Original subtitles

Assassin! How dare you!

Prince Man-ho, you went back on your word!

Whatever happens, I do hope that you, me and Water Mui can still be friends.

Friends?

In order to keep your secret,

he died with Fok Yee-tai.

Siu-fu...

Siu-fu...

Siu-fu...

Highness, you can’t carry his body up!

Let's go get help.

I can't let his body be left in the wilderness,

not even for a moment!

I know you are heartbroken.

We are heartbroken too.

But please be more sensible.

He's not just one of my brothers.

He's like my own family.

He pledged me his loyalty.

He never doubted me.

I don't know how to be sensible like you said.

Maybe we are not of the same kind.

I just know that failing to take him up by myself is failing myself as a man!

Fok Yee-tai was dragging Leung Gong-Gong along.

He kept saying he could have spared himself the torture.

What else did he say?

He said...

So Prince Man-ho is a changeling.

He's a substitute for fooling Sire!

I had been fooled all these years...

Good...

Come on...Don't be afraid...

Come on...It's just thundering.

You have your mother...

Milady, it doesn't seem right.

Are you going to say Fok Yee-tai's ghost again?

It's real or imagined...Pay him respects...

Just for your peace of mind.

What's there to be afraid of!

Let me do it.

Uncle, your offerings here.

Now go in peace.

Uncle, if your spirit can hear me,

do me one last favour.

By apparition or coming to my dream,

do tell me Prince Man-he's secret.

Milady, it's a skeleton!

Check it out! Come on...

Shun

This jade pendant can ensure you longevity and happiness in your next life.

This must be the remains of the real Prince Man-ho.

He never recovered from the scarlet fever.

The real Prince Man-ho died when he was four.

Physician Chan was transferred away.

It's for keeping this secret for Lady Shun.

This imposter was brought back by Leung Gong-Gong.

This Prince Man-ho is not Sire's own son.

He's just a imposter.

Sire has raised a man who is not his son.

It's a big scandal!

No one should know about it.

Whoever knows shouldn't be allowed to live.

Milady, please, don't make me drink the poisoned wine.

Please don't kill me!

Didn't you hear what Sire said?

Whoever knows the secret shouldn't be allowed to live.

Milady, my mouth is shut.

Please believe me. I really won't tell.

Please give me a chance...

Fok Yee-tai planted you here to spy on me.

Yet you double-crossed him.

You are treacherous. How can I trust you?

Believe me, no more treachery from me.

For the sake that I have waited on you for so many years.

Give me a chance.

Milady, please...

Tung-suet, go in peace.

Milady, no...please...

I know you have a mother who's 60 years old.

I promise, I'll support her for life.

This is what I can do for you.

No...

Go in peace.

Sire, Tung-suet's off in peace.

Prince Man-ho's secret can be kept.

Lady Yim, you used to be my favourite.

Instead of being grateful,

you tried to dig up my secrets behind my back.

You have such a treacherous mind.

How can I trust you with my secret?

It's karma...

Sire, my lips are sealed.

Please, for the sake that I've waited on you for so many years,

and I have given yon a son.

Please spare me my life!

I understand, such scheming is for making your son crown prince.

Your wish is granted.

However, I may not be able to watch him grow up.

Once you are empress dowager,

no one can rein you in.

Who can guarantee you won't tell tales?

Lady Yim, go in peace.

Sire, please, let me have one last look at my son.

Dear son, I did what I did just for you.

Be a good boy, alright?

Sire, allow me to have one last request.

...bodhisattvas who get to understand this will have no obstacles or worries inside...

Hence they are freed from fear, liberated from illusions, and nirvana is realised...

Lady Shun, greetings.

What is it?

Sire wants you in Yanxi Palace.

Do you know what for?

I do not know.

Sire, greetings.

Lady Yim wants your company.

Lady Shun, I've been waiting for you.

What is it about?

I am going on a trip.

You have been so kind to me.

I want a reunion before I go.

You are going on a trip?

I used to be your personal maid.

But I was ungrateful. I stole Sire from you.

You must have hated me all these years.

No, I have never hated you for stealing Sire.

What Sire is to me, to you and to the other consorts

is but the subject of power struggle.

To be honest, who has ever liked him for his sake?

He's the only one blind to this fact.

But I have hated you as a mother.

You time and again make life hard for Man-ho and Man-jing.

How could I not hate you?

A mother will do anything for her son.

But Prince Man-ho is not your natural son.

He's just a substitute for your dead son,

why should you spare no efforts for him?

So you knew the secret?

So does Sire.

He said whoever knows shouldn't be allowed to live.

So Sire wants to silence me.

The wine is laced.

It's poisonous...

If it were poisonous I wouldn't have poured out to you to alert you.

Though Prince Man-ho is not Sire's natural son,

you did give him Prince Man-jing.

However hardhearted, he'll spare you for his son's sake.

I am going on a trip.

Let me offer you a toast.

