Lady Macbeth is what she reminded me of too - she is already morning the Princess, doing what she thinks is necessary evil (apparently it's easier to get rid of royals than it is to rid of wicket murdering ministers).

@minniegupta1 I need them to explain, soon, why the Queen has the ability to order an assassination that easily and never did it to Councilor Jo home she loathes but does so on a drop to the Princess whom she appears to even love on some level? What’s happening?

@happyokaytales, I assume Queen wants to get rid of uncle dearest by framing him for Hwan's death and having him to be publicly executed for treason. She said as much - simple death is not enough, only thorough public humiliation, long suffering and begging in tears for final mercy will do. And I think she wants him to know who exactly orchestrated his downfall. Lady has been polishing her gloat speech for a decade now!

@happyokaytales It's quitge apparent - for all the power they seem to possess, the royals are just puppets, solely surviving on devotion and loyalty of others. A killed minister of Jo's nature would bring the wrath of entire Jo clan who can easily oust the King, spilt open a succession war and destabilize the kingdom, but a Princess dissappearing would not have much repurcussion. The previous Crown prince dropped dead, the current crown prince was nearly deposed and had close shave so many times, and not even a ripple in the Kingdom. Heck, the king is so weak that despite knowing someone tried to actually kill his ultra talented and uber brave son, yet he did not even try to find out who was behind it. It's outrageous how weak he truly is as a king. Little Go Sun Dol has more courage in her little finger than the entire 6 ft something body of the King has.

Hwan, once he becomes the king, will have his work cut out for him.

I find it interesting how they have characterised the current king and juxtaposed him with a super strong crown prince. It's something that can repeatedly found in Josean history where there were Kings who were nincompoop puppets producing off springs who went on to become some of the greatest kings they had. While this story might be fictional, the terribly tragic lives of many of these royals was a reality .

Yup, I also caught that and thought it was a translation error... hmmm

Yes I had likewise dismissed it as an error, but I've listened to it again a few times and think it did say chief minister - viki's korean subtitles haven't gone up yet but will doublecheck when do.

But have to say chief minister's involvement in the rebellion wouldn't altogether surprise me - I've been worried ever since king gave him military forces rights. And he keeps repeating that Left Minister's neck is on the line - was the selection of the niece a set up to take out Left State Minister (and if so, by King or Chief State Minister or both???).

In turns of ultimate outcomes, I can also see it as a very convenient way of finding a partner for Myunjin (who under Kdrama rules has to find a partner by the end of the show!) - family punished for treason but he is spared due to help to the cause, but made a commoner; Garam freed and so they can marry (or happily investigate together...).

Now with this I agree whole heartedly. We need the volcano eruption. (If 'Happiness' is anything to go by, PHS is more than capable of delivering alpha fury in style), inside as well as outside of the...err...library.

@minniegupta1, I want him to go completely off rails tbh - loudly refuse to sit still and be married off, kick some Jo folks where it hurts, threaten the whole court into wet pants submission with that beaming fake smile of his, personally lead his guards into capital defense battle, scare the whole palace while barking orders in his top kingly voice, drown the court lady that spied on him in that pond, makeout with Jaeyi right in daddy dearest's shocked face before announcing he's marrying her and only her, spit on Queen's skirt and call her a snake, force feed the creepy monk all the poisonous flowers that can be found in Joseon, toss the King to rebels with "now we're even, finish this and go home" line, strut to and sit on the throne like a winner while still in bloodied clothes, drag Jaeyi into "library" caveman style and lock the doors from inside with a final royal vow to behead everyone who dares to bother them in the next few days. Sadly it's highly unlikely we'll get even 25% of that, but a girl can dream)))

@gikata: OMG.....this is what perfect fangirl fantasies are made off. I don't even need to watch this anymore, just imaginng these scenes are giving me a high LOL!!

If he goes off the rails, I am right there with you, and this show is going to be forever on my rerun list.

