The Geumhwadan now are sure that the princess in the city and begin to search for her. It seems that the umbrellas Moo Young paints becomes a new trend that every sellers talk about it, Choong stumbles in his way out from an inn when he hears hos someone says that he thinks the people sell the painted umbrellas seemed to come from Pyongyang, the capital city. He then remembers, how he catches a glimpse of a girl who looks like similar to his Moo Young. Pretty certain that it can be her, Choong goes back to the market place again.

Shi Woo and Boo Chi find the saviour’s daughter, and Shi-woo manages to convince the little girl that they are from the same side after he shows her a tattoo of the bamboo flower on his chest, just the exact similar pattern with the ones Moo Young paint on her umbrellas.
Boo Chi goes to tell the others that they’ve found the princess but Shi Woo sees Choong goes to an umbrella seller and asks for the address of the real umbrella makers. Choong knows that both Shi Woo and his dad’s guard are following him, but right now he’s just too focus on finding Moo Young he hardly care for others. Shi Woo however is the one who spots Moo Young while she goes hunting for Choong.

Shi Woo grabs Moo Young before either Choong or General Yeon’s guard see her and when Moo Young furiously says that she can’t let the traitor’s son/Choong go, he tells her it’s dangerous to kill him there in the crowd. He brings the princess to the Geumhwadan fort where they bow and offer their apologies for being unable to protect her family. She’s so terribly angry and deep in sorrow:

“I saw my father and brother’s bodies burn. The people spat at my father, the king of Goguryeo, and mocked him. For the past twenty-four years, the people lived in peace under my father’s rule… Yet they called my father, the king of Goguryeo, a traitor who tried to sell off his country.”  She vows that before she kills General Yeon, his brother’s killer and Choong, with her own hands, she’ll never be able to close her eyes, even if she dies.

Choong innocently follows directions to the umbrella maker as he’s told but of course he’s heading to the Geumhwadan fort as well. Everyone gets their adrenaline rushed especially Moo Young who wants nothing but to kill him, but Leader So convinces her that now they can’t do anything or their hide out can be revealed and known by General’s side.

The General’s guard find the same hide out but all he finds are the Moo Young saviour and his daughter. He puts his sword to the little girl as he shows a portrait of the princess to ask about her. The man lies and says that the girl in the portrait is dead. Refuse to just believe his story, the guard now aims his sword to the father’s neck, threatens his daughter to tell the truth. She bravely keeps their lie by crying, “Unni… Unni died.”

Choong comes from behind and gets angry when he sees the guard threatens a little girl like that and attack him from behind. However when he hears as the guard asks about what they did with the princess’ remains, Choong begins to shake. Just after the guard leaves to seek for the grave of the remains, Choong approaches the father and the daughter with trembling hands holding the same picture of the princess, “Please take a good look. Was it really her?”

Choong shocked but still somehow refuses to believe until he notices how the daughter of the man wears the hairpin Moo Young gave him once. The hairpin he slipped into Moo Young’s hand to tell her that he’s alive back then. The realization of how she’s really dead hits him hard, breaks him down into pieces. In a flashback we can see how it’s all planned to make everybody believes the princess is dead. Someone else’s remains got digging and puts into a supposed Moo Young’s gravesite, she herself hands the hairpin to the little girl, very much aware that it can trick Choong.

Zombie Choong wanders down the streets until he goes to Moo Young’s grave and immediately attacks the General’s guard when he sees him there as well, “Did my father tell you to do this?! He ordered you to use me to kill the princess?! Is that why he let me go?! Is it?!”
Choong holds the clothes Moo Young wears in her last time to his chest while he lets out scream after scream of deep devastated grief. After a while he sobers up and deeply thinks, “It’s all my fault. I couldn’t protect you. It’s all my fault for being powerless.”

The Geumhwadan and Moo Young now assure that they succeeded in tricking everybody that the princess is dead. Moo Young says, “Princess So-hee is dead. From now on, I no longer exist in this world, not in the day or at night. I won’t even have a shadow. From now on, I am Moo Young.” Then she leaves with the Geumhwadan after gives her farewell to her saviours, the umbrella makers.

The guard reports the princess’ death to General Yeon, when Choong shows up. After a while we see Choong kneeling outside the house all night long. Then Jang’s first minister meeting turns into a debate with General Yeon’s people about the asking tax to the citizens to support the strengthening of The Wall. Jang doesn’t want to burden his people with more tax while the General believes they need to do what it takes to build stronger wall.

In a practice room while Jang practicing his swordsmanship, General Yeon tells Jang that the princess is dead, a news that makes Jang seems to regret anything that happens after the rebellion. Anyhow General Yeon’s people wonder why he volunteer to go to the wall until he explains that he’s going to destroy any rebellion acts toward him in the rural areas.

When he comes home at night he finds Choong still kneeling in the same spot since yesterday. He then asks his son, “Why did you come back?” Choong firstly addresses him as “father,” but General Yeon stops him from using that word since he gave up his family ties with his father. Choong ignore that and continues by saying that he’ll walk his father’s path, even though he had previously called his father’s actions shameful.
“I realized that being powerless is even more shameful,” Choong declares. “I will stand with those who have power, and I will become a man with power.” General Yeon then asks him if that means he’ll support his dad now.

Cynically, Choong says whether having a purpose holds any importance. Whether it’s treason or deception, “I will not hold anything back in order to gain power. In order to protect what is mine, I will throw away duty and all else that remains.” He further says that he’ll use his father as a stepping stone to gain more power if he has to.  General Yeon turns his body but then tells his son that he’ll accept him if he acts as his bodyguard when he goes to the wall. His safety is now Choong’s responsibility. The next morning Choong prepares for his journey by wearing new dark colored clothes and tied his hair into a bun with Moo Young’s hairpin. His old friend Jin Gu sees him off in an impressive convoy to the wall and worries on how much Choong have changed.

In Jolbon, Yeon Jung Mo, the brother of the killed prime minister, wants General Yang to help him taking revenge on General Yeon. Nonetheless, the General refuses saying that revenge will only bring more bloodshed. The Geumhwadan hear this which then makes them and Moo Young wonder to persuade Yeon Jung Mo or General Yang to join forces and have revenge for General Yeon.

They decide to persuade Yeon Jung Mo and sneak into his house to send message, which he misunderstood as a threat from General Yeon. Furious with the possibility he plans to go against the General and his soldiers when he comes to their town later. To be able to fight such a great general and his big army Yeon Jung Mo will need extra assassins, to which exactly the role the Geumhwadan playing.
As the new chief commander of the General’s guard, Choong takes action by instructing a detail order to constantly observe Yeon Jung Mo movements. Leader So catches his sight in the market doing his job and notices his hairpin, which he remembers seeing Moo Young gave it to the little girl. Sadly, Moo Young still thinks that Choong betrays her.

Geumhwadan’s plan to let Yeon Jung Mo hire them as assassins has worked, but when then they worry that he can recognize the princess’ face, Moo Young has an idea. The Geumhwadan finally shows up to Yeon Jung Mo’s house and he agrees to hire them while he’s still unconvinced with the female members of the assassins group. He tests them then by drawing a sword onto Moo Young’s neck. Without wasting time she explains him who she is. At the same time, General Yeon and his men come to Yeon Jung Mo’s house too.

Inside the house Moo Young tries to persuade Yeon Jung Mo to join forces with him in order to take revenge on General Yeon. Their meeting though is interrupted by the coming of General Yeon and his men, and Yeon Jung Mo has to let them in or they can get suspicious why it takes so long for them to open the door.

The Geumhwadan and Moo Young hides while Yeon Jung Mo meets General Yeon, and Boo Chi climbs the rooftop to check the situation outside. General Yeon asks Yeon Jung Mo blankly, “I heard you want to kill me.” He then promised Yeon Jung Mo the seat of prime minister position something the latter guy agrees, but back in the room where the Geumhwadan and Moo Young hide, they all now are ready to draw their swords. A nervous servant comes in to announce that the tea is ready, and Choong has this sense of feeling something isn’t right. He tells his father that they shouldn’t stay, an advice the General agrees upon.

As General Yeon starts to leave the house, everyone grabs their swords. Choong looks particularly uneasy and behind the wall Moo Young swears: “Father. Today, at last, the traitors will be punished.”

Cr to Naver and The Blade And Petal Soompi Forum

Without wasting any time Choong strides behind his father and puts a sword to his neck, what he wants from that action is clear. He wants to give enough time for Moo Young and whoever helps her to run away from the killing zone. General Yeon strangely orders his men to step back, which allows for all the Geumhwadan members left in the throne room to escape as well. Choong keeps his father hostage as he slowly starts backing out of the room, with all the soldiers following closely behind and his sword kept on Dad’s throat.

Shi Woo, the princess and Leader So which seems to be also actually Shi Woo’s dad, get surrounded by more soldiers outside and not able to leave the palace yet. Another Geumhwadan member comes riding a horse and immediately jumps off and help with the fight, so Shi Woo use the horse to get the princess out of that doomed place. The Geumhwadan keeps trying to fight off the soldiers to give them more time when General Yeon approaches the site, still as Choong’s hostage. The General insists his men to lower their swords and when everybody draws them back and leaves the duo Dad-Son alone at the gate, he smirks and tells his son, “That’s enough. I gave you the time that you wanted.” Choong lowers his sword, defeated.

