Watch Keyless Queen Full Episode (ENGSUB), a gripping short drama where a queen trapped in a loveless royal marriage fights to reclaim her dignity and freedom. After enduring betrayal, manipulation, and heartbreaking loss, she uncovers the strength to challenge the kingdom that tried to control her. Filled with royal romance, hidden truths, emotional twists, revenge, and unforgettable moments, this captivating drama series will keep you hooked until the very end.
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#KeylessQueen #ShortDrama #RoyalRomance #HiddenQueen #RevengeDrama #DramaSeries #ENGSUB #FullEpisode #ShortFilm #ShortMovie
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Short filmTranscript
00:06Leon finally noticed that I had gone three days without asking Lydia for a single key.
00:11He thought I had finally learned to be an obedient queen.
00:15So he sent a servant with a message that sounded more like a royal favor than an apology.
00:21His Majesty says,
00:23Tonight he will have someone bring you the key to the royal apothetory.
00:26He will also send the royal physician to check on your father again.
00:30But I didn't react at all.
00:32Listening to the royal servant's announcement, I just sat quietly at the table, without the joy he had expected.
00:39His Majesty reminds you to abide by this rule.
00:42Never again employ crude theatrical ploys to threaten the crown.
00:48The gold the late king awarded your father will remain under the royal household's care.
00:54People of your black race should not hold that much gold all at once.
00:58It only invites trouble.
01:00I stood in the grandest chamber of Whitestone Palace and listened quietly.
01:04What Leon did not know was that by the time I received that message.
01:08I had already filed a petition to dissolve our marriage in the archbishop's court.
01:12My father had died three days ago in his blacksmith shop.
01:16After three years in the palace, the only things I could take with me were the old dress I had
01:20worn when I first entered the palace.
01:23And the little iron hammer my father had forged for me with his own hands.
01:27The servant waited for me to cry, shout, or beg for the king's mercy.
01:31I did none of those things.
01:33I only folded the message once, placed it on the table, and looked toward the locked wardrobe across the room.
01:39No one would believe that Aaliyah, the queen everyone envied, lived in the grandest chamber of Whitestone Palace yet could
01:46not even open her own wardrobe.
01:50My gowns were locked in the West Wing wardrobe.
01:52My jewelry was locked in the queen's jewel room.
01:56My carriage sat in the Eastgate carriage house.
01:58My father's reward money was sealed inside an iron coffer at the bottom of the royal treasury.
02:03Even when I wanted to call a royal physician for my father,
02:06I had to ask Lydia for the apothecary key and permission to leave the palace.
02:11And every one of those keys was in Lydia's hands.
02:13She was the king's chief court lady, and she had grown up with Leon.
02:18Before I appeared, everyone believed she would become the woman who ruled this palace.
02:23Later, on his deathbed, the old king insisted that Leon marry me,
02:27because my father, Thomas, had saved the old king during a winter hunt.
02:33But Leon looked down on my low birth.
02:35He always believed that if a poor family suddenly received wealth,
02:39we would waste it the moment it reached our hands.
02:41The gold will stay in the royal treasury.
02:45It will be released whenever your father truly needs it.
02:50I believed him then.
02:52I thought being queen meant I had finally earned a place where my father would be safe.
02:57Instead, I found myself standing before locked doors,
03:01waiting for another woman to decide whether my needs were proper enough.
03:05Three days ago, my father was dying.
03:07I begged Leon to give me the key to my father's gold coffer.
03:11I also begged him to let me take medicine from the royal apothecary.
03:15Lydia kept holding back the treasury key and the apothecary key,
03:19again and again, until my father died in his bed.
03:23All these years, I endured everything so my father could keep receiving treatment from the royal,
03:28physicians and medicine from the palace apothecary.
03:31Now my father was gone.
03:33There was no reason for me to stay.
03:37When I asked Leon to end our marriage, he refused.
03:40He was in his study, reading the border tax ledgers.
03:44His eyes never left the parchment.
03:46His voice was as cold as if he were scolding a maid who had broken a cup.
03:52Stop making trouble.
03:54He treated it like nothing more than a childish error,
03:57not realizing for a moment that I meant every word.
04:00I'm not making trouble.
04:02I've already submitted the petition to the Archbishop's court.
04:05I stood before his desk and said calmly.
04:08Only then did Leon look up at me.
04:10His eyes were cold, as though my words were a waste of his time.
04:15About your father, I was the one who told Lydia not to give you the apothecary key.
04:21It had nothing to do with her.
04:23She was only following my orders.
04:27My fingers twitched at my sides in the past.
04:30The moment he mentioned my father, I would lower my head.
04:35My father's old wounds flared up every winter.
04:39Village healers could not help him.
04:40He had to rely on the royal physicians and medicine from the palace apothecary to stay.
04:46Alive.
04:47That was the reward the late king had promised him.
04:50But after the old king died, Leon said my father did not know how to manage money.
04:55He said a blacksmith who suddenly possessed that much gold would only be cheated, robbed,
05:00and perhaps killed for it.
05:02So he locked my father's gold coffer inside the royal treasury.
05:06He said he would release it whenever my father truly needed it.
05:10But every need had to go through Lydia.
05:13His majesty's commands are absolute.
05:15I have no special privileges even when my own father's life was hanging in the balance.
05:22My father was burning with fever.
05:24His old wound rotting open.
05:26I knelt outside the apothecary door and begged Lydia to give me the key.
05:30She wore a pale blue court gown and held a ring of keys in her hand.
05:34Her smile was gentle.
05:36Almost regretful.
05:37Your majesty, the apothecary key cannot be handed over carriely.
05:44Visa de Thomas, the group in Trascolese.
05:47Master Thomas is only a commoner.
05:50He does not fall under royal emergency care.
05:53That treatment was promised to him by the late king.
05:56King, I'm not denying the late king's generosity.
06:00But rules are rules.
06:02Have the village healer write a note describing his condition first.
06:09Then have it sealed by a church physician.
06:12Only then can I open the apothecary.
06:17I brought back the note.
06:18She glanced at it and frowned lightly.
