Question: Does Lee Sinwon recognize SoRang as the bride he was supposed to marry?
My Answer: I think he does.

Let’s start on the night Sorang’s old friend approached him.

(This is mostly from Viki. I checked dramacool for comparison and screenshot.)

Friend: I am Gwaeng Yi, a compatibility reader who works at Aedaldang with SoRang. I am also pretty talented in channeling. Please keep quiet if you feel someone has a secret.
Sinwon: Excuse me?
Friend: If you do not, they might fly away like a butterfly for fear of their secret being revealed. (slapping him with the willow tree branch) Why are you looking at me like that? You might give me the flutters. And come visit Aedaldang often so my eyes can feast on you. Here. I will give you some willow tea branch for free.

The Weird Man walked away.

We already know that the willow tree is connected to Sinwon. He used to be called the “willow tree family’s firstborn son.” He had sent a letter to his fiancée, signing it as “the willow tree family’s firstborn son, Lee SinWon.”

Additionally, we’ll find out in this episode, he was pulling off the leaves of the branch of a willow tree in a game of “I go see her, I don’t go to see her.” He wanted to drop in on his future bride’s house to catch a glimpse of her, but he needed a go-signal or an auspicious sign from the willow tree branch. 😂 It’s noteworthy that the willow tree branch ended on a “I don’t go to see her.”

Sinwon found Sorang’s friend weird but the following morning, his warning had come true. On their way to the palace, Sorang spotted her stepmother and ran away. Sinwon assured her that she had nothing to fear because he was a Royal Investigation Bureau chief. She shushed him then dragged him off with her.

Sinwon: What are you doing right now?
Sorang: Can you just shut up and run? If you do not, I will just run away.

She moved to flee, but he grabbed her.

Sinwon: Wait! Let us go.

There!

I don’t think Sinwon realized that the Weird Man’s warning came true. Clearly, Sorang was avoiding someone, but she didn’t want to tell him what it was all about. She threatened to run away – or “fly away like a butterfly” – and to leave him behind if he would not keep quiet. She feared that the secret of her whereabouts would be revealed to her stepmother.

Sinwon only realized the significance of the Weird Man’s message during his drinking session with Sorang.

Sinwon: Then, since we became friends, I want to ask you one thing.
Sorang: Yes.
Sinwon: Did you almost get married before?
Sorang: (spitting)

Sinwon: I mean, did you not ever have a man to marry before? I mean, you said you moved around a lot.

To me, this is Clue #1 that he suspected that she was Ye HyeonSeon. His question was atypical. If he’d been innocently curious about her relationship status before the ban, he could’ve asked general questions like what her thoughts were on marriage and how the marriage ban affected her life. The qualifier “almost” in his question “did you ALMOST get married before?” was categorical. It gave him away.

Sorang: I see. So that was what you meant. I did. There was a whole line of men wanting to marry me. But if I got married, you would have arrested me, no?
Sinwon: Then, before the Marriage Ban Edict was declared, what did you do?
Sorang: What? I was a beggar.
Sinwon: What?
Sorang: Honestly, I do not know how I was born, nor who I am. My family utterly abandoned me. Then, I met the old man Gwaeng Yi on the street, so I started learning compatibility reading.

Her lie about her family didn’t make sense. Her statement that her “family utterly abandoned” her would indicate that she DID know how she was born (i.e., she wasn’t an orphan) and who she was (i.e., she was part of a family).

Sinwon: Oh, I see…No wonder you looked needy.

The subs in dramacool said, “No wonder you seemed a bit poor.” The Viki version sounded kinder.

Sorang: (thinking) This jerk! (aloud) In any case, it is a painful past for me, so do not ask me anymore about it. And oh, please keep the fact that I was a beggar a secret.
Sinwon: (nodding)
Sorang: (thinking) Oh wait. That fact that he believes me so easily makes me angry. (aloud)

That’s Clue #2. The reason he believed her easily was because he did in fact NOT believe her. He knew she was lying. He knew who her father was and he was about to mention her father’s name.

Sorang: But why are you asking me if I almost got married?
Sinwon: Honestly, I almost married…the eldest daughter of the Minister of Personnel, Lord Ye HyeonHo.

