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At first, I was taken aback.

Wondering why Your Highness was stepping up for Prince Yeonryeong.

You who were living well without declaring your existence.

That's when a memory came to me.

An image of Your Highness when you were young and extremely bright.

If I felt that way, I wondered how you must have felt.

If you were ever resentful of your lowly blood.

So perhaps you at least wanted to live vicariously through Prince Yeonryeong.

I don't care about whatever you say.

Don't touch Inspector Han who is innocent!

The one who lured him into a trap was not me but you, Your Highness!

What did you think you could do?

You who don't have even a sliver of power to protect a mere inspector. What could you possibly do?

Conscience without power is weak.

You should have known these things before you picked a fight, Your Highness.

Your Highness, what's going on?

Why are you like this?

He is right.

It was something someone like me could not achieve.

I apologize,

but I do not understand what you mean.

Why seat Prince Yeoning on the royal throne?

He, too, is of royal blood. He carries my blood and is rightfully a prince!

The prince I approve and choose to lead after me is Prince Yeoning.

The only thing is this country's Noron, Soron, Namin,

nor any other powers do not support him.

What is the reason for telling me this?

I, too, am a part of Noron which is one of those factions.

Do you think I don't know of your doings?

Among Norons, your power has become weakened,

because you didn't succeed in fully covering up Prince Milpoong's doings.

Your Majesty!

So what do you think, Inspector General,

about being on Prince Yeoning's side?

Pardon?

I'm telling you to make the next king with your own hands.

Give Prince Yeoning the royal throne and with that power, become the leader of Noron.

Your Majesty, this is...

Take care of it quietly.

No one can know about my condition yet.

[Chapter 4: A Night of Wandering Fate]

This? It is for me.

Do you know what it is?

Yes, it's from Head Merchant Jang of the silk shop at the market.

He's telling me to add to the fund that the inspectors created.

You mean the relief fund that was created from a part of the inspectors' wages?

You must know, too. You delivered famine relief crops before.

Yes, now that I think about it.

Since a few years ago, Head Merchant Jang has been chipping in.

When the time came he always sent it to Saheonbu but for some reason, he sent it to my house this time.

Then you mean it's not a big deal, right?

- Perhaps... - Perhaps what?

Something you could not achieve? What do you mean by that, Your Highness?

Curse me all you want

but that person, Inspector Han, protect him no matter what.

What does it mean? The words he said.

Something I need to do? What is it?

With that, Noron will truly protect Prince Yeonryeong?

You just need to state you lied as an informant.

That it was all a scheme plotted by Inspector Han Jeong Seok.

Why would anyone choose the more difficult path?

After all, didn't you do the same, Your Highness?

Of course for me, facing it rather than retreating was easier.

Then will you abandon Prince Yeonryeong?

Become what? Blood brothers?

Yes. Prince Yeoning and I did.

We decided to let you in as well.

Specially as the maknae (youngest).

I did well, right? You're happy, right? I'm the only one who thinks of you, right?

No, I don't want to.

Why would I become brothers with people I don't know at all?

What are you saying? Hey, then isn't Hyung Jeong Seok's family complete strangers, too?

They're my family.

So it's the same in that you're not related by blood at all.

If people share the same will and walk on the same road, then they're brothers.

Why does blood matter?

Did he agree?

Did His Highness say that he will become your hyung?

Well he did hold out a bit, but he was just doing that.

That's our brother's charm.

Hey, it's our brother.

Brother!

Wow, I was just on my way to your place.

I meet you here instead.

You haven't had your lunch yet, right?

The soup and rice here is amazing. If you have time, join us.

No. I don't want to at all.

- Let's go. - Okay.

- Brother. - One moment, Your Highness.

I have something to ask you about yesterday.

Why did you say that about Inspector Han?

Curse you? What do you—

Yes. We won't be meeting again,

so I will say one more thing.

Go to Saheonbu. You don't have a moment to waste by talking to someone despicable like me.

But Brother! Brother!

Why is our brother being like that?

What do you mean by yesterday?

Bring all the alcohol and open the doors to let anyone in.

Today, I and the rest of Hanyang will let go of our minds.

Prince Yeoning as the king...

Prince Yeoning as the king?

Does that make sense?

How could a lowly blood?!

I'm telling you to make the next king with your own hands.

Give Prince Yeoning the royal throne and with that power, become the leader of Noron.

However, it's true.

If I can succeed,

Min Jin Heon will bow down before me.

Inspector General, there's a huge issue.

Look at this.

What did you say, Minister of the Interior?

I said that the Noron will sincerely protect Prince Yeonryeong.

Additionally, we will re-strengthen the discipline of this nation that was shaken.

Your Majesty, it's Chief Royal Secretary.

He urgently requests a meeting regarding the Saheonbu.

Let him in since it seems urgent.

Why are you being like this?

I'm asking, what's the reason?