06:20I brought back the note.
06:22She glanced at it and frowned lightly.
06:26The date isn't clear enough.
06:28It only says fever.
06:29It doesn't specify whether his life is in danger.
06:32Your majesty, I'm not trying to make this hard for you.
06:36Every bottle in the royal apothecary must be recorded.
06:40You are queen.
06:42You cannot act like you are still in a blacksmith shop,
06:45taking whatever you want whenever you want it.
06:47After that, she made me bring a travel permit.
06:50A physician's certificate.
06:52A written reason for withdrawing from the gold car.
06:55A statement explaining why my father
06:57could not be treated by a village healer.
07:00I ran back and forth again and again.
07:02My father's breathing grew weaker each time.
07:05I returned.
07:06The village healer pressed the last certificate into my hand and
07:10whispered that there might still be time if I hurried.
07:15By the time I returned with the paper,
07:17my shoes were soaked through with mud
07:19and Lydia only asked whether the church seal was placed in the correct corner.
07:29By the time the key finally arrived at the blacksmith shop,
07:33my father never opened his eyes again.
07:41So now, when Leon said he would have someone bring me the apothecary key tonight,
07:46I found it absurd.
07:47The apothecary no longer mattered.
07:49My father had no use for it anymore.
07:51Leon watched my silence and thought I had finally learned to be afraid.
07:55He closed the parchment in his hand.
07:57Impatient.
07:58Alia, if you hadn't stormed into the household office a few days ago and shouted at Lydia,
08:03I would never have let her hold back the keys to teach you a lesson.
08:07You are queen,
08:08not some little girl throwing a fit in a blacksmith shop.
08:14Last night, I already told her to give you the apothecary key.
08:17My time is precious.
08:19I don't have the patience to watch you lose your temper.
08:21With that, he stood and turned to leave.
08:24He was certain I would lower my head soon enough,
08:27just like I had for the past three years.
08:29Even when he said in front of the nobles
08:31that I looked desperate to please,
08:33I only smiled and said nothing.
08:35Even when Lydia smiled and took one key after another away from me,
08:40I endured it.
08:41I once thought that as long as my father was alive,
08:44I could endure anything.
08:45Now my father was gone and I did not need to stay anymore.
08:49But Leon did not know that he had never been willing to let me finish a sentence.
08:53Later, a maid brought me the celebration ledger Lydia had sent.
08:58His Majesty asks Your Majesty to write a line of praise,
09:02so no one missed a stand, Lady Lydia.
09:05I sound that joke and laughed.
09:08The maid lowered her eyes,
09:10afraid I would tear the ledger apart.
09:12Instead, I took the quill with steady fingers.
09:16I picked up the quill and wrote carefully.
09:20Lady Lydia is diligent indeed.
09:23With one ring of keys,
09:25she rules over both the queen and the servants.
09:35Aladia.
09:38May she keep guarding every door and may she keep guarding the place she hopes to move into one day.
09:45Your Majesty, should I really deliver this?
09:49The maid's face went pale.
09:53Deliver it exactly as written.
09:55His Majesty wanted praise.
09:58I gave him praise.
09:59After writing it,
10:01I closed the ledger.
10:02Then I returned to my chamber and began to pack.
10:05There was not much to pack.
10:06Everything that seemed to belong to me in the palace was locked in someone else's hands.
10:11The only things I could take were the old dress I wore when I entered the palace.
10:15A few faded shirts and the little hammer my father had given me.
10:20For all these years,
10:21I had lived in the palace like a temporary guest.
10:24Only now did I understand.
10:26Even a guest could at least open a door for herself.
10:30I folded the old dress carefully and placed my father's hammer on top of it.
10:34The iron handle was cold,
10:36but the weight of it steadied me more than any crown ever had.
10:40Outside,
10:41the bells of White Stone Palace rang for Lydia's private dinner.
10:45Inside,
10:46I closed my trunk and finally felt something like peace.
10:49No longer a queen,
10:50no longer in need of anyone's keys.
10:52I am just me the me who can make any decision.
10:57Leon came back very quickly.
10:59Whenever it involved Lydia,
11:01he was always prompt.
11:03He strode into my chamber and did not even notice the small leather trunk at my feet.
11:07I said flatly,
11:09I heard.
11:10I didn't want to.
11:12Leon looked as if I had said something outrageous.
11:15I already told you.
11:17Lydia has managed the palace household well lately,
11:19so I held a dinner to reward her.
11:22There are already enough people in the palace misunderstanding her.
11:26After what you wrote in the ledger,
11:28how is she supposed to face anyone?
11:30I could not help laugh.
11:34So not everyone is blind.
11:38If people misunderstand her so easily,
11:41maybe they already know what she's been doing.
11:43Leon's face darkened.
11:46Aaliyah,
11:47when did you become so vulgar?
11:50You know exactly how hard it is for a young woman without a noble title to rise this far.
11:55Why would you smear another capable woman like this?
12:00Lydia only manages the palace for me.
12:04If you hadn't made us fade a scene in the household office,
12:07would people be talking about her now?
12:09He looked at me with exhaustion and blame in his eyes.
12:12If you want to be a queen who knows nothing except how to hold out her hand for keys,
12:17I won't blame you.
12:20I gave you a crown,
12:22a palace,
12:23and status.
12:25What more do you want?
12:26For three years,
12:28I had wanted him to ask that question sincerely,
12:31now that he had finally asked it.
12:33But now,
12:33there's no point in my answering anymore.
12:37But if you keep targeting Lydia,
12:39don't blame me for being harsh.
12:42Think about your father.
12:46I finally laughed out loud.
12:49It hurt my throat.
12:51Then I opened my trunk right in front of him.
12:57A crown?
12:58A palace?
13:00Dignity?
13:01Leon,
13:02look at what my life in your palace has been.
13:07I'm leaving,
13:08and I can't even pack four decent dresses.
13:16If I wanted to change into a ball gown,
13:18I had to ask your lady of the court for a key.
13:23If I wanted to visit my father,
13:24I had to explain the reason to Lydia first.
