.
17:55Got it with a sickle while pulling weeds.
17:58Rowan paused.
18:00You're formidable.
18:01For the first time in my life, being praised as formidable sounded better than being called
18:05beautiful.
18:06After we returned to the palace, before he left, he sent me a gift through someone else.
18:10Not jewelry, not wine, a packet of dried beef.
18:12A northern specialty.
18:13So tough it felt nearly rock hard, yet savory and rich the more you chewed it.
18:17I sent a gift in return.
18:19An entire basket of freshly pulled turnips, red-skinned and white at the center.
18:23I included a short note.
18:24General, turnips aren't worth much, but they're fresher than beef.
18:27If supplies run short and slice in camp, they'll keep hunger at bay for a while.
18:30Half a month later, I received his reply.
18:32His handwriting was just like him.
18:33Sharp, resolute, and unyielding.
18:35The turnips arrived, better than army rations.
18:36I shared them with the men.
18:37From then on, we began exchanging letters.
18:39That sort of thing was frowned upon in the palace, but Lucian Newtley allowed it, because
18:42I never sent my letters in secret.
18:43I always tuck them in with the official documents sent to his study, completely above spread.
18:46Whenever Lucian finished reviewing the papers, he would pull out Rowan's letter and hand
18:50it to me with a teasing look.
18:51Your turnip general has written again.
18:52Take it.
18:52It smells of cured beef.
18:53At general, the northern winds are harsh.
18:55Remember to put some balm on your face or it'll crack.
18:57Gradually, though, the letters began to change.
19:01Our stiff formalities faded, replaced by genuine, earnest discussions.
19:05Once, I enclosed a rough sketch I'd made.
19:07It was a redesigned pig bit.
19:08I wrote, I hear winters in the Black Frost March are bitterly cold and livestock often
19:11freeze to death.
19:12You could try a partially underground shelter like this.
19:13I tested one at Westglass House.
19:15My two pigs slept very well in it.
19:16Rowan replied quickly.
19:18There was even a faint ink smudge on the paper, as if he'd smudged it by accident.
19:21The plans have been received.
19:22I've ordered a trial structure built.
19:23Also, it looks very much like, ahem, very much like a real pig.
19:25I laughed so hard my hands shook.
19:26I knew I was terrible at drawing.
19:28That pig looked like a potato with a long nose.
19:29For him to praise it that much must have taken real effort.
19:32Later, we began discussing military matters.
19:35Once, I mentioned the supply routes.
19:36I'd read about similar routes in northern campaigns, and I thought the existing supply
19:40routes were overly vulnerable to enemy interception.
19:42Rowan wrote back to say he'd had someone investigate it.
19:45He changed the route.
19:46Margris, if you were a man, you'd make a fine general.
19:48I replied.
19:49If I marched off to war, who would grow the turnips?
19:51The letters grew longer and thicker.
19:53Sometimes, there were odd little things tucked inside.
19:56Once, several red leaves slipped from an envelope.
19:59Mags, I picked these while patrolling the border.
20:01There aren't many flowers in the north, so I thought I'd show you the red leaves instead.
20:04Mags, he had started calling me that.
20:06Only my mother had ever called me that before.
20:10I pressed those leaves inside northern campaigns and used them as bookmarks.
20:14I sent him something in return.
20:16I dried the blossoms from the old tree in Westglad House, packed them into a small cloth
20:19pouch, and had them delivered north.
20:21Steep these in hot water.
20:23They're good for soothing your mind.
20:25It was a strange sort of-
20:26Ask me once in a letter.
20:28Does that stray cat called Brass still come around to steal fish?
20:31Not anymore.
20:32She's pregnant.
20:33Now she just lies in front of the door and refuses to move unless someone gives her fish.
20:38Once, Lucien happened to see my reply.
20:40In a distinctly sour tone, he said,
20:42Margo, you don't even talk to me this much.
20:44You tell him about the cat's bowel movings too?
20:46That's just idle chatter.
20:47What I discuss with your majesty is important business.
20:49Annie stood nearby, looking at the growing stack of letters.
20:52She seemed to want to say something, but held back.
20:54My lady, what is it?
20:55You and the general?
20:56We only discuss supplies and military affairs.
20:58The look she gave me said she didn't believe a word of it.
21:00I lowered my head and kept writing, pretending not to notice.
