Yesterday we laid the cornerstone. Today let’s continue with the construction.

I’ll start where I left off – this paragraph:

To me, the burden of ruling the kingdom is already tough enough for any sane and normal King, but I expected the Queen to take an active participation, even behind-the-scene, in protecting her husband who’s beleaguered from all sides and turning insane without a true confidant, ally, and companion beside him. If they loved each other, she should have been his last line of defense in this palace full of intrigue and conspiracies. But she seems to have abdicated that job as his defender, sadly enough.

The King realizes this when he next encounters her in Episode 1. Her father has been charged with treason and she rushes to the King. It can’t be more obvious that their situation is reversed from the previous meeting.

King: Queen.
Queen: Your Majesty, my father has lived his entire life for the sake of you and the citizens of this country. How could you say that a person like that betrayed you? I am certain somebody framed my father to remove him from court.

He chuckles.

If I were him, I’d be laughing too at the sight of this big change in her. She had been calm and collected when he protested about the concubine who volunteered to bear him a child. But her serenity is lost now as she pleads for her father.

King: He had been unjustly framed?
Queen: Yes, I believe so.
King: You’re right. How can I believe the words of a man who put a blade on my neck?

Note his hard hand motion. He chops his neck twice as if to stress the atrocity of the attack on him. In case she needs reminding.

King: (continuing) However, it’s obvious that my father-in-law tried to scheme with lies to take down Sin Chi Soo. I can’t forgive his treason.

He doesn’t believe his assassin, of course. But he doesn’t believe his father-in-law either who twice already tried to frame Sin Chi Soo in order to oust him. Remember: his FiL accused Minister Sin of bribery but the Minister deftly countered it. Then his FiL accused him of high treason without proof. Royal Secretary himself was biding his time before reporting to the king about the assassin’s confession so he was surprised by the Queen’s father precipitous move. It backfired.

King: But I also cannot forgive the fact that he tried to trick me.

He pounds his chest again for emphasis. We’re going to heart of his argument. This is why the King’s previous confrontation with the Queen is important to explain. THE deeper meaning of his words have gone unnoticed.

There’s a slur here intended only for the Queen’s ears. He isn’t talking about politics or treason. He’s voicing his bitterness that his Father-in-law tricked him into marrying his daughter.

Do you see how his paranoid brains work?

Since he fears that everybody’s out to kill, eliminate, hoodwink, betray or manipulate him, he thinks the Queen’s Father actually got away with biggest con jobs there was. Minister Sin only engaged in bribes. But his Father-in-law actually tricked him to marry his daughter who didn’t want him. In his mind, his FiL arranged their union to become a power behind the throne as his wife’s father.

If their marriage had been real, such thoughts wouldn’t probably enter his head. But as their marriage is a sham, he’s full of resentment and suspicion.

King: If you understand, move.

That was a jab at her. Or his delayed response to her rejection last meeting.

Then, she falls on her knees.

King: What is this now?
Queen: Your Majesty is doubting my father’s loyalty. How could I be your queen?

His reaction: disbelief.

Queen: (continuing) If you throw away my father, throw me away as well.
King: Are you threatening me right now?
Queen: How could you call my earnest and desperate words a threat? Please give me my father an opportunity to resolve this.

King: You will put your position on the line?
Queen: Yes.

She doesn’t get it. She thinks her unwavering faith in her father is a testimony of her father’s innocence and allegiance to the King. She thinks she’s proving to the King that she and her father are both faithful to His Majesty by offering up to give up her Royal status should her father be proven guilty.

But the effect of her words on the King actually infuriates him more. When she tells him that she’s willing to put her Queen-ship on the line, he perceives that as another rejection of himself and her status as his Queen. He thinks she wants out of the royal marriage so badly that she’s willing to risk it.

There’s a pause at this moment as if to let her answer sink in. Then the king gives his decision with barely controlled anger. Notice how his voice hardens toward the end.

King: Because a witness testified to your father’s crimes, there’s no choice but to treat it as treason. If you dare threaten me again with this matter, I will not overlook your crimes either. Know this and leave now.

Her crime is treason. What she’s doing is rejecting the King again, professing loyalty to her father, choosing to abdicate her duties, and blackmailing him. These all constitute as treason.

He stalked off in disgust. Considering his uncontrolled madness, his ferocious temper and terrifying brutality, I’m always surprised when he leaves her unharmed.

This is my take on the King and Queen’s relationship as of Episode 1.

For me, it’s interesting to watch how outsiders view the main characters. For instance, the clowns think the Queen was the one who failed to win over her husband’s heart when nothing could be further from the truth.

Same with the palace guards who witnessed the King slashing his assassin. They thought he was insane…and they wouldn’t be far off. But his impassioned plea to his Royal Secretary reminds me of a wounded animal. Of course, King becomes more dangerous. He’s defensive, aggressive and desperate because he needs to survive but has nobody to rely on.

King: They all whisper to each other that I have gone insane. They think I’ve gone mad and killed my little brother. (@nrllee, this tells me that he didn’t order his brother’s execution.) But look. There are people hiding outside trying to kill me. They don’t acknowledge me as king. They’re trying to kill me. They’re trying to make me go crazy!

Lee: Your Majesty. Please put down the sword.
King: Promise me that you’ll find them all and kill them.
Lee: If I could protect you with my promises, I would do it a hundred or a thousand times.
King: Empty promises are good enough as well, so you can relax. Can you not tell me that you will try with all that you’ve got?
Lee: Until my dying breath, I will protect you, Your Majesty.
King: That’s not enough. Find a way. Find a way to wipe all of them out and protect me. Can’t you find a way?
Lee: Yes, Your Majesty. I will find a way.
King: (collapsing) Please…hurry… before I really go insane.

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Heads-up: My husband and I are planning to go on a getaway trip to take advantage of the federal government closure. If I don’t have access to my laptop, I’ll try to have a “stockpile” of posts (operative word: try) that will go up on schedule while I’m gone.

So if I suddenly disappear, you know that my townsfolk didn’t suddenly come for me, their beloved missing fool.