You don't trust me?

I am over suspicious.

Come on, cheers.

You...it really is laced!

I've been granted death!

I want you as companion.

Why? What have I done to deserve it?

Why do you hate me so much?

I have never hated you for stealing Sire from me. Why?

Because I have finally figured it out.

My first night with Sire was not some luck.

It's by your manipulation.

You didn't want Sire and Prince Man-ho to get too close,

because Sire might find out the truth.

Only by going out of favour could you be safe.

I was just a pawn to you.

Wasn't it a clever move?

It was.

But I too was a pawn to Sire.

We consorts are never free.

We are not our own masters.

Not our own masters.

Come on, let's go on the trip together.

My son, do mind your own steps from now.

Xiao Xin, you took good care of the Crown Prince.

I'll now entrust you with the care of the new crown prince.

I'll spare no efforts in bringing him up.

I'll take you along when I die.

Mother...

Sire is here.

Man-ho, Man-jing, take it easy.

Yes, Sire.

Sire, how come Mother passed away so suddenly?

Man-jing, did she tell you anything before she passed away?

Who would have known that the bird's nest Physician Chan presented was toxic?

Lady Yim and Lady Shun died as a result.

I have had Physician executed.

Sire, how many will still have to die?

I want to know too.

You are my own son. I am sure you can close this for me.

Sire had Lady Shun and Lady Yim killed with poison?

Sire must have learnt I am not his natural son.

He'll have everyone in the know silenced.

I'm keeping it from Man-jing so that he won't be implicated.

From what Sire just said,

he will spare his own flesh and blood.

What about Cheung Po-tsai?

The deadline is not yet up.

Moreover, they are being locked up in jail.

Sire sees no urgency in killing them.

I'll figure out a way.

Highness, but why...

I'll be next in line.

These letters were from officials friendly with me.

I don't want them implicated.

Highness, is the situation really that bad? Is there really no way out?

I may be able to save my own skin.

But how can I let my own brother die in jail?

How can I not avenge Siu-fu?

And you, Ha Sim.

You are my greatest worry.

Listen to me...

I won't go away.

I'll not leave you.

When I was in Pure Water Nunnery,

Reverend Han-wan once said good people will not go to Hell.

They go to heaven after death.

I have killed so many on the battlefield.

I don't think I'll go to the heaven you said

You will, you will go there.

I'll be your maid again there.

I'll again be your maid in my next life!

If there is a next life, you really just want to be my maid?

What have you found out in the investigation of Cheung Po-tsai's case?

Sire, I am still working on it.

Could it be a trap?

I'm still working on it.

You are still working on it or you dare not work on it?

Recruiting the pirates was your doing.

The audience was again your doing.

Brother Man-hong, are you suspecting me?

You know what you have done.

Brother Man-hong, Man-ho is a sophist.

Beating around the bush gets us nowhere.

Let me get to the point.

Cheung Po-tsai's assassination attempt is as clear as day.

Man-ho is still dragging his feet.

That's because he's the mastermind behind.

He can't wait to become emperor.

He just wants to get the throne!

Man-ho, it's not that I don't believe my own flesh and blood,

but I have other people to convince.

You have to assure me by executing Cheung Po-tsai yourself.

Sire, you promised me three days.

There is still one day left.

I'll get the truth from Cheung Po-tsai.

What do you think?

If you suspect it's a conspiracy,

then let Brother Man-hong go there tomorrow morning

to interrogate Cheung Po-tsai himself.

If he says I am the mastermind,

I'll not contest it.

He's so coldhearted he'd kill Lady Yim and Lady Shun as well?

He knows you are not his natural son, then why does he let you live?

It's not out of kindness.

He wants to witness people around me die one by one because of me.

He won't be satisfied until I have witnessed the death of my own brother.

I'll be the last to die, and the one suffering the most.

Brother, you've done enough for us already.

Stop it!

Don't bother with us anymore.

Flee when the chance comes.

Po-tsai...

Hear me out... No!

Hear me out!

Water Mui...

Her life is now in your hands.

Po-tsai...

I know how she feels.

We live or die together!

Yes! We live or die together!

Live or die together!

Good! Now we are willing to go for broke,

we can try to cheat death!

Highness, what do you have in mind?

Brother Man-hong pressed me hard in the imperial study.

I showed signs of wavering so as to lure him into the jail.

A guard who's indebted to me will slip a gun into the meal tomorrow morning.

If we can take Prince Man-hung hostage,

we may be able to slip out.

Goddess, bless Prince Man-ho that it'll work out in the end. Please!

Ha Sim!

Prince Man-jing?

Brother Man-ho entrusted you to me before he went to the palace.

He said I have to take you to Pure Water Nunnery by whatever means.

He...

Cut it out and go with me.

Prince Man-jing...

Where is it? Where is it?

Where's the gun?

Brother said there'd be a gun.

Are you looking for this gun?

Take them in.

