Original subtitles

(To better represent the characters past,)

(the drama's first two episodes...)

(will depict major events from...)

(the years 572 to 602 in an abbreviated form.)

(Episode 1)

It was a time when sky and land were still in each other's embrace,

when two suns...

and two moons graced the sky.

One sun fell and kindled the northern sky as its star,

Seven stars of the Ursa Major,

becoming the seven stars of the Northern Dipper.

The smallest was the people's star,

the biggest, the king's star.

The big star blessed creation...

with King Jin Heung the Great,

who took a small...

and feeble nation like Silla,

Shinguk, one of Silla's monikers.

- Are you knaves from Baekje? - Indeed!

We came to avenge our former king!

Slay him!

Your Highness!

Your Highness. It was a neglect on my part.

Far from it.

My not heeding your advice was almost paid with blood.

You should never ride alone near the border, Your Highness.

May you halt your journey and return to the palace.

No.

But, Your Highness!

I shall accompany the Royal Successor Baek Jeong to Mount Bukhan,

and show him the wondrous might of my Silla.

(Secret Stele of Mount Bukhan)

What you are standing before is my Silla.

And would it end here?

It extends from Hwalchoryeon up north...

to Danghang Fortress in the west.

It is all fruit of your efforts.

You opened a new era, forged a new Silla.

Eul Je.

I laud your efforts in abating internal strife.

Your grace is immeasurable, Your Highness.

And also,

Noribu and Se Jong.

You granted your ruler precious counsel and guided our military.

I shall hereby commend you on your boundless fealty.

Your grace is immeasurable.

And Mi Shil.

- Yes, Your Highness. - As a Wonhwa,

you led the Hwarang and nurtured new talent.

Seol Won.

- Yes, Your Highness. - And, Mun No.

Mun No is still at the Jungak completing our ceremony.

Mi Shil, Seol Won, Mun No.

I laud your efforts.

Your grace is immeasurable, Your Highness.

From here on in, Silla will be in your hands.

It is only because of you...

that my fervent dream which seemed impossible,

can now finally come into fruition.

Your Highness,

your grace is immeasurable.

Baek Jeong.

(Royal Successor Baek Jeong)

You shall inherit my throne and dream of an even greater legacy.

Is that clear?

- Yes, Your Highness. - Right.

Should all the people gathered here support your dreams,

nobody will stop you from fulfilling them.

(Prince Geum Ryun)

Were it not for Your Majesty,

not even in our wildest dreams would this have been possible.

Is that what you believe?

Of course I do.

And how do you believe I was able to achieve that?

How could I dare appraise your rule, Your Highness?

Are you all right?

I'm fine.

Look at what is the matter.

Yes, Your Highness.

It was nothing of particular concern, Your Highness.

In my childhood.

I once caught a tiger.

How could I be incognizant of a tale of such towering bravery?

I used this dagger to do it.

Were you aware of this as well?

With this small dagger, you mean?

It would have been very hard to hurt...

a tiger with this diminutive dagger.

Then?

The tiger bit my arm.

If I had tried to escape from its jaws,

I would surely have lost my arm.

But I instead pushed my arm further inside the tiger's gob.

- What? - And with this dagger...

I slashed that tiger's windpipe.

You were able to make such a quick decision in that situation?

I think it was just all the angst boiling inside me.

That beast had killed a favoured compeer of mine.

But, some people would not believe me,

I always told everyone that I used a huge sword to do it.

But, you know what amuses me?

Finding one's arm in the jaws of a rancorous tiger...

seems to be a king's destiny.

At times, that tiger could bear the name Baekje,

sometimes it could be Goguryeo,

or even the nobles in the court.

I always think of that day, when such events befall me.

It is that impetuous bravery which christened...

Your Majesty into the leading light of our age.

If only bravery mattered,

generals would easily vanquish my legacy.

Then...

Was it by any chance your sagacious acumen, Your Highness?

My rule has been drenched with misjudgment.

I trust you are not...

bestowing all accolades to divine providence?

Be it a crown bedecking my pate,

would not the whims of providence be as blind as they are mysterious?

Then...

Is it your innate disposition,

- always keeping you alert against imminent peril? - It is not.

Then...

It is people.

When I fought with that tiger,

I surely was alone.

But from that day onwards,

people avouching for my calling started following me.

For every new obstacle hampering my path,

I now had a hundred acolytes contending with that mighty beast.

And a hundred more followed suit the day after.

At the end,

the brave,

the fortunate,

the sagacious...

They all joined forces with me,

so that I could contend with any beast.

