MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO
Fortunes can sometimes change
overnight. To Gwangjong, the most important lesson since his rise to the
throne was that the threat to the throne was a constant reality. And,
confronting it directly was the only course of action he should take. The palace conspiracies forced
Gwangjong to persecute those whom he thought were against him and Hae Soo. He
wanted to protect Hae Soo from their enemies.
Hae Soo’s worst nightmares
had already begun. Gwangjong had Chae Ryung beaten to death because of her
crimes, including being part of the conspiracy to murder King Hyejong. It
mattered little to Gwangjong that Chae Ryung, when alive, was Hae Soo’s best friend. Hae Soo was more than upset that the maid-turned court lady had come
to such a gruesome end. To Hae Soo, Chae Ryung was more than a maid. She was
her confidante, companion and helper; she was family - her sister in Goryeo. To her, Gwangjong lacked humanity and she couldn’t bear
being with him a minute longer.
 
Hae Soo disclosed her intention
to leave him. Gwangjong didn’t think he deserved to be treated in that way;
she was denied permission to leave; she was his love of a lifetime but she
was obstinate.
The king was being pressured from all sides; he was experiencing
political problems that Hae Soo had been unaware of. Gwangjong’s woman
was cocooned from the troubles of the outside word in her little room. The
problems might spiral out of control if he did not have strategic plans in
dealing with them.
But, the brainy and shrewd king with steel-coated nerves, who
had tried to rein in his feelings, was pushed to the limit. The challenge to
Gwangjong’s rule continued unabated, particularly, by the ambitious Wang
Wook, the Eighth Prince, who enjoyed making a pest of himself.
Yeon Hwa, in her bathing pool, mulled over Gwangjong’s offer to
her. If she was willing to turn against her family, particularly her irksome
brother, he promised her that their son would succeed him. It was just
logical that if her brother continued to make incendiary speeches against the
king, it would jeopardize not only Gwangjong’s position and power but also, ultimately
her status as queen. And, her conclusion was her blood brother had to be kept
on a tight leash.
Gwangjong tried to change Hae Soo’s mind about leaving the palace. Leaving him was out of question. Gossip had been swirling around the palace grapevine that Hae Soo was the king’s kept mistress. Hae Soo could not even escape from the vitriol of Wang Won who also denounced her as just a mere mistress; she was neither queen nor concubine.
  Gwangjong, though a king, was not immune to palace gossip. To ensure that Hae Soo would have a respected status in the palace, Gwangjong was resolute in proclaiming her as his royal concubine. Once she bore him a child, he would raise her status to that of his second queen. He thought that they should not fight over small matters but the pig-headed 21st century girl refused to be appeased. It was not that Hae Soo would not listen to reason; she was just not interested in power or status in the hostile environment. She made it painfully clear that he had alienated her by turning into a ‘monster’. 
Wang Wook and Wang Won, as usual, were secretly conspiring
again. Their appetite for power had grown; Wang Wook wanted to chop off Gwangjong’s
‘arms and legs’, his closest brother, Baek Ah. These two wily men who snorted
at Gwangjong’s ability to deal with his landslide of problems, had, so far,
got away with their machinations. Their new plans involved the Thirteenth
Prince, who had been happily making elaborate arrangements to marry Woo Hee,
a former princess from Hubaekje. Judging by their track record, the princes
were confident of eluding punishment again.
Since they knew that Gwangjong loved hunting, the Eighth
Prince, for once, decided to please the king. Wang Wook would buy him a
fighting-fit hawk.
   
Never missing an opportunity to push his half-brother into a
thorny situation, the bold and bloodthirsty Wang Wook reported that some
Baekje slaves had set fire to the homes of ten aristocrats. Other powerful
families also feared for the lives. He also relayed the rumours insinuating
that Baek Ah was being personally influenced by a foreigner from Baekje. It
was a pointed reference to Woo Hee, who, he probably thought, should be
treated as persona non grata. Since Baek Ah and the king were inseparable,
was Gwangjong, himself, also being manipulated by a foreigner? He argued convincingly
that Baek Ah should be appointed as the head of the army to deal with the
rebel slaves in order to pacify the powerful families.
His kind of rhetoric was surprising as Baek Ah, a prince who had a predilection for arts and music, knew nothing about the military or how to deal with uprisings. Having
understood the ploy of the Eighth Prince, Baek Ah, could not but agree to
take up the challenge to put an end to the mounting tension.