Last night, Prince Yeoning came by Inspector Han's place.

He said something strange like he did a moment ago.

What do you mean?

Please go to Inspector Han. I'll return to the Saheonbu. Hurry.

- Back off. - What are you doing?

Why are you investigating Inspector Han? Why!

Hey, hey! Don't touch that! They're all files from investigations!

Search thoroughly.

You will need to open up everything, even brush cases like this.

So what have you found?

Back off.

Answer me. What are you looking for by doing this?

Why? If I tell you, will you hand it over?

- Sir! - I received a letter exposing

that your boss, Han Jeong Seok, created a false testimony.

Whose letter is it?

Prince Yeoning wrote it.

A letter by Prince Yeoning?

He retracted his testimony?

Yes.

Saying that he fell for your boss's enticement.

That he was convinced momentarily because of his feelings against Prince Milpoong.

You actually believe the likes of these words?

But you all are well aware of the kind of person Inspector Han is!

Like you, they must have all believed in Inspector Han.

Since he acted like he was the most virtuous one in the world.

But Inspector Han was merely a corrupt official.

As if coercing a false testimony is not enough,

he was taking filthy bribes secretly.

Bribes?

What in the world are you saying?

Do you have anything to say?

I hear Prince Yeoning retracted his testimony.

That's why I should have been made an even more corrupt inspector,

so that the tables can be turned more smoothly

and they can make a good example out of me.

Father. Father.

I want to believe you but there's nothing to support your claim.

The testimony and evidence are too clear.

Father.

Carry it out.

- Husband. - Father!

- Father. - Husband.

Brother! What are you guys?

Get lost! Don't you hear me?

Shove this dog crap right away!

Move aside, Moon Soo.

You cannot block the enforcement by Saheonbu.

Brother. Why can't I?

They are the ones who actually defied the national law.

The ones who broke the law and fabricated this crime are elsewhere.

Why can't I block them?

So, will you be like them too?

Will you disregard the law as a joke and stand above it too?

One day, for sure, you will become a righteous officer in Saheonbu, Moon Soo.

At that time, you must be a man who wins, not with power, but with the law.

In this world, to those who will do anything for power,

you must show them

that the law wins in the end.

Brother.

Drag him away.

- Husband. - Father.

Father! Father!

Father!

Father!

Why is this so messed up?

But we were winning!

We almost won it all!

Saheonbu is in a wreck.

Is that so?

There must have been another way.

It should've been enough to give just Prince Yeoning a dressing-down.

But fabricated testimony and bribery too?

Why did you have to touch Saheonbu's prestige too?

Be careful now. Someone might misunderstand you and think someone did this on purpose.

We had no choice but to abandon Prince Milpoong and choose Prince Yeonryeong.

Will it really suffice if Prince Yeoning is the only one learning a lesson from this debacle

when he's a meaningless man whose existence makes no difference?

Cut if off. The stump is rotten so the other ones will die too.

Yes, Your Excellency.

Inspector Han's case will serve as a good example.

Other officials who've made grave miscalculations

will realize through this example

that they can be cut along with a rotten tree if they hang around one.

Still. I should've known, as the chief of Saheonbu.

- At least clue me in on it first . . . - Why?

When it's no issue that you didn't know.

Even if you knew, you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it anyway.

What did Minister of Interior say?

Was he aware of it?

Is he someone who would say he knew if he knew?

Why do you ask me something obvious?

But My Lord, even then, without a single word to you

he's put our entire Saheonbu down!

I think this is a warning to us.

He wants to show us what will happen if we are defiant.

As if we don't already know you're distinguished scholars, you sure are so smart!

You know so well but you disobeyed an order?

It was you who arrested Prince Milpoong!

Enough of that. You're all noisy so get out.

Aren't you getting out? So you disobey on this too now?

Your Majesty.

In there should be a way to break through the current trouble.

Do you mean, a report from the royal investigation bureau?

But Saheonbu cannot move based on intelligence from the Royal Investigation Bureau, an agency reporting directly to the king.

- In doing so . . . - No, I mean, give it to Prince Yeoning.

If it's that child, he will get it done. To Prince Yeoning.

As soon as daylight breaks, have Prince Yeonryeong come into the palace.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Geum. Please.

Your Highness the Prince, don't just drink like that.

Your Highness the Prince, please stop drinking now.

Where are you going?

- Oh, Your Highness the Prince, are you alright? - No!

What I need now isn't you.

I didn't get drunk merely for that!

Your Highness the Prince.

Aigo.

Your Highness...

Here. Take a drink from me too.

Drink until you die. Enjoy to your heart's content!

Hooray!

Really? Prince Yeoning, you mean?

Yes, he's hired and opened up a gisaeng house for free and all the idle turds in the capital went there.

What about our boys? Did they go too?

No, no. I told them not to even show their face around there in case trouble arises.

