omg this is such cheap thrill, but I have never had the chance to be the first to write a comment on a recap. So here it is! *just for the record*

I’m sorry to see JW (well, the writer) go the ignobly idiotic route of lying that he doesn’t love SD anymore. It’s so shopworn and it would have been more in character for him to tell her that acting on their feelings would be wrong and would do too much damage to their families and each other, and they’ll have to be strong and go their separate ways. He already suggested she run away with him, and the realization must have hit him that that’s totally infeasible, too. I hope the show and SD make short work of that foolishness in ep. 14 - and the misplaced break between odd-even episodes is really hurting the flow.

The show has dropped hints of a bittersweet ending for the leads since the early episodes, but it’s really signaling that hard now. Oh-bong told JW about the Fairy and the Woodcutter tale back in episode 3 - “they break up in the end.” I’ll be delighted if the OTP end up together but I won’t be surprised if they don’t.

Lady Park was always a co-conspirator to murder so she could never have been on the side of the good guys, but now she's freaking scary. JW warned SD not to trust her too much and I'm glad SD so quickly got to see why. Yikes.

1. The writing continues its masterful adroit maneuvers into this week's episodes. I marveled that I have yet to see a narrative misstep thus far.

The only beat that gave me pause was perhaps Lady Park sauntering into jail to murder her beleaguered husband in broad daylight -- and getting the Noble Consort to help strangle him no less (okaaay...*that* requires suspension of disbelief)

Once again, palace security sucked, as a Beanie pointed out. We saw that 8 years ago with the Princess poisoning case.

2. Love the opening PTCs as usual: I note that they switch up the game -- for the first time, we see a joint-couple PTC (SD & JW) with realistic competitive bickering about who is a better Agent of Love. Too cute! Plus I hope that bodes well and foreshadows them *actually* coming together!

3. No surprises on the Hana-CP front: but I must say I love how sensitively and deftly this story thread has been treated. Ditto with the multiple confirmations too: JW, Lady Maeng, CP himself (of his choice of her), and even SD! (who can make a wild stab at the identity of the suitor and still get it right 😂)

4) The cinematography has always been gorgeous - this but week, even more so.

5) Digression: I love how thoughtful and taut the writing has been thus far. Even that lil detail where SD ran (rustling linen skirts and all) with her trusty soup ladle in tow to JW's manor.

I was borderline rolling my eyes there (with inner commentary going: "how small is this neighborhood? Do they share the same district code? How can she run to his house? and why is she holding her ladle?!") ONLY to have JW ask her the same question: "Did you run out here in the middle of making dinner?" and then I realise it's all in good hands, the writer knows what she's doing.

7) Love the Sam-soon-gu dynamics: no noble idiocy on that ship! At least one blip of happiness on the overall somber tone & mood this week.

8) Ye Jin's speech about why she would forsake her love to marry the scholar: That got me in tears, because I totally resonate with her predicament. In her PTC she has earlier said: "A woman protects her family, and a woman is protected by her family." With both her elder brothers dead (and the sole male heir a mere 12yo boy now), she has to step up and perform. The Jo household is one line of very strong women who had to be strong because the men were either dead, weak, sickly, abdicated, errant, or underaged.

9) I can't wait to see how this series would end, but I have high hopes given how consistently strong the writing has been thus far. can't wait!

@unit Thanks for the wonderful recap and capturing what we are thinking about every scene, character etc.,

Lady Park is an awesome villain. I was delighted by the scene where she sat cool while her sister and her maid killed her husband. Damn! Definitely Park Ji Young is a great actor. I loved how she did not get blood on her fingers by making others do her biding. Such clever writing, but not so much with the twists surrounding Jung Woo's late wife.

I really did not like reveal that Jung Woo did not marry against his will, he loved the princess and he has been writing appeals to annul the marriage based on the princess's wish. It appears to be a convenient writing to put the ML in the good books.

I am also iffy with the marriage between Crown Prince and Hae Na.

Also, some beanie questioned in the beginning if Ye Jin would enjoy her life with the farmer without all the comfort that comes with noble status. So, I am quite curious to know if she would really marry the farmer apart from her excuse of marrying someone affluential for Guen Seok's future sake.

Same goes for Shi Yeol. Would he dutifully be Ye Jin's husband, but also secretly keep meeting Du Ri on the side, if he does get married to Ye Jin according to Park's plan? Of course, Du Ri would not agree to it, but love can make one go weak.

With so much obstacles for our OTP, I am not hoping for a happy ending (not that I would not be glad if that happens), but I definitely want a convincing ending.

