The Forbidden Marriage: Episodes 9-10

by Unit

It’s a slightly gloomy penultimate week as our couple go on a ride from blooming romance to angst — because despite their best efforts to hide them, secrets always have a way of coming to light. But with the unrelenting efforts of the baddies to further ruin things, our lead characters are left with no choice but to stand together and fight back.

 
EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

The newest couple in town start this week off by bonding over the shared sadness caused by the departure of their good friend, Shin-won. As if that’s not enough, Court Lady Won also leaves the king’s service after 25 years to look for her estranged husband and son. It’s a double blow for So-rang, who has now lost two of her biggest allies in the palace, and for the king’s eunuch, it’s devastating to lose his work colleague and friend — and I think he has a little crush on her too.

As for Heon, he personally comes out to say goodbye to the court lady who was like a mother to him, and they share the sweetest of hugs. *Sniff* And thanks to her leaving, he’s able to fulfill his promise to last week’s bandits by tasking her with setting up blind dates between the bandits and the other court ladies who left the palace in exchange for the bandits helping to search for her family.

With all the blind dates and romance in the air, it’s a no-brainer that the marriage ban will soon be a thing of the past. But Heon finds it very suspicious that the same ministers who pushed for the ban are suddenly eager for it to end. Of course, it’s all on Minister Jo who took advantage of the marriage ban to boost his kidnapping business. And now that the business has turned sour, it’s time to end the ban and install Lady Seo’s daughter as queen.

Irrespective of their scheming, Heon has just one lady in mind for queen. Unfortunately, So-rang’s status is too lowly for the position. It’ll be a different story if she were to birth a son, but getting pregnant involves *clears throat* and that’s moving way too fast for Heon. I mean, they just started dating, and dude doesn’t even know her real identity yet — which, ironically, would have made things easier since she’s actually of noble birth.

I was too caught up in my excitement at their official coupling last week to slow down and think about So-rang’s continuous deceit towards the king. And while So-rang herself also has niggling feelings of guilt, she’d rather tell Heon a half-truth about not being sure of her origins when she declines his offer to make her his queen. Already, the dowager has “put her in her place” by saying she cannot be more than a concubine. But So-rang wants to be neither queen nor concubine; she’s just content being by the king’s side.

Heon cannot understand her and (while I know the rationale behind her decision), neither can I. Why would she willingly go into a relationship with him knowing there’s no middle ground when it comes to being the king’s woman? It’s either one or the other, and for someone who spent time being jealous of Heon’s feelings for his late wife, So-rang is either very naive or willfully blind to think she can cope with being by his side as “nothing” if he goes ahead to marry another woman.

So-rang eventually gives in after a game of push and pull, and the couple spend their first night together. Afterwards, So-rang has to return home to take care of Mr. Ax (also called GWANG-YI) who is seriously ill, and when Gwang-yi addresses her as the queen, So-rang and Hae-young take it to be his fever-induced rambling. Neither of them even pause to think that maybe this is his psychic powers speaking — and they both know he actually has those powers!

Speaking of which, after going to the lion’s den to confront Lady Seo, Shin-won learns that So-rang has zero psychic powers and she lied about being possessed by the late crown princess. So-rang admits this to him when he questions her about it, including the part where she knew he was her fiancé all along. She’s sorry to him, but in those years he spent searching for her, she was trying to forget who she was. And while he might have lost his bride, she lost everything. Of course, this is when Heon comes in after overhearing their conversation, and it’s game over for So-rang. Oof!

Lady Seo had already gone ahead to tattle about So-rang to the dowager, who in turn informed the king, hence his confirmatory visit to So-rang’s. And the dowager will only spare So-rang the punishment for deceiving the king if she doesn’t return to the palace — which is why aside from his own feelings of betrayal, Heon tells So-rang never to step foot in the palace again. But that’s still not enough for Lady Seo, and once again, she sends assassins after So-rang.

So-rang barely manages to escape thanks to the secret service agents Heon stationed to protect her, but like déjà vu, she still ends up getting sliced off the cliff of doom. Since that’s the only cliff in Joseon, it’s very easy for Shin-won to find her, and he jumps in to save her with his one good arm — which also prevents him from swimming. Sigh. You know what, I can’t even. Thankfully, they turn out fine after being saved on the shore by passersby SUNG HWA-YOON (Jo Soo-min) and her father. Phew!

You tell the king that his best friend and the love of his life are dead, and you basically pull the rug from under his feet. But his grief affords him the opportunity to come to an understanding as to why So-rang had to lie about being possessed in the first place. He now realizes her intentions towards him were sincere (mostly), and that by insisting that the crown princess wanted him to move on, she helped to revive his spirits.

But Heon goes from refusing to give the baddies the satisfaction of watching him crumble at the news of So-rang’s death, to actually crumbling in a bid to get them to lower their guard after getting a “we are alive but So-rang is still in danger” letter from Shin-won — who has regained the use of his arm. Yay! Apparently, all he needed was the shock of almost drowning to cure his nerve palsy. Again, I can’t even.

As it turns out, Hwa-yoon is among the candidates for the queen selection process, but she’s reluctant to participate because aside from having a small scar on her face thanks to once being kidnapped, everyone knows the most favored candidate is Lady Seo’s daughter — who still uses So-rang’s identity as Hyeon-seon. This is the last straw, and So-rang comes out of hiding with a cheeky, “Did you think I was dead, Hyeon-hee?” as she returns to the palace under the guise of being Hwa-yoon’s maid for the selection. Lol.

So-rang is so done with the mother-daughter duo using her identity to scam prospective grooms, and she further gives up on them after they bribe the court ladies assisting with the selection process to pass off Hwa-yoon’s outstanding embroidery as Hyeon-hee’s. At this point, what is even real about Hyeon-hee? Tsk. Bribery in the selection process? Heon cannot have that. Hence he reads the riot act to the dowager — who, to be honest, isn’t that much of an unreasonable woman — and the situation also prompts Shin-won to officially return to his inspector post at the palace to lead the investigation. Yay!

Things are starting to come together, and with everyone going back to their rightful position, it’s only appropriate for So-rang to be called back to hers. She returns to being a palace maid with her heart in her mouth because she’s not sure how Heon is going to react to her deceit. But instead of punishment, he welcomes her with a kiss and all is well with the world again. Or for now at least, because there’s still the matter of reclaiming her identity to officially stay by Heon’s side as queen.

My favorite thing this week has to be Heon, So-rang, and Shin-won rebuilding their friendship again. And while she’s coming in late, Hwa-yoon is a great and lovable addition to the party since she’s got spunk just like So-rang. Any plans to use this opportunity to give Shin-won a ship of his own? Heh. A girl can only dream. In the meantime, with this quartet at the helm of things (and with the drama ending next week), my fingers are crossed for Minster Jo and Lady Seo to finally meet their inglorious ends, so that the rest of us can get the happy ending we truly deserve.

 
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