21:03The turnips grew a little taller again today.
21:05I expect the potatoes on your side still didn't survive the frost.
21:08Next time, I'll send you some dried turnip for winter snacks.
21:10When I finished, I realized I was smiling.
21:12Something wasn't right.
21:13I set down my pen and stared at the letter for a long edit.
21:16No point thinking about it.
21:17It was nothing.
21:18Lucien was a very perceptive man.
21:20But lately, I thought he was being a little distracted whenever we played chess.
21:23I used to be ruthless at chess.
21:25I kept it, but these days I would sit there with a piece in my hand, wondering who he was,
21:28and whether it could blow someone away.
21:29Your move.
21:33Lucien tapped the chessboard.
21:34Oh.
21:35I came back to myself and moved to police.
21:37It was in clumsy move.
21:38A dead end.
21:39Normally, Lucien wiped out half my pieces without mercity, but not that day.
21:43Without a word, he gave up an advantage and somehow dragged the game back into a drawer.
21:47He gathered the chess pieces as though he were merely making conversation.
21:50The wind's been strong in the north lately.
21:52The leaves on the turnips in your garden have already turned yellow.
21:54If you're making dried turnip...
21:55The moment he mentioned dried turnip, I perked up.
21:58Thank you for the reminder, your majesty.
21:59I'll have Fitch harvest them right away.
22:00The weather really...
22:01Lucien lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea, saying nothing.
22:04I was...
22:04I could dry and didn't notice what he was doing.
22:06After a while, he said...
22:08Majesty is remarkably practical.
22:10I said absently.
22:11In my mind, I was already wondering whether I ought to add a few spices.
22:14There was another time.
22:15I was reading one of Rowan's letters.
22:16He wrote that it had snowed in the north.
22:18He'd made a snowman and stuck a carrot in it, saying it looked just like me,
22:21standing tall and unyielding, just as I had been during the palace selection.
22:24I couldn't stop the smile from creeping onto my face.
22:26I smiled for quite a while before remembering that Lucien was sitting beside me, reviewing documents.
22:30That was a little disrespectful to one Sovereign.
22:32I hurriedly pressed the letter down beneath my hand and acted as if nothing had happened, lifting my teacup for
22:36a sip.
22:36What are you smiling about?
22:38Nothing.
22:39Lucien didn't look up.
22:40His pen kept moving across the page.
22:42Does someone like Rowan actually know how to write a joke?
22:44His voice was casual.
22:45His pen never paused.
22:46He said the snow was so heavy in the north that a tent collapsed.
22:50Lucien gave a quiet hum.
22:51I thought that was the end of it.
22:52I was just about to go back to thinking about the snowman.
22:54That is rather miserable.
22:55I believe there's a batch of thick wool blankets in the storeroom.
22:58They've been sitting there for ages anyway.
22:59Send them along when you write back.
23:00Say they're a gift from me.
23:01When he spoke again, I brightened immediately.
23:03Thank you, Your Majesty.
23:04The soldiers in the north will be grateful.
23:06That's enough.
23:07Stop smiling.
23:08Your gunks are showing.
23:09That night, as he reached the door,
23:11he suddenly turned back and asked,
23:13Huh?
23:16I looked up at him.
23:17It isn't too high.
23:19It blocks the wind nicely.
23:20If it were any lower, the pigs would get out.
23:23Strange look.
23:23There was something oddly lonely about his retreating back.
23:26I scratched my head.
23:27I could usually read him well enough,
23:28but he was being very strange today.
23:30War broke faster than before.
23:31Rumor had it they had mobilized their entire strength.
23:33300,000 armored riders bearing down on the border.
23:36Rowan stayed in the capital for only a few days.
23:38After settling the campaign with Lucian,
23:40he returned to the frontier.
23:41Before he left, he entered the palace to take his leave.
23:43He saw Lucian.
23:45Then he paid his respects to the Dowagy Empress.
23:47No one knew he had also come to see me in secret.
23:49Lady Van Hurt, someone's here to see you.
23:51That evening, I was watering the vegetables in my courtyard
23:53when Fitch came to announce a visitor.
23:55I looked up and saw Rowan standing beneath the moonlight.
23:57He was in uniform, standing straight and tall
23:58like a cold, unyielding blade.
24:00The last light of sunset fell across his shoulders,
24:02outlying him in gold.