13:28What queen has to live at the mercy of her husband's favorite court lady?
13:32There was not a trace of guilt on Leon's face.
13:34He only frowned and asked,
13:36genuinely baffled.
13:39All this over that?
13:43So you were jealous of Lydia and deliberately tried to ruin her name?
13:47My heart went cold.
13:48Inch by inch.
13:50If he truly thought this was wrong,
13:52he would not have let Lydia take my keys again and again for three years.
13:56He would not have allowed the entire palace to know the queen had no right to open her own doors.
14:01I lowered my eyes.
14:03Fine.
14:04Think whatever you want.
14:07I want our marriage dissolved.
14:09Leon laughed instead.
14:11There was a knowing look in that laugh,
14:13as if he had finally seen through my cheap little trick.
14:16Enough.
14:16I don't have time to coax you through another tantrum.
14:21You're doing all this because of Lydia, aren't you?
14:25Don't assume every woman is like you.
14:28Always fighting over a man.
14:30As he spoke,
14:32he smoothed the wrinkle from his sleeve as though making a great concession.
14:36Tomorrow,
14:37I will send the royal physician to see your father in person.
14:42In a moment,
14:44I'll have Lydia give you the keys to the queen's wardrobe,
14:47the jewel room,
14:49and the carriage house.
14:51From now on,
14:52your daily expenses won't need to go through the household accounts.
14:57After three years as Leon's wife,
14:59I understood him well enough.
15:00For him,
15:01this was already the greatest compromise he could offer.
15:04Under normal circumstances,
15:06I should have known when to stop.
15:08But I was tired of this marriage of three people.
15:11Just like now.
15:12He had made so many promises.
15:15Yet he never mentioned Lydia holding back the apothecary key.
15:19I don't want anything.
15:21Except to end this marriage.
15:22Leon finally realized I was not acting courtly.
15:25His impatience instantly turned into anger.
15:29Aaliyah,
15:30don't forget how you became queen.
15:33Your father saved the late king.
15:36That is why the late king rewarded your family with honor.
15:41If you leave me,
15:44those rewards,
15:45that gold,
15:46those properties,
15:48you won't get a single copper oil.
15:50And your father's illness.
15:53Without the royal physicians and the royal apothecary,
15:57how long do you think he can last?
16:00Not long at all.
16:01I knew that better than anyone.
16:03Now everything was only returning to where it should have been.
16:06I fastened.
16:07My trunk again and said lightly.
16:10Do whatever you want.
16:13Leon froze.
16:14Leon froze.
16:14He seemed unable to understand
16:16why a threat that had always worked on Aaliyah
16:18suddenly had no effect.
16:19But his pride
16:20would not let him lower his head again.
16:24So he watched her drag her trunk toward the door
16:26with a cold face
16:27when Aaliyah pulled open the chamber doors.
16:30He seemed as if he wanted to call her back.
16:32In the end,
16:33he said nothing.
16:34Only later did Aaliyah learn that Lydia went to his study that night.
16:38Your Majesty doesn't need to humor her.
16:41Leave her alone for a few days.
16:44She'll come back and apologize.
16:46Her Majesty has simply grown too comfortable as Queen
16:49and wants to make a scene.
16:52Leon believed her.
16:53He even found a honey mint in his study
16:55and thought of Aaliyah.
16:57His throat always hurt in winter.
16:59So Aaliyah had once learned to make those candies for him.
17:02Leon turned the candy between his fingers for a long while.
17:07She is not completely useless after all.
17:11Lydia lowered her eyes to hide the shadow of jealousy in them.
17:14Even now,
17:15even while he was angry,
17:17one small candy was enough to make Leon think of Aaliyah first.
17:20He told himself that Aaliyah was not completely useless after all
17:24when she came back.
17:25He would make her apologize sincerely
17:28and she would never again threaten him with a petition
17:30to dissolve their marriage.
17:33After leaving the palace,
17:35I did not leave the kingdom.
17:37I first went to the archbishop's court
17:39to confirm that my petition had been filed.
17:42Then,
17:43carrying my father's ashes,
17:45I went to the armory camp on the northern border.
17:47That was where my father had worked when he was young.
17:50He used to say that in the north.
17:52People did not ask where you came from.
17:55They only asked whether you were good with your hands.
17:57I did not understand that before.
17:59Now I did.
18:01When I arrived at the armory camp,
18:03dragging my trunk behind me,
18:05the soldier at the gate looked at me with obvious suspicion.
18:11Who are you looking for?
18:13Madam Martha.
18:15Madam Martha was the old blacksmith of the armory camp
18:18and she had once trained with my father.
18:21Before I married into the palace,
18:23she had come to persuade me not to go.
18:25A place like the palace isn't meant for people like us,
18:29people who live by our hands.
18:31I did not listen then.
18:33Now when I saw her again,
18:35her hair had turned white.
18:37She looked at the trunk in my hand and the urn in my arms.
18:40She did not ask a single question.
18:43Come in.
18:45She simply stepped aside.
18:50My nose stung and tears fell before I could stop them.
18:54For the first time since my father's death,
18:57no one asked me for a permit,
18:58a seal,
19:00or a reason.
19:01One door opened because someone chose to open it for me.
19:06After I had cried enough,
19:07Madam Martha said slowly.
19:13Done crying?
19:15Then wash your hands.
19:19I'm sure to lock repairer
19:20and someone who can mend armor.
19:22If you still remember what your father taught you, stay.
19:25I stared at her.
19:28You're not going to ask why I'm here?
19:31Madam Martha snorted.
19:33Anyone who can walk out of the palace alive
19:36is lucky enough.
19:38What is there to ask?
19:39Or did three years as queen
19:41make you too delicate to hold a hammer?
19:44I smiled through my tears.
19:49I can hold one.
19:50For myself, I can hold anything.
19:53At first, I was not used to it.
19:57The wind in the north was hard.
19:59The furnace was scorching.
20:01And the armory camp was nothing like the palace.
20:03No maids came to make my bed.
20:05Blisters soon formed across my palms.
