00:00Adrian sat in stunned silence for a long moment before finally speaking.
00:05There's a possibility, Adrian, Marguerite had said,
00:08however small that the condition could have transferred to you during gestation.
00:13I think it's finally time someone found out.
00:16Then, let's find out.
00:18He requested the testing that same afternoon,
00:21choosing not to tell Isabel or his father
00:23until he had answers rather than fears to share with them.
00:27Only Marcus knew.
00:29Driving him personally to the private medical wing,
00:32where Dr. Whitmore, still processing his own reconciliation with the family,
00:37prepared to run the necessary panel himself.
00:40Are you certain you don't want Isabel here?
00:43I need to know what I'm actually telling her before I tell her anything, Adrian said.
00:48She's carried enough uncertainty this week.
00:51I won't hand her more without answers attached.
00:54Dr. Whitmore drew the blood sample himself,
00:56his hands steadier than they'd been in days,
01:00something like purpose returning to his manner after the chaos of his confession and disappearance.
01:06I want you to understand something before these results come back,
01:10Whitmore said quietly.
01:11Whatever this test shows,
01:13it changes nothing about who you are or what you've built this week fighting for Edmund and Sophia.
01:18A diagnosis is information, Adrian.
01:21It was never meant to be a verdict.
01:23That's the very mistake this family has made for generations.
01:26I know that intellectually, Adrian admitted.
01:30I'm still terrified anyway.
01:33That's allowed, Whitmore said gently.
01:36Fear and understanding aren't mutually exclusive.
01:40Give yourself permission to feel both.
01:42The results would take several hours to process fully.
01:46Adrian spent the time with Marcus in a quiet palace garden,
01:50trying and failing to focus on anything else.
01:53Can I ask you something?
01:55Marcus said, eventually.
01:57Not a security.
01:59As someone who's watched you the last several days,
02:01go ahead.
02:02If the results come back positive,
02:05Marcus said carefully,
02:06does that actually change anything for you?
02:09Truly?
02:10Adrian considered the question seriously before answering,
02:14I don't know yet.
02:15I want to say no,
02:17that I'd handle it exactly the way I've told everyone.
02:20This family should handle differences like this.
02:22With acceptance,
02:24with protection,
02:25with dignity,
02:26instead of hiding.
02:27But it's easier to believe that about other people's lives
02:30than to know how I'll actually feel
02:32when it's my own.
02:34That's honest,
02:35Marcus said.
02:36More honest than most people manage.
02:39Unable to bear the waiting alone any longer,
02:42Adrian finally found Isabel
02:44in Lucia's nursery,
02:46watching their daughter nap peacefully.
02:48I need to tell you something,
02:50he said quietly,
02:52and then told her everything.
02:54Marguerite's surrogacy,
02:56the genetic possibility,
02:58the test currently processing in Whitmore's lab.
03:01Isabel listened without interrupting,
03:03her expression shifting through shock,
03:06tenderness,
03:06and finally,
03:08fierce resolve.
03:09Whatever the results say,
03:11she said,
03:12taking his hands firmly.
03:14We handle it exactly the way
03:16we've handled everything else this week.
03:18Together,
03:19openly,
03:20without shame.
03:22Even if it means Lucia might carry it too,
03:25Adrian asked quietly.
03:27Isabel's breath caught slightly,
03:30but her grip on his hands didn't waver.
03:33Even then,
03:34especially then,
03:36Edmund found them in the nursery
03:37an hour later,
03:39having returned briefly from the hospital,
03:42while Sophia rested comfortably
03:44under careful medical supervision.
03:46Marcus told me,
03:48Edmund said quietly,
03:50about the surrogacy,
03:51about the test.
03:53Adrian searched his expression carefully,
03:56unsure how the news of their unexpected,
03:58complicated connection had landed.
04:00Are you angry?
04:02That she never told you either?
04:04I don't know what I am yet,
04:06Edmund admitted.
04:07I've spent this entire week
04:09discovering things about my mother
04:11I never imagined possible.
04:13This is simply one more.
04:15But Adrian,
04:16he paused,
04:17something genuine and unguarded,
04:20crossing his face.
04:21If this test comes back
04:23the way we're afraid it might,
04:24I want you to know exactly
04:26what I've learned this week
04:27about carrying this condition in a family.
04:30What's that?
04:31That it's only ever been the family's fear
04:33that made it feel like a burden.
04:36Edmund said,
04:37Sophia herself has never once
04:39treated her own existence
04:40as a tragedy.