And he claims that he can’t tell his wife the truth about their son’s death because she’ll be all emotional, and it will cause conflict within the household.

Can't exactly say he was wrong about the conflict part.

Dramaland needs to invent a new trope because noble idiocy is stale.

Sure thing. Right after we take care of Truck, Cliff, and handphone batteries.

This show has such beautiful cinematography and beautiful pastel hanboks.i just needed to get that out of the way.
I agree that Lady Park is absolutely ingenious and cunning. How lucky they all are that she is born a woman or she would've found a way to gain power over everyone.
I am not a fan of the noble idiocy. I admire Sam Soon for holding on to Soon Gu. She can earn enough money for both of them, thank you very much! I doubt Soon Gu would need to worry. I am sure with the King's influence he need not resign from his post.
I am sure something will happen in that wedding ceremony that will swap out the grooms with their fated brides.

Lady Park continues to be an impressive puppet master. As mentioned in the recap (thank you, @unit!), I cannot help but root for her and want to turn a blind eye to her obvious crimes, only to ensure that her family (== Soondeok, Yejin & son) can come out of this unharmed. So far, she seems quite successful…

What’s interesting to see is her emotional control during all this, while it’s pretty clear she is not at all left unaffected of all the measures that had to be taken. The obvious backstabbing of her husband, the opportunist yet heavy handed actions by her brother, the misogynist behavior by both. It all had me boiling with rage, too! Yet, while I’d had gone down in a spiral of dread, she calculates the best solution to this mess and sets it in motion, making sure to include everyone who could threaten her afterwards and not getting her own hands too dirty at the same time. CHAPEAU! I feel for Soondeok, now that she realizes what her glorified MIL is actually capable of.

The actors are really giving their best here. I was absorbed in both episodes, which were again produced so beautifully - that misty lakeside! *cue Jungwoo style heart clutching* Her having noticed that both lamps were left floating in the air at the lantern festival, even though she thought she ruined one of them! Ugh, my heart. I forgot how sweet these two are, due to the shining Sam-soon-gu star, but they are just as bittersweetly adorable. Fingers crossed, though my hopes are wisely kept in check.

Stunning episodes overall. I agree with @Elinor however, the break in the episode order has messed the flow up somewhat. The series will definitely need a re-watch with that corrected.
Major kudos to Lady Park. I can't help admiring her while wanting to stay very far away from her. And I can't help not being sorry at her husband and brothers deaths. Even to the end, her husband was dismissive of what she had done for him.
I really want this couple to end up together, but am bracing myself for it not happening. The only glimmer for me is that everyone in the show is so adamant it can't/won't/shouldn't happen, that it just might?

What episodes indeed. I knew that they won't cast Park Ji Young just for a mere noblewoman, she's the main villain in town!

I'm really surprise that Jung Woo has such sweet moments with princess just like Seon Duk and her late husband. I'm going far too sad if they can't have a happy ending with their second love as well.

Please also enlighten me, why Lord Park kills that spinster?

Waow those episodes were packed with many things!

The politics :
Lady Park is such a great villain! You can't totally hate her because she's so smart! It's not like we would feel pity for her awful husband and stupid brother's death. But what she did to Soon-deok was really the worst. Soon-deok came to her to tell her secret because she's a mother too and she wanted her to know the truth about her son's death. She was feeling empathy to Lady Park. But Lady Park in appreciation of this gesture made Soon-deok a murderer... I understand why Jung-Woo decided to break-up with Soon-deok because she lives with Lady Park who made clear that her life is very connected to hers.

Jung-Woo is such in a difficult situation because he's connected to the King's family and Lady Park's family and wants to protect some members of each family.

I'm curious about Prince Ji-Sung because we never saw him...

Romance :
I liked that Jung-Woo was in love with the Princess. I think both ideas work with this story.
JW and SD were so cute! Who think that a ladle was the new item for a kissing scene 😂 Each of their interaction is beautiful and meaningful : the kiss scene, the walk with him 3 foot behind, when he carried her, when he realized who she's ( I loved how the Lady Park and the son were hidden) and of course the introduction about matchmaking!
I was happy that the Lieutnant and Sam-Soon are still strong together!

The show :
It continues to be the most beautiful show of 2023 with the colors, the lights, etc.

Lady Park is the keyword this week. I also questioned my double standards because I was happy when she got rid of Jo and Park. Shw isn't one to be taken lightly.
Sam-soon-gu made my day by their scene. Way to go, girl!