General Yeon returns to the throne room and addresses Jang as the king. Jang finally reaches the throne and now all men from General Yeon’s side address Jang as the king as well. Way deep in the forest Shi Woo and the princess ride their horse full speed, with General Yeon’s guard chase them from behind. Not very far from them, Choong is on his horse too. Shi Woo then tries to cover their track by continuing their escapade on foot and succeeded to fool the General’s guard, however Choong knows his trick and he now follows on foot just like them too.

All the time during their effort to escape, Moo Young just getting numb from terror and shock she suffers for seeing her dad and little brother get killed before her own eyes then she snaps out from her zombie state and demands to go back to the palace, to kill all the rebels. Lucky that Shi Woo then able to put her some realization and they’re back to track of trying to save their own lives. It’s just that the General’s guard now corner them on an edge of a cliff, forcing the two fugitives to fight him. Shi Woo gets injured and in a very dangerous blow his sword is grabbed by Moo Young, she fights the guard herself.

Choong spots them and runs to approach, but it’s the time when he sees Moo Young loses her steps and slips to the edge of the cliff. In front of his eyes, Moo Young falls off the edge. His dad’s guard can only watch when Choong sheds his body armour and jumps over the cliff to save her. Too bad he can’t find her though he desperately screams her name again and again, as he keeps looking. Meanwhile Shi Woo only able to find one of Moo Young’s boots but he has to hide again because now General’s soldiers are sent to find the princess’ body too.

His people then report to General Yeon that they can’t find the princess. He then heads to the home of the recently-killed prime minister to instruct his surviving son to kill himself so he can wash away his father’s disgrace. At last, the General kills the whole family. Next he heads to General Yang to kill him too but then he decides not to kill him. He just asks General Yang to return to his hometown and watches all his moves closely.

Choong can’t find the princess and exhausted to death, he has no idea that she is saved by a man with his daughter and they bring her to their home. She finally wakes, and as soon as she gains her consciousness she wants to go back to the palace to take revenge on her father. The man who saves her persuades her not to be rushed with such thought, he tells her that he used to be a Geumhwadan too and he knows she is Princess So Hee.

Back in the city, the body of the crown prince and the king are displayed to public. Their bodies are tied to a pole, ready to be burnt. Choong sees that and he painfully looks at the prince and the king’s bodies. Disgusted and raging in anger, Choong stares at his father. However he leaves the scene just a few minutes before Moo Young and her saviour join the crowd to have one last look to her father and brother.
Moo Young is so shocked and sad that she has to see her dad and brother treated that way, especially when lies about the former king are announced publicly (so it’s expected that people will just believe the lies and accept the death of the king and the crown prince as punishment from public, instead of being betrayed by his Generals and the royal nephew).

Moo Young hysterically wants to reach the stage to her beloved family and her saviour has to work his hardest to hold her. It’s fatal if her presence spotted by General Yeon or his people. Before her eyes, Moo Young sees how the king and the prince’s body burnt down in public as enemy of the state.

Jang watches the smoke rise up in his new kingly robes, while General Yeon waits till he’s the last one left in the burning site. Choong watches him from a distance, “I will never forgive you, Father.”

Choong then meets his father, and asks him blankly if he’s even human. His father mocks him—his being human can’t help him protecting his princess. “The reason you could not protect the princess is because you lacked power,” says his dad. The General believes his action is for the good of the country. He did what he had to protect what he needed to.

Still Choong replies how his father lying about the king’s crimes to fool people. The General asks him again whether he wants to become a member of the Yeon family, or just die.  Choong tells him: “I’d rather die than remain as a shameful descendant of the Yeon family.”
It’s strange that his father doesn’t kill him instantly, simply because only Yeon family get the honor of dying in his house. He then says that they are now no longer father and son, and have no ties to each other. The General’s guard wonders why he lets Choong leave, but he tells the guard how he thinks Choong will be the first person finding the princess and asks him to follow his son.

Moo Young’s saviour tells her the emergency Geumhwadan fort in the former capital, Jolbon. In the meantime, someone steals the remains of the king and crown prince after giving drugs to the guards’ drinks. The Geumhwadan sees this maybe because they want to get the remains as well. But they don’t know who took them, when they report this to their leader he says that they have to find the princess before General Yeon does. They think they better go to their emergency fort hoping that Moo Young will find them.

Jang was actually the one who instructs the stealing of the remains, and asks it to be given to him secretly. Suddenly he hears the king’s voice in his head and in shock he drops the ashes to the floor. He insists that he does the right thing and screams into the empty throne room: “I am the king of Goguryeo! I am! Soon, even General Yeon will kneel before me. I will definitely become a great king in history. I will! I will!”

Jang then is coroneted as the official king, and as if he wants to remind the General about who is the real ruler now he says how safe he feels to have such a loyal person as General Yeon with him.

Moo Young and her saviour then head to Jolbon, under disguises as umbrella sellers. On their way of selling their umbrellas, Moo Young breaks down when she sees a street performance done by a man throwing his knives at a straw dressed as the deceased king, she chokes with tears as people cursing on the straw doll, calling names to her father. Just a few moments later, Choong passes by the exact same show, not knowing she is just around the corner.

At the home of her saviour Moo Young helps them to make umbrellas, she paints them with bamboo flower design inspired by her memory with her father, where he asked her to see a painting and decided which she thought was stronger—the sword or the flower?
At that time she hesitantly told him that she thought the sword would be the stronger one, “But the flower can bloom again after being cut,” the king said. “The sword is not to be used to cut the flower, but to protect the flower.”

The king continued their concersation by explaining about Geumhwadan, a secret organization formed to protect the royal family and the people in times of revolution and war. That’s why now Moo Young paints the Geumhwadan pattern, as a secret signal for her to call the protector of the royal family.

Choong checks the market place in Jolbon hoping to spot his princess among the crowd without luck. He sees though, when General Yang heads to his home in a chariot, Jolbon is also actually General Yang’s hometown. Bad luck seems to follow Choong he and Moo Young unknowingly pass each other in the market. However, Moo Young spots General Yeon’s guard in the crowd and instantly feels the urge to take her revenge. Meanwhile, the Geumhwadan recognizes the pattern on the umbrellas people use and guesses correctly that the princess is still alive and now calling them all.

Moo Young is back to the market now armed with bow and arrows, she’s going hunting. The prey will be her brother’s killer. Once she locks her target, she prepares her bow to shoot only to get a sight of Choong a few meters behind his first target. Trembling with rage and tension, she pulls back the arrow and aims the weapon to … Choong. It’s him that she wants to kill now.

Cr to Naver and The Blade And Petal KBS Official Site

While General Yeon and his people deal with the palace in front of their gates Choong and a small team of his father’s men sneak up to the palace walls try to get in as well. We really should never to doubt him because we can hear Choong thoughts: “I will save you, Princess.”

The General is finally allowed to enter the palace with his people but only after they go through for weapons inspection, the interesting thing is rather than swords, his army carry sticks. At the same time, the king and his supporters don’t have any suspicion when Jang takes half the king’s army with him. The king however wants the captured doctor to tell the truth during the ceremony, he never predicts that in order to avoid the doctor to confess General Yeon’s guards purposely creates a scene in order to get arrested. Once they’re arrested, they secretly work to jailbreak the prison and free the doctor.

The Geumhwadan members disguise themselves as musicians for the ceremony so they can have a perfect spot to protect the king, and it’s kinda intimidating when General Yeon makes his grand entrance with his full-force soldiers. Jang also enters with his army, which previously of course the king’s but I guess he knows how to persuade the soldiers to switch side. In the prison, the doctor spy is forced to commit suicide by the general’s guard.

Right outside the palace walls General Yeon’s small teams and Choong succeeded in penetrating the palace so then they can open the gate and let General Yeon’s big army to get in. All of the palace guards who loyal to the king are killed while Choong refuses to kill anyone, he doesn’t want to take part in any of his father’s rebellion acts.

Warned that Choong maybe try to run away and interferes, his father’s try to stop him whenever they see him wants to do that. Lucky that he himself is a decent fighter, he manages to get away and run to save the princess.  The king is upset when he knows that the captured doctor killed himself, in the prison General Yeon’s people break them free and start making way to the palace and kill anyone who block their way. In the court hall where all the ministers are gathered the prime minister calls General Yeon forward, only to be shocked that the General flips the table between them and draws a sword hidden there.

“Did you want to become chief minister so badly?” General Yeon asks him menacingly, causing the minister shivering and stammering that the king blackmailed him into betraying the General. He still bravely says that he wishes the General and the king can work together, but in front of everybody General Yeon just slashes his throat and kills him instantly. He then turns toward and makes for those loyal to him to identify themselves with a blue ribbon on their wrists. Almost every people in the hall put on their blue wristbands, which in a scary realization makes it easy to spot who don’t belong to his side. All the people who don’t’ wear the wristband mean they’re on king’s side and they’re killed at once in a bloody a massacre. Jang stays unmoved, let all the brutal killing happened.

The Geumhwadan report the king about the revolution in the throne room. Thinking that he has anticipated this, the king instructs of his private army to enter the palace only to know that there’s no army outside. Nobody knows what exactly is happening outside but Leader So thinks it could be done by Jang. The king and Moo Young are stunned at the thought of their family betrays them.

