By my definition, this kdrama is a farce.

Improbable scenarios? Check.
Horseplay, gags, and slapstick? Check.
Exaggerated reactions? Check.
Stock characters like a king, palace maid, and king’s bodyguard caught in a love triangle? Check.
Buffoonery? Check.
Wordplay and sexual innuendos? Check.
Meta? Check.

But just because the show doesn’t take itself seriously doesn’t mean nothing serious is happening. Here the serious developments in this episode.

1. Shinwoo voices Sorang’s fears.

In my previous post, I explained the meaning of the title. It’s forbidden for Sorang to entertain any ideas of marrying the King because it’ll be hellish for her to know that she’s only a poor substitute for the King’s first love.

Episode 3 begins with Sorang announcing her two-day absence. If she had been hoping that the King would say something, like he’d miss her or he wished she didn’t take time off, then the King’s visible lack of reaction would have disappointed her.

That night, Shinwoo talks about Sorang’s new position because he worries about her.

Shinwoo: Aren’t you scared?
Sorang: About what?
Shinwoo: It isn’t easy to suddenly become an inner court lady and serve the King.
Sorang: Afraid? He’s actually cuter than I thought.

Shinwoo is surprised so Sorang downplays it.

Sorang: Didn’t you see him hold onto my sleeve because he was scared of ghosts? He was so cute I thought I’d die.

Her joke is meant to distract Shinwoo, but he’s like a dog with a bone.

Shinwoo: I am more worried that His Majesty might get confused.
Sorang: About what?
Shinwoo: You are channeling the spirit of the dead Crown Princess so would he not perhaps start seeing you as her? It is frightening to have confused feelings.

It is indeed frightening to have confused feelings for someone. For instance, Sorang likes to help the King eat and sleep better. But she dislikes it when the King only sees her as the help, and not a real person. She’s happy when he pays her undivided attention. And she’s saddened when he took her leave coldly, as if it didn’t matter to him whether was there or not.

Her mixed feelings can be frightening.

However, I think what’s more frightening is when one is oblivious to the mixed feelings…like Shinwoo. He confuses her feelings for him. He thinks she reciprocates his feelings.

Take for instance when a butterfly landed on her hair and she closed her eyes. That amused him. He gently tapped her forehead and teased her, “Why are you closing your eyes?” He assumed that she was expecting a kiss from her. lol.

I don’t think he realizes that a) Sorang has feelings for the King, and b) he confuses her feelings for him. — And that’s frightening when he finds out.

2. Sorang’s backstory

In Ep 2, we learned of Shinwoo’s backstory as Sorang’s bridegroom whom Sorang’s stepmother tried to con and marry off to her real daughter. In this episode, we learned that she escaped the killer her stepmother hired. She was presumed death after being slashed with a sword and falling off the cliff.

We also got the explanation for the Introduction in the Episode 1. Both the Crown Princess and Sorang were on the hit list. While the Crown Princess couldn’t flee her assassin, Sorang did.

I’m assuming that the narrator in the Introduction is the Old Man or soothsayer. Unlike Sorang, his divining skills are legit.

3. Shinwon is friend-zoned.

This poor guy!

a. He buys Sorang shoes.

Shinwoo: From now on, instead of dangerous places, eat in a warm place and sleep in a nice place. Only wear flower slippers from now on.

Sigh. “Only wear flower slippers from now on.”

His words are derived from a Korean expression we often hear in kdramas, “Let’s walk on a flower-strewn path.” From what I gather over the years, this expression has two different meanings. The first one is easily understood because it’s straightforward. The speaker is wishing his lover a sweet and worry-free future.

But the second meaning has a more poignant nuance. The speaker is saying goodbye to his lover and assuring her that while they’re separating and may never see each other again, he wishes her well.

This concept of sending an erstwhile lover on a flowery path is linked to the famous Korean poet Kim Sowol and his poem, “Azaleas.” In this poem, the lover is giving his beloved a floral send-off. He knows she’s fed up with him. But instead of clinging to her or begging her to stay, he goes out of his way to pick azaleas from the mountains and to scatter the flowers on her path as she leaves him. In short, he’s sending her away with nothing but good wishes for a better future without him.

Azaleas
By Kim Sowol
Translated by ??

