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Character Chart: Shorthand Character Chart
How to Watch: Live Stream, Viki
Airing Time: March 31st, 22:50 Seoul
Recap Countdown: KKEUT
GRAND PRINCE LIVE RECAP EPISODE 9
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#1
OPENING
We start at the end of the last episode. Hwi is about to leave and the guards freak out and ask why Hwi is leaving, don’t leave Prince! So this alerts the Jurgens that they have been fooled this entire time.
The Jurgens chase Hwi and the three others. Hwi gets shot by an arrow. The general comes to protect him and hits all the other arrows away. But several of them go into his chest. He drops to his knees in agony, but keeps his sword from making him fall. He tells Hwi, please protect the King and the little prince. He dies.
Hwi reaches out to the general and starts balling. He openly cries and cries as he tries to grab the general who is right in front of him.
3 YEARS LATER
At the palace. The king is sick once again and the Grand Queen adn young queen are nursing him back. The young prince is 3 or 4 right now. the Grand Queen tells the head maid that no one shouls know about this. If anyone finds out, then you are dead. The maid nods and leaves.
The queen thinks the King will be healthy again because the baby prince is so young.
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#2
JH’S HOUSE
JH – Just tell me to die, I will not marry another man. the mom tells her to just die, she prayed for 3 years. She needs to get married before she gets too old. Doesn’t’ she think about her parents? She is only thinking about her dead boyfriend. But JH says that if she doesn’t’ marry him then she won’t marry anyone. The mother is upset and says they will do whatever. She is going to ship her off, so be prepared for that!
JH and her maid leave. JH is gloomy as she walks off. the maid asks her, are you really not going to get married? he is dead already. JH says, everyone else forgets about him, but I will not forget about him. JH says they got married in front of Buddha. The maid says no one knows it. JH says, I know it and he knows it and God knows it.
HWI
The three comrades head back to Seoul in the clothing they wore in the first episode. Hwi has the scarf around his wrist. The servant, KT tells him that he should see the lady first. Cut to them at the ladies house. SG wonders if this is the palace and KT basically tells her to be quiet.
Hwi thinks he can’t see his lady right now, they should go to the palace first. He should greet the Queen and the King. Then after that, when I clean up a little, i will see her.
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#3
PALACE
Hwi shows up at the palace. He stares at the gates. Soldiers stop them. KT tells the soldier that this is the lost prince from the north. But the soldier just tell them he wants the ID, we had his funeral a long time ago. they won’t let him pass.
Hwi turns to leave and the guards go after them. One of the guards tells them that he will not let them go, he will torture them to see who is pretending to be a Prince! They attack Hwi and his comrades. The comrades figth back, it looks like the servant learned how to fight in these three years. they all defeat the guards. SG is about to deliver a death blow to one of them, but Hwi stops her.
Then Hwi sees a maid run off. More soldiers come out so Hwi, KT, and SG take off.
The maid is a spy. She receives money from NG and is told to be careful going back. But she is abducted by one of Hwi’s people.
NG, Kang, and NG’s brother talk about the King being sick. NG is happy about getting the last will. That is all that Kang needs to do. A maid calls NG out, she has a guest.
The guest is JH, she is there to see Kang. NG says he is busy, he doens’t have time to talk to you. Leave. But JH just walks toward the Prince and says that JH is here, I wants to talk to you. Kang comes out and immediately lets JH come inside.
JH talks with Kang. She wants Kang to make the wedding stop. She heard that this man is in Kangs line, so he can end it. JH wants to know if he wants her to be some animal. Kang lets her know that Hwi is dead. JH tells him that he is the one that send him to a dangerous place. JH tells him that she doenst’ want to marry anyone. Kang tells her, if she hates his cousin that much then she can come to him.
JH tells him that she shouldn’t have come there, she was stupid to think he was human. He tells her to leave, she will be a wife soon. JH storms out and NG is waiting for her. She slaps her immediately and says she killed one prince already. She shouldnt’ meet someone elses man. Is she that insecure.