I usually fast forward through the palace intrigue scenes in segeuks, but these episodes had me hooked. The show did justice to the intelligence of the MIL as well as JungWoo. There has been no logical misstep till now, and that's commendable given the sheer number of characters and their twisted connections.

I expected SoonDeok's SIL's wedding to be called off after everything that went down. But the show once again displayed its unpredictability, and now the wedding has even got the King's blessings! Lots of twists and turns to come up before all our couples get their happily ever after. Could our hapless bookseller also finally get someone who will listen to his replies? A certain handsome monk maybe?

Speaking of handsome men, I kept expecting the ex-Defence Minister's hot Secretary to have a bigger role than just being a henchman, but it seems unlikely now.

Lady Park proved her skill as a strategist in this pair of episodes. However, it pained me to see her dead son turned into the scapegoat when he was the only family member acting honorably. It was necessary for her plan, so she avenged his death and tarnished his name at the same time.

The king mused about how formidable she would have been were she a man. That got me thinking — if she could wield political power, what type of minister would she be? Would she pursue power for its sake alone and advance clan interests regardless of impact on court and country? Or, if she weren’t saddled with her troublemaking brother and husband, would she spare a care for the greater good and look at the big picture the way Ha-na, who has wisdom, does? We’ve only ever seen her apply her prodigious intellect toward the interests of faction and family, so I’m curious what principles she has besides self-preservation. Does she not chafe at a social system that renders her a second-class citizen despite her first-class mind? Or is she all-in on the patriarchy as long as she sometimes gets to pull the strings?

Excellent pair of Episodes. I hadn't completed a single Saeguek before 2023 because of palace politics, however I couldn't look away even for a second in episode 13. It was riveting.

It's interesting that we all agree that Lady Park is one of the coldest villains we have seen on screen but none of us truly hate her. I think it speaks volumes about how the character is written and also acted, because we can see the conflict in her eyes, even through the determination and resignation. Excellent performance by her.

That scene where JW and SD take the long way home was jaw dropping beautiful. The colours, the fog, the point of time in the drama when it happens, everything just went so well together.

Didn't JW say in one of the initial episodes that SD should walk a few steps behind him? or did I imagine it? I liked that it was reversed here, by JW himself.

I love how honest these two are and I think the noble idiocy is just a cliff hanger for episode ending. SD would see right through it.

I liked the kiss scene, but I love their subtle finger brushing and glances more. The scene where he carries her was done so well. Heart flutters totally.

Also am I being foolish in believing that we will have an ending where JW and SD together? Even if they have to elope and get a new identity or something. Just put some logic in my head, so that I don't end up very heart broken in the last week of this year. Since the drama has maintained it's sweet and comedy moments all through the 13 episodes, I want to believe that our writer will find a way to get them together. Let's see.

Everyone keeps calling Lady Park a villain, why? In order to protect her family and herself she sacrificed her son and got rid of two terrible people including her brother. She is a woman that lives in a terribly patriarchal society and she has to SURVIVE for her daughter sake and her daughter in law's sake. What else could she do to protect them? Shout out to Lady Park and Obong, the best parts of this drama to me with Soon Gu and her love a close second. I can take or leave everyone else.

I am still very much enjoying this so much despite the questionable connection between Ha Na and CP (which I can easily dismiss as them fated to rule together but doesn't necessarily mean fated to love but maybe in the future when he's older). There is no denying that this drama is slowly creeping up to be one of my favs this year. This week's episodes have less humour but surprisingly doesn't feel slow or dragged. Definitely a show that just gets better every episode. My hope is for it to continue with this trajectory until the end.

Who knew that Jung Woo's story with princess can be this heartwarming? I know that people have reservations about the reveal of him having actual genuine feelings for her but like Soon Deok, it actually made me appreciate his character even more. Now that everything is revealed about his back story with the princess, everything made a lot more sense. I was afraid that there will be holes within the story because in episode 1, he was so adamant on not wanting to marry the princess and he was upset with his father but it was revealed that he didn't know she was the princess in the first place. He thought he was crushing on a random palace maid and didn't want to marry the princess because he liked 'someone else' and the reason why he was upset with his father was also revealed. We also got to see the reason why he was so insistent on wanting to annul his marriage with the princess so that he could have a job position because it was her wish for him before she died. I am actually so happy with the Jung Woo and princess twist because it gives Jung Woo more character and the idea of being able to love again despite losing someone you have loved and not having the need to forget all about them because you can still honour and cherish the moments you have with them even if you are now in love with someone new is just so *chef's kiss*. We need more stories like this! It's so relatable and real! If the show have gone the typical route of Jung Woo not having any feelings for the princess and Soon Deok is his first love, while it's sweet, but it's super typical because its the type of story that has been told many many times before. Not everything has to be first love. This is what makes this drama special and unique for me. It is a story of a true second chance romance for both of them.