20:08A young apprentice saw the blood on my fingers
20:10and held out a strip of cloth.
20:14Miss A'lelia, maybe you should rest.
20:17I wrapped my palm and picked up the hammer again.
20:24If I stop every time I bleed,
20:26I will never make anything strong.
20:28But as time passed,
20:30the skills carved into my bones
20:32slowly returned.
20:33How to hear the quality of.
20:35Metal, how to tell where a lock's inner teeth were stuck.
20:38How to shape a horseshoe with the right curve.
20:41How to mend a broken sword.
20:50The more I worked,
20:52the steadier my hands became.
20:54Once,
20:55I repaired a cracked bracer for a night.
20:57He tested it twice
20:59and raised his thumb in surprise.
21:01I smiled.
21:04I thought someone from the palace
21:06would only know how to wear rings.
21:12I couldn't afford rings before.
21:16The soldiers around us froze for a second,
21:18then burst into laughter.
21:21That was the first time I laughed easily
21:23after leaving the palace.
21:24Then an unwelcome voice sounded behind me.
21:27A'lelia?
21:28I looked up and saw Lydia.
21:30She wore a white fox fur cloak
21:32and stood not far away,
21:33several servants behind her.
21:35Her gaze swept over my hands,
21:37stained with coal and iron dust.
21:39Then over the soldiers beside me,
21:41the corner of her mouth lifted.
21:46So this is why Her Majesty
21:48suddenly made such a fuss
21:49about ending the marriage.
21:51You came back to a place like this.
21:54Some people can wear a crown
21:56and still never forget
21:58they came from a blacksmith's shop.
22:00I would press on your face.
22:03My face went cold.
22:05The people of the Northern Armory
22:06mended armor,
22:07forged swords,
22:09and repaired gates in wind and snow
22:11to protect the border.
22:12They did not deserve her contempt.
22:18I set down the tongs in my hand.
22:22Lydia,
22:23do you not have a room of your own?
22:25Why are you behind every door I open?
22:28Lydia's expression changed.
22:29At that moment,
22:30a familiar voice came from behind her.
22:34What happened?
22:37Leon walked over.
22:38He wore black hunting clothes
22:40with the royal cloak over his shoulders.
22:42So,
22:43he had come to inspect the northern border.
22:45And of course Lydia had come with him.
22:47Her eyes reddened as she lowered her voice.
22:50Nothing, Your Majesty.
22:54I only saw Her Majesty
22:56away from the palace for so long,
22:59surrounded by soldiers and smith
23:01and worried she might be taken advantage of.
23:04I tried to advise her,
23:06but she misunderstood me.
23:10Only then did Leon notice me.
23:13His brows drew together slightly.
23:15There was that familiar certainty in his eyes.
23:22I looked at him once,
23:29then turned away without wasting a word
23:31and picked up my tools.
23:32The young apprentice beside me whispered,
23:37Miss Aaliyah,
23:38who is that?
23:39I said coldly,
23:40my blind, brainless husband.
23:43Leon's face darkened.
23:45Aaliyah!
23:48You followed me all the way to the north.
23:50How long do you plan to keep this up?
23:54You've been away from the palace for so long,
23:57ignoring your father completely.
24:04Are you really trying to force me
24:05to never give him the apothetory key again?
24:09I looked at him,
24:10tired of him to the bone.
24:14Then don't give it.
24:16That's what you're best at, isn't it?
24:21Something in my eyes must have cut Leon.
24:24He turned sharply to the servant beside him.
24:27Send orders back to the capital.
24:29From today on,
24:31Thomas is not to be given the apothetory key again.
24:35And the gold coffret is not to be opened.
24:38Panic flashed across Lydia's face.
24:41Your Majesty,
24:43perhaps we shouldn't...
24:45Leon coldly pressed down the hand she had placed on his arm.
24:48She needs to be taught a lesson.
24:51Otherwise,
24:52she will never learn how to be queen.
24:55The servant's face went deathly pale,
24:57and he did not answer.
24:59Leon frowned.
25:00What?
25:00The servant lowered his head.
25:03His voice tightened.
25:05Your Majesty,
25:07Master Thomas has passed away.
25:08Leon froze.
25:10What did you say?
25:12The servant forced the words out.
25:15Three days ago,
25:18Her Majesty
25:20requested that the apothetory be opened,
25:23but the key was never delivered.
25:25By the time the physician arrived,
25:28Master Thomas had already...
25:29He did not finish.
25:32Leon stood there as if he had suddenly forgotten
25:34how to understand language.
25:36A long time passed before he murmured,
25:39How is that possible?
25:44Why didn't anyone tell me?
25:49The servant looked even more troubled.
25:52Someone did report it to Your Majesty at the time.
25:55Leon stared at him.
25:58What did I say?
26:00The servant clenched his jaw.
26:02You said that,
26:03while you and Lady Lydia
26:05were watching the Winter Lantern Parade,
26:07you did not want to hear anything related to the queen.
26:10In that instant,
26:11Leon's face went white.
26:12I watched him finally remember.
26:15That day,
26:16I had burst into the household office
26:18and begged Lydia to give me the apothecary key.
26:21He said I had shamed the crown.
26:23Later,
26:24to comfort Lydia after she had been frightened,
26:27he lit winter lanterns across the capital
26:29for an entire night.
26:30The nobles all said
26:32His Majesty truly favored his chief court lady.
26:34My father took his last breath that same night.
26:38Leon turned sharply toward Lydia.
26:41Tears welled in Lydia's eyes
26:42as if she had suffered a great injustice.
26:45Leon,
26:46I didn't mean to keep it from you.
26:49I only thought Master Thomas
26:51had already received so much grace from the late king.
26:54And Her Majesty always makes things sound worse than they are.
26:58I was afraid she would influence her.
27:01I froly.
27:03Give me your key ledger.
27:05For the first time,
27:06Leon cut her off.
27:08What?
27:10Lydia froze.
27:14The record from the apothecary key.
27:16The treasury key.
27:18And the carriage house key from the past few days.
27:22All of them.
27:24The blood drained from Lydia's face.