JH asks her if she is still like this? But NG says she should be thankful to them, she would be dead as an unmarried woman if it weren’t for them. They start to talk about who ditched who’s friendship first. JH tells her that she isn’t going to let them decide her life. NG tells her that she should just kill herself if she doenst’ want to get married. SHe should have killed herself 3 years ago. JH leaves and NG almost curses at JH, get married, have kids, and have a happy life!
NG goes back inside to her room, she wants the maid to send a letter to JH’s house. Until she gets married, they should watch her to make sure she doenst’ run away. We don’t know what she will do, she is crazy enough to follow Eun-sung to war.
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#4
COMRADES
The three comrades are along the river. They wonder if SG can even do it, she can’t even speak Korean well. SG is in a hanbok and tries to speak Korean properly. She tries to say the Queens name and practices it a few times.
Hwi rips a piece of her underclothes and writes a letter to the Queen. Cut to SG going to the gate and going inside. She passes. She goes inside and tells herself what she should do. SHe needs to go straight and then say, The Queen…The Queen.
Meanwhile, Hwi talks to the spy. How did she go to the princes house. The spy says she just followed the orders of what someone wanted her to do. Hwi asks who sent the letter.
In the palace. the queen is walking with all her servants, but she faints and is helped up by the head servant. SG runs up to her and tries to say her name. But she is strange so the maid tells the servants to take her out. SG knocks them over easily. Then she shows teh Queen what Hwi wrote. It looks like it might be Hwi’s birth name in Mandarin. The Queen asks with tears, is this my son Hwi!
SG nodes.
Cut to Hwi and KT going to the gate in their Manchurian clothing. The Queen waits for them and the moment is intense. The Queen waits with anticipation to see this mans face. Right now it is hidden with a straw hat. hwi takes off his hat and shows his face to his mother. The mother crumbles. Hwi gives his mother a large bow. Everyone cries.
Hwi – Your bad son finally came back and is meeting you, Mother.
Hwi starts crying where he kneels and the Queen comes up to him and pulls him into a big hug. She asks how it was, where is your pretty face. You look like you suffered a lot. The gods at least brough you back. Your brother is almost dying.
Hwi asks how critical he is and the Queen says they don’t know when he is going to die. Your second brothers greed is large, we are afraid of it, so we couldnt’ tells anyone. Hwi tells his mother that they abducted a maid that was going to his place.
KING
Hwi greets the King. The King is sitting up, but he looks like death is near. He tells Hwi to come closer, come closer to me. hwi goes very closely to him and the King says that he can die now. Hwi tells him that he is back, your youngest brother, Hwi is here. We should be stronger, we have to share our brother ship.
The king says that he was still thinking, should he give the Kingdom to Jin-yang? Maybe it is good for Joseon, but he wouldn’t leav my son alone. He would kill him. Can you protect my family? If we have another brother war, our people will worry.
The King starts coughing and collapses. he tells Hwi, don’t let anyone die. he dies in Hwi’s arms and Hwi breaks down crying over his brother. The Queen cries as well.
—————–
#5
KANG
Kang shows up at the palace, but is told that he can’t visit him today. kang says he brought some medcine for the King. But the guard says that the Queen told him not to let anyone in. Kang steps to the servant and says he brought medicine, if something happens to the King, will you be responsible?
But then they all hear the wails….KING……MY KING…….MY KING…..
The Queen comes out and tells everyone that the King passed away. Kang asks how they can work like this, you let the King die alone. I am the closest family of him, who will get the last will?
But then Hwi comes out to epic music. kang tries not to look surprised. Hwi says, I got his will. Until the little prince becomes an adult, the mother will do politics for him and we should serve them. That is the past Kings will.
A tear drops as Hwi says this.
Kang asks, you recieved his last will? Hwi goes up to him and stops right in front of him. But then he hugs him. I am back, brother. I am not dead. I am back alive.
JH’S HOME
JH is all prepared to run away. She has a small bag packed and sneaks out of her room. She gets to the front gate and unlocks it. But her brother stops her and tells her to give up. JH runs away and is surrounded by their slaves. He tells her, if NG didn’t tell them, then that would be the shame on their family again. he tells the slaves to stop her.
