Original subtitles

The traitors should surrender now!

Shut your mouth!

Get rid of them all!

Seung-nyang.

It is a white band.

Yeoncheol is alive?

We cannot kill Dang Gise.

It is a trap, Your Majesty.

Grand Councillor Yeoncheol is not dead.

We need to change our plans.

Bang Jin, you traitor. Come out and pay for your sins!

Silence, Baekan!

Get rid of every single one of them!

You were supposed to kill Dang Gise.

As if I would help rebels.

So you betrayed us?

General.

We must kill everyone who knows about our plans.

I know.

That old geezer...

How dare he try to trick us?

It is the city guards!

They are here!

Dang Gise's soldiers were lying in wait.

Dang Gise was waiting for this.

Please lie down, Father.

You might make it worse.

My men are risking their lives to fight.

How can I lay here and wait for our victory?

A messenger is here.

Send him in.

What is happening?

We have stopped the rebels.

General Dang Gise will lead the men

and arrive here soon, Grand Councillor.

Father.

I will go greet them

at the Emperor's palace.

Yes, Grand Councillor.

Your Imperial Majesty.

The Grand Councillor is on his way to the Emperor's palace right now.

It turned out for the better.

There is nobody by Yeoncheol's side now.

Go now...

and end his life.

Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.

What is wrong, Father?

Stand behind me, Your Imperial Majesty. Quickly!

Who sent you? The Empress Dowager?

Or was it...

Now look here.

Do you think that I, Yeoncheol, the conqueror,

will fall to the likes of you?

Your Imperial Majesty.

Do not die!

Yes, Grand Councillor.

I am at your command.

I will not die.

Father.

I am on my way to see Grand Councillor Yeoncheol's demise.

Would you like to accompany me?

What does that mean?

I am going to kill Grand Councillor Yeoncheol with my own hands.

The rebels have been suppressed.

What did you just say?

Dang Gise is going to lead his men and will arrive here soon.

Your Imperial Majesty, you must call off the assassination right away.

Assassination?

Grand Councillor.

You scum! You dare challenge me?

Father!

Your Imperial Majesty, you must stand back.

Father.

Come at me. One at a time.

How about it?

Stop!

I said stop!

Your Imperial Majesty...

I am sorry.

This is to protect His Imperial Majesty.

If I had come any later, it would have been a disaster,

Grand Councillor.

Dang Gise.

What is going on here?

Assassins attacked us.

His Imperial Majesty saved our lives.

We are alive thanks to His Imperial Majesty's grace.

These are the ones who helped the rebels by deploying their soldiers.

Listen here, criminals.

The dead Bang Jin and Ju Gukcheong

had spread mysterious documents, disturbed the public,

and conspired a rebellion to seize their power.

There is no doubt that there is a mastermind behind them.

If you confess now, we will spare your lives.

But if you choose not to talk,

death will be the least of your worries.

Deputy Minister of Justice! Who is the mastermind?

I swear I do not know anything.

Order him to be executed.

You want me...

to make the order?

We are executing rebels. It must be an order from the Emperor.

Do it, Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

I order you...

to execute him.

Your Imperial Majesty...

Execute him.

Execute him.

Councilman Bang Jin told me

that he received orders from the Empress Dowager!

How dare you lie?

I heard it directly from Bang Jin.

Without a doubt,

the mastermind behind the rebels is Her Highness!

Shut your mouth!

-Arrest the Empress Dowager. -Yes.

-Your Highness. -Your Highness.

Your Highness.

Your Imperial Majesty.

We have finally caught the mastermind behind the rebels.

Father.

Your Imperial Majesty, you must not protect me.

Do as the Grand Councillor says.

That is the only way to keep him from suspecting you.

What if he asks me to execute you, Your Highness?

He cannot execute me.

Those whom I directly dealt with are already dead.

But Your Highness...

As long as you stay alive and well,

I can rise to power again, Your Imperial Majesty.