And they stared at each other.

This is the Korean “standoff” that I mentioned in my “Year End Review,” It’s when the couple face each other like enemies in an American Western movie. Instead of shooting bullets from their guns though, the Korean couple are shooting lasers from their eyes.

OMG! It’s the death stare.

lol.

This is Clue #3.

If she had been truly a stranger to him, then he would have no reason to tell the name of his almost-father-in-law. But he knew she was lying about being an orphan and a beggar.

He was gauging her reaction.

He stared fixedly at her to see if she would blink or register a facial twitch. But she stayed very rigid. To me, this indicated that she’d known all along who Lee Sinwon was and so wasn’t surprised by his revelation. Her motionless stance also indicated that she was poised for a possible confrontation. She was steeling herself. This is a normal “fight or flight” response.

Sorang: You saw the face of the woman who was supposed to be your bride?
Sinwon: But at the wedding…

Then he recounted the events of the day: his bride was switched; he caught it in the nick of time; the wedding was halted.

Sorang: Your wedding was cancelled?
Sinwon: At my wedding, my bride was gone and her younger sister was sitting there instead. After that, I searched far and wide for my bride. I told my family that I was going to do martial arts training. Well, that was not necessarily false, since I spent my time training with the sword whenever I had stray thoughts. I wanted to become an investigator, because I thought this would help me find my bride.
Sorang: Well, do you remember her face?
Sinwon: Not sure.
Sorang: (cheerfully) You do not, right?
Sinwon: I forgot her face, but I remember her scent. A light pink peach blossom fragrance.
Sorang: Come on! That is a very common fragrance, you know? Literally, almost every woman has an incense sachet with that fragrance. You will not be able to find her with that.

Sorang’s gaiety sounded forced.

Sinwon: You are probably right. After all, I don’t have a dog’s nose.
Sorang: Right. You are pretty smart, so why are you depending on such an ignorant method. And you are an investigator as well. In any case, it’s probably best that you forget her quickly. Look at the king. Seven years of faithful love? The entire nation is badmouthing him. You already know.
Sinwon: If I forget her, would I be able to love another woman?

This is Clue #4. It’s a loaded question. If she answered “yes, you can love again,” then she would appear to encourage his attention and devotion. However, if she answered “no, you can’t love again,” then she would appear to insist that he remain true to her, his promised bride.

Either way, he wanted to know how she would answer this. When she neatly avoided his trap, it indicated that she knew better than to be caught. She was onto him.

Sorang: Then you would have to arrest yourself.

Lol. Because according to the ban, he wasn’t allowed to fall in love.

She downed her soju to escape him.

Sorang: Gosh, I am cold now. Let us go inside now.

As she turned to leave, Sinwon called out her name.

Sinwon: Ye HyeonSeon.

Sorang stopped dead in her tracks.

This is Clue #5. He tested her reaction to her name.

If she had been a stranger, her natural response would have been to turn around and ask curiously, “Who? Who are you calling?” That she stopped and stood motionless indicated that a) she reacted instinctively to someone calling her name and b) she knew she gave herself away.

Whoops.

Sinwon pretended not to notice her slip-up.

Sinwon: Her name is Ye HyeonSeon. The name of my bride who went missing. Do you…recognize that name by chance?

This is Clue #6. Why was he asking her of all people? What were the chances of an aristocrat’s daughter meeting an orphaned beggar and exchanging names?

He was giving her a chance to come clean but she declined.

Sorang: No.

The Weird Man’s warning came as a voiceover. “Please keep quiet if you feel like someone has a secret. If you do not, they might fly away like a butterfly for fear of their secret being found out.”

This is Clue #7. Sinwon knew who she was. He also knew it was futile and counterproductive to get her to admit it.

Sorang: I’m starting to feel the alcohol. I should hurry inside and go to sleep.

The drifting flower petals and fluttering hair ribbon must have reminded him of butterfly wings.

To me, Sinwon finally understood the Weird Man.

The Weird Man wanted him to remember that he lost Sorang once and that he could lose her a second time by prying into her secrets. If he didn’t want her to disappear again after he had already found her, he should remain quiet.

So that’s what he did. Ever since then, he stood guard in silence.

🙂