It is not divine providence what bestows glory upon a ruler.

It is his people.

He who can be blessed by...

people's faith shall rule over all creation for ages to come.

Your humble consort once again gained a precious lesson.

Your Highness.

Your Highness!

(Seorabeol)

That is absurd!

Your last injunctions?

May you retract such nefarious utterances!

The mandate of heaven is abandoning my gates.

Your Highness!

Inscribe it on my behalf.

The heir to my throne...

is the Royal Successor, Baek Jeong.

I hereby proclaim Eul Je as Head of the Council of Nobles.

What is more, according to our codes of law,

Prince Geum Ryun...

and Royal Seal Keeper Holder of the Royal Sea,

will be removed from any post of significance,

and follow my lead, devoting their remaining days to serving Buddha.

Are you disheartened?

Are you?

How could I ever disheartened?

If you ever perish, how could this humble consort...

dare to bask in abundance in a layman's dwellings?

Then...

Will you do as inscribed?

I shall devote myself to Buddhist practice,

praying for your heavenly bliss and divine reincarnation.

Your Highness...

Heed my words...

Yes, Your Highness.

Your Highness.

Did you call me?

Summon Eul Je...

and Royal Successor Baek Jeong.

What?

- Your Highness... - There is no time to squander!

Your wish is my command, Your Highness.

Your Highness. Seol Won Rang.

Let him, let him enter at once.

Yes, Your Highness.

Hwarang Seol Won...

answers your summoning...

and dares to deliberate in your presence, Your Highness.

I left my final injunctions...

to Mi Shil.

Your Highness!

What is that supposed to mean?

Final injunctions?

It is absurd.

As my royal patrol Hwarang,

didn't you and Mun No...

always remain by my side all these years?

You must also...

be aware of the reason why I left the ceremony...

and returned to the palace.

Your Highness!

I must leave...

my final secret injunction to you.

Come closer.

Seol Won, accept this royal edict.

Seol Won Rang...

humbly accepts Your Majesty's edict.

Peruse it.

(Slay Mi Shil)

Your Highness!

What order is this?

Her Highness the Royal Seal Keeper...

Mi Shil...

shall never follow my injunctions.

As long as I am alive,

Mi Shil is a treasure to Silla.

But once demise shall befall upon me,

Mi Shil will become...

a treacherous poison afflicting this country.

Your Highness!

You must slay Mi Shil!

Will you do it?

Your humble servant, Seol Won Rang,

will stake his life to fulfill your wishes, Your Highness.

- Your Highness! - Your Highness...

I brought the physician.

There is no need! Leave at once!

Where is the Royal Successor?

He is coming. He shall soon be here.

- Let him in at once. - Your Highness!

May you first take care of...

Leave at once...

and summon Baek Jeong!

Yes, Your Highness!

His Majesty...

penetrated through all our subterfuges.

He is Silla's greatest ruler.

Were he not blessed by such sagacious discernment,

how could he ever gain such legacy?

How are you going to proceed?

What is there to fret?

Have a seat.

If it truly concerns you,

slaughter the treacherous Mi Shil,

and fight for a noble cause.

Royal Seal Keeper!

Even in restful whims, how could you utter such nefarious drivel?

Then how will you proceed?

This Seol Won Rang...

already pledged his all to you, four years ago.

My destiny...

and even this country's fortunes.

His Excellency Eul Je has still not entered the palace,

while Guk Seon Mun No is still taking part in the ceremony,

so that can only imply divine providence is on my side.

Make all preparations.

(Mun No)

You shall...

become the new ruler of this country.

Your Highness.

Will you answer your calling?

Your Highness...

How could I...

You will.

And...

you must.

But...

Without you at my side,

how could I ever...

Come closer.

Keep and cherish this dagger.

It once rescued me from the jaws of demise.

Why are you giving...

this to me?

Now...

it is yourself...

and this country of ours you must protect.

No.

I cannot do that.

You must...

rescue this Silla of ours!

Your Highness! Your Highness!

What is wrong with you?

Your Highness!

Your Highness!

Grandfather!

Who is there?

Free the way. We were expecting him.

- Yes. - Yes!

Stop at once!

What brings you here, at this belated juncture?

Grandfather!

Grandfather!

Grandfather!

If...

I only think of Silla's future,

wintry sweat flows down my visage.

Is not Silla...

as vigorous as it has ever been?

So why are you...

Is that what you think?

But...

Silla...

Silla...

Grandfather! Your Highness!

Do no longer speak.

I shall summon the physicians.

I clamoured you to dream of an unfeasible vagary.

And do you know what that is?