Cliff of Non-Doom might get a third cameo in this drama. 😂

I don’t think he’s an idol, just super green, and exactly 10 years younger than PHS, who isn’t exactly old himself (they celebrated their bdays together on set), so he is 21. I think his only other credit is as a child actor. So while he’s tall, he’s basically a baby. In one of the BTS, both Sonee and Hyungsik were calling him “agi” and teasing him.

I think it would be really really hard to escape notice going in and out of the palace since he has to identify himself. It's a wonder nobody ever caught on.

*lightbulb moment*
Fakester was last seen heading towards the royal kitchens.... is somebody's lunch being drugged?

I don’t agree with your views. You minimise her agency and make her an appendage to Hwan. The entire point to this series has been to imagine the possibility of empowerment for a young woman - not a girl as that is patronising - such as Jaeyi.
Let’s agree to disagree

@dncingemma: And they have time and again retierated that she could only come so far because of Hwan. Before this she had to hide behind her brother's name. We are equating her ability to be free with the kind of freedom we have today. We need to remember she is happy having a man's name, even a fake one, because that was the only way she could actually speak her mind and be heard, only then she actually has agency. No matter how brave, talented, brilliant and progressive she is, she still could not do much unless she was 'allowed' at the end of the day. Which is why her progress to independence has to come where she can actually exercise it to make those changes for coming generations, give a better world to the child she saved, which might mean she gets next to absolute power beside the future King.

Not much different from the 18th, even 19th century Europe and America where women scientists, poets and writers either hid behind men's names or gave away rights to their work to a male (case in point - Wuthering Heights).

True, those in a nutshell is everything he loves about her.

My sugestion to Crown Prince - Let's upgrade the bracelet to a family heirloom hairpin....

Agree, the childish tantrum was tiresome as well as hurtful and if I were Jae-yi, I'd want something to take the bad taste out of my mouth after that. The benefit of leaving the cakes behind, though, is that they will be a continuing silent reproach to him even after she's out of the room (even if it's a little juvenile of her, too). That kind of payback might be sweeter than the momentary pleasure of eating them.

It was very jerk-ish of him, BUT in the long run, I think, for the better - his self-control is pretty much free-falling now when it comes to her. Every new fight, even petty and hurtful to both sides, just adds more huge cracks to his inner walls. I am no architect, but this fortress of solitude doesn't look like it'll last long...

Half of Joseon will know before he does at this point...

I just hope Jo won't be involved in any dramatic reveals - other than breaking the "fake eunuch" news to King/court which is inevitable - because I'm getting creeps and nausea even thinking about it. Sung On is likely to figure it out himself imo - either everything at once or at least OTP's mutual feelings. He's been picking up clues for a while now - and kind of already mentally preparing himself to be officially dumped based on that talk with his cousin.

@gikata: "Officially dumped" lol!
My guess is soldiers are catching Ga ram soon, and Sung On wringing it out of her more like it. Or maybe follow her and see Hwan and Jay Yi together there and a light bulb moment?

I do foresee some intense face offs between him and Hwan for Jay Yi. That's inevitable.

You think Jo will rattle to King to hold him hostage to discard the Crown Prince? That's making me nauseous :-(

I seriously hope there won't be MUCH drama between Sung On and Hwan. What was the point of her helping to restore their friendship if she's gonna end it for good? Hwan has been suffering for ages now in the name of that friendship, among other things, so Sung On better to consider his noble efforts. If he really needs to have a heated talk with someone over the situation, that's Jaeyi herself. Typical macho showdown over FL won't fit this story at this point - we already had one in form of a polo match, but that was then, when end result wasn't as clear yet. Sung On as he is nowadays is better than that - or I want to believe he is... I don't want Hwan to lose any of them permanently, it's too unfair.

Jo will definitely do something nasty with his "ace card", I'm just not sure what he's waiting for - for Crown Princess to be selected so families of all the rejected girls will be in no mood to forgive Hwan's misconduct? He also totally will present the issue in the most sordid way possible. That's where real nausea comes from...