JH goes back inside and tries to cut her ponytail. She cuts it off.
BROTHERS
Hwi and Kang take a bath together and change. Hwi has so many scars on his body. He says he couldn’t die because someone was waiting for him. Kang says he couldn’t show his happiness that he is back because they had the funeral for the King. But he can’t run to his lover because she will be someone else wife. She is getting married to our cousin. Hwi looks at him startled by the news. he takes off. A gueard comes in and Kang tells everyone to leave.
The guard wonders what Kang will do, Hwi got the will. Kang says he was enduring everything for 3 years, just to get the last will. But now, we only have 3 days before the little prince becomes the king. We must get word from the Queen. The guard wonders if it is possible. Kang says, Eun-sung is not in the palace, so I can take care of it.
Hwi takes off on a horse to JH’s house. His servant is close behind him. He storms through the gates and asks for the lady of the house. Where is her father? SU comes out and asks who this is!
Hwi goes up to him and says, Great Scholar, it is me, Eun Sung.
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#6
The father recognizes Hwi. But he looks like he saw a ghost. He asks him if he is a ghost or a living person. The mother comes out startled as well. Hwi tells them that the King passed away. SU falls to his knees. ….MY KING……MY KING….
Hwi says he has to speak to his daughter, can he see him? But SU says that is not possible. His daughter will marry someone else.
Umma goes to JH’s room and tells her that he is still alive.
Hwi runs away from the father and starts yelling…MY LADY….MY LADY…
JH goes outside and sees Hwi. they both have teary eyes as they run to each other. She whispers…my prince….
They embrace in the middle of the courtyard and hug eather other deeply as if they never want to let go.
PALACE
Kang meets with the Grand Queen ans asks her, the last will, was that your will? The Queen says it was the past Kings will. kang says he didn’t know his mother wanted to be an emperor Queen. Kang says the first son is dead, you should rely on me. But the Queen says she can’t change the Kings will. Do you think anyone can be in this position.
Kang thinks Joseon will be in trouble if the next son isn’t made King. Just like with Abonim and Uncle. But the Queen says his uncle was having several affairs, he was a womanizer that is why he was kicked out. They are argue back and forth about greed and wanting the crown. the Queen tells him that this is the last time, if you shake our royal family one more time, I will not just let this happen, even though you are my own son.
Kang storms out and asks for his uncle. the uncle is in the funeral room.
the Queen tells ther head butler that Kang is not going to accept the Kings will. He has three days. Can you find En-Sung? Eun-Sung will block him. The servant says okay and leaves.
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#7
HWI AND JH
Hwi asks what happened to her hair, the person I missed didn’t look like this. She also says he looks different. He tells her, she looks like a baby, but she still looks pretty. JH tells him that she resisted and resisted but she couldn’t’ resist anymore, that Is why I cut my hair. I wanted to be a monk.
Hwi thanks her or waiting for him, but he thought at least she would be someone else’s wife, he would accept that. JH yells, everyone said you were dead, I was the only one that thought you were alive, but you thought i was already remarried? She starts crying and he pulls her into a hug. He sys that he is afraid, he is afraid that this is a dream. He dreamt about her for many many nights. whenever he opened his eyes, he realized it was a dream. those where times where I didn’t want to wake up.
This isn’e a dream, this is me in front of you. We are together again.
The kiss deeply.
A little bit later, Hwi ties JH’s hair with the hair scarf that she gave him. She asks him if he got hurt. But he says everything is fine. She wonders where he was, how much did he suffer? Hwi says the most important thing is that he is back. She tells him to promise her, you will never leave me again. he nods.
JH tells him that he lost his brother as soon as he got back, how can I comfort you? Hwi tells her that he could die when I came back. Like you, the King was trying not to die until I came back.
SG
Meanwhile, two servants are trying to wash SG, but she is acting like a wolf girl and won’t let them touch her. They tell her that she smells bad, if she wants to serve the prince then she has to clean herself and put on new clothing. They try to touch her, but she bites them. The head maid comes in and kicks them all out.
then the head maid turns to SG. SG tries to scare her with animal grows too, but the maid just attackes her with some animal growls of her own. But it doesn’t work? Maybe it works because she tells SG to remove her clothes and she listens to her.