Alright. You did well.

But isn't that Prince Yeoning so funny?

Funny? What about?

He is. He went and testified by himself then he flipped it

and made a total fool out of that one inspector.

What happened to that inspector then?

It seems Head Merchant Jang of the silk shop confessed, as ordered, that he gave him bribes.

What can a powerless merchant do?

Fabricating testimony and bribery on top of it?

It will be hard for him to be spared.

He was too naive. What's there to trust about a royal to cooperate with him? Seriously!

Where in the world did he go?

Your Excellency?

Your Excellency. Are you alright?

Your Excellency.

Ja Dong.

Your Highness the Prince.

It's you.

You have a master like me.

How pitiful.

Your Highness the Prince. You are bleeding.

I'll get a physician.

For what?

For a thing like me? For what?

Your Highness.

It'll just be a brief moment. Allow us to see His Highness the Prince.

I'm not lying. He really isn't here. He didn't come home.

Does that make sense right now?

It's already past the Hour of the Ox ( 1-3 am).

He's that kind of person by nature. He's a consummate libertine.

Did you mingle with him, unaware of that?

Then, please relay a message to him.

They scheduled the cross-testimony between our lord and the prince at Saheonbu tomorrow.

There, he must reveal the truth again.

Brother. We still believe in you, Prince.

We believe you wouldn't do this for no reason. There must be a reason for it.

Alright. I will be sure to tell him.

I plead of you.

Let's go.

We've been discourteous at such a late hour.

Throw some salt after them (erase the bad luck, traces of unwelcome visitors).

Why are they bemoaning their own grievance here?

As long as it's not her business?

Madam, your life must be so carefree.

It's alright. You can go tattle.

No, no.

I have something to give to the master.

But it's right, Prince.

The hardships in this world, as long as it's not you, it's fine.

See nothing and hear nothing.

That's how you can survive.

I'd rather you knew nothing then.

It's thanks to you, Prime Minister, that I am out safely.

[Prince Milpoong, Yi Tan (Noron)]

I bid you my gratitude.

Why are you behaving in a way that's against the social norms and mores (a royal bowing down to a non-royal)?

A royal bidding greeting to a subject?

Prince Milpoong's face is looking quite pale.

Should I bring out some restoratives?

Why at my house?

We just ate breakfast not long ago.

[Kim Chang Joong, Prime Minister (Noron)]

His Highness the Prince must be busy too so we should tell him to go now.

Minister of Interior!

You came out, Prince Milpoong and we meet here.

Minister of Interior.

Yes. You stopped by my home too?

I went to you first, of course. Without delay.

How great it would have been had you at least feigned this humility before.

What?

If you knew you couldn't amount to much, you shouldn't have thrown such a fit.

Your Excellency, what did you just say to me?

You must have heard it from Prime Minister's concubine.

Who is the next king!

No. No.

It can't be.

Noron can't abandon me.

This nation belongs to my grandfather, Crown Prince Sohyeon.

Not the old geezer on the throne now, but my grandfather, my father!

And another thing I said to you!

That the pillars supporting this nation are the Norons!

If you wanted to play the king still, you should have kept your surroundings tidy,

even if we were the ones doing everything.

Minister of Interior!

An envoy entourage will leave for the Qing Dynasty tomorrow.

Go with them.

In the future, you can beg leniency from the new king and open a way for you to survive.

No, no. You can't!

Don't abandon me.

Please! Please! I'll do anything you say.

When I see the likes of you.

Status is only a delusion. Humans are just talking beasts.

You'll find that out.

And the world still has to go on.

So a thing like you will be spared to live too.

Get on up. That's not your seat, Your Highness the Prince.

Don't you hear me?

You can't sit on the dirt ground like that.

Yoon Yeong. It's all over.

It's all over, Yoon Yeong.

No! It's not over.

Who says to end it?

Look at me. You said you'd make me the queen.

That's why I chose you.

That's why I even became that old geezer's concubine.

Yoon Yeong.

This nation is yours. You're going to let them snatch it from you like this?

Show them who you are! If they try to snatch yours,

just what will happen to them!

Prince Yeoning. This all,

was all because of that scum!

That scum ruined me.

You're not ruined.

You can claim the royal throne back anytime!

Please put it in the prince's room.

What is this? Who put this in my room?

Your Highness the Prince.

I put it there at night. Sam Wol said she received it.

Your Majesty.

I heard you were looking for me.

Your Excellency. This is . . .

Intimate intelligence on Prince Milpoong.

His conduct in private life and the corpse record of his murders.

[Corpse Record: Ledger counting murdered bodies]

Perhaps something of this nature is from Royal Investigation Bureau.

Why do you have these? Who on earth gave them to you?

Whoever it is, it's someone who shares my conviction.

Someone who wants to turn this situation around. Someone who wants to protect the innocent before it's too late.