27:27Leon,
27:28these are household affairs.
27:30You've never investigated me like this before.
27:33What was left to explain?
27:35Everything I had said was true.
27:37I had not been jealous of Lydia.
27:39I had not used my father's illness to threaten him.
27:41I had truly wanted to leave.
27:43The way Leon looked at me finally began to change.
27:46But,
27:47I only felt tired.
27:48I looked away and lowered my head to sort my tools.
27:51Three whole years had been wrong.
27:53Leon took one step toward me.
27:55But the soldiers of the armory camp shifted almost at the same time.
27:59No one drew a weapon.
28:01They only stood there,
28:02silent and solid.
28:03Between the king and the woman he had cornered for too long.
28:12Aaliyah.
28:13Don't.
28:15That single word stopped him more sharply than any royal command.
28:19Lydia's fingers closed around the edge of her cloak.
28:23Her Majesty.
28:24I can explain the ledgers.
28:27Her Majesty always demanded things outside procedure.
28:31I was protecting your reputation.
28:34Leon looked at her.
28:36And for once,
28:37he did not immediately believe her.
28:39Then you will explain them in writing.
28:41Every missing hour.
28:44Every delayed key.
28:47Every sealed door.
28:48I heard those words and felt nothing like triumph.
28:51There was no victory.
28:53In being believed after the person you loved most was already dead.
29:01Late that night,
29:02I came out of the armory camp to dump furnace ash
29:05and saw Leon standing not far away.
29:07The firelight was dim,
29:09and snow rested on his shoulders.
29:11I had only seen him that afternoon,
29:13yet he looked as if his soul had been drained out of him.
29:16When he saw me,
29:17he stepped toward me at once.
29:19Aaliyah.
29:19I frowned and stepped back.
29:21He stopped.
29:22His voice was hoarse.
29:25I've taken all the keys back from Lydia.
29:26She is no longer the chief court lady.
29:29About your father,
29:30I didn't know.
29:32Give me a chance to make it up to you, alright?
29:34My heart did not soften.
29:35I only found it absurd.
29:36Once,
29:37I had begged him to listen to one sentence,
29:39and he found me annoying.
29:41Now he stood in the snow,
29:42finally willing to bow his head.
29:44But it was too late.
29:46I looked at him calmly.
29:48Leon,
29:48do you think Lydia is the only problem between us?
29:51He seemed caught off guard.
29:53I know I was wrong.
29:55He seemed caught off guard.
29:56I shouldn't have let her control your keys.
30:00I shouldn't have used that method to teach you rules.
30:04I just thought the palace had always been like this.
30:07Noblemen manage their common-born wives this way all the time.
30:12I never thought it would hurt you.
30:15And I never truly meant to abandon your father.
30:19I looked at him.
30:21Leon,
30:22even now,
30:23you still think that if you are willing to give,
30:26I should be grateful enough to take it.
30:28You made me queen,
30:29then handed my wardrobe,
30:30the apothetry,
30:30and my father's life-saving money to Lydia.
30:32You saw my humiliation.
30:33You just believed someone of my birth
30:34had no right to feel humiliated.
30:36His face turned paler by the second.
30:38I went on.
30:40We are over.
30:41I don't want anything.
30:44When the Archbip's court asks for your response,
30:46don't stand in the way.
30:47That's all.
30:48Confusion filled.
30:50Leon's eyes.
30:51He seemed unable to understand
30:52why I refused to forgive him
30:54when he had already lowered himself this far.
30:56Carefully, he asked.
30:58What will it take for you to come back with me?
31:01I can give you the keys to the queen's wardrobe.
31:04The jewel room,
31:05the treasury,
31:06the apothetry,
31:07all of them.
31:08From today on,
31:09no door in the palace will stand in your way.
31:13I could not help laughing.
31:15If all you needed was a vase beside your throne,
31:17you should never have been kind to me in the beginning.
31:19Yes.
31:20I had loved him once.
31:22During my first year in the palace,
31:24Leon had not always been cold.
31:26He taught me my first court dance.
31:28He taught me my first court dance.
31:33When noble ladies mocked my accent,
31:36he took my hand and walked me across the entire ballroom.
31:39She is my queen.
31:42In that moment,
31:43I truly believed I had been chosen.
31:48Leon began to say I did not understand the rules.
31:51That I was too sensitive.
31:53Too petty.
31:54Too embarrassing.
31:56That Lydia was only helping him.
31:58His tenderness was like winter fog on a window.
32:01The moment I touched it,
32:02it disappeared.
32:03I looked at Leon and said softly,
32:06I don't need your compensation.
32:08I only need this marriage to end.
32:11Leon looked as if he had been struck.
32:13He stumbled one step forward and reached for me.
32:16I avoided him.
32:18His hand froze in the air.
32:23Elia,
32:23even a prisoner dragged before a court gets to defend himself once.
32:26His voice was almost pleading.
32:29You can't deny me even one chance to explain.
32:33I gave you many chances.
32:34I said calmly.
32:37Every time I waited outside your study.
32:40Every time I went to the household office to beg for a key.
32:44Every time I was told you stake for me when key.
32:49Every time I told you Lydia was delaying me on purpose.
32:54Every time you said listen to Lydia.
32:57Those were chances.
33:00You were the one who threw them all away.
33:03Leon had nothing left to say.
33:05I knew how stubborn he was.
33:07I also knew dissolving our marriage would not be easy.
33:10But I did not expect him to arrive at the armory camp the next morning with a train of carriages.
33:15They were loaded with silk, medicine, gold coffers, and food.
33:24The northern armory is always short on funds.
33:27I've already ordered the treasurer to allocate money to you.
33:33Leon stood in the snow when he saw me.
33:36There was even a careful smile on his face.
33:40These medicines and iron supplies are for the camp as well.
33:43Then he took a small box from a servant.
33:46These are candied figs.
33:48I remember you used to ask for them late at night.
33:51Eat while they're still warm.
33:52I did not reach for them.
33:54You don't like them?
33:55The hope in Leon's eyes stiffened little by little.
