BASED ON THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS BY YLAB
Your...
Your Royal Highness.
Your Royal Highness,
I have committed a grave sin.
Please forgive me just this one time.
This isn't your first time.
The pomegranates and the cookies.
What else was there?
You have stolen so many things that I cannot even remember them all.
Your Royal Highness, I deserve to be executed
for daring to touch your tea table.
However, please take pity on my wife,
who eked out a living as a seamstress to support me...
until I passed the military examination after the age of 40.
My kindhearted wife is pregnant, and she is having a hard time
coping with her morning sickness,
but I cannot afford to buy meat or even rice for her,
which truly breaks my heart.
That is why I stole from your tea table even though I knew it is wrong.
I beg for your mercy, Your Royal Highness.
Did you...
truly take them to your wife?
Yes, Your Royal Highness.
How could I dare to lie to Your Royal Highness?
Is your wife all right?
Yes, Your Royal Highness. She is doing fine.
From now on,
taste it before you give her any.
I do not understand.
Will Your Royal Highness...
allow me to continue to take the food to my wife?
Then what will you give me in return?
I will gladly offer anything I can give to Your Royal Highness.
Stay by my side.
Keeping by Your Royal Highness's side is my sole duty.
I must do so without question.
No matter what happens, and regardless of your circumstances,
always stay by my side.
Can you do that?
Yes, Your Royal Highness.
I can certainly do that.
No matter what happens, and regardless of my circumstances,
I will stay by your side and protect you at all times.
Your Royal Highness.
We must leave now.
Did you not say we must stop Lord Cho Hak-ju, no matter what?
HANYANG
Open the gate!
The Chief State Councillor is inside the carriage! Open the gate.
He is in critical condition.
We must move him as quickly as possible.
Uncle, are you all right?
Seo-bi, please do something.
Needles or herbs, I will get anything.
Neither acupuncture needles nor herbs are the fundamental solution.
Are you saying we should just let him die?
He fell ill because he was bitten by a plague victim.
I'm sure that the symptoms themselves
will help us find a way to treat the disease.
They lose their power of reason
and only go after the smell of human flesh and blood.
They fear fire and water.
They've all turned into beasts.
Seo-bi!
The stream wasn't even deep,
but the plague victims couldn't even cross the shallow waters.
As for fire, it may be due to the heat.
But...
in the case of water,
why do they fear it so much?
Will this...
really work?
I don't know either.
But there is nothing else we can do, is there?
What? What's happening?
What...
Seo-bi, something's wrong.
What are you...
What are you waiting for? Take my uncle out of--
Just a moment!
This sound is...
It is a prince.
Her Majesty gave birth to a prince.
Yes!
What joy!
Your Majesty.
Congratulations on the birth of a prince.
Congratulations.
What a glorious day for our kingdom.
Please accept our heartiest congratulations.
HANYANG
NAESEONJAE
Hurry.
We must finish the job before the dawn breaks.
Your Royal Highness' guard was right.
They're all...
expectant mothers.
She is still alive.
What do you mean?
A murder took place at the residence of Her Majesty's family?
It was not an ordinary murder.
Seven pregnant women were murdered, and we also found corpses of female newborns.
We do not know who did it or why such a cruel thing had to be done.
But one thing we know for certain is that it is connected to the Queen's Palace
and that the culprit must have been after a male newborn.
Are you implying...
that the Queen plotted to bring in a peasant's baby
to fool us into believing that she gave birth to a prince?
That is nonsense!
Harboring such a thought itself is insolent!
If it is true,
it will utterly disorder the foundation of this country.
The head of Royal Commandery only went there to check whether or not it is true.
Chief State Councillor. When did you return from Mungyeong Saejae?
Do you have firm evidence?
I asked you if there is any firm evidence.
Without any evidence, he dared to barge into the Office of Royal Delivery
when the Queen was in labor.
He defiled the Office of Royal Delivery,
where even His Majesty is not allowed to enter.
Moreover, he derided the royal family and threatened its traditions.
Thus, the head of Royal Commandery should be beheaded.
Lord Cho.
We cannot behead a high-ranking military officer for such a matter.
There is more.
The Military Training Commander and his soldiers...
who went to Mungyeong Saejae decided to join hands with the traitor, Chang.
What do you mean?
Why on earth would the soldiers from the Military Training Corps
do such a thing?
That is not important.
Their blades are pointed at us.