If you get fed up with me and decide to leave,
I would let you go without saying a word

The azaleas of Yaksan in Yeongbyeon,
I will pick an armful to strew in your path.

At each step of your way,
May your gay feet gently tread on those flowers as you go.

If you get fed up with me and decide to leave,
I would sooner die than show you tears.

Source: tonysweb.biz

If you ask me, however, the flowers serve as a painful reminder that nothing lasts forever. Just as a once-romantic relationship is dissolved, and the freshly-cut flowers will wilt and die.

That’s the context of Shinwon’s words. On one level, he’s wishing her a happy and worry-free future. But on another level, his words foreshadow, NOT a happy ending to their betrothal, but his happy acceptance of her future life separated from him.

He and Sorang could have gotten married seven years ago. But things didn’t work out that way and their golden opportunity is gone. All he can do is send her away with his blessings.

To me also, Sorang’s answer reinforces this theory of her eventual departure

Sorang: You do not know that, right? If you buy a woman a pair of shoes, she runs away.

Then, she stands up and flees. He watches her disappearing back with amusement.

That’s also a well-known Korean superstition. Gifting a pair of shoes to one’s girlfriend/boyfriend is a no-no. But this curse can be undone by demanding a penny (or 1 won) from the girlfriend as payment for the gift of shoes.

b. He rescues Sorang from drowning.

And he earns an earful from the King because he rescued Sorang first from the pond and forgot about saving the King.

To me, this is a foreshadowing too. Though he’s the King’s long-time friend and loyal bodyguard, Sorang comes first to him. The King is right to be upset but in the long run, when he needs Sorang protected while he deals with palace politics, he can depend on Shinwon because Shinwon will guard her with his life.

Also, he and Sorang have an accidental kiss when he gave her a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He worries that Sorang will remember but Sorang doesn’t remember it. The only thing she has in her mind is her kiss with the King.

4. Hunting

This is a metaphor.

The King Heon Lee used to love going on hunts until his Crown Princess (CP) fainted at the dead deer he brought her.

CP: You are so cruel and disgusting.
Hyeon: Wait, the thing is…
CP: I kept hearing the blood-curling shriek of the roe deer. How could you enjoy killing something as part of a celebration.
Hyeon: It’s not that I enjoyed it but…
CP: For that roe deer, whether it has a mother or a baby, it would have a family.

It’s great that the CP cares about animals, but she comes off as silly and sanctimonious with her anthropomorphizing. She doesn’t get that he hunted the deer for food.

At first glance, hunting seems to be a metaphor for masculinity and virility. That’s because hunting is a male activity, and it’s a manly sport at that. When the CP chastises Heon Lee for hunting, she in effect emasculates him. He can’t shoot his arrows (a sexual innuendo alert!) because he loses his confidence after she reprimands him.

His grandma, the Queen Dowager, thinks differently from the Crown Princess. She’s happy to see him kill a pheasant during the archery practice.

Queen Dowager: With skills like that, you will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anyone! You know that the physical prowess of the king is the strength of the nation. So you can quickly end the Marriage Ban Edict, and produce an heir who can inherit the throne!

She then orders more herbal tonic to be made to boost the king’s stamina. I’m sure she’s referring to his stamina in bed.

For her part, Sorang is happy to go hunting with him because she likes to eat meat. She’s the opposite of the self-righteous CP.

When the king aims his arrow at a bunny, she chides him because there’s a bigger game to kill. Throughout the hunt, she distracts him with her bloodthirstiness. She jokes “Bang. Bang. Bang.” without sympathy for the wild animals. Unlike the CP, she doesn’t spare a thought for their feelings.

So the King scolds her.

King: If we continue this reckless shooting, we will draw the anger of the wild animals here!
Sorang: Ahhh, Your Majesty. Is that what you are worried about? As for anger, the resentment of the young people of this country, who are unable to get married, must be far greater. When compared to resentment of the young, such anger from wild animals doesn’t even compare.

When she sees the boar, she exclaims excitedly that it’s big enough to feed 100 people. When the boar hunts her down, it can be her cosmic karma. Lol.

Fortunately for her, the King and Shinwon save her.

Sorang: (looking at the boar) You caught it?
King: (thinking to himself) I finally caught it. I hunted it down.