Let go of me...

Ha Sim?

Let go of me...

Water Mui? Po-tsai...

They've caught you too?

Go in...

Water Mui... Po-tsai...

I am sorry.

Cheers... Cheers...

Man-ho, you can't beat Sire in mind games.

Now they have become your collateral damage

Ten years and two worlds apart.

My dear wife, we'll be together again very soon.

Scholar Suen has a wife waiting for him.

I visited a courtesan at Mid-autumn Festival three years ago.

She kept asking me for my name,

but all I left her was some money.

I now feel remorseful.

Actually I told her your name the following night when I went to patronise her.

Buddy indeed.

Sis Kiu, do you miss Chief Cheng?

I dream of him every night.

Well, his favourite dish was spicy tripe I made.

I'll soon be able to make it for him again.

The chance's gone!

I should have told Highness I don't just want to be his maid.

The chance's gone.

Water Mui, there's something I want to know before I die.

What is it?

We are going to die very soon.

Do you find it regretful that I am the one to die with you?

No! I can die with the man I love,

I have no regret.

I'd be contented if I could die with Prince Man-ho.

Sire, I will not be in a position to address you after today.

Man-ho, among the princes, you're the one who's most like me in character.

It's a pity that...

Sire, many lives have been lost already.

May I ask you for some mercy...

You want me to spare Cheung Po-Tsai?

He doesn't know I am his own brother.

You don't have to kill him.

You may have my character, but you don't have my ruthlessness.

Sire, I am the only one left who knows this secret.

Have mercy. You don't have to kill so many.

Are you in a position to bargain with me?

I am not begging for my own life. I am asking to die.

If you will show mercy,

I'll kill myself with poison tonight.

Before I die, I'll write a confession of my ten heinous crimes,

so that you can disown me without raising the ire of the courtiers and the people.

I will not be buried in the imperial ancestral temple

and defile the ancestors' name.

What a heroic sacrifice!

One death for so many lives!

If I agree to it, I'll make you a great man in history.

Dying by taking poison is painless.

Your sacrifice for the greater good will ensure your entrance into heaven.

My hands are full of blood and I am guilty of pushing you the saint to your death,

I'll be condemned to hell.

That never crossed my mind.

All I ask is a little mercy from you.

You can’t fool me.

If you really are seeking death,

why have a gun smuggled into the jail?

Why did you ask Man-jing to save Ha Sim?

You aren't my par in mind games.

But you the smartass did give me an idea.

I'll have a confession of ten heinous crimes written for you after your death.

Sire, I just ask you for some mercy.

Then beg me. Aren't you a proud and arrogant man? Beg me!

You can humiliate or insult me.

All I ask is a little mercy. Just a little mercy.

I do have mercy.

But I'd prefer to see you die with remorse.

If you won't show me any kindness

I'll fight you till the end.

Fight me till the end?

Think you can still bargain with me?

Let me tell you...

Sire, recognise this?

You put it on the ankle of your future crown prince.

What have you done to him?

I don't want to kill my own brother,

just like you don't want to push my back against the wall.

The palace is heavily guarded.

I don't believe you can take him away.

I can't. But Lai Gong-Gong is Manager of the Imperial Palace.

He wants to avenge my mother,

and he'll do whatever I say.

If you don't believe me,

have Yuqing Palace checked out.

Guards...

Little prince, Prince Man-ho and I don't mean to harm you.

Just suffer this for a little while.

If Sire will let Prince Man-ho, Cheung Po-tsai and the others go,

I'll take you back safe and sound.

It's my fault...

How useless of you!

Sire, I can't fight you in manipulation,

and I am the underdog in this situation.

My only advantage is my conscience.

Are you being sarcastic?

Sire, please announce the pardoning of Cheung Po-tsai and his men.

How dare you...

And the withdrawal of jail guards, so that I can set them free.

No way!

And have a boat prepared for our safe departure

You...

Alright...

But you have to guarantee my son's safety.

Sire, if I had your ruthlessness, he would be doomed.

But I am not your own son.

You should be happy I am not like you this time, Your Majesty!

Man-ho?

Sire has given Cheung Po-tsai and the others the pardon.

I am here to take them away.

Here's the decree. Read it.

How come? Sire has...

If you don't believe it, go ask him.

Don't get in my way.

Are you alright?

Brother... Highness...

Thanks to Lai Gong-Gong's help.

He took away Lady Yim's son.

He's Sires most treasured son. He had to let you go.

Great. Heaven again let us land on our feet

Highness, what should we do next?

Ha Sim, take them to change.

Yes.

Come on.

Who would have known?

You managed to have the table turned at the last minute.

We aren't safe before we have left Beijing.

We need to get on the boat as soon as possible.

Only then are we out of Sire's harm.

Once we are safe on board, you'll have the little prince freed.

It's the best possible outcome.

But if had failed to get away, then...

He'd have been killed!

Killed?

Water Mui!