24:03There was only the rustling of wind through the turnip leaves.
24:05Rowan drew a wooden circlet from inside his coat.
24:09It was crudely made from ordinary wood.
24:12I carved it when I was 15.
24:14Back then, I thought been carved unevenly
24:16among the olive leaves to give it-
24:17He didn't finish, but I understood.
24:19I looked at the circlet without reaching for it.
24:22It felt as if someone had seized my heart in a fist,
24:25squeezing until it ached.
24:27General, I am His Majesty's chosen fiancé.
24:30I know.
24:32But I want you to know-
24:33Rowan lowered his gaze to the circle in his hand.
24:35But no one knows whether I'll return from this campaign in the north.
24:38I'm not asking for anything.
24:39If I don't say these things now, I may never get another chance.
24:42He paused, then lifted his-
24:45If I return alive, I'll ask His Majesty for a favor.
24:48And if I don't,
24:49the night sky in the north is very dark.
24:51That's why the stars shine so brightly, like your eyes.
24:53He didn't finish.
24:54He only looked at me deeply.
24:55Vanished beyond the courtyard gate.
24:56The garden fell silent again.
24:58Deep.
24:58I sat-
24:59Were the stars at the frontier brighter than these?
25:01The moon rose, then set.
25:03It was nearly dawn before I finally stood up.
25:05I walked to the stone table, my fingers trembling as I touched the circlet.
25:07It felt as though it still buried the frost and wind-
25:09Nothing serious for anything.
25:11Lucius came to see me.
25:12He sat by my bed, looked at my thinner face and sighed.
25:14Stop pretending.
25:15I know you aren't sick.
25:16Your Majesty is as perceptile as ever.
25:18I've made up my mind.
25:19About what?
25:19I opened my eyes.
25:20Lucian looked out the window, his voice even.
25:22When Rowan returns victorious,
25:24I'll announce that you've fallen gravely ill and send you to a royal estate to recover.
25:27A few months later, we'll report that you've died.
25:30Then you'll be free.
25:31Your Majesty.
25:33Why?
25:33I was completely stunned.
25:34I sat up in bed and stared at him in disbelief.
25:36If word ever got out, it would make him the laughingstock of the entire empire.
25:39There had never even been anything improper between Rowan and me.
25:41Yet for an emperor, this was a degree of generosity beyond belief.
25:47I've never learned to look at me than his eyes.
25:51Because you're the only person in this palace who has never wanted anything from me.
25:55I feel the same.
25:56The place I put you in was something I decided on carelessly all those years ago.
25:59I owe you for that.
26:01I probably won't have any freedom in this life.
26:03Since I don't, I might as well give you yours.
26:06My eyes began to burn.
26:07I hadn't cried once since entering the palace,
26:10but this time the tears would not stop.
26:12I got out of bed and bowed to him solemnly.
26:14I couldn't manage a single word.
26:16Enough.
26:16You look awful.
26:17Don't wipe your snot on my clothes.
26:18If you ever dare forget who saved you.
26:20Rest assured, your majesty, I'll never forget.
26:22Lucian helped me up, then wiped away my tears with phage to space.
26:25I still have turnip seeds.
26:27I'll send you a cartload every year.
26:29It's a promise.
26:30I laughed through my tears.
26:31Lucian laughed.
26:32After that day, my illness was cured.
26:34I began counting the days.
26:35Counting each dispatch of victory from the north.
26:37Counting the days until Rowan's return.
26:39The days passed one after another.
26:41Reports of victory arrived frequently from the frontier.
26:43With every new letter, my heart settled a little more.
26:45Lucian even had the latest news delivered to me personally.
26:48Until early winter that year.
26:49The final battle.
26:50A resounding victory.
26:51The Frostfield clans had retreated and submitted a treaty of truce.
26:54The entire palace of St. Vera was celebrating.
26:56I was watering the turnips, thinking that when Rowan returned, this batch would be just right to eat with that
27:00dried beef he'd sent me.
27:01Then Annie came running in, her face drained of all color.
27:04She was shaking so hard that she could barely get the words out.
27:06The watering dipple in my hand suddenly felt as heavy as stone.
27:09A terrible feeling rose inside me.
27:11Go ahead.
27:12My lady!
27:13The general!
27:14During the pursuit, he fell into an ambush.
27:16His wounds were too severe.
27:17He's dead!
