MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO
The issues of love and friendship of the palace residents were way overdue for some deep and honest rethinking and reflection. Spies had effectively infiltrated into the Goryeo palace. None had the faintest idea about them, particularly those who were their dearest and nearest. It would be difficult to uncover the various conspiracies to deceive them.
But, it was time for people like Hae Soo to get real about her friendship with her maid-turned-best friend. Hae Soo and her maid, Chae Ryung, had a long history of friendship. The maid-turned court lady had wormed her way into Hae Soo’s affections. But, it had never crossed Hae Soo’s mind that her maid, a spy in the palace, would one day betray her.
Chae Ryung had been tasked to convey a message from the Fourteenth Prince to Hae Soo. Wang Jung had a way to get her out of the palace should she wish to leave the palace one day. Would Chae Ryung one day be accused of trying to put a wedge between Wang So and Hae Soo?
Woo Hee, who had inched her way into Baek Ah’s heart, was Jeongjong’s spy. She had been reporting on important matters that cried out for the king's attention. 1. Wang So was getting together Songak’s powerful families against him. 2. Wang So was not obeying his instructions and postponing the erection of the castle in Seokyeong. 3. Wang Shik Ryeon, his uncle, was gravely ill.
Jeongjong had no fear of repercussions when he first started slaughtering his enemies. But now, at the end of his life, his conscience ate into him. It seemed that Wang
So, Baek Ah and Choi Ji Mong possessed some marvelous expertise that could frighten the ruthless king out of
his wits. Working by night, the trio created hair-raising shadowy figures that seemed to walk or float all over his bedroom walls and doors. His
life was a living hell. Jeongjong’s frequent fainting fits, gaunt appearance
and pallid complexion were tell-tale signs of a troubled soul.
The ambitious Wang Wook tried to capitalise on the king’s deteriorating health to climb up the throne. He hastily sought the help of Wang Shik Ryeom without knowing that Taejo's cousin brother was gravely ill. It was pointless. The fact that Wang So was destined to be king seemed to be beyond his grasp.
Hae Soo got the picture about Wang So's destiny but she advised him not to kill his brothers.
When Taejo was on his deathbed, he had pondered over many serious questions. Jeongjong was dying. Although he had succumbed to the ravages of mental illness, there was no question that there were moments of lucidity. It was a time for reflection and evaluation of his life. He had given some thought about how he
ended in that way.
Curiously, Jeongjong was reluctant to see the
error of his ways, including his delusions of grandeur. He was in a state of self-denial and had a hard time coming to terms
with the brutal truth of his own sins. He didn't seem to have any regrets.
In fact, Jeongjong had an axe to grind with Hae Soo over the way his life turned out. Understandably, the court lady had incurred his wrath as she had covered up Wang So’s scar that eventually led to the Fourth Prince's meteoric rise in the Goryeo hierachy. Jeongjong leapt to the conclusion that Hae Soo, not him, should be held accountable for his deadly sins which included pride, envy, ambition, greed and wrath which had led him to kill his real or imagined enemies. All those who were dead, Wang Mu, Wang Eun, Park Soon Deok and even Taejo, preyed on his mind. 
Queen Yoo was convinced that Jeongjong had become stark raving mad; he was mentally unhinged as his wicked past had caught up with him. Ravaged by relentless
guilt and endless fears, he was but a mere
shadow of his previous arrogant and conceited self who once lord it over Goryeo.
Wang So had raised the banner of revolt against Jeongjong. Fearing the worst, Queen Yoo insisted that Jeongjong
abdicate in favour of Wang Jung. It must have been heartrending to Jeongjong that his mother had tried to force him to abdicate the throne.
It struck him like a thunderbolt that his cold-hearted mother’s priority was herself. She hoped to salvage her position in the fast deteriorating situation. The naked truth was she had used him for her own self-aggrandisement. He was now disposable. Despair flooded Jeongjong. He could now empathise with Wang So and walk in his shoes. The Queen Mother loved none but herself. 
A plan had taken remarkable shape in Queen Hwangbo’s mind. Advising Yeon Hwa that she had to sacrifice something
in order to be queen, she declared, ‘You
can have love and live in a small world.’ One cannot have everything.
Yeon Hwa posed a hypothetical question to her royal mother. If she, her daughter, wanted the world, what would her mother’s stance be? The pragmatic queen’s lightning-fast response, though shocking, was in tune with the times. She would discard her son, Wang Wook in favour of her daughter. Mother and daughter understood each other immediately and knew what had to be done to protect their future.   
Wang So, with the help of Grand General Park, had beefed up
their forces to launch the attack on the palace. Arriving at
the palace gates, Grand General Park thought that it was ironic, ‘I've come to attack the very palace
that I’ve always protected.’ But, he shouldn’t have worried.
 