Grandfather!

I shall summon someone at once!

My unfeasible vagary...

Silla...

becoming...

the ruler of the three Han.

That is the one and only way...

Silla will survive...

Father...

We rid the council hall of everyone present.

- Let us go. - Yes!

Your Highness.

It is time for your infusion.

Your Highness.

I shall never forget...

the devotion you blessed me with.

Nor shall I forget...

the benevolence you granted me...

in taking your final breath without my assistance.

I shall never...

ever forget it.

Mi Shil.

His Majesty?

- What happened? - Royal Seal Keeper!

Your Highness.

Did you say they who gain...

the hearts of their people will rule upon creation?

That with people by their side,

they will rule above all for ages to come?

People?

Take a look, Your Highness!

These are my people!

Not yours, but Mi Shil's, my people!

And...

it now is...

Mi Shil's time to rule.

Mun No.

Unless...

the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight,

no one able to contend Mi Shil's might shall bless creation.

Should anyone possess the power to contend with her,

an eighth star will grace the Northern Dipper.

Now...

there is no man under the heavens who will contend my might.

His Majesty...

His Majesty?

Yes.

His Majesty just perished.

But nobody is aware of it yet.

Nobody is aware of it?

You must hasten and summon all the...

As per His Majesty's final injunctions,

he did not proclaim you, Prince Geum Ryun,

but the son of the deceased...

Prince Dong Nyun, Baek Jeong, as his heir.

His grandson,

Baek Jeong?

However,

final injunctions could always be altered.

If you...

only proclaim me as Queen.

Will you do that?

(Mi Saeng)

The six-coloured groups...

represent the six founding clans...

which built Silla.

Here is the well our great founder...

Park Hyeok Geose spurted from,

The Najeong!

May you now...

let the egg of the Hyeok Geose,

bless you in divine inspiration.

Before His Majesty the King we are gathered!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Unless...

the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight,

no one able to contend Mi Shil's might shall bless creation.

Is Mi Shil now blessed with divine providence?

Is this now Mi Shil's age?

You cannot! Do not go.

Bring me along with you. Bring me as well!

Your Highness.

I received orders to protect Danghang Fortress,

and I am therefore headed there.

You cannot follow me there, Your Highness.

I cannot remain here!

Mi Shil daunts me, and I detest my uncle as well.

Bring me along!

Your Highness!

You cannot utter such mortifying words.

This is your abode, Your Highness.

I alerted everyone, so may you abate your fears and stay here.

I will come back for sure.

- Your Highness. - What are you gazing at?

Should you not gaze at the Northern Dipper?

What?

Unless...

the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight,

no one able to contend Mi Shil's might shall bless creation.

Should anyone possess the power to contend with her,

an eighth star will grace the Northern Dipper.

The seven stars of the Northern Dipper will become eight?

So how? Did you gain your answer?

I shall not interfere.

Let Mi Shil the Royal Seal Keeper do as she pleases.

Join our cause.

I...

shall not do a single thing.

(King Jin Ji)

Are you really...

going to abandon me?

Will you condemn this son borne out of our union...

to spend life as a mere royal servants offspring?

Royal Seal Keeper!

Why do you keep insisting on this matter?

The Hwarang ceremony will take place today.

Your Highness!

That day you made a covenant,

promising I would become Queen!

But I was warned by my subjects and mother...

to prohibit that from ever happening.

If Your Majesty wish for it, their concerns would not matter.

I even hid the former king's final injunctions,

and...

brought you before that very throne, Your Highness!

Those injunctions surely...

Your Highness.

Your Highness.

Preparations for the ceremony have been completed.

May you move to the exhibition hall.

All right.

Royal Seal Keeper.

Let us never deliberate on...

those injunctions again.

Forgive me, my child.

You are no longer...

You are no longer of any use to me.

Child, you said?

Dear, is that true?

(Ma Ya)

I actually...

dreamed of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper entering my body...

And? And what?

I thought it was a peculiar dream...

and it must have heralded my parturition.

Really?

The physician confirmed it today.

And at the shrine?

I plan to head there now.

Dear.

May you keep this.

This...

Was this not the dagger His Deceased Majesty King Jin Heung gave you?

This was...

the dagger which protected him.

And now...

I wish it will protect you and our child.

Yes.

I am sure it will.

Your Highness!

Be careful, will you?

(So Hwa)

Why are you not coming, Your Highness?

Are you not going to the ceremony?

Right. I forgot about it.

Yes, you must hasten there,

I will find us a nice spot.

Let us hasten there, Your Highness.