27:18Annie dropped to her knees and burst into tears.
27:20The dipple slipped from my hand and shattered in two.
27:22Water spread across the ground, soaking through my shoes.
27:28I didn't cry.
27:29I didn't faint.
27:30I simply stood there, staring at the water on the ground, my mind utterly blank.
27:35Dead?
27:36That man.
27:37Solid as a mountain.
27:38The man who said my eyes shamed brighter than the stars.
27:41The man who said he would return for my answer.
27:43Dead.
27:44How could that be possible?
27:46I stood there for I didn't know how long.
27:48Until night had fully fallen.
27:50Until my legs went numb.
27:51Then Lucian came.
27:53He said nothing.
27:53He only placed a box on the stone table.
27:56It was Rowan's personal relic.
27:58Inside was an unfinished letter.
27:59Written in blood.
28:01With trembling hands, I unfolded the torn piece of cloth.
28:04The handwriting was hurried and uneven.
28:07Mags, when I return, I want to.
28:09And then it ended.
28:10The final stroke dragged on for a long distance, as though it had taken the last of his strength.
28:14What did you want?
28:15Why didn't you finish it?
28:17I stared at that unfinished sentence, and tears began to spill down my face.
28:21I didn't wait in silence.
28:22For the next three days, I didn't leave my room.
28:25I didn't eat.
28:26I didn't drink.
28:27I just sat on the bed, clutching that wooden circlet in my hands.
28:31Lucian came every day.
28:32He sat on the steps outside my door without speaking, simply keeping me company.
28:36On the fourth night, I opened the door.
28:38Lucian rose to his feet and looked at me.
28:40I had lost so much bacon.
28:42The wooden circlist was still in my hands.
28:44He told me to wait for him, so I could give him an answer.
28:48But now he can't come back.
28:49So I'll give myself an answer.
28:51I gathered up my hair and put on the circle.
28:55Lucian and I sat side by side, looking up at the night sky.
28:58The stars were bright.
29:00What did he call you in his letters?
29:02Mags.
29:03I touched the wooden circlet.
29:05Only my mother ever called me that.
29:07He said my eyes were brighter than the stars.
29:09This was soft.
29:09He was such a fool.
29:11Don't say that about my general.
29:12His eyesight was perfectly fine.
29:14Near dawn, Lucian stood.
29:16I looked up at him.
29:17I won't let you be alone.
29:18His expression was utterly serious.
29:20Then he left.
29:21I stayed where I was, watching the sky slowly brightening.
29:26At last, the tears came.
29:28Two years later, Lucian formally married me.
29:30The moment the announcement was made, the court erupted.
29:33Me?
29:34That dark, broad-shouldered Margo?
29:35The council chamber was in ofroar.
29:37Whether she is worthy is none of your consent to the Black Frost March to grow up.
29:40Of them?
29:40The hall immediately fell silent.
29:42On our wedding day, I stood before the mirror in the robes of an empress.
29:45Still dark.
29:46Still broad.
29:47On anyone else, those elaborate robes would have looked heavy enough to crush them.
29:51On me, they fit just right.
29:53The night I'd lowered their heads.
29:54Not one of them dared look up and laugh.
29:57Annie followed behind me, secretly wiping at her tears.
30:00You finally made it to this day.
30:04I smiled, though I wasn't sure what exactly I had been waiting for.
30:09That night, Lucian came to my rooms.
30:11There was no wedding night.
30:12We sat together over a few simple dishes and drank quite a lot of wine.
30:16The rumors outside say the new empress is quite formidable.
30:19Someone asked just how formidable.
30:21The most outrageous answer was that you could kill a bull with one punch.
30:24After hearing that, I raised my fist to the mirror and measured it with my eyes.
30:27That rumor is ridiculous.
30:28How small would the bull have to be?
30:31Lucian burst out laughing.
30:32Then, as he laughed, he noticed the wooden circlet in my hair.
30:35Even as empress, I never took it off.
30:37To you, Max.
30:38He didn't say anything.
30:39He merely raised his glass.
30:41In the blink of an eye, 40 years passed.
30:43Everyone in the empire knew they had a very unusual empress.
30:45She wasn't beautiful.
30:46Some even thought she looked rather firm here.
30:48But she ran the entire palace with a firm hand.
30:50And she wouldn't allow anyone else to play their little schemes.