The king however still refuses to flee when asked and only agree to do it when he’s reminded that the country can only survive if the royal family survive. Some of the Geumhwadan will escort the king and princess to the secret passageway, while the rest of the members will stay behind to give them time to run.

As the royal family start their way to escape somehow Moo Young turns and taken aback to find Choong is fighting against a pretty large group of soldiers. She was so sure that he was safely in another city like what she made him to promise. Choong finally spots her too while fighting and they both staring to each other with those longing looks. But Young Hae comes and drag her away, leaving Choong to fight the soldiers alone.
The crown prince is alone in his quarter when he starts to hear people scream outside. However he can’t walk now and can’t do anything. Leader So and the rest of the loyal palace guards now have to face off with Jang and his men. Leader So asks him how he could betray his own uncle, and Jang replies: “At least I did not betray Goguryeo.” And the battle begins.

Young Hae brings the king and princess to the secret passage, and leave them to go get the the crown prince. Worries that they might be not able to save her beloved brother Moo Young insists to bring him herself and leave the king alone. Tae Kyung the senior palace guard meets him there, only to find that the king decides to go back to the palace refuse to back down.

Shi Woo finally arrived at the crown prince’s quarters but he then battle with General’s Yeon soldiers so Moo Young runs inside to get her brother. Choong meanwhile, also win his fight and proceeds his effort to find and rescue the princess. Moo Young finds her brother lying on the floor, and tries her best to persuade her lil bro to run with her because he keeps refusing to escape. He knows it’ll be so hard to escape while carrying a disable person like him but she refuses to abandon him either. While Moo Young tries to carry her dongsaeng to her back she hears the sound of someone entering the quarter.

It’s General’s Yeon guard who looks for the royal siblings to kill them, only when he enters the room there’s no one inside. He searches everywhere and when he’s about to flip a curtain, a furious Moo Young pops out to attack him. Her attempt fails and when the guard wants to fight back the shaking crown prince comes out from his hiding, tries to help his sister.

He can’t fight against the professional trained bodyguard and gets stabbed in the chest instead. Moo Young is very shocked and gets to him but he’s dying, yet he smiles and comforts his fave noona, “I wanted to see you wearing your wedding gown.” Then he dies.

Moo Young screams in misery before she attacks her brother’s killer, and they exchange few blows until a sword comes blocking the attack from the guard to Moo Young. Choong is there. Moo Young gasps in terror when the guard reminds Choong: “As you promised, cut off the princess’ head and prove that you’re General Yeon’s son.” She just thinks the worst and cries calling Choong a traitor’s son. “You betrayed me! Why did I ever believe in you?” She says that she can’t ever forgive herself for trusting him, and she tells Choong he can go kill her now.

Choong looks completely shaken to be mistaken by the one he loves most. “No one can choose his father,” he says with tears glistening in his eyes. “Unfortunately, I am the son of General Yeon, and my father became a traitor with no help from me. However, I am also a sinner for being unable to forsake my family.”

When the guard reminds him again to kill the princess, Choong immediately swings his sword to him to save the princess. Shi Woo then comes to drag Moo Young away and run from that place. In the mean time Choong sees the prince’s corpse, and the painful sight makes him fight more furiously. Moo Young can’t stop herself from looking at him even as she leaves, and they exchange gazes. She doesn’t want to leave, but she has no choice. Choong defeats the guard and resumes to follow the princess.

The king is back in his throne room, and shocked to see Moo Young says the crown prince is dead. Leader So once again asks the king to escape the palace, but General Yeon, Jang, and their army already are in the throne room. After a long silent gaze Moo Young steps forward and puts her sword to Jang’s neck, the army all draw their swords to Moo Young only to draw them back after an order form General Yeon. Slowly but without doubt, Jang raises his own sword against her, and when he does Moo Young cuts their family ties and vows to see him dead.

Choong goes to enter the palace now on horseback, and promises that he’ll find the princess. The king asks how Jang could betray him, and he tearfully replies that though he does his best to serve him the king only treat him as his servant. “You never treated me with warmth, because I did not exist to you.” Finally he says,“You must forsake me now, Your Majesty.”

But the king still thinks of him as a nephew, and gently says that he’ll never forsake him. “It is still not too late,” he says. “I will never forsake you.” But Jang knows it’s too late for him. General Yeon steps front to confront the king, and their principles still too far to be compromised.
General Yeon then stabs the king as he says, “Ask the late kings who have protected Goguryeo. Just which of us is letting Goguryeo take the right path, and which of us knows what Goguryeo needs.”

As he finishes his sentence he draws his sword free from the king’s body, blood spattered his face as the king falls to the ground. Going numb with shock and sadness finally Moo Young holds her father’s body, crying.

Choong walks in to the palace and see the horrifying scene in the throne room. The king of Goguryeo is dead killed by his father, the woman he loves crying as she then stares at the General in glaring mad eyes, the same raging eyes she throws at him when she catches at his sight.

Cr to Nate and The Blade And Petal Soompi Forum

King asks the senior royal guard if they have thoroughly check every single places in the palace and the palace guard says that the only place that hasn’t yet been searched is the princess quarter. The information scares the king, worried that the impersonator is there and he can harm her. Anxiously the king marches to Moo Young’s quarter, wants to make sure she’s alright.

Which of course, she is. And not. Tearfully she asks the man who’s standing in front of her, “Is it truly you? What happened? How… did you survive?” Knowing how she feels, Choong explains how he so wanted to meet her as soon as he regained consciousness but he also recognizes how dangerous it can be if other people spots them both together. Despite the danger he still has to get into the palace if he wants to stop his father’s plot and protect the princess he loves.

Choong then asks about what happened to the ceremony after his interruption at the north wall, and Moo Young cries as she explains how the prince fell off the horse which led to the ceremony cancellation. Sadly, she tells Choong that her beloved dongsaeng may never walk again. Choong embraces her with a warm hug as a comfort to sooth her pain and sadness while the king and Jang are just closer to reach Moo Young’s quarter. He holds her even tighter when Moo Young miserably states that now the Yeon family and the royal family definitely can never be together.

When the king’s arrival is announced, they both look panic because for sure the king mustn’t know that Choong is still alive. The king at first looks relieved when he sees how Moo Young is just fine, but because of her nervousness with Choong hides in the same exact room, it somehow intrigues the king as he walks further into his daughter’s room ready to inspect every corner there.

Luckily Moo Young able to distract her dad attention by asking the right question at the right time. His answer: to kill General Yeon tomorrow and end all this conflict at once. As the king leaves the room Moo Young lifts her sword and approaches Choong, “Since you know what my father is thinking, I can’t let you go. Be on my side, or else I’ll have to kill you now. That is my destiny and my choice.”

Choong doesn’t move an inch or raises his eyebrow seeing the woman he loves holds her sword to him now. He understands that before meeting him she’s a princess. Her country is her family, and every burden that comes with is a consequent the princess embraces wholeheartedly. He asks her to kill him instead, because he simply can’t choose either side, “Please kill me now, as my destiny has deserted me. Ever since I met you, Your Highness, you became the whole world to me.”

Moo Young breaks my heart when she tells Choong they should have never met, or that she should have never asked him to stay. She then wields her sword to his neck, “Consider this the end of our relationship.” It hurts them both, but there’s nothing they can do.
The king informs Jang that they must prepare a new heir in case the crown prince isn’t able to walk again, and asks him who he thinks fits to that position. It’s as if the king hinting that Jang is the chosen one, but of course Jang tells the king that they shouldn’t give up on the crown prince. Jang worries though that he loses his chances of becoming heir if the king finds out he saved Choong’s live.

Jang returns into Moo Young’s quarters where he knew exactly Choong is still there and draws a sword against him: “I can’t spare your life again,” without knowing Moo Young is there too behind the curtain. The very stunned Moo Young comes out and interrogate Jang why he saved Choong, he lies that he did it because Choong saved her and the prince and he felt pity for him. Jang adds that he also wants to prevent a civil war between General Yeon and the king, and because he knew the meaning of  Choong for her.

The king introduces the Geumhwadan to Jang, who then explain their plan to capture General Yeon and his followers during the upcoming military parade. All they need  to do is waiting until they’re all gathered in the palace again with all their armies while the king soldiers and personal army are ready to trap them there.

The king plans for a council meeting tomorrow to announce a new heir to the throne, because it seems that he can’t hope for the prince again. With all the ambiguous conversation the king shares with Jang, it’s understandable if Jang secretly hope that it’ll be him
In the meantime, Geumhwadan will keep an eye on General Yeon’s residence while the army is called in to secure the city, not to mention the king’s personal army which will be arriving in secret that night. And as a huge surprise to everyone in the room, the king states that he’s gonna meeting General Yeon tonight.

General Yeon tasks his guard to find Choong, since there’s no way he run away out of the palace yet. He then finds out that the prince is severely injured from falling off a horse, since it’s possible that the palace know the horse is poisoned. From this situation it’s natural that his followers suggest him to attack the king immediately, but General Yeon informs them with the news of the crown prince and the upcoming heir selection. It’s obvious that the king will choose Jang, which probably good for the General because he has maintain such a relationship with him. Plus, he believes that Jang would be a good king.