Do you understand?

This is all my fault.

I was too hasty.

Do not worry about me.

You must make sure to protect your throne, Your Imperial Majesty.

I am not behind the rebels.

This is slander, Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty, dethrone her right now

and send her to Ganye Temple.

GANYE TEMPLE: WHERE WIDOWED EMPRESSES AND CONCUBINES ARE SENT TO

This is unfair, Your Imperial Majesty.

Did you not hear me?

I order...

the Empress Dowager...

to be dethroned immediately.

Your Imperial Majesty.

-Take her away. -Yes.

Even if you send me away to the temple,

I will continue to pray to Buddha for you, Your Imperial Majesty.

Please stay healthy, Your Imperial Majesty.

Do not worry.

I plan on taking your secrets to the grave.

Your Highness,

are you saying that you will take all the responsibility yourself?

Just promise me one thing.

While I am gone,

you must foster a force powerful enough to take on the Grand Councillor.

That way, in the future,

I can take down Yeoncheol's clan when I return.

We will make sure

that your sacrifice does not go in vain, Your Highness.

Do not worry, Your Highness.

Your Imperial Majesty, we must reward

those who played a vital role

in suppressing the rebels.

Grand Councillor,

do as you wish.

-Your Highness. -Your Highness.

Your Highness.

Your Highness.

The Empress is a highly jealous woman.

You must protect the child even if I am not here.

Yes, Your Highness.

I shall.

Her Imperial Majesty has arrived.

You have protected this position for a very long time.

Now you are in charge, Your Imperial Majesty.

Please lead the Inner Court well, Your Imperial Majesty.

Goodness, look at you.

You must think you are still all high and mighty.

I told you not to mess with me.

I cannot wait to see you grow old and die

amidst the incense in the temple,

Your Highness.

I will be praying to Buddha

for you to conceive a child.

If you still cannot even then,

just know that the heavens are punishing you for your father's sins.

What did you say?

Court Lady Seo.

How should I deal with that wench?

No matter how much she struggles,

victory is yours, Your Imperial Majesty.

Now that you have truly become the owner of the Imperial Palace,

you can show her a bit of mercy.

That is right.

I will show them how I handle

the matters of the Inner Court.

Grand Councillor.

Just because I cut my hair like a temple nun

does not mean that I will just die quietly here.

You will deeply regret not killing me.

Now, Baekan.

Have a drink.

Yes, Grand Councillor.

Would you like to take over Yoyang Province?

Father.

Among the ten provinces in Yuan,

Yoyang Province is the closest to Daedo.

Become the governor of the province and lead them.

At your service.

At your service.

As for you,

the Empress has nothing but praise for you.

Tell me what you want.

Please make me the King of Goryeo again.

You must forget that silly dream of yours.

I do not trust Goryeo as a nation.

For a whole 30 years,

those malicious people of Goryeo have fought with the Great Yuan.

No other nation in this world

has been such a thorn in our side like Goryeo has been.

As for you,

I do not want you to be the King of Goryeo.

You should stay here with me

and enjoy a good life here.

I have received word from Goryeo

that my father is severely ill.

May I return for a bit?

Of course you may.

Now let us have a drink.

I was unexpectedly promoted to a higher position,

but you could not get what you hoped for.

Do not tell me you are satisfied with that position.

The reason I wanted to gain power

was that I wanted to make the Great Yuan truly great.

I am well aware of the fact

that a mere governor of a province cannot do much.

I will try to strengthen my power in my own way,

so you must do the same, General.

Of course.

Yoyang Province is much bigger than Goryeo.

Either way, you are now the governor of the region.

You are now as powerful as a king of a nation.

I am worried for His Imperial Majesty.

The Empress Dowager was chased out.

And we are leaving as well.

He is like an orphan now.

From now on,

Grand Councillor Yeoncheol's tyranny is going to become even worse.

What brings you here?