30:52If anyone dared cause trouble in the palace, the empress would personally drag them out.
30:56She also led the maids and footmans in growing crops.
30:58Half the palace gardens were flowers.
31:00The other half were vegetables.
31:01The grain store...
31:02Lucian and I remained part...
31:03Lucian grew old, too.
31:05His beard turned completely white.
31:06And he no longer resembled the sharp young man he had once been.
31:09But we still played chess.
31:10We still argued.
31:10He said the turnips I grew weren't as sweet as they used to be.
31:14I said his palate had become far too fussy.
31:16People in the palace came and went in waves.
31:18But the two of us remained.
31:19He had a child, born to another woman.
31:22I treated the child fairly.
31:23I disciplined him when it was my place to do so.
31:26Once, Lucian asked me in private...
31:28Did you never want children of your own?
31:31Have you forgotten, Your Majesty?
31:33We're friends.
31:34Lucian and I were never truly husband and wife.
31:37Yet we understood one another better than many couples ever...
31:39He lay in bed, holding my hand.
31:41We were both worn down by old age.
31:42His hand was thin, little more than bone.
31:44Mine was lined with wrinkles and rough with cappies.
31:47Max.
31:47Lukes, I'm here.
31:49In the next life, I want to be your older brother.
31:52I froze for a moment.
31:54Then I can protect you openly and properly.
31:56All right.
31:57It's a promise.
31:59Lucian was gone.
32:00Me had been hollowed out.
32:01Another person had left.
32:02I lived alone for another ten years.
32:04I became the eldest woman in the royal family.
32:06In the winter of my 72nd year,
32:08medicine would no longer help.
32:10I lay in bed and had someone remove the wooden circle from my hair,
32:13placing it beside my pillow.
32:14Outside, snow was falling.
32:16The first snow of the year.
32:17I thought of that winter so many years ago.
32:19Of the man standing alone in the corner of the banquet hall,
32:21drinking by himself.
32:22Of the man who told me my eyes shun brighter than the northern stars.
32:26Of the man who told me to give him an answer when he returned.
32:28As I closed my eyes,
32:30it felt as though I could see the snow and wind of the black frost march again.
32:34I saw that young man in his dark military uniform,
32:37sitting atop his horse and looking back at me through the snow.
32:41Mags, your turnips are growing well.
32:43Later, the history books would write that Empress Marka Van Hart was plain in appearance,
32:46but virtue in character.
32:47That she and Lucian had shared a lifelong devotion,
32:50the greatest and finest tales.
32:51I suppose that wasn't entirely wrong.
32:53I wasn't much to look at in this life.
32:55But I lived well enough.
32:57No regrets.
33:00The first time I saw Mags was not at the victory banquet.
33:03It was earlier than that.
33:05I had returned to the capital to report for duty.
33:07The day before, I passed the back gate of the Vainhorn residence
33:10and saw a girl in an old dress helping an old...
33:12The cart was piled high with coal.
33:14Its wheels had sunk deep into the mud and it would not budge.
33:17The old man was sweating with panic.
33:18The girl said nothing.
33:20She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a strong, solid forearm,
33:23then gave a low shout.
33:27She shushed the whole cart, and the old man with it, right out of the mud.
33:32The old man thanked her over and over.
33:34She smiled at him, her teeth bright enough to catch the eye.
33:37It's nothing.
33:38I'm strong.
33:39If you've got work like this again, just call for me.
33:41Two loaves of bread will do.
33:44I sat on my horse and stared for a moment.
33:46I had seen many noble ladies in the capital,
33:49each one frable and pampered, gasping for breath after just a few steps.
33:52But a girl who could push a cartload of coal out of a mud pit
33:55and smile that brightly afterward?
33:57That was a first.
33:58I remember thinking, she was built well.
34:01If she had been born into a military family,
34:03she might even have made it to the front lines.
34:05Later, I saw her again at a palace banquet.
34:07By then, she had become Lucian's chosen bride.
34:09She sat alone in a corner, like a brown bear trapped inside a gilded cage.
34:13The other women laughed, flirted, and maneuvered for men's attention.
34:16Only she poured her own wine and drank alone, her eyes clear but distant.
34:20It was as if the reverie of the entire hall had nothing to do with her.
34:24Someone bumped into her and spilled wine all over her dress.
34:27She didn't get angry.
34:28She only lowered her head to pick up her cup.