I think Sung On pretty quickly will catch on where the actual resistance is coming from if it at all goes to that.

There will be some resistance to Hwan for sure, because it will be hard for Hwan to explain why she was not sent packing to Sung On right from the beginning - a subject can't really tell your majesty what they want - even to his own ears that would be unconvincing. Truth is, he could have sent her to Seargent right off the bat, and continued to investigate everything after that (even if Seargent wasn't his most trusted guy at that time, he would not have harmed Jay Yi, that Hwan knows).

But one volley of "You bastard" and my guess is our Crown Prince was lost. Forever. So he conveniently kept pushing the onus onto her, hoping she would never take it. She didn't. Now with this 'third' secret love over his martyred ass' as you so aply put @gikata, he is not even sure he wants to send her anywhere at all! So Sung On will resent Hwan to some degree, until he realizes where the actual resistance is coming from. He has not been at the end of Jay-Yi's famous temper up until now. His 'maiden' is no ordinary maiden, and to hot for anyone but Hwan to handle. He will be pretty quick to step out of the scorching heat the path will blaze if our dorky CP even tries "Go to Seargent' line one more time to Jay Yi.

Sigh! It will be fun watch. I hope the writers are planning some of these things.

I still don't like the idea of any serious confrontation between guys. Hwan has been steeling himself into letting Jaeyi go when time comes since day 1 which already took a great toll on him. Adding to that fear of loosing his just re-found friend - all while any hopes of future with Jaeyi are non-existent - sounds like too much pain at once for me. If show really needs to stab our hearts with that, make it quick and call anesthesiologist beforehand!

Btw Hwan already sort of explained his actions - by telling Sung On he investigates the case out of respect/duty for his late teacher. That's a valid excuse - and Sung On will have to swallow it, unless Hwan in his usual fashion tries to put all the blame on himself, insisting it was him who indecently and selfishly held onto Jaeyi because... long panicked pause... cue the woman in question, thoroughly shocked by what she just heard and very interested in hearing the rest)))

If you bypass everything and just watch their moments together, their relationship progress is slow but very steady. She literally told him she loved him, and all he could do was throw a tantrum because he is so jealous of himself. Poor guy is still very low on self esteem when it comes to relationships. He now trusts other people but can't see the goodness he himself possesses.

@minniegupta1, it's interesting how everyone feels the need to play advocate for Hwan but barely anyone digs deep into Jaeyi's behavior when it's her who's the weirder one here))) What exactly stops her from spilling the beans right to his royally shocked face? His marriage? Wasn't a pressing matter 2 episodes ago. His insistence of her returning to Sung On? He's given up on that after her first "I love another" claim. His petty jealousy? Well, most of that she caused herself with non-confession confession, and only keeps adding more fuel. Her feminine shyness and desire to leave the biggest step to a man to make? After everything she's said and done up until this point? Girl's all talk and no action then!

@Gikata I think for JaeYi she isn’t sure he likes her any more than as a loyal subject and friend. He has always been very careful/guarded around her even when she asked him if he would think about her after they separate. He said maybe occasionally he’ll be reminded of her. Sure doesn’t sound like much pining from her perspective unlike her daily thinking of him when the sun rises.

He seems to have accepted the upcoming marriage and it’s really starting with the candidates arrival and all… so I think she doesn’t want to cause him more suffering by confessing now when it is pretty hopeless anyway. If we can’t see the path forward even when we know how crazy he is about her, how could she without much of an inkling of his feelings. At least not with the current court trying to find any excuse to dethrone him and the strict requirements for the crown princess.

I don't mind a little angst, but I tend to be (perhaps too) harsh when there some combination of noble idiocy and overly-chaste stupidity, which I see in the Prince's willful failure to read the signals that Jaeyi is giving him. And @gikata I'm with you, up to a point. But in defense of the writing of Jae-yi's character, the stubbornness, already revealed to be part of Jaeyi's character must come into play here--a feeling that if he doesn't get it, then he really isn't committed enough himself.