Unsheathing his sword dramatically, Wang Yo swung it in the air
and declared war. To their utter surprise, the palace doors opened magically to
admit Wang So and his army.
 
Cold calculation was all part of the game of palace politics. Being brazen and ambitious was second nature to Yeon Hwa. The princess had thrown the doors wide open for Wang So, knowing that the determined prince would be king.
Jeongjong, in his death throes, desperately wanted to name his
successor but he breathed his last without having done so. Hae Soo, who was with
him, did not have the time to catch her breath before Wang So arrived at the
scene.
 
Having grown smart to palace intrigues, the quick-witted court
lady quickly sank to her knees and hailed Wang So as the new king. She
declared that Jeongjong had named Wang So as his successor. The expression
she wore was inscrutable.
Wang So swiftly declared that the king had abdicated in his favour.
Choi Ji Mong quickly caught on and hailed Wang So as the new king. All the
soldiers and courtiers who were present followed suit.
  
The speed at which Wang So ascended the Goryeo throne was
pretty miraculous. His enthronement must have surprised all the royalty
including his mother who was incredulous.
Yeon Hwa was smiling from ear to ear on the day of Wang So’s
enthronement. The smug look on her face highlighted her expectation to be rewarded. The exciting thought that she would become queen surged through
her.
Upon ascension to the throne, Wang So, the Fourth Prince, took the name of Gwangjong. That
the 4th Monarch of Goryeo should be a good king was paramount in Hae
Soo’s mind. She promised in her heart that she would ensure that Gwangjong would not
be remembered as a bloody monarch but someone who would make his future descendants immeasurably
proud of him.
Not long after, Grand General Park Soo Kyung begged to be
dismissed from Gwangjong’s service. Without the assistance of a great
military power, the freshly-minted king was rendered helpless to the attacks
of his enemies. Park advised the greatly disappointed king to rule wisely.
When Hae Soo went to him that night, Gwangjong revealed that Jeongjong
did not name a successor in his written will. It wasn’t a clean victory. But,
who’s to know?
Wisely, Gwangjong reversed the policy of Jeongjong’s financially
non-viable project of shifting the capital to Seokyeong. It had actually been
a pretty tall order – a flimsy plan on a whim considering the circumstances of that time.
Queen Yoo's doubts about Wang So's legitimate claim to the throne had not evaporated. Caught in a state of self-denial, she refused to reconcile herself to the fact that Gwangjong was the rightful king. Her prejudice
against him festered like an open sore.
Buoyed by his ascension to the throne, Gwangjong, Hae Soo and
Baek Ah celebrated the event with a cosy dinner and the couple openly laughed at
Baek Ah’s obvious discomfiture over the new palace protocol. For the first time in
his life, he had to address his half-brother as ‘Your Majesty’.
The belligerent Queen Mother, intent on
overturning Wang So’s enthronement, ordered Hae Soo to be brought to her
chambers. She demanded to know the truth, not an embellished story, about the
last moments of Jeongjong’s life.
News travelled fast. Gwangjong soon stormed into his mother’s
quarters to drag Hae Soo back. Asserting his authority, Gwangjong told his resentful mother that if she had any queries, she could very well ask him.
 However, the monarch was not so courteous with Wang Jung who had also questioned his legitimacy to the throne. Unconvinced that Wang So was the rightful successor, he argued that Jeongjong had a son.
Gwangjong did not mince his words when he responded to his
younger brother’s veiled accusation that he had usurped the throne. The serrated edge to the king’s voice
could be felt when he berated his blood brother. Gwangjong declared that if Wang Jung wanted to satisfy his
curiosity, he could very well ask Jeongjong, their deceased blood brother, in
the afterworld.
Gwangjong steered Hae Soo away from the toxic atmosphere and
ordered her not to respond if and when his mother summoned her to her living quarters
again.
 It was unnerving to Gwangjong that he had neither warmed up his kingly seat nor gotten his political bearings before all manner of troubles from all corners of his kingdom blew at him.
The king was rightly wrathful when many, including his own mother,
cast aspersions on his legitimacy to the throne. Park Young Gyu,
Jeongjong’s father-in-law, also accused him of lying about the former king’s
mandate. Gwangjong’s throne was in jeopardy.
Gwangjong’s face blackened at the accusations. The malevolent troublemakers were
beginning to grate on his nerves. He would leave nothing to chance; he would
pummel them to death. He ordered Park Young Gyu to be put to death and dissenters in
the palace to be replaced. Under such immense pressure, it was inevitable that Gwangjong would be driven to
kill. He snarled and growled in wicked glee at the thought of killing his enemies.
Woo Hee's problems with Park Young Gyu were soon apparent. She had been playing with fire previously by conspiring with him to assassinate Taejo. Now that his life was threatened, he wanted her to sink along with him. In order to stop him from exposing her as a spy for
Jeongjong, Woo Hee could not but stab him to death in cold blood.
Interestingly, Chae Ryung pleaded to stay with Hae Soo even though Gwangjong was going to release her from the palace. It would be revealed later that Wang Won, the Ninth Prince, had pressured her to remain in the palace as his spy.
Wang Wook waylaid Hae Soo one night to confess that he still hankered for her. She had previously insisted on ending their relationship because of her distrust in him. His blatant lies about not wanting to be king made him an unsuitable suitor. In contrast, Wang So's honesty endeared him to her; he admitted he wanted to be king. Hae Soo emphasised that Wang So was born with the star of a king.
With her feelings so clearly spelt out, he smashed into pieces the bracelet that she had returned to him. If Wang Wook could not have Hae Soo, no one could have her. From that very minute, he was determined to help his sister to be queen.
 Gwangjong and Hae Soo's passion for each other grew. When they were together, Hae Soo often requested him to write the verses of her favourite poem in his unique Chinese calligraphic style. And, she dutifully immitated his writing style. They enjoyed exchanging banter with each other and Hae Soo even teased him about the prayer tower where he was supposed to have proposed marriage to her. He tenderly advised her to take care of her health so that they could have children.    Gwangjong sent the royal physician to check on her health. To her horror, he disclosed that she would not have long to live. Perhaps, about 10 years.
Hae Soo went to the prayer tower to pray for herself and the king. Wang Jung, who appeared before her, expressed his resentment that she, Hae Soo, did not remain neutral but had sided with Gwangjong on the succession issue. She tried to pacify his anger. He asked her a pertinent question, ‘Do you think that you could become the queen?’ She was clueless about it as she had never pondered over such deep issues. Then he warned her that she was putting herself in a precarious situation. She would only be one of Gwangjong’s many women. But, he reassured her that he could get her out of the palace one day. She just had to say the word and he would be there in a jiffy to take her away.
 