We ought to punish them as soon as possible
so that we can restore order in this country.
Joining hands with the traitor who committed high treason...
makes them also guilty of high treason.
We shall behead their families and relatives...
as well as everyone in their wives' and mothers' families...
at once, to set a proper example.
We cannot execute them without investigating the incident first.
It must be done for the sake of Joseon's national security.
Do you have any objections?
Arrest the family members of the Military Training Commander!
Do you not know whose residence this is?
Mother!
Get up!
Seo-bi, we should hurry.
Why are they deemed guilty of treason?
Those people and the soldiers in Mungyeong Saejae are not traitors.
You are well aware of that, my lord.
Watch what you say. Do you not know how scary my uncle can be?
Don't kill us. Please spare our lives.
-Father! -Spare our lives, please.
Father!
Father...
-What are you doing? -Let's hurry.
The apothecary is that way. You said you needed to buy herbs.
I'll go and buy herbs that I need by myself, so please return first.
SCHOLARLY INSTITUTION NEAR THE CITADEL OF HANYANG
THOSE WHO TRESPASS ON THE INSTITUTION WILL BE PUT TO DEATH
My baby...
They took my baby.
How is she?
She's past the critical stage,
but the shock seems to be too great to bear for her.
By the way, who is that woman?
She is Mu-yeong's wife.
I heard Cho Hak-ju recovered.
-What is this? -The disease is caused by this worm.
The white specks you see on the resurrection plant
are eggs of this worm.
When ingested, the eggs hatch into worms inside the body.
That is what brought the dead back to life.
Then have you figured out a way to stop the plague now that you know the cause?
We must save the people in Sangju.
I apologize, Your Royal Highness. I haven't figured out a solution yet.
It was all caused by this tiny worm.
It took countless lives,
shook up the entire Gyeongsang Province,
and imperiled this kingdom.
All of that was because of this tiny worm.
Are you all right, Your Royal Highness?
You suffered severe injuries from Dongnae to all the way here.
Many suffered greater injuries.
And even more people will get hurt.
I will put an end to it.
But to do that,
I need you to do something for me first.
My lord.
What kind of herb did you need that it took you this long?
My lord.
I must ask a favor of you.
So, you wish to work...
as Her Majesty's physician?
This female physician cured you of the disease, Uncle.
She deserves a reward for her hard work, so please kindly accept her request.
I was just planning to visit Her Majesty.
What great timing.
THE QUEEN'S PALACE, INNER ROOM
Your Majesty.
The Chief State Councillor is here for an audience with you.
He may enter.
I heard about your illness, so I have been concerned.
Are you fully recovered now?
Did everything go smoothly in Mungyeong Saejae?
It's a prince.
A healthy and bright one.
We have a prince now.
I heard all families and relatives of the soldiers will be executed.
You made a wise decision.
How dare they side with the traitorous Crown Prince?
They deserve to die.
They are...
only the bait to catch Chang.
There is someone else who committed a mortal sin...
and deserves to die.
That girl I brought...
is a skilled physician.
I am concerned that giving birth might have taken a toll on your health.
Let us have her examine your pulse.
Why should I let such a lowborn girl look after my health?
What are you waiting for?
I told you to examine the Queen's pulse.
Father.
Go ahead and check her pulse. Now!
If you have nothing to be afraid of,
just let her examine your pulse.
Tell us.
I can't detect...
a rough pulse on her.
What does that mean?
That baby...
is not Her Majesty's child.
When did you start plotting this?
What happened?
The thing is...
the cubit pulse and pregnancy pulse are not detected at all.
Does that mean Her Majesty's fetus is gone?
Please punish us.
Have you not been taking good care of Her Majesty?
We truly apologize, but the thoroughfare and conception vessels are too weak.
We tried every remedy we could think of,
but nothing worked.
Is conceiving a child
that difficult for you?
I will conceive a child at all costs.
I will give birth...
to a baby boy.
Do not tell me that you are planning to fake a pregnancy.
How will you fool all the eyes and ears here at the palace?
Forget such a preposterous thought...
and focus on looking after yourself so that you can conceive again.
His Majesty is over 50 years old.
What if His Majesty passes away before I can conceive again?
Will you just sit back and watch...
the Crown Prince,
whom you absolutely despise, ascending the throne?
Even His Majesty cannot lay a finger on me after I conceive.