We must first head to the shrine, so make all preparations.

What?

We are going to the shrine?

Yes. I understand.

May you head to the ceremony.

What is so special about a Hwarang ceremony?

I want to stay with you today.

We have the rest of our lives to spend together.

If you leave first, I shall head to the shrine...

and then follow after you.

(Bong)

Why did they close the shrine's gates?

So Hwa.

Your Highness!

Where were you?

Behind the shrine, just a moment.

There must be something at the shrine today.

- Let us return in the morrow. - Tell me about it...

I went behind the shrine and looked inside...

How could you desecrate this sacred place?

My apologies.

I did it with His Highness once already...

Silence!

Pave the way at once.

I mean...

it is the first time I see the Hwarang put that on their faces.

What?

What did you just say?

I apologise.

- I shall lead the way. - The Hwarang...

are painting their faces?

I...

that...

They are so comely!

Are they not?

Even more than me, are they not?

You...

really don't know what that means?

What?

Hwarang paint their faces white before a venturesome endeavour,

that is what it means.

You have never heard of that?

And what would that entail?

It is their way of accepting demise for the sake of their cause.

- What? - On the day before...

a military campaign or a great endeavour,

Hwarang paint their faces.

It means they will fight to their very last drop of blood,

while leaving behind their comely visage...

as their legacy.

Are we on the brink of war?

If that is not the case,

why would they even do that before the ceremony?

The ceremony!

Your Highness!

How do you plan to deal with them?

We must quietly take them out of the palace, and then deal with both.

Not even their bodies must be discovered.

Nobody can know this,

not even those entrusted with dealing with them.

Was it not a mere vagary of mine?

But...

how could it be so suffocating?

What is the matter?

Your mother is suffering from severe ailments.

What?

Who did you get this from?

A servant from your parents' abode, a certain Cheon Deok.

Cheon Deok?

Where is he now?

Before the northern gates.

All right.

Convey everything you heard to His Highness.

Yes, I can do that well.

This way, Your Highness.

May you now...

let the egg of the Hyeok Geose bless you in divine inspiration.

Your Highness.

Take my hand.

What on earth is this?

The egg of our founder the Hyeok Geose...

shall never be entrusted to you, Your Highness.

What is that supposed to mean?

This is a sacred ceremony.

What do you think you're doing?

As their Flowering Knight,

I am merely conveying to you my fellow Hwarang's wishes.

- Wishes? - Your Highness.

May you step down.

Say what?

What did you just say?

We, Hwarang,

wish for Your Majesty to step down of your own volition.

Do what?

You rendered vain all of the former king's achievements.

Leave at once!

No.

- Guards! - Yes!

Get those varmints out of my sight.

- Take them away! - Yes!

This is our Hwarang's resolve.

Who could ever stop it?

Even the Council of Nobles is not voicing a single grievance,

so how could the Hwarang...

This Council of Nobles does concur with their wishes,

and will demonstrate it through our following edict.

You as well?

(Se Jong)

First,

for besmirching his crown,

and ignoring heaven's mandate.

Second,

for allowing his lecherous profligacy to afflict our people...

and failing to shelter the former king's achievements.

Third,

for violating the former king's servant Mi Shil...

in contemptuous disdain,

not to mention, not conveying his final injunctions,

the most treasonous of all misdeeds.

What?

Violate?

Contempt?

May you...

now convey the former king's final injunctions.

Right before he perished, His Deceased Majesty clamoured me...

to announce that the heir of the heavenly kingdom...

shall not be his second son, Geum Ryun,

but the son of Crown Prince Dong Nyun,

King Jin Heung's grandson,

Prince Baek Jeong.

We are...

gathered before our ruler and king!

Your Highness!

Your Highness!

Your Highness!

Your Highness!

Run, run away.

This will be the last chance I give you.

Prince Baek Jeong has vanished.

Tell everyone to gather.

Discreetly summon the troops.

It is a princess, a princess!

It will be successful.

Does not that spell trouble for the mighty ruler?

This is the end.

Nobody can escape from that, Your Highness.

No matter how numerous you are,

think you could contend with me?

If Her Highness Mi Shil...

ends up marrying someone a decade younger like His Majesty,

what would she do to Lady Ma Ya?

What on earth are you scheming behind my back?

Her Highness is blessed with divine providence.

Another prince perished.

So all my mother did was giving me this,

and then she abandoned me?

I don't need this!

Mi Shil stole this Silla of ours from His Majesty's hands.

It is now time we get it back.

Unless the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight,

no one able to contend Mi Shil's might shall bless creation.