The king really visit General Yeon’s resident that night, so General Yeon comes out to meet him. The king tells him about the crown prince’s fall and asks for his support in establishing a new heir to the throne, however he doesn’t mention any names to General Yeon. Later it shows that Jang is actually at General Yeon’s home too when the king and the General meet. The General guesses that Jang wants him to support him, but in fact Jang says that Choong is still in the palace and is his hostage. He then agrees to get Choong out of the palace but reminds the General that he now saves his son twice.

When night comes, both Jang and Moo Young work together to get Choong out of the palace safely. Choong disguises as the princess’s chariot driver and when a guard insists that she can’t leave, Jang says he’ll be responsible for that. Moo Young brings Choong out of the palace gate and bids her goodbye to Choong. She makes him promise to leave the capital since there’s no way his father will forgive him for what he did.

She takes off the bracelet she always wears with her all the time and gives it to Choong as a reminder of her then asks him to go to Jolbon, “I promise you that I’ll come find you later,” she says. “Please stay alive.” Choong stares so brokenheartedly at the bracelet while Moo Young rides away with her chariot until he decides to chase after her. In the meantime, Moo Young can’t hold herself any longer and stops her chariot too. When she gets off she finds out Choong is just few meters behind her, he too can’t let her go. They run to each other, and Choong steps forward to hold her tight. As she finally really leaves, Choong looks so shattered with Moo Young’s bracelet in his hand and while he’s not aware with his surroundings, somebody attacks him. It’s his father’s man.

In the minister meeting the next day the king announces the new heir, and to everybody’s shock it’s Princess Moo Young. Almost all provide with their protests of having a queen in Goguryeo, but the king argues by saying that Silla has queens so there’s no reason why Goguryeo can’t. And the king stresses that General Yeon has to oversee construction on The Wall after tomorrow’s military parade even though it means the General might skip the installation ceremony. Jang is probably the most disappointed person because not even him, almost everybody thinks he’s the best candidate as the heir for the throne.

The king’s senior guard offers his sympathy to Jang as he understands how disappointed Jang now. Jang is the most suitable and strongest candidate but the king prefers to install his own blood for the throne. Moo Young offers her sympathy too for her beloved cousin, totally misreading him and tell him how she’s thankful to have him on her side.

Choong finally regains his consciousness and is confronted by his dad. Choong tells him that all he did was to protect the princess AND his father, which then makes him ask his dad about what his philosophy is when he has to deal with the people he loves. Can he really just keep them in his heart without letting them giving any impact on the decisions he makes? The question gets to the General but then he says: “I cannot coexist with the royal family. Tomorrow, at the parade, I will cut off the king’s head.”

The crown prince wakes up though he’s still in bed and praises his father’s decision to make his sister as the heir to the throne. He’s serious with what he says because he knows he doesn’t want and doesn’t have the heart to be a ruler. His father wants to comfort him and promises that the dinner tonight will be consisted of his favourite dishes and invite Jang and the senior guard along. Nevertheless the sweet-natured prince tells her sister how she looks beautiful in her warrior attire, “But I think you’d be even prettier in a wedding gown. I’d really like to see that.” Awww it’s cute to know that the prince is also Choong – Moo Young’s biggest shipper.

Back to General Yeon’s resident. Now the General gives Choong a choice: “The princess, or filial piety? You can’t have both. Will you come with me or die here?”

“I will come with you,” Choong decides.

General Yeon knows Choong so well so he can’t just believe with Choong’s  wish to join him. He then gives Choong his order: “Bring the princess’ head to me.”

“If I bring her to you, will everything be resolved?” Choong asks, his expression unchanging.

In her quarter Moo Young draws her swords, “It’s not that I’ll be killing your father. I’ll be killing a traitor of Goguryeo!”

Cr to Nate Newsen and The Blade And Petal Soompi Forum

Moo Young does comes to the inn just because she still misses him so much, and now she’s positive that her beloved is alive. Thanks to the Hanja. She remembers Choong’s friend Jin Gu during the archery show and thinks that probably Jin Gu knows Choong whereabouts. She goes meet Jin Gu and disappointed when he totally perplexed of why she still thinks that Choong is alive while everybody saw he was hung to death.

Moo Young goes back to General Yeon’s home, now certain that his son’s death was faked. While she’s standing outside thinking of how she can get the answer of the mystery behind Choong’s faked death, two of the Geumhwadan members sees her and takes her with them to their secret station. They’re waiting for Shi Woo to get out of the house.

Shi Woo tries to escape without getting noticed from General Yeon’s guards, but his wet shoeprints leaves visible trails of him. The Geumhwadan are so worried over Shi Woo which makes Leader So gets takes Boo-Chi to go look for him.

General Yeon and his guards are all now wants to catch the person who dares to sneak into the house since his footprints can’t be ignored. Shi Woo hides pretty well by clinging to the bottom of an overhanging roof. Luckily to him a servant tells General Yeon how he spilled some water, hence the footprints. General Yeon caution makes him checking the servant’s story by examining his boots, which then confirmed are wet too. Back on the roof, Leader So grabs Shi Woo’s hand to catch him from falling. Together they leave General Yeon’s home and go back to their headquarters.

Thanks to Shi Woo’s reports, now The Geumhwadan able to tell the king everything about General Yeon’s rebellion plan. They discuss seriously on the options to ruin the rebellion. First, they can attack the General Yeon but it can lead to a civil war. The second, they can send him to The Wall before the crown prince ceremony but risk revealing that now they know his plan.

The last option is, to just pretend like they don’t know anything but actually the palace guards and all the king source are ready to attack and catch General Yeon’s people in the act. By this way General Yeon’s betrayal can be openly exposed at the ceremony, giving the king all the reason he needs to execute the General and his disloyal followers.

The king approves to the third option, “We must kill the traitors at all costs.” Moo Young is troubled though, because she knows that the Yeon family will be destroyed after the ceremony including Choong. She can’t let that happen. She meets her cousin tries to make him speak about the truth of Choong’s death, but he keeps up with his story: “I saw it with my own eyes. He died.” Jang continues by asking her to let Choong go in peace.

When Choong meets his father, all he needs to say is “changing the world” and Choong immediately realizes that his father plans to revolt. The General believes that betrayal is suited best with the king and his supporters who talk about peace while in reality Tang is just ready to attack Goguryeo.

Choong argues that it’s not enough to excuse killing the king and his descendants. The General  encourages Choong to express his opinion, and he replies him that he thinks his father’s plan is a coward’s one. His father disagrees by saying the king is the wrong one, and only by having the right king they can save Goguryeo and reinforce its power.

“There must be a different way,” Choong says. “Do you know that the princess treated me, a low life, without any prejudice? She gave me the courage that even I, who once was a slave, could live doing something valuable. Moreover, even though she knew that she was betraying the king, she put her own life on the line to save me. How can I betray such a princess? As long as I breathe, it will never happen.”

He adds, “I will not forgive anyone who will try to harm the princess.” General Yeon asks if that means he willing to cut off his father’s head then, but Choong doesn’t want to betray him either—so he offers his head instead. If the General Yeon wants to carry on with the plan, he’ll have to kill Choong first.

General Yeon sneers at his determination, and slowly stands to peels a back of the canvas from one of his ancestral portraits. The real portrait emerges from the peeled outer canvas reveals that it’s the portrait of Choong’s mother. That actually it’s her face the General spends so much time staring at for hours.

It’s a huge shock to Choong knowing that his father actually keeps his mother’s portrait all this time. Since he was a kid no matter that his mother insists that his father was a good man, he didn’t believe it. He thought his father heartlessly abandoned his mother and him, just because of their low status as slaves.  so that portrait is quite mind blowing for him.

General Yeon: “The royal family tried to kill you. No, they did kill you. What I’m about to do will revive you.” He says that if the royal family were let to live the way they are, then Choong would have to live the rest of his life in hiding.

Nevertheless Choong’s resolve remains unshaken, just because his father kept his mother’s portrait it doesn’t mean he can persuade him, “I can live in hiding for the rest of my life. I can even live in imprisonment. I’ll live as if I were dead. However, no one can harm the princess.”

His father shakes his head at his steadfastness before he tells Choong that he won’t be able to step foot outside until this is all over. He locks him in the chamber.

Attempting to contact  Choong, Moo Young goes to the inn and writes a message to him that he should leave the capital immediately. She wants him away when the king wiped out the Yeon family.

Leader So tells the Geumhwadan they’ll come the palace secretly that night to be prepared for the next day’s ceremony. In the mean time, the king briefs Jang about the upcoming rebellion threat later at the ceremony, but the king also notice how quiet and distant Moo Young appears s throughout the discussion. The king warns her to behave as usual to avoid suspicion, because the palace would be in chaos if they knew a rebellion was about to come.

More importantly, the king doesn’t want the prince to know. Moo Young visits her brother to check his well–being, and appreciates her concern even though he knows how she must be in pain and hurt at heart at the loss of Choong. It’s not only his brother that Moo Young worries, she also keeps worrying whether Choong saw her message.

Just like Moo Young concerns about his safety, Choong does the same way. He stares at his mother’s portrait that night and made his mind. Regardless of how his mother’s wish was to see him join the Yeon family, a wish he also used to nurture once, he won’t materialize it. “I can’t obey my father the way he is now,” Choong thinks. “I must protect the princess. Please forgive this foolish son.”