34:31In that moment, I saw the indifference in her eyes.
34:33An elephant never deigns to quarrel with an ant.
34:36Before I realized it, I had walked over and picked up the cup for her.
34:39Our fingertips touched.
34:40There were calluses on her hand, the kind earned through hard work.
34:43And all at once, I thought that perhaps we were the same kind of people.
34:46In that brilliant cage, we were kin.
34:51I have never had an easy life.
34:53The day I was born, my mother had a difficult labor everywhere.
34:56Even the midwife said she would not make it through.
35:00But I lived.
35:01My mother did not.
35:03My father was standing outside when he heard the news.
35:05The bottle in his hand shattered on the spot.
35:08He never came in to look at me.
35:11Later, I learned that he hated me.
35:13Hated me for taking his wife's life.
35:14When I was three, other children chased butterflies in their gardens.
35:18I gathered horse droppings outside the camp.
35:20Once dried, they could be burned for fuel and keep you warm through winter.
35:23An old soldier taught me that.
35:25When I was seven, I held a military sword for the first time.
35:28It was too heavy.
35:29I could barely keep hold of it.
35:30And the shock of its weight made my hands go numb.
35:34The drill master said,
35:36You are a born soldier.
35:38Your grip on a blade is innate, flawless.
35:41That night, my father got drunk, dragged me outside, and threw me into the snow.
35:46Bad luck just like your mother.
35:48I didn't cry.
35:50I lay in the snow and looked up at the sky.
35:52The stars in the Black Frost March were very bright.
35:54I thought if I could shine like a star, shine brightly enough for people to see,
35:59then maybe no one would throw me away.
36:01When I was twelve, I went to battle for the first time.
36:03Not because I wanted to.
36:05The enemy raided our camp at night.
36:07With a dull blade in my hand, I killed three men and earned the scar on my face.
36:12All I could think was nothing but gratitude for being alive.
36:15At fifteen, I became a sergeant.
36:17That was also the year my father died.
36:18Before he died, he clutched my hand and said,
36:20Your mother, her name was Rowan.
36:24He had named me after her.
36:25Only then did I understand.
36:27He had not only hated me, he had hated himself too.
36:30When I was twenty, I became a general, the youngest general in the Empire.
36:33The northern winds weathered my face.
36:35The blades of battle stained my eyes red.
36:37People asked me what I wanted from life.
36:39I said nothing.
36:40War was all I knew.
36:42Fighting, killing, surviving.
36:43Until that autumn, when I returned to the capital.
36:48I'm a rough man.
36:49I don't understand poetry or sweet words.
36:52All I know is to keep my blade sharp, my horses well fed, and my subordinate safe.
36:57Then I received the basket of turnips she sent me, and her letter.
37:00General, you're too kind.
37:03Turnips aren't worth much, but they're fresher than beef.
37:05After too much meat, they're just the thing to clear the palate.
37:09I sat in my tent and read that letter three times.
37:12Her handwriting was not elegant.
37:14It was almost bold, every stroke looking like her.
37:18I lowered my head and bit into a turnip.
37:21Crisp, sweet, full of juice.
37:23In the dry, sand-filled north, it tasted like something from heaven.
37:26I wrote back to her.
37:27I wanted to write something pleasant.
37:29I agonized over it for ages, but in the end, all I managed was the turnips are good.
37:34General, is that a love letter or a military dispatch?
37:38Get out!
37:39But my heart was warm.
37:40In a place as remote as that, someone remembered whether you had meat to eat, whether the wind
37:45had cracked your face.
37:46That feeling was steadier somehow than winning a battle.
37:49After that, writing to her became what I looked forward to most.
37:52Whenever a courier was headed back to the capital, I had my letter ready in advance.
37:55I told her about the snow in the Blackfrost March, about recruits so frightened they wet
38:00themselves, about wolves on the grasslands.
38:02She told me about the vegetable patch at Westglass House, and how she had once again left Selene
38:07speechless.
38:08If I really went off to lead troops, who would grow the turnips?
38:11I smiled at those words.
38:13I even thought that if I ever stopped fighting, perhaps going to farm for her would not be so
38:17bad.
38:18I could carry water, I could chop firewood, and I was much stronger than Fisk.
38:23I had made the first rough shape of that wooden circlet when I was fifteen.