On his part, Gwangjong, tried to stem the uprising of the Baekje slaves and forestall more
violence by making a public announcement that the slaves would not be
attacked. Instead, they would be freed and their status reinstalled. Despite
the many promises made, some of the slaves were recalcitrant.
According to history,
Gwangjong’s first reform was the emancipation of slaves in 956. The slaves
were mainly prisoners of war who served as private soldiers. By turning them
into commoners, the king weakened the power of the aristocracy and he
strengthened himself by recruiting the former slaves into his army.
Wang Jung, the rebellious prince who had always thumbed his
nose at the king, appeared briefly in contravention of his exile
regulations to lend his support to Baek Ah.
Despite Gwangjong’s point-blank objection, Hae Soo had already
made a huge decision to change her life. Baek Ah inquired whether his
half-brother had received Hae Soo’s hair brooch and message, ‘I want it. Hae Soo desperately wants it.’
 
The urgency of the situation demanded that Woo Hee, the last
princess of Hubaekje, sacrifice herself to protect her beloved Baek Ah and
her people. She appeared at the top of the palace battlements and dropped a
banner to display the tenets, ‘Reunification
of The Three Kingdoms: Goryeo, Baekje and Silla.’ To Baek Ah’s horror,
she committed suicide by leaping off the wall.
 
Baek Ah was inconsolable. He did not so much as blame Gwangjong for Woo Hee's death but the king knew how he truly felt. In self-defence, the
king explained that Woo Hee had reassured him that she could save Baek Ah if the king wrote the tenets, ‘Reunification
of The Three Kingdoms: Goryeo, Baekje and Silla.’ It had only taken him a
moment then to find out that she was a princess from Hubaekje.
Gwangjong was desperate and hard-pressed to do it; her
suggestion was the last piece of hope to save Baek Ah from the impending
disaster. The king’s favourite brother was more important than her. But, the
Thirteenth Prince, though wasn’t antagonistic, suddenly became distant
and remote.
 
Baek Ah made it clear to Gwangjong that it was impossible for
him to remain by his side. The king was in danger of losing a beloved ally. Horror
and disbelief flicked across his eyes when the latter strode off. He shouted
after Baek Ah but to no avail. Wang Wook’s act of pure malevolence had
achieved its objectives.
After his greatest ally, Grand General Park, left him,
Gwangjong had been at the mercy of Wang Wook, who had become emboldened by
the fact that his sister was the queen. Would Gwangjong let Wang Wook, the
master manipulator, off the hook?
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THE SECRETS OF THE PALACE YEON HWA AND HER SECRET PACT
WITH
GWANGJONG
Gwangjong needed to get creative to get the better of his venomous enemies. He already had an inkling of how he should go about it. He, having
understood human nature, had got himself a new indispensable ally.
Gwangjong’s queen, who was ambitious and greedy for power, status and glory, was
putty in his hands.
Greed and ambition can change a person. Yeon Hwa had already
made the crucial decision to accept Gwangjong’s offer. Their marriage was
consummated and a son would soon be on the way to claim the throne.
The devious Wang Wook brought a gift to Gwangjong at the
audience hall, which was filled with ministers and courtiers. Gwangjong's eyes seemed to be burning with fire and there
was an edge of danger about him. The Eighth Prince, with great pleasure in
his voice, presented the hawk for Gwangjong’s much-loved hawk hunting
activities.
Wang Won should be lauded for his speech on brotherly love, unity
and harmony. He elaborated that brotherly affection and fraternity was the
foundation of man. Harmony in the family would mean harmony in the kingdom.
What the audience didn’t expect was his speech would precede the
palace drama that was about to erupt. Gwangjong smiled sarcastically at him.
It is evident to the audience that Gwangjong’s smile did not reach his eyes. 
The Twist in The Tale. Wang Wook looked super confident; he thought
his gift would lift him up in the eyes of all those present and he would be
above suspicion in his subversive activities. What he didn’t know was his
collusion with Wang Won was at an end.
When the hood was lifted from the bird cage, the smile on
Gwangjong’s lips completely disappeared. The hawk was as dead as a dodo.