Ceremony day. Jang prepares his men for the rebellion while General Yeon comes to the chamber where Choong is locked. He then instructs the guards to let the door open for Choong out, but he mentions once again that a true member of the Yeon family wouldn’t reject the fate of the family. Basically, what Dad does, Son must follows.

While General Yeon’s small army heads for the ceremony as planned, Choong walks to the open door and fights a few soldiers to find out which gate his father’s army plans to infiltrate the palace.

Then he goes out to meet his friend Jin Gu to seek for help, his friend is still very sad over his death, and so surprised when he sees that his dead hyung is alive.

The crown prince decides to practice with his horse before the ceremony, but the poison attacks  his horse sooner than General Yeon’s so that he falls off during the practice not the ceremony. The prince injury is pretty bad but the king insists that everything has to be carried on in orders before General Yeon’s side recognize that the king knows their rebellion plan.

The dead horse pretty much telling that there’s a spy in the palace, Boo Chi from the Geumhwadan agrees to exam the horse to find the cause of death, later the poison reveals it only stored in the palace as medicine herbs and the only person who can access it is the palace doctor.

General Yeon’s first group of assassins is blocked already from entering, confirming that the rebellion is about to erupt. Choong uses Jin Gu to find the secret passageway Moo Young used  to sneak into the prison which only means it’s also goes through the palace gates. He beats a few soldier before disguising himself as one of them.

The palace doctor is arrested immediately while General Yeon’s people leads the army to the north gate, where they plan to scale the wall. Shi Woo, along with Young-hae and Seol-young, prepare for the fight back on the other side. The general himself and his supporters now enter through the front gate carrying their family banners with their swords hidden in the pole.

General Yeon’s soldiers begin to scale the north gate, but suddenly a masked soldier leaps from above to cut their ropes. They all fall to the ground, and Choong reveals his face to the commander of the soldiers to tell him that he’s the one who responsible for that.

The Geumhwadan see the masked soldier and report the king that General Yeon’s soldiers failed to scale the north gate because of a palace guard’s sudden intervention.

Moo Young somehow guesses that it’s Choong, and when the king asks how a palace guard can counter such a secret attack, Leader So replies that it looks like there are more people know about today’s plan. With all the recent development, Leader So advises the king to cancel the ceremony, an idea the king strongly opposes because all he needs is to catch General Yeon rebellion in action. But the fact is, neither group of rebellion army made it into the palace, so they don’t have the evidence they need.

Their only hope is that General Yeon and his men will be caught with swords hidden in the flagpoles, but it doesn’t sound promising too. Not to mention there’s no guarantee that the captured palace doctor will confess that he’s part of General Yeon’s scheme. Briefly, Leader So says they don’t have enough evidence and that if the king attacks General Yeon without it, everything will backfire on him.

General Yeon and his people are so ready to draw their swords from their flagpoles when somehow the soldiers at the gate begin to inspect their flagpoles too. It’s just so in time that Jang arrives to announce that the ceremony has been delayed.

General Yeon’s people grumble about the rebellion’s failure, and his guard whispers to him that Choong was responsible for the north gate failure. The upset General orders that his son to be captured ASAP.

Moo Young hears how whoever saved the north gate sneak in through the secret passageway, disguises as a palace guard, and is possibly still inside the palace because of the tightened security. She has to remain calmly because she knows for sure, it must be Choong. She moves anxiously in her room expecting and worrying for Choong, when all of a sudden a man stands behind her as his hand gently closes her mouth to stop her from screaming. “Princess,” he calls her.

She turns around from the man’s arms, only to find it’s really Choong standing in front of her.

Cr to  Nate , Naver and The Blade And Petal Soompi Forum

Now the idea seems to have taken root in Jang which makes him does something toward Choong. He secretly pours some mysterious stuff into Choong’s last cup of tea. And there’s more. Jang manages to convince the king to grant General Yeon’s request for his son’s body to be returned in one piece. The request makes the king agrees to Jang’s idea to hang Choong instead of beheading him.

Back to present day, Choong is hung while the princess watches heartbreakingly. But a small wooden stick is jammed into the knot of the noose to stop it tightened—the same stick we saw Jang holding the night after he poured the mysterious powder into Choong’s cup.

Choong finally stops fighting and runs out of breath. His body stops moving and he looks like he’s already dead. A guard checks his pulse – Choong doesn’t look like he’s dead from hanging but his no-pulse tells the executioners that he’s dead. Jang’s whatever poison gave to Choong shows the use of it now. It slows down the pulse in such a way it can make the consumer appears as a dead person.

Moo Young breaks down and falls to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Her sadness has taken her over she can’t even properly drive her carriage back to the palace. After almost clashing with another carriage she takes off from her carriage then continues on foot with tears streaming down her face. Jang notices her painful sorrow but he says nothing.

Jang returns Choong’s body to his father, who remains stoic and expressionless. He instructs his staff to prepare for the funeral and gives Jang an intriguing stare, a silent recognition of what Jang did. Jang then asks for a private talk with General Yeon in which he says, “Protecting Goguryeo and the royal family is my destiny.” To protect Goguryeo there mustn’t any more conflict  between General Yeon and the king, that’s why Jang decides that he took action by bringing Yeon’s son to him. Alive.

In the chamber where Choong’s body is laid, General Yeon’s guard shocks when he finds out that the dead guy isn’t really dead. When he hears Choong gasps for air, he immediately walks out of the room and report it to the General. He explains all Jang’s actions to prevent Choong’s dead;  the mysterious poison has given to slow down Choong’s pulse, and how something stuck into the noose to stop it tightened choking him.

General Yeon accepts the news calmly, and reminds his guard that no one should know about it. The fake death indeed is planned. To carry it on like it’s real, General Yeon insists to hold a small funeral for his son. He visits him in the chamber that night while Choong receives acupuncture treatment and thinks to himself while he staring at his son, “You’ve come home.” Ok, that’s big, that statement. Do you love or you don’t love your boy General?

Choong wakes up slowly in a hard way just like a man who suppose to be dead comes back to live. He inhales the air painfully and lets a tear roll down while he accepts the fact that he’s alive. When his father leaves the room after checking his health, Choong opens his eyes and another tear shows up. This time is a tear for Moo Young, as Choong remembers how unbearably the princess cried for him.

In her room sad Moo Young wrapped herself in bed, her meal is left uneaten and she still in tears. All she can think is the sight of Choong hanging limp from the noose, and she cries hard all over again. The king visits her, knows very well the daughter he loves very much is brokenhearted now. However, he has to remind her, “You must not forget that you are a daughter of Goguryeo before you are my daughter.”

Moo Young argues the King decision in killing Choong, she can’t accept the idea that the cruel punishment is just an instrument for the king to show his authority over the nobles. That the king scares to no one. Moo Young tries to make her father understand how it’s wounding for her seeing the person she cares about died like that, but the king replies that as royalty she can’t afford to feel sadness or pain.

“Are you saying that a royal must live without any feelings?” she asks. “Has that been your life, Father?” Her father’s facial expression points out how it’s true for him. That’s something Moo Young disagrees and she promises she won’t live like that. The king can’t protest when she declares that she’ll go see Choong for the last time, especially when she says nothing in this world even the king can stop her heart: “This is all I can do for him.”

Finally General Yeon meets Choong and after asking his health condition he utters, “You chose the royal family, but that was not your path. A member of the Yeon family does not go off one’s path.” Choong asks whether it means that he’s a member of the Yeon family now. His father doesn’t answer and instead tells him that he can choose to stay or leave. On the other hand he kinda reminds his son that his ties with the royal family have ended.

Moo Young comes up for the funeral with Jang guards her, both the General and him share these knowing looks while the princess cries her heart out and caresses Choong’s clothes over his empty casket. In the meantime Choong walks his way through his father’s home, and stops midway when he sees Moo Young stands crying to his coffin.

General Yeon and Jang are so worried that Choong might decide to show himself to her. But when she does turn around, Choong hides. And he keeps hiding until the princess walks home, only shows up silently behind watching her leaves. Before she goes home Moo Young speaks to the General, saying how she wishes for no more conflict between him and her dad, “I think that’s what we can do for your lost son. Your son would have agreed with me.”

At the gates, Moo Young tells Jang to go back to the palace first. Still in very deep grief for losing the man she loves, she decides to walks through all different parts of the city village where she has her special memories with Choong. She wants to relive them all.

She doesn’t know that Choong actually follows her, just far enough not to be seen. His father’s words how now his relationship with the royal family has ended remains in Choong’s head, holding him to show himself to her. Moo Young then visits the inn where she and Choong played their word game, and sits there alone thinking, “I will only remember the good memories between us. In my heart, only your happy face will remain.”

Her walk brings her back to the hair accessory stall where they first met and while she’s so deep in thought, Choong passes right behind her to slide a hairpin into her hand before disappearing into the crowd. Moo Young only notices the hairpin in her hand until a few seconds later, and recognizes that it’s the very same hairpin she gifted him on the night of the festival. It’s definitely his, and she jumps at the possibility that he could be alive. Frantically, she starts looking around for him.

Choong goes to the inn she just visited, he sadly remembers the word game she played which is a cute way of her to confess her one-sided love. At that time he pretends like he couldn’t understand to avoid an awkward situation. He’s too care for her to hurt her feelings but he can’t accept them too. He knows his position, he‘s the one who should guard and protect her, in any way.