38:27This time, I took it out again, and spent a long while carving it properly.
38:31The wood came from a tree native to the north.
38:33It could stand dead for a thousand years, and once falling would not rot for another thousand,
38:37like my love for her.
38:39I did not want to give her gold or silver.
38:41Those things were too cold, too ordinary.
38:44I wanted to give her something that held warmth.
38:46The day I went to the palace to take my leave, I took out the circlace, intending to
38:50give it to her.
38:51I am his majesty's chosen bride.
38:55In that instant, it felt as though a blade had twisted in my heart.
38:59I knew she would be the future empress.
39:01I knew I was her subject.
39:02But I could not stop myself.
39:04I wanted to take her away.
39:05Take her north, to the grasslands, to every place without palaces or walls.
39:08See her ride a horse.
39:09I wanted to see her laugh beneath the open sky.
39:11I wanted to see her carrying turnips beneath the setting sun.
39:14Wait for me.
39:15It was not an empty promise.
39:16I had already decided that once the war was over, I would surrender my command.
39:19Even if it cost me every military honor I had earned.
39:21Even if I had to spend the rest of my life farming.
39:23I wanted to take a chance.
39:24To wager that his majesty's feelings for her were friendship.
39:27To wager that he would let her go.
39:32That battle was brutal.
39:34The Frost-Ailed clans had gone mad.
39:36And I was close to madness myself.
39:37We were trapped at Blackwind Pass.
39:39Our supplies had been cut off.
39:40Reinforcements never came.
39:41One by one, the men around me fell.
39:43The pain from my wounds had gone numb.
39:44I had lost too much blood.
39:45My vision came and went in waves of black.
39:47But I could not fall.
39:49If I fell, the line would collapse.
39:50And more importantly, I had promised her I would return.
39:53I had not yet received her answer.
39:56I had not yet placed that circling on her head with my own hands.
40:03I shouted until my throat was rod.
40:06My sword chipped and bent.
40:08Then I used my fists.
40:10My teeth.
40:11At the very end, an arrow pierced my chest.
40:14Then all my strength drained away at once.
40:16I fell and landed on my back in the snow.
40:18Snow fell against my face.
40:20Cold.
40:21I thought of that evening.
40:22Of the turnip leaves in Westglass House.
40:25Of all the little things she had written to me about.
40:28Mags.
40:29I'm sorry.
40:30With difficulty, I tore off a piece of my clothing.
40:33My hand shook so badly that I could only manage half a sentence.
40:36Mags.
40:37When I return, I want to...
40:38I want to marry you.
40:40I want to take you home.
40:42My vision grew dimmer and dimmer.
40:44I seemed to glimpse her once more.
40:46Standing in the vegetable patch in her worn dress.
40:48Watering can hand turning to smile brightly at me.
40:50Roland, you're back.
40:51The turnips are ready.
40:52We're having something good tonight.
40:54In my heart, I answered her.
40:56Then I closed my eyes.
40:59I always knew Margus and I were not the same kind of people.
41:02She was an eagle.
41:03I was a bird in a gilded cage.
41:05She was the wind sweeping over open plains.
41:08I was the clock inside the palace.
41:10While we were playing chess at Westglass House, she beat me several games in a row.
41:14Anyone else, she didn't.
41:17Your Majesty, you play too safely.
41:19Sometimes you have to be willing to give something up.
41:22At that moment, something stirred in me as I looked at her.
41:24Not the kind of feeling a man has for a woman.
41:26It was more like the excitement of meeting an equal.
41:28I remember thinking this woman is interesting.
41:30Then Rowan appeared.
41:31On the night of the victory banquet, I saw the way Margot looked at him.
41:34Her eyes were so bright, so direct.
41:36I held my wine glass in my hand, yet I wasn't angry in the slightest.
41:39Instead, I suddenly felt relieved, as though something had finally settled into place.
41:42So that was the person she truly wanted.
41:44Someone, not someone she had to bow to.
41:46That night, I returned to my rooms.
41:48I had Rowan's military reports brought to me, along with samples of his handwriting.
41:52I read them all night.
41:54His handwriting was ugly and hard, like someone had slashed at the paper with a knife.
41:59I tried to imitate it.
42:00After writing a few characters, I laughed at myself.
42:03I could not copy it.
42:04My handwriting had been trained since childhood to be too neat, too rounded.
42:09Later, they began exchanging letters.