The way I'm not even upset about Jung Woo's noble idiocy (which I know he does it to protect her since he got threatened) because I just know that it'll end within one episode next week LOL. With how the show has been written so far and the writer's noticeable pattern, I don't think this issue will be dragged. It's probably a plot device to push Soon Deok to fully acknowledge her feelings and finally fight for it. Since the beginning, Jung Woo has been the one who is very open about his feelings for her. I guess now is her turn and she won't believe the lie that came out of his mouth. That man is an open book and she...

Whenever I see that Park Ji-young is cast in a saguek, I only feel for the protagonists cause she's going to wring them till the finale. Somehow the writing for her villain characters are always top-notch. All other characters might be lacking and lagging behind but not hers. If there's an issue of pale writing, there can never be an issue with her exceptional delivery and execution.

Sadly, I'm not watching The Matchmakers. But, I had to tune in to watch episode 13 solely because the bean wall has sang her praises here and there so I just had to. And yes, I wasn't disappointed at all.

"How dare you kill my son?" I knew something was going to happen to him after that.

I love that Soon-deok always imagines Jung-woo in the same navy blue hanbok when she has visions of him around her house. Good choice! But my favorite costumes this week were aaallll the matching silk that they wore around for pretty much the entirety of episode 12. Just gorgeous.

Just when I thought the drama had misstepped last week, they totally have an explanation. I was not a huge fan of Jung-woo’s admission (as I know some of you were not) that he had not been forced into a marriage with the princess because it didn’t seem like that could be true given his earlier conduct. But the fact that he fell for a woman without knowing who she was, and only found out after his whining scene makes all the sense in the world! I also liked that it put the princess in a better light, since she didn’t pick him on a whim because he was pretty (or at least, not just because he was pretty).

The scenes where Jung-woo and Soon-deok are just walking past each other were so incredibly impactful. First in the palace when he realizes finally exactly who she is and that he’s just potentially doomed her to execution. The shot with the pillar blocking the other people between them was so good. And then when they saw each other in Soon-deok’s home and just had to keep going - my heart was pounding so hard! The soundtrack is doing its job for sure.

Sam-soon-gu is goals as usual. That’s all.

I absolutely loved Lady Park in these episodes. Yes, the woman is a villain but my god is she so good at going about it. One of my favourite scenes was when she tell her husband " I made you left-state councilor. How dare you kill my son?" It shows that she clearly loved her son and her use of the word "my" clearly showed that shit was about to go down for her husband. I mean this is a woman who has outlived 2 of her 3 children and to know that her husband caused the death of 2 of the members of her family must really put things in perspective for her. To be surrounded by men who can't even come close to her in terms of scheming must be lonely indeed. The way she made sure that her family's position would not be damaged at all was a baller move. The King was really smart to be thankful that she is a woman because she would undoubtedly have succeeded had she been a man.
I loved my Sam Soon Gu moment this week cause my god did this week have few of them. Also i cannot imagine which football game was important enough to have KBS disrupt the flow of this drama. The way Jeong Woo called Soon Duk My Lady absolutely melted my heart. Their love really is gentle and beautiful

Lady Park is the coolest villain. She's dark and merciless when she needs to be, but somehow doesn't lose her humanity fully still, I'm almost cheering her on sometimes. Love the way Park Ji-Young is playing her.

I also love that they gave Jung Woo a romantic connection with the princess. It might not have been fully realized given they didn't have enough time, but I love that he was mad about being forced to marry her before he knew her but did love her when he got to know her accidentally, and wasn't forced into the marriage after all.

I also really liked how Soon Doek was glad that he had loved the princess because it meant he hadn't been made to do something he didn't want after all. It might turn out Soon Deok and Jung Woo were destined to be together with the mystical thread, but that doesn't make their previous loves unimportant and the show is doing a great job of emhpasizing over and over that they loved before and they're now loving again. Too often love stories discard histories and make everyone else irrelevant or unimportant, and I really like it when past emotions aren't cheapened like that.