The Kang official from Shinju was the first to cry out that
Wang Wook had cursed the king with the dead bird. The Eighth Prince, though
immensely shocked, quickly explained that something must have gone awry with
the transport of the bird.
When Wang Won admonished the Eighth Prince for being careless,
the Ninth Prince showed that there had been a dramatic shift in his loyalty. Wang
Wook had reason to suspect foul play; relying on someone else was a fatal
error. His half-brother had revealed his true colours. It was less than
surprising that his cowardly half-brother, in the desire for
self-preservation, had colluded with the king.
The relentless force of nature has ensured that Wang Wook got a
dose of his own medicine. The Eighth Prince would have remembered his act of betrayal against Wang Yo in their first palace revolt. It was poetic justice.
Wang Wook had made a miscalculation. He wrongly thought that
the king, who was weighed down by all the controversies and tragedies which
followed him, one after another, would be demoralised.
By then, the audience had no tinge of sympathy for the Eighth
Prince. They probably thought he simply had it coming to him.
Gwangjong was uncompromising. Confrontation, not appeasement, was what he desired. He knew that the Eighth Prince could not be tamed by
half measures. Therefore, he made a great show of outrage; he could not
ignore Wang Wook’s curse. It was outright treason.
The Kang-Shinju official jumped on the Eighth Prince with
extraordinary vigour, declaring that it was no less than treason. And, every
official in the hall agreed in one voice and one accord.
Outnumbered, Wang Wook sank to his knees and claimed that he
had been framed. Gwangjong, probably with glee in his heart, proclaimed that
the Eighth Prince would pay with his life if treason was proven. Wang Wook
had misjudged Gwangjong’s character; he should not have played silly games
with the king. By that stroke of genious, the king had outwitted the high and
mighty Wang Wook and knocked him off his high pedestal.
Naturally, Queen Hwangbo was not slow in grasping the true
significance of the situation; she pleaded with her daughter, Yeon Hwa, to
help him. But, to the Queen Mother’s shock, Yeon Hwa was nonchalant about the
whole affair. She wasn’t even worried that he had been framed. Family ties
were of no importance to her. Only herself and her selfish interests took
precedent over other matters. She refused to be involved in palace politics.
In her most strident voice, she let it be known that her loyalties lay with
Gwangjong and she did not want to lose him. She told her mother to look at
the bigger picture. It meant that Wang Wook should be sacrificed in her
pursuit of power.
Hae Soo knelt and pleaded with Gwangjong to free Wang Wook. Her
knees had weakened and he didn’t want her to be kneeling. She reminded him
that he had promised not to kill his brothers. Then, to Gwangjong’s utter shock,
she pointedly accused him of framing his half-brother. Gwangjong did not even
deny it; he didn’t think it was wrong since Wang Wook was responsible for the
callous murder of his two innocent and unambitious brothers, King Hyejong and
Wang Eun. Wang Wook had also to take responsibility for the departure of Baek
Ah, his favourite brother. Hae Soo must have forgotten that Wang Wook was also intent on killing
Wang So when they fought during Wang Yo’s first revolt against the palace. To
top it all, Wang Wook had been trying to split the lovebirds.
But, Hae Soo was adamant; she warned him about retribution.
Karma, as some would call it. If the punishment he meted out was too brutal,
his people would turn against him. He would be remembered as a monarch with
bloodlust.
Reminded of his promise, the king had to allow Wang Wook to
live but the prince would no longer be able to rock the boat. He would take
his marching orders from the king immediately.
1. Wang Wook would be exiled to his hometown.
2. He would be under house arrest. He would not be allowed to
take one step out of his residence.
3. Freedom would be denied to him. The king wanted him to
suffocate in his house and live there until his heart rotted.
It must have amused the king greatly to think of the unbearable pain and suffering
that his enemy would have to endure for the rest of his life.
Gwangjong had undergone a dramatic transformation after his ascension
to the throne. In fact, the fight for the throne had drastically changed the
Wang brothers.
HAE
SOO AND HER SECRET WARNING
TO
WANG
WOOK
When Wang Wook faced public disgrace and was sent away into
exile, it must have pricked the queen’s conscience. Yeon Hwa accepted just a
teeny-weeny bit of responsibility for Wang Wook's public disgrace.