42:11I was the one who passed them along.
42:13Whenever I received one of hers and saw the crooked little pig drawn on the envelope,
42:16I could not help smiling.
42:18But I never opened a single letter.
42:19Though I was the emperor, and I had the right to know everything,
42:22I simply did not want to read them, even myself.
42:24Before Rowley left for his...
42:26If you win this war, what do you want?
42:28He said nothing.
42:29He merely knelt before me and bowed deeply.
42:32I understood.
42:33That night, I...
42:34I spread out a sheet of paper and drafted an annulment of our engagement.
42:38I rewrote the wording three times.
42:40I did not want her to bear the title of a discarded empress.
42:43I wanted to give her a clean, dignified identity.
42:46When I was done, I stamped it with my seal and locked it in the highest hidden drawer in my
42:50study.
42:51I had meant to give it to them as a gift when he returned, on the day of his triumph.
42:55It was probably the most absurd thing I had ever done, and the thing I was proudest of.
43:00But Rowan did not come back.
43:02The day the news arrived, I was reviewing documents in my study.
43:05He's dead!
43:05The moment I heard the words, he's dead, and splashing ink across my clothes.
43:09My first thought was to open that hidden drawer.
43:11I took out the document, my hands shaking without end.
43:15Too late.
43:16Everything was too late.
43:18She was standing there, clutching that wooden circlet in her hand.
43:22She was not crying.
43:23But I knew that the Margot who grew turnips and joked with me had been heartbroken that moment.
43:28I walked towards her.
43:30I wanted very badly to hold her and tell her not to be afraid that I was still there.
43:34But in the end, I stopped.
43:35I watched her put on the circlet.
43:37I saw the emptiness in her eyes.
43:39I looked like a true older brother, shielding her from all the bitter winds and frosts of the world.
43:44Later, she stayed.
43:46She became my empress.
43:47Over those 40 years, there was one open secret between us.
43:51Rowan.
43:51Every year, on the anniversary of his death, I went with her to pay our respects.
43:55Not to a graveyard.
43:56There was an unnamed memorial stone there.
43:59She lit the candles, and I handed her the flame.
44:02Sometime, Rowan, don't worry.
44:03She's doing well.
44:04The turnips grew well again this year.
44:06I haven't mistreated her, and I haven't allowed anyone else to mistreat her either.
44:10Sometimes I felt he was still there, in that wooden circulate.
44:13In the turnips, she grew.
44:14In the space between Margot and me.
44:16I was not jealous of him.
44:17Truly.
44:18Grateful that he had given her the brightest chapter of her life.
44:21Grateful that he had kept a fire in her heart, so that the palace never managed to imprison her completely.
44:26Did I love her?
44:27Yes.
44:28Very much.
44:30I am going now.
44:32My time has come.
44:33She sits beside the bed, holding my hand.
44:35Her hand is still rough, still calloused from years of work.
44:39I brush my fingers gently over those calloused marks.
44:41My heart settled in my final moments.
44:43Max.
44:45Luce.
44:46I'm here.
44:47She answers.
44:48I look at her, and at the wooden circlet in her hair.
44:52Suddenly, I want to tell her the secret.
44:54In the hidden drawer in my study.
44:55I lift my hand, about to point toward the study.
44:58But in the end, I stop myself.
45:00Locked inside were a yellowed decree and countless scraps of paper.
45:03McRowen's hand-writed.
45:04Max.
45:06I cannot let her f***.
45:07And I do not have companionship.
45:09I had been carrying something more.
45:11I want her to remember me only as the brother who talked with her, played chess with her, and planted...
45:16She does not need to know the rest.
45:19In the next life.
45:20I smile, though even that takes effort now.
45:23I want to be your brother.
45:25Your real brother.
45:26That way I can protect you openly and...
45:28The tears fall onto the back of my hand.
45:30All right, it's a promise.
45:32That is enough.
45:33I will give it to you sooner.
45:35And I will give you back to him.
45:38I close my eyes.
45:39In the darkness, I seem to see my younger-in-self again.
45:42Standing at the entrance to Westglass House.
45:44Watching that girl crowd in the dirt and pulling weeds.
45:47I remember thinking then,
45:48This girl is interesting.
45:50If only...
45:51There is no if-only.
45:52This is enough.
45:53It has been enough.
45:54To be continued...
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