In General Yeon’s residents what everybody worries happened. The General decides to retaliate. In the mean time the Geumhwadan (the secret group that protects the king) gather its members. They are : Mole-man BOO-CHI, gambler SEOL-YOUNG, femme warrior YOUNG-HAE, and lastly is, Shi-woo. They’re gathered because the king knows that General Yeon will surely planning something for revenge, and their job is to find out his retaliation plan.

The gang leader, Leader So, and gambler Seol-young show up at General Yeon’s resident to cause trouble to distract the guards. After fishing all the guards outside, the rest of the Geumhwadan members are able to sneak into the house. But it’s Shi-woo who slips inside into  General Yeon’s dining room and hides himself in a big potted plant.

That night General Yeon and his supporters plan their moves to start the revolution. It will begin on the day of the ceremony to install the crown prince as successor to the crown. The scene shows how they expect the plan will be executed. They’ve planned it into the exact hour, which for each certain hour one group of men will infiltrate the palace so later they can ambush at the ceremony site. General Yeon and his people found a way to hide swords in flagpoles, ready to fight the king’s army.

They never know that Shi-woo is able to hear all the plan from his hiding place. Even further to how they plan to have another group scaling the northern palace walls to make way for the rebels small army.

Moo Young visits General Yeon again, clutching Choong’s hairpin she says: “I believe your son is alive.” She assures him that she won’t tell anyone that Choong’s still alive. “If he is here, please let me meet him. I beg you.” Nonetheless, General Yeon sticks to his story that his son is really already dead.

Later Dad confronts Son for hinting the princess that he’s alive. Choongs says he at least still doesn’t show himself to her, and General Yeon demands him to cut his ties with Mu-young completely, something Choong totally opposes. “The princess is the most important person I’ve come to know in my life. To sever a person like that from me? I can’t.” He adds that he won’t live like his father, because he’ll protect what’s precious to him.

Again, the General reminds him what it takes to get into the Yeon family, and Choong replies in an absolute grit: “If the only way to become a member of the Yeon family is to abandon someone precious to me, then I will leave the family instead.”

Choong watches Moo Young from a distance, “Though I cannot appear in front of you,” he thinks aloud, “when everything is settled, I will find you.” He hopes that Moo Young stops being in pain anymore because now she knows that he lives.

Moo Young search to confirm that her beloved one is actually still alive brings her back to the inn, then when she’ about to leave she almost misses a new character is written on the wall—it’s the answer to the Hanja word game she asked Choong: “What about the character where the words inside one’s heart are confined by threads?”

He didn’t answer her at that time, but he does now. There’s only one person who would write the character and suits with what she asked earlier. His answer: The Hanja character for Yeon, meaning “heart that loves.”

Now Moo Young knows he’s alive.

Cr to Newsen and The Blade And Petal Soompi Forum

In the prison Moo Young listens as Choong tells the  truth, but not before she reminds him first, “Do not expect forgiveness or kindness. I will not forgive you. I will not show any kindness to you. Do not expect that your head may be spared or that you may not be killed. Your head will be cut off, and you will die.”

Realizing that this might be his last time to explain why he lied to the princess, Choong decides to be completely honest with her. He tells her he lives only to see his father after he and his mother were abandoned just because they’re slaves. Despite he tried so many times to see the General, his comings were always rejected so he grabbed the only chance he can to meet him by taking the assassin job. Choong admits he’s so devastated he didn’t have any conscience whether what he did was right or wrong.

Choong tells her although he was still rejected by his dad, his decision to be a palace guard is a way to make his own fate. He wants to be someone success and worth to acknowledge even without a father to support along the way. Bitterly Choong chuckles, “Is fate really something you can’t escape from?” He tried to get away from his fate as General Yeon’s illegitimate son, yet just for the same reason he’s gonna be executed.

Moo Young asks him if he isn’t afraid of death, but he answers that now he’ll be dying as his father’s son then he has no regrets. The thing that bothers him the most is how everything he did ends up hurting the feeling of a person who trusts and supports him, Moo Young. He never wants to hurt her, but in the end he hurts her so much it’s unforgiveable.

All the members of the secret group serving the king found out about Choong’s family ties, and Shi-woo pities the princess for falling to such a complicated man. But what worries them more is how Choong’s upcoming execution can be a reason for General Yeon to plan something big against the King.

Jang visits General Yeon and they openly discuss about the situation with Choong. General Yeon throws the simple truth: “If he were a spy, he wouldn’t have tried to save the lives of the princess and the prince.” The General says though Choong thinks he’s behind the assassination attempt but Choong keeps silent about it to protect him. The General admits that he wasn’t responsible for the attempt. General Yeon closes their conversation by offering Jang to come across to his side, as his crown prince candidate.

Jang is mad at first with that offer, but slowly the idea begins to root in him. He asks Choong whether it’s true that Choong saved the prince and princess from an assassination attempt, because if it’s true then he’ll save Choong’s life. Still Choong denies the attempt to keep protecting his father.

No matter how Moo Young seems to give up on Choong, she forgives him and tries to look ways to save him. She discuss her thoughts to Jang, but he sighs telling her that none of them will work. She tells Jang that she feels responsible for Choong’s fatal punishment, how Choong actually had decided to leave Pyongyang but then he stays because she made him to. If she didn’t do that, Choong wouldn’t be facing his death now.

I don’t know if Jang tries his best to avoid Choong’s penalty because what General Yeon offered him, but he tells her the truth—that Choong saved her and her brother from assassination. I think he knows that Moo Young most probably will use this information to plea with the King to let Choong free. Jang is right. Moo Young goes to the King but all she said is useless. King doesn’t want to change his decision because he wants to use this opportunity as a warning to anyone who tries to oppose him.

Devastated and helpless, Moo Young visits Choong again in the prison. However she feels so lost she can’t face him so she turns around and about to leave, just in time that Choong sees her. Feeling his eyes staring at her, she turns back and this time she goes to his cell. “I don’t think I can just let you go like this,” she admits. A tear falls from Choong as he replies, “Knowing how you feel is enough for me.”

She sheds her tears, “It’s not enough for me.” She puts her hands to the wooden bars of the cell as she puts all her love and her heart for that man. Choong finally stops controlling himself anymore, he stops holding back. He reaches her hands, accepts her love, and cries for them both. He never wants her to go through this all and gives her such pain.

Moo Young runs home but stumbles midway when a conversation with her brother flashes to her mind. The prince told his sister about a secret passageway in the prison leading to the outside. Few moments later, a man comes to the prison and after a chit chat with one of the guard, he took Choong’s cell key and change it with a fake then releases a butterfly into the prison. The butterfly will  find the secret way while it flies for fresh air. Moo Young is ready outside waiting to spot the butterfly, and when she does she finally finds the hidden passageway.

That night the king talks with the crown prince discussing his problem with General Yeon. The crown prince believes that there’s another road or solution, something his father doesn’t agree. He notes that the prince likes Choong, and the prince simply says that because he finds he can talks well with him. Suddenly the King senses something and asks if his sister sends him to the King to do a favor. The prince becomes anxious, showing that King’s guess is correct. Meanwhile Moo Young finds the way to Choong’s cell.

She waits until the prison guard walks away from the cell, then she throws a dagger into Choong’s cell. And the King now wants to see Moo Young to chat with her, makes the prince frantically tries to stop him. If the King goes to his sister’s room and finds out that she’s gone, it can be fatal for her.

Choong at first wants to take the knife, but when he catches that it’s Moo Young who is ready to save him, he looks shocked. It seems that Choong won’t think twice to save himself if it’s somebody else saving him, but since it’s the princess herself he doesn’t want anything goes wrong for her.

Quickly Moo Young inserts the key she has to the cell, but it won’t open. It seems she gets the wrong key. She keeps trying, trying, and trying, but the lock remains unharmed. While she desperately tries to unlock the door, Choong silently just wants her to give up and leave the dangerous place immediately. Moo Young was frustrated and cries for her failed prison break, nonetheless Choong gives her a deep peaceful look. He knows she did tried her best and how she wants him to be free. He knows she does that all because of love.

Moo Young returns to the palace and surprised to see his father awaits for her. But no matter how she kneels down to beg for Choong’s life, the king is unmoved. The king does the same the same thing when General Yeon seeks an audience with the King, most probably to ask him to free his son. But the King refuses to meet him and conveys his message through Jang.

Before leaving the palace, General Yeon asks Jang to at least being kindly to him by returning Choong’s body in one piece so that he can be given a proper funeral. Then he asks to see his son for the last time. When finally the General meets his son before he dies, this is what he says: “Many people will be watching you die. If you are a Yeon, you will meet your death with dignity.” Choong accepts this acknowledgement in silence, soon after his father leaves he looks up to the sky as if he wants to tell his mother that finally he’s accepted as one of the Yeon’s family.

In the city square a small crowd has gathered, including his friend Jin-gu, not knowing that one of the executed prisoners is Choong. Moo Young rides her own carriage, racing through the town to see Choong alive for the last time. Choong’s face is uncovered from the white hood, somehow his form of execution is changed—to be hung, not beheaded.

When Choong sees Moo Young in the crowd he looks like he’s in an absolute sadness and wanna say, “Ah, why coming here sweetheart? Why putting yourself into such a terrible sight like this? It’ll hurt so much for you later.”