The fact that those assassins who tried to kill me last time

were all your guard eunuchs

has been bothering me.

Those men were...

bribed by the rebels.

How are you looking at me like that?

Whoever you meet and wherever you go,

you will report it to me, Your Imperial Majesty.

Know that, and be careful of your actions.

Until now, you only visited the Empress's palace on certain days.

Now, you will have to visit her more frequently.

The Empress being unable to get pregnant is your responsibility.

Do you understand?

Yes, Grand Councillor.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Please get Yang for me.

I cannot breathe.

Yang has...

returned to Goryeo with Wang Yu.

Did he reclaim his throne?

I do not know the details.

How could Wang Yu leave

without saying goodbye first?

It was under the Grand Councillor's instructions.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Her Highness is gone.

General Baekan is also gone.

Yang is not here either.

Now I am...

completely alone.

Your Imperial Majesty...

By the way,

is your father that sick?

Why are you so dumb?

That was an excuse.

Some trouble is going on in Goryeo,

so they sent out for His Majesty.

I see.

Am I the only one who did not know?

Do not worry too much about us.

You must return safely, Your Majesty.

Would you like to...

to return to Goryeo with me, even for just a bit?

Dang Gise is currently looking for the blood vow.

If he gets his hands on the blood vow,

Your Majesty's goal to reclaim the throne

and my goal to avenge my parents

will become unreachable.

I will find out what is going on and return right away.

Until then,

take care of yourselves.

Your Majesty, we must depart.

Take care of His Majesty.

Stay healthy.

Do not just think about women.

Yeom Byeong-su!

You take charge of the Kheshig.

My body and soul are at your service,

Grand Councillor.

Replace the Kheshig with my men.

And the number of the soldiers must be doubled.

Yes, Grand Councillor!

You will command the Palace Defense Unit and the city guards from now on.

-Yes, Father. -Yes, Father.

One mistake was enough.

I will never allow another rebellion to occur

in the Imperial Palace.

Where are you going?

What does it matter to you where we are going?

Watch your mouth.

He is the new commander of the Kheshig, you little eunuch.

You sell your country off only to become

a gatekeeper of the Imperial Palace?

I cannot believe you are still alive.

I guess you are acting up

thanks to your deposed king's contribution in suppressing the rebels.

While I am the commander of the Kheshig,

I will show no mercy to those who get on the wrong side of me.

It has been a while, Seung-nyang.

Did you not like being a court lady? You dressed up like a man again.

From today, patrol the Imperial Palace twice as often.

Make sure nothing gets in.

Yes, Commander.

Now that I am in charge of the Kheshig,

something has got to change around here.

Jeok-ho?

Did that guy steal money?

Why is everyone looking for him?

He has the blood vow that Emperor Myeongjong had left.

-The blood vow? -He is bald.

And he is great with spears.

Is there anyone like that in Goryeo Village?

If you go to the Shaolin Monastery in the south,

there are many bald monks who are amazing with spears.

Goodness!

He is not a monk, he is a eunuch.

-A eunuch? -Yes.

-I thought he was a monk. -Gosh!

Does anyone come to your mind?

A red tiger?

Jeokho?

I do not know who Jeok-ho is, and he is not here.

Do not come back here looking for him.

Please think carefully...

It seems like we came here for nothing.

What did I tell you?

I told you not to listen to that crazy Court Lady Noh.

We must come back tonight.

Tonight?

Why?

I need to check something.

There is someone suspicious in Goryeo Village.

Someone suspicious?

But he is not a eunuch.

He has a beard

as well as a full head of hair.

By any chance, is there anyone who has seen Jeok-ho's face?

We do have a sketch based on my father's memories.

May I see it?

The facial features are very similar.

We have found the guy.

The headman of Goryeo Village.

He is Jeok-ho.

Who is outside?

Who sent you?

If you do not speak,

I will pierce your throat.

But your head will fall first.