The leading couple are lovely together, but Sam Soon Goo are a strong second as the cutest couple, loved her immediately saying she could support him if he was fired and destitute. I really wish they had made the crown prince older because at present I can't see any scenario where I am not grossed out by a 24 year old woman marrying a 14 year old boy even given historic context, unless I guess they make it very, very textually clear that they won't be anywhere together alone till he's very clearly of age. I hope there's a better twist coming there because this might be based in history but I am a modern me watching it.

I think Jung Woo's noble idiocy ending is going to be very short lived given the preview. The show probably suffered from the two episode airing break up in the middle, because now it's a week wait instead of a day's wait for that silly cliffhanger in 13.

Either way, I'm hooked, I hope the show has a great dismount because everything's been fantastic so far. I was also very unimpressed with Rowoon's acting in the first couple of epsiodes, especially with how much fun Yi Hyun was to watch, but he's managed to get better and I enjoy watching everyone now.

I have a question. In the scene where JW and SD run to the real Yo Ju Daek's house to warn her about her MIL, SD is dressed as the matchmaker. However, when they walk out of YJD's house, she is dressed as SD, the DIL of that noble family. We can see the interaction between JW and YJD's daughter at the background, as they enter her house and later when it is just YJD and SD talking with each other. How did SD change so quickly? Especially since JW points out to her that she is back to her DIL mode, when he offers to walk her to her house? I think there is a continuity issue here or I just missed something.

@unit, thanks for the recap !
Wow, palace intrigue takes center stage with a couple of assassinations. The darkest chapter yet as the truth comes out over the various deaths that had had various tales spun to mask them.
Madam Jo takes drastic action to avert certain disaster.
She is an interesting character , reminds me of some female characters in Japanese taiga dramas.
Writer has done a wonderful job tying everything together.
Looking forward to next week.

Despite the bravura performance by Park Ji Young (and I think it really is brilliant, in that she manages to portray both menace and some compassion, so that the viewer is almost convinced that her character is doing it for her family rather than for her own power) I still would prefer less palace politics, and more scenes of the various couples. That is the one flaw in this drama for me so far, because I find the couples scenes, and the discussion of the couples very appealing. These scenes not only are dealing well with the restricted role of Joseon women, albeit by employing modern twists (which is fine with me!), I think the writer is exploring what "fated together" and "first love" means.

Even though I almost always love to see more of Park Ji Young, I'm hoping the last episodes focus less on the venomous Mother in Law, and more on the resolution of romances, although I'm one of those who feels that a happy ending is not in the cards for our main couple.

I do think Rowoon and Jo Yi-hyun have achieved a very nice "chemistry" for their roles of finding second love in the Joseon era--its not passionate in the modern sense but comfortable and restrained, with an underlying humor. Like @unit I loved Rowoon imagining married life with a modern off to work sendoff, because you could really see them having that kind of husband and wife relationship. Alas, neo-confucianism is the enemy of romance!

Can I say that I love every moment, every frame, every nuance of this show? Because I do.

This, from last week's recap, was prophetic, @Unit - "And it will give me the greatest satisfaction to see Lady Park go off with his head and that of her brother’s!"
Noble Idiocy - sigh. I think it is the episode decoupling that left that hanging, so hoping for SD to make short work of it. I mean, our bloke has been researching into widow remarriage and has concluded there is no way for them to be together, but sour puss Mama Maeng is the one who pushed him into "women are always the ones who suffer and are punished" thoughts. Mama Maeng got on my nerves, being SO sure that just because she saw the connection between SD and her late husband, SD should now just resign herself that her "destiny" is dead...
Mme Park - I don't think she wanted to make SD a murderer, she just wanted insurance for herself and her lineal descendants by involving
1. SD and by extension JW
2. The Consort Park and by extension Prince Jin Sun and the King.
Cause what is to stop the king from executing her as a murderer, leaving her daughter and grandson defenseless? #AntiSheroMmeParkFanClub
I know she has to pay for her crimes including the death of the princess and potential death of the CP, but I would like to think that
1. She is not the main mover behind these evil plans, she only added "plan" to the main culprits' "evil"
2. She really cares for SD and was only trying to avoid any scandal at a time of crisis. (As soon as the crisis was averted, she "released" SD, with a commission to continue the match making)
I hope she will redeem herself by some solid assist in finding a way for SD+JW because, so far, she is the best written character of 2023.