There! The King’s self-confidence is restored. Believing that he saved Sorang from injury, perhaps even death, with his bow and arrow, he finally feels proud of his success.

In truth however, both he and ShinWon save her. The King’s arrows couldn’t have done it alone. ShinWon’s hatchet is needed to fell the animal down. He came prepared because he heeded the warning of the Old Man.

SW: (thinking to himself) She fell in the water yesterday, so today she should beware of trees?
King: Supposedly you’re a fortune teller. How can you not see your own future?

This is noteworthy. This is the first time that the King berates her not taking care of herself. He shows concern.

Sorang: (retorting) Because of my concern for you, I threw myself in front of this crazy boar. Do you truly not see my loyalty to you?
King: (sighs) But when did the two of you drop using honorifics?

This is noteworthy, too. It’s the first time he remarks on Sorang and Shiwon’s chumminess. Naturally, he’s curious about it. Before Shinwon and Sorang can come up with a plausible response, the King’s men arrive. The men suggest that
that the animal be used at an upcoming royal ancestral rite. But the King quickly vetoes that since he remembers Sorang’s craving for meat.

King: That will not be done. This boar that I caught today will be eaten at the tonight’s feast. (teasing Sorang) Eat yourself to death, will you?
Sorang: (grins)

This is noteworthy as well. For the first time, he prioritizes Sorang’s personal request before a state matter.

Shinwon then escorts Sorang out of there. The King observes the air between his royal maid and royal guard.

At the feast that night, he scans the crowd for Sorang. When he doesn’t find her, he signals his Eunuch.

King: Have you set aside a portion of the meat for the court ladies?
Eunuch: (candidly speaking) Is it because of Sorang, Your Majesty?
King: (not answering)
Eunuch: Do not worry, Your Majesty. I am sure she is eating somewhere. She is not ordinary girl, as you know.
King: Yes. That is true.

Lastly, this is noteworthy too. In Episode 2, he had to be tricked into sharing his dinner with Sorang. In this episode, he orders that she be given a share of the meat he hunted.

To me, that’s the significance of hunting for Hyeon. Sure, Shiwon can buy Sorang a new pair of shoes, but Hyeon can’t. He can, however, offer her something she truly wanted: meat. More than that, he’s proud that he can indulge her whims, no matter how crazy they are.

5. The King is changing.

I’ll mention two incidents.

a. A guest at the feast is caught gossiping about the late Queen.

Guest: What I said is that I wish there was someone to take up the role in the Queen’s palace.

The King approaches him and everyone expects him to kill the guest.

King: What did you just say?
Guest: (blabbers in fear)
King: (chuckling) I shall take your words as a blessing for me to take a lovely queen.

Everybody is astounded.

b. He fears that Sorang is channeling a spirit.

King: Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you for a while now.
Sorang: I was cleaning up in here, Your Majesty.
King: (teasing her) You were practically singing about meat earlier. Have you eaten dinner yet?
Sorang: No. Not yet.
King: (frowning) Are you saying you didn’t have any meat yet?
Sorang: (doesn’t respond)

Hyeon is stunned.

King: (stuttering) Who…who are you? You. You aren’t Sorang, are you?
Sorang: (sways)
King: Are you channeling the spirit again? (shaking her) You’ve been possessed again, Sorang. Are you channeling the spirit?

This is new. In previous times, he wanted Sorang to be possessed by the spirit of the CP. He didn’t mind that Sorang was subsumed by the CP’s spirit. All he cared about was talking to the CP. But in this instance, he’s genuinely afraid that Sorang’s gone and possessed by another spirit.

Sorang: (looks at him)
King: Did you have some strange medication, by chance?
Sorang: (collapses)

And he learns that she hasn’t taken her fever medication all day so she’s sick.

When the head maid tells him that Sorang needs to be moved back to the court ladies’ quarters, he refuses. His refusal is new, too. With the Crown Princess, he simply followed the palace procedure. But he’s learned from that mistake and will brook no opposition. He takes care of Sorang himself in his room.

6. The kisses

The first kiss, she pretends to sleep with her eyes wide open. It’s to save her from embarrassment because the king kissed her while dreaming of the dead CP.

The second kiss, she pretends to be half-awake.

I thought the screenwriter did a very good of differentiating the two kisses. I’m sure you get what I mean.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Going to bed now.