@gikata: I think at this point it's more self preservation. She knows his hands are tied, assuming she thought they would have a bit more time to develop if his marriage had not been announced right away.

As I have mentioned before, a lot of her behavior can be contradictory because of her conservative upbringing. It's easy for her to say generic shocking things, but difficult to voice anything that is personal.

She is independent in spirit, but she never truly sought an independent life for herself. She is the kind of girl who always knew where she had to be when the drinking was over. She ran around catching theives and murderers, and yet was perfectly chill marrying an unknown guy and then assigning herself to 'darning socks' in her own language. She is still a virgin, so elemental shyness given the society she has been raised in is a more natural than we can think in our modern times. Proposing a Crown Prince is not easy, and she also might have these tiny tiny doubts in her mind - what if he does not appreciate? After all he kept sending her off to the Seargent everytime they got some alone time.

She also has quite a bit of self respect. I don't blame her. The bloke needs to walk at least quater way to meet her. All he does is talk in his head, send her to seargent, and throws jealous fits.

@koalatown, why doesn't she just shut the whole discussion down then? He's running frantically in circles because deep down he knows he made the wrong choice. His head and heart are literally dragging him into opposite directions, hence all his back and forth. Why is she playing along with that? Leave it at "my heart, my business" and don't go any further. Hard to argue with someone who doesn't take the bait. Especially when baits in questions are as lame as his)))

@hacja,

the stubbornness, already revealed to be part of Jaeyi's character must come into play here--a feeling that if he doesn't get it, then he really isn't committed enough himself

What an awful logic. I'm glad I'm not the one in love with someone like that. Deliberate mind games in romance are the worst. I've given up on dating altogether because of this very crap...

@minniegupta1, so maiden shyness in the end? Meh. All these "bold, feisty and emancipated" FLs are the same shrinking violets in the end. At least "the bloke" fully stopped loudly announcing grand promises he can't deliver. Even that silly moment with her gift doesn't mean much - I doubt he'll throw the key away like he did with bracelet, that's a bit too expensive even for him)))

I have admired the drama version of Koreans for baldly stating, "I can't help how I feel" before/after unsuccessfully confessing their feelings, even when they suspect it might not go well for them. It's really not something the drama version of westerners would do, as we are busy weaving our emotional and egotistical armour and pretending we're not interested or don't care. (Confess? Moi? Bwhahaha!!).

So even though there may be huge blocks to these two marrying, surely one of them at least should make the shocking "saranghae" announcement because they "can't help how they feel" - unless that brave justification wasn't in common drama use until more recent times.

@gikata: I think yes. Her being fiesty and yet being shy can go hand in hand if we keep in mind the times. Women throwing themselves at men can be deemed loose in many societies even today, and lose respect very fast, even from men who love them. It's complicated. The fact that she can speak so freely to men, meet them in the eye while speaking and not be afraid of body contact could have rendered her 'of loose morals' had her gender been known. It makes her prudent subconciously. She is brave, but not unwise.

She just told him once, and she might have come clean had he not been so adament about sending her to seargent (in fact it was almost a last resort she blurted it out and had she named him, he might have resisted her even harder, considering that was why he was in that painful pushing away mode in the first place) and instead of dropping it (or respecting her choice - what if she truly loved someone else) he is the one who keeps flogging it. At this point she has no intention of taking it anywhere, and she has clearly outlined how she wants to live after she leaves. Not once did she say she would go to a man.

Our green horned guy just cannot get past it. She is resigned to his marriage and he wants her all to himself, his marriage be damned.

I am loving it lol!

@gikata, true. Yes, Hwan may be a dimwit for not realizing or even noticing her almost-confessions.

But Hwan is also being very obvious with his bouts of jealousy. Does Jaeyi not wonder why he keeps bringing it up and gets mad about it? There were times where it even felt like she enjoyed watching him react that way.