Give us

the blood vow.

Are you looking for Jeok-ho too?

What? It was you three?

We apologize for our rudeness, Headman.

I understand why Yeoncheol is looking for it.

But why do you need it?

We plan to take down Yeoncheol.

I knew something was strange when you were taking the rats.

I guess you spread the mysterious documents too.

But I do not have the blood vow.

Please help us.

We know you have it. Please just give it to us.

Before Emperor Myeongjong passed away,

he gave me secret orders.

He said he would write the blood vow in a book.

He told me to deliver it to the Imperial Crown Prince.

The blood vow had a butterfly drawn on it.

It was a sign

that only the Imperial Crown Prince would understand the meaning.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty.

Kill all of the Emperor's court ladies and eunuchs.

-Yes. -Yes.

Yeoncheol found out His Imperial Majesty had written a blood vow.

He went on a rampage.

I thought that if I got caught, they would take the blood vow from me.

So I hid it.

But how did you manage to survive?

In the Imperial Palace,

there is a passage that only I know of.

I escaped through there.

Then,

where did you hide the blood vow?

We will find it. Please tell us.

Later, I had a eunuch go back

and look for it.

But the blood vow vanished from that very spot.

By any chance,

do you know who took it?

Please tell us who it is.

Headman.

Headman.

Wait here.

Headman.

It is I, Yeom Byeong-su.

Where are you?

It is Yeom Byeong-su.

What the heck is he doing here?

Wait, we have to go. Hurry.

Where are you, Headman?

Have you been well, Headman?

Is this not the Kheshig commander's uniform?

Oh, my. It is as if you have lived in the Imperial Palace before.

How did you recognize it so quickly?

So, you are Jeok-ho.

What? Do you feel wronged?

I feel wronged too.

Why did I not recognize you as Jeok-ho earlier?

Search his place and find the blood vow.

-Yes, General. -Yes, General.

Let us go.

Search everywhere.

-Yes. -Yes.

General, we have looked everywhere, but there is no blood vow.

That is true, General.

Take him to the Imperial Palace.

-Yes, General. -Yes, General.

-Take him! -Yes.

We cannot let them take the blood vow.

It is too risky for us to make our move now.

Seung-nyang is right.

We must go back and wait for the right time.

Stop!

Hello, Grand Councillor.

Jeok-ho, it has been a while.

Grand Councillor...

Stop resisting and save yourself the pain.

Tell us where the blood vow is.

I do not know where it is.

How can I tell you about something I do not know?

I suppose you can still take more.

-Burn him. -Yes.

Make sure to keep him alive.

Do not worry, Grand Councillor.

I will make sure to keep him alive and have him go through immense pain.

What happened?

Seeing as they have not taken action,

he has not said anything yet.

Tonight,

we will get Jeok-ho out of there.

We are in the Imperial Palace.

Where will you take him if you manage to get him out of there?

He said there is a secret passage that only he knows of.

Once we get him out of there,

we can run away through the passage.

After Yeom Byeong-su became the commander,

the Kheshig have been stricter in their security.

If we can read their movements well,

we can find a weak spot.

Eunuch Bang, go find out the Kheshig's rotation schedule.

Senior Officer Park, find out the Kheshig's patrol routes

down to the exact hour.

Tonight,

when they slacken their vigilance,

we will make our move.

Your Imperial Majesty, how are you doing this morning?

Your stomach is getting quite big.

There are only four months left before she must give birth.

Did anyone ask you?

Why did you not pay respects last night?

Last night, the baby was kicking hard--

I told you to shut up.

Having the Empress Dowager on your side this whole time,

you could not even bother to care about the rules of this Inner Court.

-No, Your Imperial Majesty. -Then what?

Do you think you are special because you have the Emperor's child?

My deepest apologies, Your Imperial Majesty.

Please forgive me this time.

I do not want to see your face. Get out.

Your Ladyship.