At home General Yeon stares at the same portraits of his ancestors he likes to spend so much time there. But actually when a certain portrait observed from a certain angle, something surprising shown behind the surface of the portrait. It has a second layer portrait which actually is the painting of Choong’s mother. Very intriguing.

Mu-young sobs in terror, sadness and just absolutely helpless while finally Jang gives the order to start hanging Choong. It’s painful to see when the noose immediately tightened around Choong’s neck and he gasps for air. Moo Young steels herself in tears, watching the love of her life dying in front of her.

Cr to Newsen and The Blade And Petal Official Thread Soompi Forum

The prime minister announces that they will celebrating the Dongmyeong Festival and a harvest festival. The  next day, King Yeoung Nyu leads the royal family and all the councilmen in a prayer ceremony for the coming year’s harvest. He then announces that the crown prince’s official installation ceremony will take place fifteen days after the Dongmyeong Festival, and that the prince will perform his martial arts skills on the last day.

Moo Young spies Choong walking in the palace and pretends that she is just around to let Choong sees and calls her. She talks about Choong’s day off and asks how he plans to spend it tries to get a chance that Choong might invite her but he unfortunately says that he has a friend downtown to meet. Moo Young then asks him to buy a book while he is in downtown. At the market Choong bumps into  stranger warrior which intrigues Choong’s caution.

Choong actually meets his buddy Jin Gu who all this time takes care of him. Happy to see how his old friend now turns into such a guard for the royal family, Jin Gu takes him out for a drink to celebrate it. On the way to the place they want to visit Choong catches a glimpse of the stranger he was bumped into. Choong sees the stranger is seeing Ohn Sa-moon, one of the ministers from General Yeon’s side. Choong accidentally overhears a part of their conversation, “On the last day of the festival, when the performance reaches its climax, a raven will soar and the descendants of the sun and river will fall.”

Too bad his friend then appears and gets him out of the place.The stranger is actually an assassin hires by Minister Ohn to kill the prince and princess. The minister tells him that the perfect time to assassinate the royal siblings is on the first day of the harvest festival, when tradition dictates that they will dress as commoners for a day to mingle with the people.

Moo Young tries her best to convince her brother to let Choong prepares him for his martial art skill performance, but clearly the crown prince has no interest both to practice or neither to perform. Choong steps forward, persuades the prince with his own way. He calmly rolls all the prince’s paintings, and coldly states that the king authorized him to use any means necessary to train the crown prince. And if the prince refused, he’s approved by the King himself to burn all his paintings.

The prince gets angry by Choong’s action and threatened him with a sword. Choong doesn’t even move and tells him that martial arts is about protecting what one loves and cherishes. Choong’s words touches the prince and he demands to be left alone to think. Few moments later he meets Choong in the practice room where he finds Choong is reading a book which happens to be one of the prince’s fave books. The book is actually the one Moo Young asked Choong to get in the market. She smartly planned that the prince might want to listen to Choong more if he finds out that he and Choong shares the same interest. In General Yeon’s resident, his loyal guard reports him that Choong now becomes the prince’s martial art instructor. The general then instructs his guard to convey a letter to his son in person. Hmmmm, intriguing.

Choong leads the prince and princess for their mingle-with-the-commoners-night tradition and begins alert when he notices the sight of the suspicious stranger he met in the market. The streets  are energetic with the festive spirit which seem to catch the royal siblings too. While they are taking a stroll in the street, a gisaeng grabs the prince’s arm, tries her best to get her guest for the night. The prince manages to escape and walks out from the gisaeng house. Then he  sees how Moo Young enjoys the street performances with Choong beside her. The prince smiles, noticing how the two seem to take pleasure in each other companion.

Hiding well from the crowd, the assassin hired by Minister Ohn gets a good spot to aim his poisonous dart to the prince. Unfortunately for him, the prince’s guard moves forward and blocks his sight to the prince …  only it then opens a clear range to hit Moo Young. It’s just such a fortunate night because unknowingly now Choong is the one who fails the assassin’s shot at the princess by keeping at her side.

Sensing a romance is in the air suddenly the prince says that he’s seen the celebration enough, making Moo Young almost sighing for leaving all the festivities. Cute Moo Young almost can’t contain her giddiness when her lil bro tells her that he’ll go back alone to the palace and asks her stay. Again the assassin tries another shot but he completely fails when the dart he spurts hits a cargo instead. The prince stays safe, and Moo Young enjoys the night with her broody hot guard.

The princess spots a street fortune teller and wants to hear what he says. Taking Choong’s hand to the stall she stops there, making the fortune teller guy thinks that they are a couple therefore insists to read their future. The fortune teller asks them to throw a dice together and then read what the dice says to them. It’s so funny, the dice predicts that if Moo Young and Choong spends a night together in the full moon then they will have a son! Whoohoo.

Moo Young and Choong have no idea that all the time they are watched by Cousin Jang. At that time, while the two lovers sheepishly smile to each other at the thought of that surprising prediction, a street boy steals Choong’s sword. Without thinking, Choong grabs Moo Young’s hand and together they chase after that kid through the crowded streets. Moo Young thrills with the sensation of holding hand with Choong, while all Choong thinks is that he needs to get his sword back but at the same time he still has to guard the princess. They lose the boy, but suddenly General Yeon’s guard appears and gives Choong his sword back. Cousin Jang sees all the exchange and looks troubled.

Choong showed Moo Young the place he used to live, makes her wonders how nice it must have been for him to be able to come and go whenever he pleased. Choong responds with, “Though you’re always smiling, I know that you’re heavily burdened in the palace,” he understands her well now. In a chat with her, then Choong reveals that he had a mother.

While they’re chatting Moo Young notices some word games carved in the wall and then tries to play some with him, giving him clues and ask him to guess the full character. He gets the easier ones, so she gives him the more the difficult question and this time she expresses what she feels through the word game. She asks, “What about the character where the words inside one’s heart are confined by threads?” (The character means love and yearning). Choong looks he doesn’t know the answer but I guess he does though, he just doesn’t want to get them both into an uncomfortable situation. He is the one who knows best that their romantic relationship might not bring them anywhere but dead end.

After they come home to the palace Choong goes to the backyard and quietly finds his father’s letter is  attached to his sword. Basically his general dad disagrees with his staying in the palace. He burns the letter, unknowing that Jang secretly watches him from behind. Choong perks up when Moo Young unexpectedly appears. She asks what he just burned, but Choong distracts her by asking why she comes to meet him there. It turns out that she just wants to give him a gift, a hairpin she bought at the market. The one actually Choong chose at the same day they met at the accessory shop. She is thankful that Choong able to persuade the prince to take part in the martial art skill performance.

The next day the prince and Choong start their training day.  Choong teaches him about learning his opponent moves to block their attacks and then defeat them. Jang visited the practice room and somehow Choong’s fighting style reminds him of almost similar movements from the fight he had in the rain with the masked assassin.

Moo Young comes by to train too, and now the prince convinced that his martial art instructor and his sister like each other. He tells Choong a story about his beloved sister, letting him know more about the woman he likes. In a flashback it showed how Moo Young demonstrated her sword fighting skills in front of their King dad, all the minister and also foreign delegates. She won, and everybody rejoice at the thought of how powerful their princess is. But she isn’t. Later when her brother visited her with a bunch of lovely flower, he found out how the fight wounded his sister. In a banquet with the King and the statesmen the princess perfectly hid her wound and appears in from of everybody as the royal princess their country can proud of.

The prince tells Choong how he refuses to fight not because he’s afraid but it’s just that he hates fighting. He never does what he doesn’t want to, but his sister selflessly does anything she can for him, for her father, for their country. Amazed with what he finds about the princess, Choong promises, “You’re not alone, Princess. I will be by your side.”

On the last day of the Festival Day, the royal family enters the meeting hall filled with all the councilmen dressed to enjoy a special performance. The poisonous assassin is among the performers disguises as a crow dancer. The prince opens the gala with his martial art performance and successfully defeat his opponent, he glanced a thankful look to Choong who received that with a smile and a bow. Then a traditional acting troupe come to the stage, performing a show. They’re this sophistication and just beyond gorgeous to stare at.

While the performance takes place, Choong notices how anxious Minister Ohn in his seat. His anxiousness triggers an extreme caution to Choong, makes Choong watches every move with sharp eyes. He sees how Minister Ohn then talks to his dad, and now he also sees the assassin backstage.

Suddenly it’s clear for Choong that Minister Ohn hires an assassin to kill the royal siblings. So when the assassin who disguises as one of the raven performer shows up and tries to shoot his poisonous pills Choong is ready and flies to the center of the room to block the attacks.

The assassin fights Choong back and slices Choong’s arm at the same place Jang has wounded him. The fight finishes when Choong cuts the silk used by the assassin to dangle, make him falls flat to the ground.

Because the fight is so sudden, no one can really understand what just happened, not to mention how the King is so mad at Choong’s abrupt interruption. He demands to know why Choong ruined the performance, and Choong frantically tries to defend himself as best as he can without involving his general father.

He can’t reveal that there is an attempt to murder the royal descendants because immediately the attempt will be related to his father as the King’s biggest enemy. So he protects his dad by lying that he just misunderstood the situation and thought that there was a threat to the royal family. Both Moo Young and the prince do their best to defend Choong, explaining that it was a mistake he made out of a loyal spirit from a guard to protect the royal family. At first everything seems to be solved smoothly when the King accepts their explanation and wants to let the case as it is.