04:42We did that
04:43every single time
04:44we hid her
04:45instead of loving her plainly.
04:47Dr. Whitmore found them together
04:49in the nursery,
04:50a sealed envelope in his hands,
04:52his expression carefully neutral
04:54in the practiced way
04:56of a physician
04:57who'd learned long ago
04:58not to signal results
05:00before delivering them properly.
05:02I have the panel results.
05:04The room went silent.
05:06Adrian took the envelope
05:07with steady hands,
05:09opened it slowly,
05:10and read.
05:11For a long moment,
05:13he said nothing at all.
05:15Adrian.
05:16Negative.
05:17Adrian said, finally.
05:19Relief and something more complicated,
05:21washing over his features simultaneously.
05:24I don't carry it.
05:25Isabel exhaled a breath
05:28she'd clearly been holding,
05:30pulling him into a tight embrace.
05:32Edmund's shoulders visibly relaxed as well,
05:35though something conflicted
05:37remained in his expression.
05:39I'm relieved for you,
05:41Edmund said quietly.
05:43Genuinely,
05:44but I want to be honest.
05:45Some part of me hoped,
05:47just for a moment,
05:49that if you'd carried it too,
05:50this family might finally understand
05:52what it actually means
05:54to love Sophia
05:54without conditions.
05:56Instead of loving her only once,
05:59fear was removed from the equation.
06:01Adrian absorbed the weight
06:02of that honesty,
06:04carefully.
06:05You're right to call that out.
06:07A negative result
06:08doesn't finish the work
06:09this family still owes Sophia.
06:12It just means my own fear
06:13gets to end here.
06:15Hers doesn't,
06:16and neither does the work
06:17of actually proving we've changed.
06:19There's something else
06:20in these results,
06:21Whitemore added carefully.
06:23Not concerning the condition itself,
06:26but something relevant
06:27given everything
06:28Marguerite told you.
06:29What is it?
06:30A full genetic panel
06:32this thorough
06:32inevitably reveals
06:34other information.
06:35Whitemore said,
06:37Adrian,
06:37biologically,
06:38genetically,
06:39you are entirely
06:40Frederick and Anne's son.
06:42No trace of Marguerite's
06:44genetic material
06:45exists in your makeup at all.
06:46She carried you,
06:48nurtured your development,
06:49for nine months,
06:50but your genetic inheritance
06:51is completely unambiguously
06:53your parents alone.
06:54Adrian felt something
06:56unexpected settle
06:57in his chest.
06:58Not disappointment,
07:00but a strange,
07:01complicated piece.
07:02So the bond
07:03she described,
07:04it really was
07:06purely about carrying me,
07:08not blood,
07:09which,
07:09Isabel said softly,
07:11might make it
07:12even more remarkable,
07:13not less.
07:14As the relief of the moment
07:16settled over the nursery,
07:18Marguerite appeared
07:19in the doorway,
07:20his expression tense
07:21once more.
07:22I'm sorry to interrupt,
07:24he said,
07:25but something's happened.
07:27Lord Bertrand's inquiry
07:28hearing concluded
07:29twenty minutes ago,
07:30and,
07:31The council found sufficient
07:33evidence of misconduct
07:34to remove him
07:35from his position entirely,
07:37Marguerite said.
07:38But Adrian,
07:39that's not why I'm here.
07:41Bertrand made a statement
07:42on his way out of the chamber.
07:43To the press,
07:45not to us.
07:46What did he say?
07:47He said the council's
07:49decisions this week,
07:50recognising Edmund,
07:52establishing the Sophia provision,
07:54everything,
07:55were made under duress,
07:57orchestrated by a criminal
07:58currently in crown custody.
08:00He's calling for
08:01a full public referendum
08:02on whether Belmoth
08:04should abolish
08:04the monarchy entirely.
08:06The room fell
08:07into stunned silence.
08:09He's not just fighting
08:10for his own position anymore,
08:12Adrian said slowly.
08:14He's trying to burn down
08:15the entire institution
08:17rather than let
08:18any of us keep it,
08:19coming up in episode 33,
08:22The Referendum.
08:23As Lord Bertrand
08:25rallies public support
08:26to abolish
08:27the monarchy entirely.
08:28The Vos family
08:29must decide
08:30what they're truly
08:31willing to fight for
08:33and what a kingdom
08:34without a crown
08:35might actually mean
08:36for everyone
08:37they fought to protect.