I spent the past 2 days marathoning the Show, and I absolutely loved it, so delightful! There are "politics" stretches that drag a bit but then the show pivots quickly to our adorbs OTP and old maidens and it's a hoot. Still, I wish the Show focused more on the the ACTUAL matchmaking, you know, and other funny love shenanigans, and raise the stakes not by needless politicking and murder/kidnapping attempts but by the stakes inherent in perpetual "hell" that is dating and matching and finding the One. Alas. Also, it seems around episode 12-13, it begins to turn weirdly into this blob of anguished nothingburger, and I'm loosing a bit of that fun and delightful "feel" I had about it in the beginning. In fact, many beanies portend a bad ending or worse, unclear ending, and now with all this moppiness and anguish, I started to portend it too. Sigh, be good Show to me, be good. You are the only Joseon show I watched since Mr Queen, so you gotta be good for me.

A darker set of episodes, but I loved them. I was only taking shallow breaths for most of it given how riveting and intense it was with several cats climbing out of the bag and Lady Park's resolution to the treason problem! Holy cow, lady! I was equally heartbroken for the Soon-deok and Jung-woo relationship as with the Soon-deok and MIL relationship. Soon-deok really respected her and trusted her. She's going to be devastated when she finds out that MIL has been attempting to kill the Crown Prince.

Lady Park was absolutely fascinating to watch. Definitely not the typical villain. It was almost sad watching her poison her brother because she felt sad about it. But he was really ruining the family and she still has so many loved ones she needs to protect - a sister, a nephew, a grandson, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and even the servants since they could be sold into slavery once the family falls.

The yearning and restraint in our OTP and even in Ye-jin as she prepares herself to uphold the family against her own romantic feelings for Yangban Farmer...was so touching!! Also Samsoon telling Soon-gu that he can hug her since she knows how proper he is.

LOL, the intro for ep 12. I was just thinking that if I were Soon-deok, I'd feel a little bit competitive/resentful that Jung-woo is a matchmaker with a supernatural gift and they did a whole intro on it!

I hope Bachelor #16 who fell for Doori will find his own true love. Please don't leave the nice bachelors all alone. Leave that fate to all the bachelors who keep wanting "young and pretty".

Lady Park is planning a quadruple marriage in her house! Has a kdrama situation where there are 4 couples getting married in a single ceremony?

Also, Doori, who is totally still against marriage, got an awww from me when she was like "just give me any guy. They're all the same. I'm not going to be the reason my little sister can't get married". Her temper is fiery, but she is really quite sweet.

Mama Maeng already saw the string of fate between Hana and the Crown Prince when they were 19 and 9, which bears my suspicion that you could probably see if a couple will match even when they're babies. Doesn't have to mean they will fall in love anytime soon.

I have a question: I have been seeing comments about Ye Jin’s marriage to that young scholar.. isn’t he the same scholar who’s in love with the second of the 3 sisters? And theirs is fated and not Ye Jin. My heart breaks for her if the marriage goes through. I mean the second daughter and her potty mouth made her a difficult choice for marriage but she warmed up to the young scholar and now.. 👀👀👀 what happens next?

Thanks for the weecap @unit. I have finally caught up by watching episode 13 today so I can watch 14 tomorrow as the set of episodes were intended. I will leave episode 15 so I can watch the last two episodes together next week as it would be a shame to end a wonderful season out of synch.

I was frustrated with the noble idiocy too because it didn’t seem to fit with the character who doesn’t lie but tries to use logic when he knows he is in a difficult situation and is likely to be exposed.

The eyes contemplating the sight of Lord Jo dying are not so much murderous as ...firm, strict, ... it is worse than if she was in a murderous rage, she is just deliberately letting him know that she sees him dying and that he deserves it, that she does not feel even an inkling of sadness or discomfort at the sight.

Jung-Woo might have had another motivation for wanting to withdraw his appeals to annul his marriage to the princess. If he were released from the marriage, he would be free to take on a position in the government. Then Lady Park could threaten to expose his relationship with Soon-Deok unless he used his position to gain more power and influence for her family. I can’t imagine Jung-Woo allowing himself (and by extension Soon-Deok) to become a pawn in Lady Park’s political chess game.

Regarding " Mrs. Maeng’s insistence that Jung-woo and Soon-deok are not meant to be together", I don't think she was saying "meant to not be together". Between mandatory (pre-ordained) and prohibited, there's a wide span of voluntary.

Lady Park's first visit to Lord Jo, when he tries to assert dominance, reminds me of that scene from The Dark Knight Rises, where some arrogant suit tries to pull a power move on Bane, who just leans his open hand on the man's shoulder, palm up (a strikingly weird position) and says "Do you FEEL in charge?"

https://youtu.be/3C_BubeBU8E?si=C5wwK_KbAKdumia_&t=33