Although, she did mention (in her head) that the thing she wanted to say back in Paju (confession?) wasn’t something she wanted to say now when he’s about to get married.

@koalatown: "If we can’t see the path forward even when we know how crazy he is about her, how could she without much of an inkling of his feelings."

Nailed it. She suspects, but she knows even with her 100% in there it won't go anywhere. When he was dying in her arms, it was easy for her to bleed her heart onto him.

Things have changed since. Right now she is watching a parade of beautiful ladies beelining to become the Crown Princess while she sweeps their path - the irony could not have been more painful. The CP is committed to the marriage, do his duty.

" summons the fortitude of years of fierce repression, and prepares to forget he ever heard the word “feelings.” - pretty much sums up our prince charming's current state. Coupled with the fact he never opens up about his feelings to Jay yi (unlike the audience who is practically sitting inside CP's head), she can't but help deflect the volleys he throws. Just one answer on that infamous day - "Would you really be OK is I married Seargent" would have given her the opening. Instead he tells her he saying all of it for her own good.....ugh! He dug his hole deep.

@kaddicted, Hwan himself literally said once "you can't decide who to love" line so maybe drama has the shock of century prepared for us in form of him blurting it out first. It's gonna be HARD to rile him up to that level, but not entirely impossible. His legendary self-control is already in shambles and damage seems to be piling up.

@minniegupta1, ofc he's not having it - dude decided to let her go for the greater good, all high and noble, and she did what? Chose another guy over his martyr ass? To live happily together in the house HE bought for her? Nope! And he WANTS that name - probably to meat grind the guy with his own hands... or personally reassign him to Antarctica at least)))
Just what are we supposed to do with TWO prude clammed up idiots? Push them to each other forcefully?

@mmsik16, if she thinks his FUTURE marriage is a reason to retract her confession, then someone has to friendly point out to her that future part. Hwan's not married YET. He may very well end up there unless something - or someone - stops him before it's too late. She's actually in a better position than him rn - no pesky relatives or duties nudging her into it anymore. Perfectly comfortable position to be jealous of a bride he never claimed to want, unlike with her and Sung On.

@everyone in this thread (too many of you to type out!) I agree with the defenses of Jaeyi. She was willing to confess in life or death, but after she tried a couple times only to be met with minimal if any verbal support from Hwan of his returned feelings, she chickened out. I agree with whoever said that even modern humans have difficulty confessing when not met with close to 100% certainty of success.

Besides which, Jaeyi has always been practical. Even if she’s 80% sure of Hwan’s feelings and brave, she can’t see a future for them so why confess and potentially cause him more pain when he has to let him go? Because she can’t see a way where she can marry him, and she’s still traditional enough that to her, “being together” means through marriage. There’s no, let’s confess and have an illicit affair in the here and now. To her, she’s living for the now by just enjoying her time left with him as much as possible, snatching moments of happiness and memories to hold onto for when she has to leave him and basically pine for the rest of her life. That’s her expectation, anyway. Because ultimately Jaeyi knows dutiful, honorable Hwan who kept trying to send her back to Sung On will never abandon Joseon to choose her. He will throw away his heart for his people. That beautiful confession he made to her at his dead brother’s fave overlook? It was 50% about her and what she means to him, has done for him, and wanting to protect her, and 50% about Joseon, how she’s made him into a better man and future king, *for Joseson*. She can’t see this man not do his duty and she loves him for it, so she’ll never expect him to not. Anyway, this is how I expect she sees things. The optimistic viewer in me is still hoping for an anticipating a happy ending somehow!

@Gikata:

"ofc he's not having it - dude decided to let her go for the greater good, all high and noble, and she did what? Chose another guy over his martyr ass? To live happily together in the house HE bought for her? Nope! And he WANTS that name - probably to meat grind the guy with his own hands... or personally reassign him to Antarctica at least)))
Just what are we supposed to do with TWO prude clammed up idiots? Push them to each other forcefully?"