Whenever I see her stomach, I can feel my insides turning...

Your Imperial Majesty, are you still not feeling well?

I have been feeling bloated recently. I do not feel well.

I think it is severe indigestion.

I will call the physician right away.

Forget the physician.

Bring me something spicy.

I think eating something spicy will ease my symptom.

Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.

Your Imperial Majesty, maybe, you have conceived...

You have not menstruated for over two months now.

Well...

Wait a minute.

I...

cannot eat spicy food.

Nor do I even like it.

Congratulations, Your Imperial Majesty.

Finally, you have conceived.

I...

I have conceived?

You are being rewarded for the hardship you went through.

At last,

Buddha is touched by your desperation, Your Imperial Majesty.

There is no way the Empress has conceived.

Those are the rumors in the Imperial Palace.

There is no way.

After being exposed to the toxicity of the rouge and incense,

it is impossible for her to get pregnant.

It is an old Indian trick to prevent pregnancy.

When used long enough, you become infertile.

Then maybe the Empress caught on to the tricks.

Even just looking at the lipstick and the incense,

they do not look out of the ordinary.

There is no way she could have found out.

There is only an hour left before they rotate.

In that time, we must take Jeok-ho out of there

and leave the Imperial Palace.

Let us move.

Hey!

An intruder!

Stop right there!

Headman.

-You... -We must go now.

Please hurry.

Let us go.

Where is the secret passage?

Along the Taiye Pond,

there is a waterway that leads to the outside of the Imperial Palace.

We will distract them,

so go find the secret passage and escape, Seung-nyang.

Come on. Hurry.

Jeok-ho is running away. Get him!

Run!

Get them!

You get them. I will get Jeok-ho.

-Go on. -This way.

-Yes. -Yes.

Kill them.

Seung-nyang?

You go ahead. Now.

Who are you?

Seung-nyang, you have been here all along?

They headed toward the Emperor's palace. Get them.

Seung-nyang, let us go to my room.

That will put you in danger too, Your Imperial Majesty.

You cannot go far with this injury.

Let us go to a nearby bath instead.

Let us go. Come on.

You have lost a lot of blood.

I am fine.

Be still.

How did you end up like this?

Are you sure it was Seung-nyang?

I am sure. That was definitely Seung-nyang's eyes.

The blood trail stops here.

They are in the bath.

I am fine.

Just hold on.

Once the Kheshig are gone, I will call for a physician.

Your Imperial Majesty, Dang Gise is headed here.

You must...

You must make sure you do not let them in here.

Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.

What brings you here, General?

Open the door.

His Imperial Majesty is taking a bath.

Please come back tomorrow morning--

What are you doing, General Dang Gise?

What do you want?

Someone who helped a prisoner escape ran away to here.

Is that so?

As you can tell, there is nothing going on here.

But why are you taking a bath in the middle of the night?

I could not sleep and wanted to relieve my fatigue.

Anyway,

do I, the Emperor, need to explain all of this to you?

My apologies.

Please finish your bath.

We need to search the premises.

How long do you plan on looking at my naked body?

How rude of you to keep staring at me!

Even the Grand Councillor is not like this.

We have found Seung-nyang's blood trail outside.

Where is she headed?

The West Gate.

That wench.

Let us go!

Seung-nyang.

Wake up, Seung-nyang.

Seung-nyang.

Hurry and take a look at her wound.

Then why is she so pale?

We must hide Yang in the Pavilion of Women.

Please let us search the Pavilion of Women with the Kheshig.

Are you sure she is hiding there?

We are not sure yet.

What matters is regaining my dignity as an emperor.

Without power, I cannot do anything.

Concubine Park would like to help you escape in secret.

I would rather be blind than watch that wench bear the Emperor's child.

Kill her for me and end all of my troubles, Dang Gise.

The assassins will begin their attack soon.

I will never forget the kindness of those who helped me.

Subtitle translation by James Park