33:58I don't like candied figs.
34:00Lydia does.
34:01I said lightly.
34:03Leon froze.
34:04I looked at the box and remembered long ago, for a period of time.
34:08He often asked me to have the kitchens make candied figs late at night.
34:12I thought he liked sweets while working late.
34:15Only later did I learn they were for Lydia.
34:18Once I saw her sitting at the small table in the king's study with my own eyes.
34:24Your majesty, please have the kitchens make another serving next time.
34:28At Leon tried them and thinks they're good too.
34:34That day I argued with Leon.
34:38It's just a bit of food from the kitchen.
34:40You are queen, and Lydia runs the palace household for me.
34:44What's wrong with rewarding her?
34:45Stop acting so small-minded.
34:47Now, thinking back, I found myself almost laughable.
34:51So I had once been that devoted.
34:54I'm sorry.
34:55I remembered wrong.
34:56Leon gave a difficult smile.
35:00Then what do you like?
35:01I'll wish to her it.
35:03I'll have someone prepare it.
35:04I lowered my head and continued inspecting a broken sword.
35:08No need.
35:09But Leon did not give up over the next few days.
35:13He kept sending gifts.
35:15Sometimes it was a sapphire necklace.
35:17Sometimes a gold-threaded shawl.
35:19Sometimes white roses from the royal greenhouse once.
35:23He even sent a pair of ivory gloves set with tiny pearls.
35:27I looked at those things and became genuinely curious.
35:30How did a man who listened this badly manage to rule a country?
35:33When the armory finished repairing a batch of border longswords, Leon came again.
35:39This time, he carried a delicate wooden box.
35:44I did not let him open it.
35:47The palace keys?
35:49His eyes lit up.
35:51How did you know?
35:52I looked at him and gave a small smile.
35:54Because you finally remembered that keys were what I lacked most for the past three years.
35:59A hint of joy appeared on his face,
36:01As if he thought he had finally done something right, he opened the box.
36:05Inside lay a ring of golden keys, the wardrobe, the jewel room, the apothecary,
36:11the carriage house, the treasury, the inner chamber, each key bore the queen's crest.
36:18From today on, you can open every room in the palace.
36:24A'Lelia, I will make up for everything I owe you.
36:30I looked at those keys, so late in coming, and suddenly felt exhausted.
36:35Leon, you still don't understand.
36:37Leon, you still don't understand.
36:39I wanted keys before because I was still trying to survive inside that palace.
36:45I don't need them now.
36:47I never wanted the keys to every door in the palace.
36:51I never want to go back to that palace at all.
36:55The color drained from Leon's face.
36:57I continued.
36:59The sapphire you sent is what Lydia likes.
37:02The gold-threaded shoal is something she wears often.
37:06White roses sit in her room all year.
37:09The ivory gloves are what she wears before every winter hunt.
37:13See?
37:13You remember another woman's taste so clearly.
37:17So why not dissolve this marriage smoothly and marry her?
37:20Leon answered almost without thinking.
37:23Thinking.
37:23She cannot be queen.
37:25Her birth is not suitable.
37:27She only likes power and the things inside the palace.
37:30I suddenly understood.
37:32He saw Lydia clearly.
37:33He had simply never considered her someone who could stand beside him.
37:37As for me,
37:38I had the late king's command and the title of the savior's daughter.
37:42My birth was low.
37:43But I had no noble family that could threaten me.
37:46I was suited to be a queen placed beside his throne.
37:49Perhaps there was love in his attachment to me.
37:52But more than that,
37:53he could not accept that I had chosen to leave him.
37:57I looked straight at Leon.
37:59So you think I walked away with nothing because I loved you?
38:02Because you broke my heart because I wanted you to regret it?
38:06Leon looked away.
38:07I said softly.
38:10You're wrong.
38:12I married you because my father needed the physicians and medicine the late king promised him.
38:18I stayed in the palace because he was still alive.
38:24Now he is dead.
38:25I don't need your money.
38:26I don't need your keys.
38:28I don't need your love.
38:32And I don't need you, Leon.
38:37The ruling from the archbishop's court came sooner than I expected.
38:41Perhaps because Leon did not interfere again.
38:44Perhaps because too many people in the capital already knew that before the queen's father died.
38:49The apothecary key had been delayed again and again.
38:52The marriage is dissolved on the grounds that it was arranged by the late king's command that there are no
38:58children and that the relationship has broken beyond repair.
39:04Leon did not appear, dot.
39:06Royal judges handled everything on his behalf, to my surprise.
39:10He did not leave me with nothing as he had once threatened to do.
39:13He sent all the reward money my father should have received to the north.
39:16He also gave me an estate near the border.
39:19A box of jewels.
39:20And everything that had once belonged to me in the queen's chamber.
39:24I returned to the palace once.
39:26Nothing in that chamber had been moved.
39:27The wardrobe stood open.
39:29The jewel room stood open.
39:31Even the inner room I could not enter for three years had its door wide open.
39:35On the table lay that ring of golden keys.
39:38Each one had been polished until it shone.
39:40But I no longer wanted them.
39:44I spent two days handing the gowns, jewelry, and properties in the capital over to the merchants' guild for auction.
39:51Part of the money went to repairing the northern armory camp.
39:54Part went to the families of fallen border soldiers.
39:57The rest, I used to build a small workshop in my father's name.
40:01One that would take in girls with nowhere else to go and teach them a trade.
40:05On the third evening, a royal servant came to the armory camp.
40:09He carried a small gold chest and looked uncomfortable.
40:12Miss Aaliyah, His Majesty said the earlier compensation was not enough.
40:19These are new deeds and letters of credit.
40:22I looked at the black carriage parked in the distance.
40:24I took the chest and walked over.
40:27After a while, the carriage window lowered.
40:30Leon sat inside.
40:32He had lost a great deal of weight.
40:34Dark stubble shadowed his jaw, and his eyes were full of exhaustion.
40:40I handed the chest back through the window.
40:46Leon, I am grateful you didn't truly send me away empty-handed.
40:50What you have already given me is enough.