I am dying - this is too good hahahaha!!

There's that one scene from highlight video that's yet to happen, hinting that we may be giving Hwan too little (or too much? depends on what you consider the "right" thing to do) credit for his duty vs love dilemma. Yes, he's been choosing the former all his life - but he's also terribly exhausted from trying to fill his hyung's big shoes, not understanding that ultimately this is never gonna work, no matter how much efforts and sacrifices he makes. He's bound to have an eureka moment of realizing that his long quest of becoming someone else's stand in leads only to him losing what's personally his. And it'll happen soon because we've got only 2 weeks left)))

Jaeyi relaxed too early too fast. As far as I'm concerned constant danger to Hwan's life never got away, it's just looming somewhere nearby instead of punching him - and her - in the face directly. For now. This calm before the storm won't last long. I'd rather do without another arrow to his guts to stimulate her! Even irl today one can never be 100% sure they'll get another day and another chance to say what's really important... Stop being silly, you two! You DO NOT wanna learn this lesson the hard way.

@gikata: Which scene? I think we saw all of them already (except for maybe the last one, but I can't understand what he is saying so not sure).

@minnie. There is a scene from the highlight where the CP is wearing what looks like sleep clothes (white only) and claiming he has sinned and begging to be dethroned. Totally looking forward to this and the possibility that it will be this repressed prince who breaks down first and publicly declare his love for JaeYi if hiding a murderess whom he loves is his major sin.

@minniegupta1, basically what @koalatown said - Hwan is doing classical Joseon thingy by publicly pleading to King, complete with undergarments look, self-humiliation and request to be punished - by being deposed in his case. I assume Jo will rat on CP and his fake eunuch... Btw I doubt this particular idea of Hwan is going to end well, unless there's more to it.

@gikatata and @koalatown: OK I just now saw it (it does not have subtitles so I wasn't sure).

To me that looks too simplistic - him asking to be deposed for Jay Yi. Me thinks it might be something to do with the Queen instead. The Jo jerk will probably end up blackmailing CP with the info that he has on Jay Yi so CP stops persuing the whole rebellion affair. Just ratting on Jay Yi won't do much, because Jay Yi will take it all on herself and save the CP, and Jo knows that will defeat the purpose. Plus the king will gleefully have Jay Yi killed right in front of his precious son (what rotten luck this poor guy has).

It could be that the our smart CP finally figures out about the Queen and makes a plea to his father to depose him if he thinks he has sinned or believe what he is saying. I can see the King dying for not beliving his son.

But yes, I don't put past Hwan to publicly declare his love if he so much as inhales danger for her.

In Portugal, there is this church in Alcobaca where a King (Pedro I) and his lover (Innes) are buried side by side. Pedro would not leave her and was ready to give up the throne becasue the King refused to accept Innes as his DIL, so the King had her murdered, which enraged Pedro so much that he killed his father, took the throne, exumed her body, had the whole court kneel to her and declare her their queen, and made the biggest memorial possible for his beloved and eventually got hilself buried beside her.

These love stories were more common than we think.

@minniegupta1, no way Hwan would let Jaeyi take the fall alone if she's busted, tho I agree that she'll totally try to do exactly that. Hey, what if the whole thing is actually about Hwan blackmailing his dad this way? Along the "leave my woman alone or find yourself another heir to order around" lines. Probably not, but if only... Anyway finale is near - expect logic thrown out of the window while pathos and angst levels go UP. Something grandly heroic and romantic (and likely also dumb at the same time) will be done by our smart CP for sure to prove his "perfect ML only found in trashy fantasy novels" status lol

Hah, and here we are, calling drama plots unrealistic)))

You're welcome)))

I can bet eventually it will be the 'Sun rising in the east' that will bring the puzzles together for him.

@minniegupta1: There has to be room for story-relevant PDA otherwise it is not right! Please accept this as my cogent and substantiated rebuttal to your points.