She visited Hae Soo with the intention of shifting the blame
onto Hae Soo. The queen claimed that her only fault was that she had pushed
Wang Wook to be king. But, Hae Soo had to shoulder the lion’s share of the
responsibility for his downfall.
The queen reminded Hae Soo that she was the one who had warned
Wang Wook against Wang So, whom she was convinced was destined for the
throne. Everything started with Hae Soo. She had set everything in motion
with her dire warnings to Wang Wook against Wang So.
 
Having fallen in love with her, Wang Wook was insanely jealous
that Hae Soo had predicted that another man would be the future king of Goryeo. Wang
Wook’s change was shocking. Yeon Hwa may have urged her brother to fight for
the throne, but, the queen blamed the other woman for ruining everything. ‘But, it was you who hammered in the
nail.’
The manipulative and ambitious Yeon Hwa, with her multifarious schemes, had to take a major part of the blame for her brother’s startling transformation and spectacular fall from grace.
Even if the queen’s claim was not entirely imaginary, it was
ridiculous to force Hae Soo to assume responsibility for the fate of the
power-hungry prince, Wang Wook. When Wang Wook allowed himself to be pushed to fight for the throne by Yeon
Hwa, he had already prepared himself for his own destruction.
Responsibility and Accountability. Everyone is responsible and accountable for their own evil
doings.
Wang Wook, the Eighth Prince had to be accountable for his own
driving ambition. It was obvious that Wang Wook’s life was a tale of the
thwarted ambition of a prince who was consumed by obsessive jealousy and
greed for power. Unlike what Yeon Hwa had claimed, Hae Soo did not hammer the
nail into his coffin. Wang Wook, himself, made his bed and was compelled to
lie on it. His bed turned out to be made of thorns.
As for the power-hungry Wang Yo, he was plain delusional. Blinded
by his own grandiose ambition, he had made a bloody mess of his life and had
to be held accountable for it. Hae Soo remembered Jeongjong’s words. ‘I made the decision to kill my brothers
and become king. All because of you. You covered up his scar and he took my
seat.’ Wang Yo conveniently forgot
that Taejo had only two persons in mind for the Goryeo throne, Wang Mu and
Wang So. Wang Yo was not in the picture. But, he had powered his way into the
throne and slaughtered people to remain there.
The ghosts of her past came back to haunt Hae Soo. She was
reminded of her long and tangled history with the princes. Did she regret her
warning to Wang Wook? ‘Do not get in
his way. If you do, you’ll all die.’
Wang Mu died. Jeongjong died. In the end, Wang So ascended the throne.
Who was to be blamed? Nobody but the greedy princes themselves.
However, Yeon Hwa’s pompous denunciation of Hae Soo took a toll
on Hae Soo’s psychological, emotional and physical health. How could Hae Soo
bear all the huge burdens on her slim shoulders? The onus was on her to find
a solution for the stress that was heaped on her.
THE
SECRET MARRIAGE DECREE
OF
JEONGJONG
Gwangjong was, apparently, in a cheerful mood. The palace artist was painting his portrait for posterity. He wanted to present the painting as a gift to Hae Soo. His insistence that his portrait should bear a close resemblance to him was evidence that he did not have a predilection for exaggeration.
Gwangjong’s mood changed when Wang Jung barged into the room
without following protocol. His younger brother had been exiled to his
hometown. Knowing that his return to the palace was prohibited on pain of
death, he went straight to the point about his objective. He had a decree
written and signed by the deceased king, Jeongjong. Hae Soo had been given in
marriage to him.
 
Gwangjong pronounced that it was a fake. But, the Fourteenth
Prince raised the issue that Wang So was enthroned without a decree. Was it
also a lie? Even if it wasn’t a fake, Gwangjong would not allow his woman
to wed another. His argument was their love relationship was common knowledge
in the palace. But, Wang Jung’s counter argument was Gwangjong and Hae Soo
were not officially married; she was neither a queen nor a royal concubine.
It was impossible for Gwangjong to ignore the decree as Wang Jung had been shrewd
enough to have shown it to the ministers.
Driven to fury, Gwangjong ordered Choi Ji Mong to punish the
Fourteenth Prince for breaking the exile rules. The crunch came. Much to the
king’s disbelief, Wang Jung blurted out that the feelings about the marriage
were mutual. Hae So also wanted to marry him.