HWI AND JH
JH tells Hwi that she couldnt believe that he was dead. She would want to die too, that is why she endured everything. He tells her to go inside but she says that she wants to see him leaving. He tells her that her hair will grow back soon. When the palace quiets down a bit, I will be back. Hwi leaves but she grabs him, it isn’t a dream right, you really came back?
Hwi tells her, without you, I would have already given up, I endured everything to see you again. It is not a dream. he walks her to her gate and opens it. He tells her if she keeps doing this, then he can’t leave her there. She knows he is busy. He tells her to wait for him without any fear, and he leaves.
She watches him walk away, he turns and smiles at her one last time before leaving.
—————–
#8
PALACE
Kang talks to the Uncle and tells him that Eun-Sung came back alive. they talk about how their 3 years of work collapsed. Uncle wants to know about the kings will, but people want you. Kang says they can complain about it. But if they refuse the little King, then people will want to have Eun-Sung as the King because Eun-Sung is the deputy(?) King. Uncle thinks Kang needs to make up his mind. If the Queen doesnt’ accept it, then they have to do it by force.
Kang turns to his guard and tells him, before the little boy becomes the King, you should take over the royal palace guard and you have to make sure that we have the Queen available. We have to go to the Queen and get the stamp. if we have the little boy prince as hostage, then they won’t move too hastily. If they still resist, then we have to kill them.
Elsewhere, Hwi comes back to the Palace. the head servant asks him where he went! The Queen wants to see you. Your bother already argued with the Queen! He doens’t agree with the old queens will. Hwi tells him that they shouldn’t let Jin-yang get ahold of the little Prince.
Cut to the little Prince getting dressed by his mother. The mother is crying as she dresses the king. Her father tells her that she should be strong, she has to be strong for the Kings future. The little boy wipes his mothers eyes and tells her not to cry. Sh tells her son, promise her that he will become a great King. He nods.
the family comes out, they are all in all in white funeral garmets. But some soldiers are there, they have an order that they will take over as the royal guards. Hwi shows up with dozens of people and asks them who ordered that.
They say it was done before. The other guard will guard the prince, when he becomes King, then you can take over. the guard says he is the head of the royal guard and he is entitled to protect the little boy King. So why are you yelling at me to not guard him!
The little boy hold tighter to his mother.
Hwi asks, who is the superior that ordered you, is it my brother? Where is he?
Cut to NG asking Kang if he made up his mind. Kang says he will need her help. NG says she can even give up her life for him. Then a servant says that Hwi is there.
NG comes out and asks what happened. She is happy that he came back, but the King died. Hwi apologizes. She asks how much he suffered and tells him to go in, your brother is waiting for you. She looks concerned, but then she look sevil when his back is turned.
Hwi talks to his brother and says, if he was one day late, then she would have become a monk. She cut her hair. Hyung, did you believe that I would be back, where you waiting for me? kang says he didn’t wish for him to die. Hwi asks, then why did you abandon me among our enimies.
Kang asks what he was talking about. Hwi says he was a hostage for 3 years. He heard everything and he knows everything. if people know that you sold your country to become the King, poeple will abandon you. Did youthink no one would hear about it. Kang says there is no evidence, how can you say those things, I can’t guarantee your life. But Hwi says, if people know about this dirty deal, you will be fired as a prince as well, no one will support you. You should live as a guardian for the King and the mother, then I will make it that it didn’t happen.
Kang aggressively says, bring me the evidence! The evidence that I had the bad deal!
Hwi – I have the secret letter.
Fade Out
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Can’t wait fir the recaps. Will it be live recaps sibce Misty ended already?
Today is still an aftercap since we are doing Pretty Noona, but tomorrows will be live!
👌👌TQ al always👍👍
I want to extend my appreciation for all of your hard work. Thank you so much for making the process of WAITING for subtitles easier to endure.