I also don't think it will be cut - and I didn't mind that nothing happened during lockdown month - but cannot 100% agree about tastefully done label. Show jumped the shark with that hug 3 episodes ago and since then has been ANYTHING but tasteful and tactful about lead's troubled path to mutual love epiphany. Hwan refused to even THINK about that hug? Ok, regrettable - and how! - but still in character. Jaeyi chickening out in the middle of confession? Hmm, but also acceptable. Her doing the same again and again on a daily basis just to ruffle Hwan's feathers? Eh... All the above combined? Starts to smell like an overcooked dish now. What for, other than stalling time for few more hours? I'm really worried that when Big Damn Kiss finally happens, high emotional octave won't be as high as we hoped all along. Timing of events is arguably - not really, I'm just trying to be nice - show's biggest weakness so far. Actors I do trust in delivering all they could - can't say the same about writer. Or PD, for that matter.

@dncingemma: Hwan has gone from 'go to seargent' to absolutely crazy thinking of her in someone else's arms. At this point, if he knows it's him, especially at a point when he is supremely vulnerable, he will reach out to her unconciously. He has done in unthinkingly a couple of times (the wrist grab while buying that knife) or reaching out to caress her when she was sleeping....He is ready to claim her as his own. I do think at the back of his mind he knows he can still have her by his side - he is the crown prince who is allowed to have as many women by his side as he pleases if he so desires, but not if she loves someone else. So the knowledge that it's him she loves, it opens the flood gates for him. That's what this trajectory has done for this couple.

And let their hair down, literally!

When he does figure out she means him, though, I expect him to fall into a self-sacrificing snit and push her away (or run away) even harder, in the short term. He doesn’t yet believe he deserves happiness or love and he’s still trying to put everything back the way it was between Jae-yi and Seung-on, like a kid trying to glue together a broken toy, as a substitute for fixing his own broken heart.

@elinor: Lovely analogy.

Personally, as a committed rulebreaker myself, I think when he does realise, he should go on a rampage, dethrone the King and Queen, take over, get rid of every cackling minister and appoint honest ones, exonerate Jae-yi, exonerate Ga-ram, change the rules, proclaim himself King, marry Jae-yi, marry his sister to Sung-on, marry Ga-ram to Myung-jin, buy his brother a better wig, rehabilitate the Tae-gangs, bring Beokchyong back into the fold, kill the bloodthirsty fish, banish the guy who ferries it around and have a big party at the Tavern.

The secret room definitely should come to play.

There are two forces at play in the palace, both out to kill the Crown Prince. My guess is a huge movement is coming where the king will be killed and the CP will have to hide until the forces arrive to secure his position (through the ministers).

And our ever dependable Jay yi is not going to leave her CP's side. And by this time, with King out of the way, all bets will be off.

Eventully a change of rules and Jay Yi joining the bride selection - it will be sweet.

I am hoping it will go that way. 100 days my Prince had shown quite a few twists towards the end of the show (director), while I wasn't too impressed with the screenplay for Romance is a bonus book (writer). So far they have done a better job at OBY (barring episode 16 which all of us feel dragged a bit for stating the obvious). But four episodes can pack a punch. Hopefully they can unpack everything and still give us some sweet PDA scenes all of us have been starving for lol!

@minniegupta1, but Crown Princess selection is usually supervised by Queen - who is in villain team. Even when we're done with her, who could replace her in the matter? Sweet little Princess who's still single herself? Unconvincing. Plus we don't know how she'll react to reveal of eunuch Go's real identity - or that Jaeyi and her oraboni are an item. Imagine finding out your love rival - who's wanted for murder - is actually dating your brother. Makjang alert lol))) Relationship chart of this prim and proper royal family is SPICY for sure)))

You say what🤣? Say that to the 3rd son of UTQU's Queen Im. He'll give you a run for your money.