40:54But I will still sell the gowns, the jewels, and the houses.
41:07Leon's voice was hoarse.
41:11Aaliyah, I only want to make it up to you.
41:15Leon, you've already made up enough.
41:23We owe each other nothing now.
41:26Leon suddenly grew agitated.
41:28Leon, how can we owe each other nothing?
41:32Your father, and the way I treated you before.
41:37I wronged you.
41:38I was silent for a moment.
41:42I did hate you.
41:45My father saved the late king.
41:47But the reward he earned was locked inside the palace.
41:50When he needed those things to live, I couldn't even get a key.
41:55There was a time when I wanted to burn that palace down.
41:58Leon's face turned pale.
42:01I went on.
42:02But I also have to admit,
42:05Leon, that my father survived those three years
42:08because of the royal physicians and the apothetry.
42:11That was what the old king promised him.
42:16And it was something you never completely own.
42:20He never completely took away.
42:23Before my father died,
42:24he held my hand with the little strength he had left.
42:30Aaliyah,
42:32don't spend your whole life inside hatred.
42:36My greatest regret is not that I never lived in a grand house.
42:41It's that I never got to see you return to the forge.
42:46My daughter could have made the finest keys.
42:50Win the finest keys.
42:53At that moment,
42:55the person I hated most became myself.
42:57I hated myself for being useless.
43:00I hated that even though I knew the palace was not my home.
43:03I still endured three years there for my father.
43:06And I hated that in the end,
43:07I still failed to save him.
43:10So now everything is only returning to where it should be.
43:14And it was something you never completely own.
43:19You never completely took away.
43:20Something seemed to shatter in Leon's eyes.
43:27We sat in silence for a long time.
43:29In the end,
43:30there was no unnecessary farewell.
43:33When the carriage left,
43:34I did not look back.
43:36Over the next few years,
43:38I poured almost all my time into the armory camp.
43:41I repaired gates,
43:43adjusted crossbows,
43:44redesigned horseshoes for the Northern Cavalry.
43:47Eventually,
43:48even the Minister of War in the capital heard that there was a female armorer.
43:52In the North,
43:53who could make ruined plates of armor look new again.
43:56When Madam Martha grew older,
43:58she often sat by the forge and watched me train apprentices.
44:03Choose your students carefully.
44:05I'm too old to rescue you first,
44:07and then rescue your useless little apprentices, too.
44:11My apprentices and I all laughed.
44:15That winter,
44:16I suddenly received news.
44:18Leon had been injured.
44:19A fire had broken out in the old Queen's chamber.
44:22And he had rushed in to save someone.
44:27Half his face had been burned.
44:29The messenger said Lydia had set the fire.
44:33After she was driven from the palace,
44:35she never accepted it.
44:36She believed His Majesty refused to marry her
44:38because you were still alive.
44:41And because he had kept the Queen's chamber
44:44untouched.
44:45She used an old key she had secretly copied,
44:48slipped into Whitestone Palace,
44:50and tried to burn the chamber down.
44:52Maybe she wanted to kill Leon.
44:54Maybe she wanted to kill me.
44:55The woman she believed would one day return.
44:58After hesitating for a long time,
45:01I went to see him once.
45:02My heart had not softened.
45:04Some things simply needed a real ending.
45:10Leon lay in the palace infirmary.
45:12Half of his face was wrapped in white bandages.
45:15The physicians whispered that the scar would likely be deep.
45:18When he saw me,
45:19he gave a smile uglier than crying.
45:23You came.
45:23I nodded politely as if visiting an old acquaintance.
45:27I heard you were hurt.
45:28He said,
45:30Lydia will stand trial.
45:32Falsifying the key ledger,
45:34holding back the apothetory key,
45:36hiding the Queen's travel permits,
45:38and arson.
45:40She will pay for all of it.
45:41I did not ask further.
45:43None of those things had anything to do with me now.
45:45I only asked a few polite questions about his injuries.
45:54Will the burn affect your sight?
46:00The physicians say one eye may blur in winter.
46:03It doesn't matter.
46:06Then follow their instructions.
46:09When the next group of nobles came in to visit,
46:11I took the chance to leave at the door.
46:14Leon suddenly called my name.
46:21I stopped but did not turn around.
46:24His voice was low.
46:28That chamber is gone.
46:32Everything from before is gone too.
46:34I said calmly,
46:36That's alright.
46:38I never wanted any of it.
46:41I said calmly.
46:44Behind me,
46:45there was a long silence.
46:47I opened the door and walked out of the infirmary.
46:49The sunlight outside was bright,
46:51like my new life.
47:01Lydia's trial was held in the old judgment hall of Whitestone Palace.
47:05She no longer wore pale blue silk or white fox fur.
47:09Her wrists were bound.
47:11Her hair was loose,
47:12and smoke stains still clung to the hem of her gown.
47:15Lydia,
47:16former chief court lady.
47:17You are accused of falsifying household ledgers,
47:20withholding royal keys,
47:22concealing travel permits,
47:24delaying royal medicine,
47:25and setting fire to the queen's chamber.
47:27How do you answer?
47:29Lydia lifted her head and laughed sharply.
47:33Queen's chamber?
47:34She was never worthy of that chamber.
47:37The nobles whispered at Leon sat behind the carved screen,
47:40half his face hidden beneath bandages.
47:43He did not speak.
47:45The recovered ledger shows that the apothetery key
47:49was requested five times on the night Master Thomas died.
47:54Each request was delayed under your seal.
47:58I followed palace.
48:00Die followed palace rules.
48:02The travel permit was also hidden under your seal.
48:07Because she always wanted to run back to that filthy forge.
48:13Not the furls.
48:15Leon closed his eyes.
48:17Lydia suddenly turned toward the screen as if she could see him.
48:21Leon, if Allelia had not appeared,
48:23I would have been queen long ago!
48:27You kept that chamber untouched because you still dreamed she would return.
48:31If she died, everything would go back to how it was!
48:37The judgment hall fell silent.
48:40Then you admit you set the fire knowing she might return.
48:43Lydia's face twisted.