Thanks for the recap.
@ShannonFleming and @Snowball, I’m glad we can help out with the wait for subs 🙂
This episode went right back to the first episode, I really didn’t’ think they would do that. I wonder if what happened those three years with be released slower as we find out how Hwi got the letter. Or maybe he doesn’t have the letter and he was just bluffing.
Thanks for the recap! Although I must say it is a bit disappointing that (based on your recap) they repeated almost everything from the first episode. Can’t wait for ep 10!
Yep, it was basically a first episode recycling with maybe two or three critical extra scenes thrown in. There is a lot of cuteness with Hwi and JH though.
Thanks so much for the recap!! What happened in the preview? Kang got injured whilst Hwi and JH looked shocked?
Yep that is basically what happened! It all makes sense when you watch episode 10 🙂
Thanks for the recap, V!
I was surprised by how much of episode 9 was recycled from episode 1. There were a few new scenes that gave a scanty glimpse of what happened in Manchuria. I’m still wondering about the identity of the Jurchen leader who captured Hwi’s party after they escaped from the group with whom he had been negotiating. Roo Shi-gae seemed to recognize him. Perhaps there’s intertribal rivalry that bodes well for Hwi, but that remains to be seen.
The apparent laxity of the Queen Dowager’s situational awareness, strategic planning, and palace security was distressing. Although they both knew that Kang lusted after his elder brother’s (and later, nephew’s) throne, neither she nor her brother (her chief political advisor) seemed to be aware that the palace was thoroughly infiltrated with his spies. How was it that no one noticed that Kang’s brother-in-law commanded a contingent of palace guards? Luckily Hwi and eunuch Gi-teuk quickly realized that Kang was in a position to order his wife’s brother to occupy the Crown Prince’s Eastern Pavilion before the installation ceremony, and thwarted the takeover. For guys who had been out of the loop on court politics while Jurchen prisoners for three years, they sure got a quick handle on who was who at court. Hwi’s maternal uncle seemed to be caught totally flat-footed.
The Queen Dowager knew that her no-good rakish brother-in-law, Grand Prince Yang-ahn, still had an axe of his own to grind and was in cahoots with Kang, yet she seemed to readily accept his account of Hwi’s missing-in-action/killed-in-action status. As soon as she attempted to coerce Hwi into becoming Seja, she herself had painted a bull’s eye on his back. Then she sent him to war with only one loyal, experienced officer to back him up, which was nuts. He was completely in Traitorous Uncle’s clutches. Arrrgh!
Kang continues to fixate on gaining control of the throne. He simply cannot get it through his skull that his behavior and attitudes are traitorous and unfilial. He continues to project his own ignoble motivations on others. The way he twists the Queen Dowager’s words makes my blood boil. He’s also the Energizer Bunny in his pursuit of Ja-hyun. I wish to heck that Ja-hyun would tell Hwi how his brother and sister-in-law has been hounding her and threatening her family.
While I love the fact that Hwi finally got to drop a bombshell on Kang, I’m concerned that it will only have the effect of waving a red flag at a bull. I hope that Hwi doesn’t actually show the letter to Kang, and has it stashed someplace safe outside of the palace, if not outside of the capital. Or maybe it is in the safekeeping of a friendly Jurchen. The thought has also crossed my mind that he is bluffing, and is conducting a psy op against Kang.
Other viewers have commented that the story loosely resembles that of Grand Prince Suyang (later King Sejo), second son of Sejong the Great. He overthrew his nephew, King Danjong, son of his sickly brother, King Munjong. He later killed the deposed king and his own younger brother, Grand Prince Anpyeong. I don’t know whether to steel myself for a full-blown tragedy, or hope that the story will be heavily fictionalized to result in a different outcome.
Yes, good Lord, why does the Queen Dowager just let Kang walk all around the Palace with his uncle and all their spies around. She seems like a very capable no nonsense person so i would think she had the palace wound a bit tighter than that.
And it was so crazy that they just let Hwi go to war with only one guard! i can understand having one main guard that never left his side ever. But only one total? Come on now.