The king hastened to ask Hae Soo about the marriage issue. He
told her that the decree was issued when Wang Jung returned from his
successful Battle of Hwayi against the Khitans. It was in the Chinese year of
the Monkey.
Gwangjong was confident that she would reject Wang Jung but her
confirmation was a betrayal of everything that he had done for her. Her
cool-headed argument both shocked and disconcerted him. 'Defying the orders of Jeongjong,
the late king, is a crime.'
What followed pained him further.
 It seemed that in the past when they were apart, they longed for each other. Her heart was ripped apart just by thinking about him. But now, the painful truth was, she was compelled to put on a fake smile whenever she saw him. Her love had turned into fear and contempt. My, was he shocked! Despised him? If they continued in that vein, there would be no love lost between them. She would rather leave earlier than later. Tears crept up in the eyes of the lovebirds.
Gwangjong was not good at concealing his inner turmoil; he was
vehement that he would never allow her to leave. But, he did not understand
the gravity of her decision.
In his room, he was in pain and grief over her words. The king
stalled for time. But, an indignant Yeon Hwa marched into the room. Having
learnt of the marriage decree, she rebuked Gwangjong for not being able to let Hae
Soo go. Gwangjong could abandon the throne but she could not accept his
abdication.
WANG
WOOK AND HAE SOO
SECRET LOVE AFFAIR
Gwangjong was beset by problem after problem concerning his
relationship with Hae Soo. He had not known about her other suitors. In fact,
the imperious king had not wised up to her secret love life.
Wang Wook had been thinking about Hae Soo while under house
arrest. After the dead hawk fiasco, he was left kneeling in the audience
hall. Hae Soo conveyed the message that the king had made a compromise; Wang
Wook's life was spared. Her advice was that he should neither pursue his
dreams of being king nor challenge Gwangjong. He had to give up first and let
go of her as well. His irrational jealousy
and bitterness would do nobody any good.
The Eighth Prince had an unexpected visitor, Queen Yeon Hwa,
who came specifically to request for his help. He had never said no to his
younger sister and this time, he was more than willing to help her.
Yeon Hwa had pleaded with Gwangjong to allow Wang Wook to have an audience with him. Gwangjong was in for a second shock. The mission of the Eighth Prince was to regale the king with his colourful account of his romance with Hae Soo.
 First, Wang Jung’s marriage decree and now, the Eighth Prince's confession about his secret relationship with Hae Soo.
Wang Wook took great satisfaction in painting a romantic tale
about two persons deeply in love who had mutually entered into a promise of marriage. The
Eighth Prince, in the revelation of the secret romance with Hae Soo, had said
things out of line but, he enjoyed every moment in the telling of the tale.
The King was furious with what he, at first, thought was a lie.
Wang Wook, with inordinate pleasure, explained that his intriguing liaison
with Hae Soo happened long before she became Gwangjong’s woman. Hae Soo was,
Wang Wook wickedly stressed, his person first. Gwangjong’s imagination must
have run wild. The revelation must have conjured up secret romantic trysts in
his mind.
When Gwangjong first learnt that King Jeongjong had granted Wang Jung’s wish to have Hae Soo as his bride, he was convinced that no earthly decree could separate him from his beloved Hae Soo. But, what had broken the camel’s back was the bombshell revelation by Wang Wook. The Eighth Prince dealt Gwangjong a cruel and devastating blow by flaunting his past love affair with Hae Soo. Obviously, Wang Wook took advantage of his situation; he was not inclined to be economical with the truth. The bold message he conveyed to Gwangjong was he and Hae Soo had a rollicking good time together in the past. 
The insides of Gwangjong must have been knotted with dread but
he wanted to hear the truth from Hae Soo's own lips. She did not deny any of
it. It was a gut-wrenching revelation that gave him no false hope.
Letting go. Wang Wook’s intervention compelled Gwangjong to
sever his relationship with Hae Soo. Which man, what more an emperor, would
not go deranged from the mere thought of his woman being stained by another
man’s touch?
The hurt in Gwangjong’s eyes said it all. He fought back the
tears in his eyes. Now he knew why she was so worried about Wang
Wook and had even got down on her fragile knees to plead for him.
In an accusatory tone, he mentioned the bracelet that she had worn for a long time and the secret trysts in the Damiwon palace and the cave. His confrontation with Hae Soo, resembling the two circular saw cutting blades on the palace wall, had sliced into
him.