All Hyungsik's previous romantic drama roles (total number of 7, and 5 among 20s age range - I assume he was playing 30+ in Soundtrack) did. Some even got to act on it - BEFORE the sacred exchange of marriage vows btw. Someone on YT titled the guy as "destroyer of friendzones" and I cannot stop giggling over it since then)))

@gikata I believe in Soundtrack, his and Han So Hee’s characters were supposed to be 28 because they met as kids at 9 and they’d been friends 19 years (don’t judge, it’s a short watch, and I enjoyed it more than most!)

In Happiness, he’s around 32 in Korean age as they graduate at 19/20 and they flash forwarded 12 years.

I’m trying to stack my brain for the horny fantasies in What Happens to My Family, Hwarang, and Suits… plenty of cute kisses and hugs in WHTMF but not horny iirc, and Hwarang he didn’t even get the girl, even though there was an icky kiss. In Suits, I just remembered the romance was meh but they had a couple of decent kiss scenes.

@happyokaytales, 28?! Well, that explains a thing or two... actually not, I just never can pass an opportunity to roast that drama lol)))

WHTMF is an interesting case actually - seemingly the most innocent one due to actors age, but not only it covers a long period of nearly 1,5 years, there's also A LOT things happening during the time. OTP lives in the same house, date very seriously since almost the start, he (after some initial tomato blushing jumpiness over the smallest things, not unlike his current counterpart) is awfully clingy with her, always stealing kisses/hugs and such... Basically they're de facto married way before officially getting married, complete with his imagination doodles of how this whole cohabitation+dating thing is supposed to work. No amount of pink colored brush can convince me he was blushing THAT hard for nothing)))

In Hwarang there was no dating, but he was a regular listener of her R-rated stories. Even tho dude slept through most of it, some likely stuck. Suggestive behavior and few attempts to move relationship forward with bold skinship leave very little room to doubt.

Suits simply went for a classical ramyun double entendre and looong beat with zoom on ML's omg face after his lady suggested that post-kiss)))

@gikata fair enough with your Hwarang and WHTMF explanations (man, you also reminded me that PHS's first drama pairing is to this day among my top faves. He had the easiest chemistry with Nam Ji Hyun.)

I default to your recall of Suits, I don't remember that one well at all, even though I liked it fine enough at the time, lol.

@happyokaytales, mine too. For all his reunion pairings lately this is the one I'd actually love to happen, but alas... Maybe her turn will come pretty soon too, who knows))) I probably should just rewatch their cut in that drama - it's been a while and I need some additional sugar to prepare myself for OBY's final stretch angst.

It's easy to recall everything about love line in Suits - wasn't that much of it in the first place lol. I could never understand that story arc, honestly. Did they even like each other for real? He mostly seemed flattered by attention of a woman way above his usual class and she was just... weak for the cutie, I guess. Relatable, but boring.

He sure couldn't keep his hands off of Ms Park in SWDBS. That drama has touch-feel on a different level (and super duper cute). Instagram would have you believe he was head over heels with Park Bo Young and did lots of impromptu things (I am guessing Ms Bon Soon didn't complain much either lol!).

I did love Soundtgrack 1 though, a LOT! I have no idea how he could keep his hands off her for 8 years, but respect, lol! It's really beautiful. The last scene killed it.

@jerrykuvira: I can almost imagine Ja Yi being that mother eventually, complete with some tom boy princesses to hunt and bring back to the palace. Thankfully she would never have to deal with concubines - her King can't see past her.

And of course that sword of losing her if she gets too jealous...LOL!

I saw it on twitter last fall around drama's wrap up - there were witness accounts of a kissing scene being filmed (maybe more than one - ha, if only!) plus some pictures of other scenes leaked, including the one where Hwan treats Jaeyi's scratch in Ep14. Those even made it to news sites and production company was FUMING. Then we had no official news whatsoever for 2+ months)))

Try OBY's and Hyungsik's topics on Soompi forums - usually they delete the illegal to post stuff, but something may have been preserved by accident or luck.