It can be done if we, along with the guards at my palace...
and my court ladies, keep it a secret.
But Father...
will never accept a child...
who is not of our bloodline, the Haewon Cho Clan.
That is why...
we must keep it from Father.
What if he finds out?
You have been like this since you were a little girl.
You were born wicked and cunning, and you were always awfully foolish.
Because of your foolishness
and the ludicrous thing you did,
the Haewon Cho Clan nearly faced its demise.
You are wrong.
I'm the one who protected it.
What can you protect with that lowborn child
whose real mother we do not even know?
That is not the kind of country...
I am trying to build.
So what, then?
Will you give power back to Chang...
and enthrone him instead of this child?
The children of Prince Noseong,
who was exiled to Ganghwa Island, are still alive.
No matter how distantly they are related,
they are still better than that lowly child.
As for that lowborn baby...
I will kill him tonight.
It won't end there. From all your court ladies...
and palace guards to this physician,
everyone who knows about this will be killed.
Then,
you will become a sad queen dowager who lost her baby...
and get locked in the West Palace...
for the rest of your life.
But Father will never accept
a child who is not of our bloodline, the Haewon Cho Clan.
What if he finds out?
You always despised and belittled me...
for being a girl.
That good-for-nothing girl...
will have everything at her feet now.
Both the Haewon Cho Clan...
and this entire kingdom...
are at my command now.
YOGEUM GATE
Uncle...
People, listen to my words
I hear that he died from the plague.
The plague killed even that powerful Chief State Councillor.
Both His Majesty and now the Chief State Councillor
have passed away from the plague.
This country is ruined.
We will all die soon.
GANGHWA ISLAND
Gosh, it's freezing.
Either come join me here or leave.
Why stand there in this cold?
You have not caught...
a single fish for hours.
Are you trying to pick a fight?
We've run out of food ages ago.
The same goes for fish. There is probably none left.
I will be thankful to catch one even if I must wait for days.
They say that the people worship food like God.
But I must say, this country is a complete mess.
Oh, hey! Grab that!
Did you catch one? Did you? Hold on. Stay put!
Don't pull it. No, don't pull it. Stay put.
Easy, be careful. Pull it gently.
Now hand it over. Hand it--
That's...
Darn it, some crappy day I'm having.
Listen,
let us never cross paths again, okay?
Goodness.
Why did you...
I told you to just hold it.
Uncle.
What did you just say?
According to our family tree,
you are my distant uncle.
Although you have been forgotten,
but...
I suppose the royal blood in you cannot be hidden.
"The people worship food like God."
Are you reading The Book of Han?
"The royal blood"?
Wake up.
Whether it belongs to you, me,
or some lowlife on the street,
it is just a red fluid called blood.
It may be meaningless to you,
but in this country,
that blood holds great importance.
The royal blood that has been...
passed down through generations.
The families of the Military Training Corps soldiers...
will be executed tomorrow.
So why are you...
still loyal to me?
I heard about what happened to your family.
Didn't you start helping me...
to get your family's revenge?
Both Lord Ahn and Cho Hak-ju...
have paid for their sins now.
So...
why are you still helping me?
Have we earned any meat...
or even a single grain of rice?
Our lives haven't changed even though they died.
We are still hungry, and this country is still a complete mess.
But I believe...
that Your Royal Highness can bring about some changes.
Am I wrong?
It is a grave tragedy for our country and family.
I was concerned as I could not neglect my duty as the Queen,
but you kindly took care of everything for Father's funeral,
so I am truly grateful.
It is my duty as Your Majesty's loyal subject.
You never say no to me because you are incredibly tenderhearted.
That is why I am fond of you, Beom-pal.
I am...
-I am much obliged, Your-- -I have another favor to ask of you.
Now that both my brother and father have passed away,
I truly have no one.
I would like to...
appoint you as the head of the Royal Commandery Division.
Please stay by my side and protect me and my prince
with the palace guards.
I will gladly obey Your Majesty's orders.
However, there is something I must tell Your Majesty.
Before Uncle passed away,
he visited Your Majesty with a female physician.
What happened to--
I figured I wouldn't need her as I already have a female physician here,
so I sent her back.
I see.
I heard you studied under the physician Lee Seung-hui.
Is it true?
Find out more about the victims of the plague.
You will have to find out...
a lot more than your teacher did.
Like my father did,
I will use them...
to gain power.
Subtitle translation by Liya Choi