But it’s just not a good day for Choong indeed. Jang speaks up and revealing a hidden old wound on Choong’s arm, recognizing the wound he gave to the mysterious assassin who killed the attackers to royal convoy back then. The king then turns to Choong to ask him if he infiltrated the palace as a spy. Moo Young is so surprised with all this and pleads Choong to say that the accusation is wrong. Choong keeps silent because he doesn’t know what to do to get out of this situation without involving his dad but everybody takes this as a statement from Choong that he is indeed a spy.

Choong then replies that he came to the palace as a guard and that he really isn’t a spy, but when Moo Young asks him why he has a wound from Jang’s sword, Choong can only say that he had a reason for doing what he did that day. Choong keep denying the spy accusation on him but then Jang throws down a huge fact. That Choong made contact with General Yeon through a letter which then he burned so nobody will know.

Choong can’t let himself to keep being accused as spy because it will lead to an idea that his father is a rebel who wants to kill the royal family. So finally he decides to say the truth. That he’s an illegitimate son of General Yeon. Everybody is shocked with this confession, and it seems that it hurts Moo Young the most. The man she loves is a man she doesn’t know anything. Choong carefully approached her, hid the fact from the very beginning that he knew she’s a princess, and he’s the son of her father greatest enemy.

The king uses this opportunity to hit General Yeon. He announces that Choong is gonna be beheaded under the law, to see how the general is going to react. The general does his best though to defend Choong. He knows his son knows about the plan from his side to murder the royal descendants. He rejected the poor kid, refuses to acknowledge him as his son. But the kid is still loyal to him. Loyal enough to put his life in danger to be beheaded rather than revealing the murder plan.

When the King still questions the truth about Choong being his son but works as a palace guard General Yeon says, “I have nothing to do with him. He is of my blood, but he’s never been part of the Yeon family and is an illegitimate child without a name.” The General’s statement shocked everybody, and we can see how it hurts Choong.

Despite General Yeon’s statement to defend Choong’s life and clear the accusation, the king decrees that Choong will be beheaded in the middle of the capital square in public.

Cr to Naver and Newsen

She then puts an apple on her head and stays very still while few meters  away in front of her Choong prepares to shoot his arrows blindfolded. Even though Moo Young logically worries for her safety, she puts utmost trust to Choong and bravely lets him shoots his arrows.

The crowd break with cheers when Choong succeeded shooting the apple and his best buddy-manager gives Moo Young half of their earn as they promised, but while Moo Young takes the money she sees Choong leaves. She runs after him, clearly looks for any chance to have a small chat with the guy she has a crush so much. She wants to give the money back saying it’s better for the one who needs it but Choong insists that the money is hers now because that was promised to her.

Seeing that she can talk more with him, Moo  Young tells Choong she thinks his excellent martial art skills should be used for a better advantage, like being a palace guard. Choong looks like he tries his best not to smile and teases her saying, “Yeah, your guard to be exact, right babe?”, luckily he knows to use his head and shuts his mouth. He seems to ignore her offer but then he turns around and looks back at her in deep thought.

The next day a senior palace guard announces the palace is seeking for new palace guards and everybody above 15 years old and have good martial art skills can try over and the good thing is, slaves are allowed to participate in the test too. Choong hears the announcement and seems like he considers to join the test.

In the palace another hot debate takes place. King Yeong Nyu wants to send Crown Prince to Tang as a symbol of peace in order to prevent war. The king believes that sending a peace delegation is an honorable act representing peace and a willingness to compromise though what the King wants is to buy more time to prepare their best for the upcoming war, on the contrary General Yeon’s party thinking it’s just a coward move. Meanwhile in a different place, 49 applicants for the palace guards test gathering to receive a briefing about their test. Choong is one of them, and far back from the participants Moo Young sneaks around to see if Choong takes the test. She smiles when she finally sees him there.

The first test for the palace guard applicants is; they will be divided into 7 teams consist of 7 men and will be put into a prison just so they can fight the prisoners. The prisoners themselves are promised to be freed if they can take down the applicants, so basically it is a life and dead survival game. Back to the palace, the King somehow sees that a most recent Tang attack is a great reason to fasten the wall building and a perfect opportunity to send General Yeon out of the country. The King says General Yeon is the most eligible person to supervise the wall building. Refuses to back down without fighting, General Yeon argues that such a big decision should come from a grand ministers meeting instead of just the King’s solely decision.

Choong passes the test first round then with some other applicants begins the second and the final phase of the test, in form of more extreme survival test. Basically they have to shoot an arrow with the same color of ribbon tied to their arm only after they able to cross a high steep cliff, then they must swim across the sea and pulls the flag tied on a buoy there if they can dive down to get it, the flag has to be the same color with their arm ribbon too because each applicant has different color as their code. The first one success showing their flag above the sea water, is the chosen palace guard who will later assigned to personally guard the royal family member.

Choong’s wounded arm from his fight with Moo Young and Cousin Jang weakened him, not to mention that other fellow applicants try to slow him down by attacking him. Nevertheless Choong’s memory of his beloved mother gives him strength and finally Choong able to shoot his arrow and maintains his leading position in the test.

He dives into the sea but he is so tired he loses his consciousness and unable to pull his flag. However,  Moo Young who secretly watches him from distance jumps in to help him and reach the flag for Choong. Cousin Jang and the senior palace guard sees Choong’s red flag and declare he passes the test, unknowing that it’s Moo Young actually in the water.

Moo Young lays Choong on a beach to let him gain his conscious back and a young man, Shi Woo, from the King secret organization, appears. He wonders why Moo Young is so keen to help such an unknown man like Choong, he asks whether actually Moo Young has feeling for him. Moo Young sincerely answers that yes, she has a feeling for him. A feeling moves her so much, so even if she doesn’t know him very well she can’t help not to help him. Choong silently opens his eyes, he hears everything.

Choong who at first wants to take advantage from Moo Young’s crush thinks that it’s just so dishonest for him to move further as a palace guard, especially since his pass is helped by Moo Young. He believes he cheated, so he gives up the position and decides to leave Pyongyang. Moo Young hears this and immediately chases him, refuses to just simply let him go. She feels defeated after Choong explained how he tried to take advantage of her feeling but then she flares back, “You only care about yourself, your own feelings. You don’t consider feelings of the other person who show him kindness.”

In the evening King meets his prime minister to discuss about the last development. The prime minister somehow gets an impression that King wants to eliminate General Yeon and preserves his prime minister position in the palace. Never occurs to him that King and General Yeon secretly are plotting a move, an assassin is sent to kill him that night so then both King and General Yeon can get what they want. A new prime minister election for the General, and the crown prince instalation for the King, a win win solution for the two parties. Which is ironic because actually the prime minister himself sends some other assassins to kill General Yeon at the same time. Though they’re just all killed by General Yeon’s mighty guard.

The death of the prime minister makes the palace pepares for the prime minister election. Both King and General Yeon’s party frantically try to get support from General Yang Moon, a general who represents the neutral party to balance the power of the two giant forces in the palace. General Yang is a hidden force for each party to gain in order to ensure victory in the election.

General Yang refuses to meet the King because he disappoints after finding out that King is behind the action of killing the prime minister just so the King can maintains status quo with General Yeon. However, Moo Young’s determination takes her to see General Yang and finally convinces him to keep supporting the King. On the other hand, General Yang refuses meeting General Yeon, leaving him in a gloom.

The surprise thing is, when Moo Young leaves General Yang’s house the guard who is waiting for her outside is Choong. In a short flashback we get that Choong finally reconsiders Moo Young’s word and realizes how insolent he is to someone that kind to him. So he comes back to the palace and claims his position, he then is assigned as Moo Young’s personal bodyguard.

Choong begins to understand the princess more and how she is also a statesman, she cares about palace/state matter too and not just a spoiled princess. Unknowing that Choong is actually General Yeon’s son, Moo Young says how she hates the General for always against the King’s decision and maybe it is better for the country if the General is dead. Choong doesn’t know how to respond to her statement and keeps silent. When she asks about his father, Choong says though he is alive but his father isn’t a family for him.

The next day the prime minister selection begins. King busily concentrating with his giant calligraphy to less his stress and Moo Young anxiously waiting in her chamber accompanied by Choong. When  it’s the last batch time to vote after both parties have their turns, General Yang puts his vote for King’s prime minister candidate, hinting a victory for the King’s side because it means the neutral party will vote for King’s side.

Alas, something unpredictable happens. The other ministers from General Yang’s supposed to be neutral party all vote for General Yeon’s candidate. The new appointed prime minister is from General Yeon’s people.  As General Yeon about to leave the hall assuming that he wins, there is this shocking twist. The newly chosen prime minister announces that he commands General Yeon to go to the border to supervise the wall building.

General Yeon’s candidate has backstabbed him. The King wickedly blackmailed General Yeon’s man, pulling him into King’s side. Standing in shock General Yeon has to face another huge hit. Choong, his rejected illegitimate bastard son stands right in front of him, dressed in the official palace guard uniform.

The last scene we see is how surprised Moo Young when she finds out how Choong sits in the court hall with her father greatest enemy, General Yeon. Choong can only looks at her, guilty is seen on his face.

Credits to Daum  and Naver