48:45I admit nothing except that she stole what should have been mine.
48:56After the trial,
48:57Leon dismissed every guard
48:59and walked alone to the ruins of the old queen's chamber.
49:02The corridor still smelled of smoke.
49:05The portraits of past queens remained on the walls,
49:07but the place where Allia's portrait had once hung was black and empty.
49:12Your Majesty,
49:14the physician said you should not be near Ash.
49:20Leave.
49:21The guard bowed and retreated.
49:24Leon stepped over burned silk,
49:26broken beams, and melted glass.
49:28The wardrobe that he had finally opened for Allia was gone.
49:31The jewel room was gone.
49:33The table where he had placed the polished golden.
49:36Keys was split in half.
49:38A half-melted key lay in the ashes.
49:41Leon picked it up with his bandaged hand.
49:46Your Majesty,
49:48your wound will reopen.
49:49It should.
49:50He looked at the twisted key
49:52and suddenly remembered Allia standing before him
49:54with a small trunk at her feet.
50:00Allia's voice seemed to return from the fire.
50:03I don't need them now.
50:06Leon pressed the key against his palm.
50:09Four years,
50:09he had believed that if he kept the chamber,
50:12kept the gowns,
50:13kept the keys,
50:15he could keep the possibility of her return.
50:18But the chamber had burned,
50:20the portrait had burned,
50:21even the keys had lost their shape.
50:24Only then did Leon understand
50:26that Allia had not disappeared from his life
50:28because a door had closed.
50:30She had left because
50:31he had never given her one worth opening.
50:35The palace corridor looked as brilliant
50:37as it had before,
50:39with portraits of past queens
50:40hanging along the walls.
50:42There had once been a portrait of me there too
50:44after the dissolution.
50:46Leon never ordered it removed.
50:48Now that portrait had burned with the chamber.
50:51Good.
50:52Some things should never have been kept later.
50:54I heard that Lydia cursed my name
50:56throughout her trial.
50:58She said that if it had not been for me,
51:00she would have been queen long ago.
51:02She said that if it had not been for me,
51:05she said that if I died,
51:07everything would go back to how it was.
51:09I only found it ridiculous.
51:11In the end,
51:12they really were a perfect match.
51:14One believed that as long as he kept the old chamber,
51:17I would one day return.
51:19The other believed that as long as I disappeared,
51:22she would be able to walk through that door.
51:24They were both stubbornly guarding things
51:26that did not belong to them.
51:28Both of them were trapped in the past,
51:30refusing to move on.
51:31What a shame I had not seen it sooner.
51:33One regret in a lifetime was enough.
51:36A young girl at the work table glanced
51:38at the messenger's letter in my hand.
51:41Teacher, is that news from the palace?
51:44I folded the letter and pushed it into the fire.
51:49No.
51:50It is only ash.
51:52Madam Martha snorted from the corner.
51:55Good answer.
51:55Now teach that girl how to file a clean edge
51:59before she ruins my tools.
52:01After that,
52:02I never went back to the palace.
52:04I never followed any news of Leon again.
52:08Several months after Lydia's sentence,
52:11the Minister of War placed a northern armory report before Leon.
52:15Your Majesty,
52:16the Border Cavalry requests more horseshoes from Miss Aelia's workshop.
52:19That their design has reduced winter injuries by nearly half.
52:24Leon's fingers paused on the seal.
52:27The capital armory could use her skill.
52:29We may invite her to Whitestone for a royal commission.
52:32For a moment,
52:33the chamber was silent.
52:35Then Leon said quietly,
52:36Send the invitation.
52:37He told himself it was for the kingdom.
52:40He did not tell the minister that he had read every northern report.
52:43With her name on it,
52:45he did not say that each mention of Aelia's work hurt worse than a scar across his face.
52:50Days later,
52:51a royal messenger arrived at Thomas' workshop.
52:54Miss Aelia,
52:55His Majesty invites you to the capital to oversee a new lock system for Whitestone Palace.
53:01I did not stop filing the iron plate in my hand.
53:04Tell the ministry to send the measurements.
53:07I will design what the palace needs from here.
53:10His Majesty hoped you would come in person.
53:12I finally looked up.
53:14I am an Amita.
53:15Not a memory he can summon.
53:17That evening,
53:18I wrote a formal reply.
53:21Thomas' workshop accepts commissions for tools,
53:24hinges,
53:26armor plates,
53:27locks,
53:27and keys.
53:29It does not accept invitations to reopen closed doors.
53:32When Leon received the letter,
53:34he read the last line three times.
53:36Then he folded it carefully and placed it beside the ruined golden key he still kept in his desk.
53:43The winters in the north were long,
53:45but the forge fire never went out.
53:47One of the new girls held up a broken lock and asked softly,
53:51Teacher,
53:52what should I do if this won't open?
53:54I glanced at it and pushed a bar of iron into the fire.
53:59If it won't open,
54:00replace it.
54:01Same with doors.
54:03Same with people.
54:04The fire rose.
54:06The red-hot iron slowly took shape beneath the hammer.
54:09I suddenly thought of the night.
54:11I left the palace three years ago.
54:13Back then,
54:14I thought I had lost everything.
54:17Only now did I understand.
54:18I had simply carried myself out of a palace where
54:21I had never been given a key.
54:25From then on,
54:26my life would only move forward.
54:28I would never look back.
54:30The new girl stared at the broken lock in her palm,
54:33then looked at the iron glowing in the furnace.
54:37Teacher,
54:38can I make my own key?
54:40I handed her the smaller hammer my father once made for me.
54:45You can make a key.
54:46You can make a door.
54:48You can even decide there should be no door there at all.
54:50Less talking.
54:52More hammering.
54:53The apprentices burst into laughter.
54:55I laughed with them.
54:57Outside,
54:58the northern snow covered the road to the capital.
55:01Inside,
55:01the forge burned brighter than any palace chandelier I had ever seen.
55:05I raised the hammer.
55:07The first strike rang clear.
55:09Then the...
55:09Second,
55:10then the third.
55:11A new shape began to form beneath my hands.
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