When Gwangjong questioned her, she was honest with her responses. Had she intended to marry Wang Wook? She nodded. Hae Soo had disclosed at the beach that she loved another man. He was curious enough to ask her if the person was Baek Ah. When she denied it, he didn’t take the trouble to question her further. It was obvious now that the person was Wang Wook. Gwangjong felt that he had just been punched in the stomach.
When Taejo died, Hae Soo had requested him, in the empty and dark royal
audience hall, not to kill Wang Wook. He had mistaken her worry
for Wang Wook as that for a relative, her cousin’s husband. Now, he
understood why Wang Wook had said, ‘Neither
Hae Soo nor Yeon Hwa is yours to take. They are all my people.’
It was an unnerving experience for him. He wanted to believe it
was all a lie so that they could go back to where they were before. But, the cool and
composed Hae Soo poured cold water on him, reminding him that they had promised never to lie to each other. It was a heart-stopping moment.
 
‘How could you hurt me like
this? Why Wook of all people?’ He then hollered at her that Wang Wook had always been the priority in her heart.
Poisoning is a crime that is not done in a moment of passion; it is a deliberate act and has to be planned well in advance. It was murder most foul. In contrast, Wang Yo killed King Hyejong immediately when he came back from the dead. When it came to King Hyejong, Wang Wook was like a parasite that allowed the host to live to be preyed on another day while Wang Yo was like a pathogen that killed the host outright.
One wonders whether the audience, in their collective mind, thought
that Gwangjong was unreasonable. Hae Soo's relationship with Wang Wook was all in
the past. But, can the audience sit in judgement of the king? After all, in his whole life, there was only one woman on his mind. He probably expected her to be as pure as he was and her slate just as clean. However, Hae Soo,
having been another man’s beloved, was soiled. How could he not be sore about
it?
When she reached out to touch him, he roughly swept her hand away. Hurt
washed relentlessly through him wave after wave. She had to bear the brunt of
his anger. This time, Gwangjong was no more in a quandary; he immediately
decided to let her go.
‘Do not touch me. From
today, I will not see you again. His disdain was evident. The words, just as harsh as his
actions, made him remote but she accepted it with equanimity. There was, now,
an unbridgeable chasm in their relationship. Hae Soo did not want to live in
a gilded cage; she also wanted a clean break from Gwangjong to preserve her
sanity.
True to his words, the king didn’t see her off when she left the palace. Nothing had
affected him as much as Hae Soo’s confession over her relationship with Wang
Wook. The Royal Astronomer chided him for not sending her off properly. When he was advised that he would lose a part of himself, Gwangjong sadly asserted that he did not discard
her but Hae Soo was the one who had abandoned him.
Baek Ah came to say his farewells. He bluntly told Hae Soo he
wouldn’t have helped her if he knew that Gwangjong and her would end up that
way.
Wang Wook, unexpectedly, came to say goodbye to her and they went their separate ways. It was a poignant ending to their romance and
friendship. He confessed he helped her not out of goodwill; his intentions
were less than gentlemanly. It is obvious that he personally wanted to settle some old scores. It is his final way to take revenge on Gwangjong and bring him to his knees. A
tit-for-tat. The Eighth Prince hugged her and asked her to forget about their
love and to forget everything. Her life in the palace was over.
He needn’t have worried. The heart wants to remember what it
wants to remember. And, her future thoughts would only centre on Gwangjong,
not him.
Gwangjong was a picture of misery. He refused to face the truth
that she was leaving him. He went to her bedchamber to weep over her absence.
It is apparent that he was not estranged from his emotions. This gives rise
to the suspicion that his ego would not allow him to go to her.
Hae Soo probably hoped that Gwangjong would send her off but he
did not appear. What did she expect? A loving royal send-off? As she turned
her back on the Cheondeokjeon Palace complex, she brought her thoughts about
him along with her.
If I had not met him, I would not yearn for him.
If I did not know him, I would not think of him so much.
If we had not been together, I would not have to disappear.
If I did not treasure him so much, I would not have so many
memories.
If I did not love him, we would not need to throw each other
away.
If we had not met face to face, we would never have been
together.
'Perhaps if I had not met you at all ……'
The bird had finally flown out of her gilded cage.
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