Wang Wook's burning jealousy provoked him to make life even harder for Gwangjong. He intensified his fierce campaign to wreak havoc on Gwangjong’s nerves. In the presence of Choi Ji Mong and Baek Ah in the royal audience room, the Eighth Prince declared that the Goryeon people intended to make their voice heard through him. In his two-prong strategy to strip Gwangjong of his powers, the Eighth Prince claimed that the people wanted to be invested with the right to choose the leader of the 300,000 soldiers, and they also wanted to control the tax imposed on grains.
 Gwangjong instinctively knew that the wily prince was trying to clip both his wings, by wresting away his military and financial power. Undaunted by the prospect of losing his power, Wang So held his ground, giving Wang Wook a dressing down.  But, the Eighth Prince had one more trick up his sleeve. In a shocking manoeuvre, Wang Wook declared that the Hwangbo clan of Hwangju would like to propose marriage to Gwangjong. The king, evidently caught off guard, would soon learn that the Hwangbos were forcing his hand. It was a forced marriage rather than a marriage of convenience to Princess Yeon Hwa.  
Even at that very moment, Yeon Hwa, working in concert with her brother, had made herself at home in Hae Soo’s private room. Spelling out the objective of her visit, the princess explicitly stated that she had set her sights on marrying Gwangjong.
Yeon Hwa made a simple comparison – to compare and contrast what she, herself, wanted and what Hae Soo wanted in the Goryeo palace. Though Yeon Hwa had an all-consuming desire to be queen, she emphasized that she did not mind the competition. She had an open mind about Hae Soo being Gwangjong's woman, someone who was a companion of the king by day and a mistress who met his needs by night. But, Hae Soo was forbidden from being officially installed as Gwangjong's royal concubine.  Wang Wook reminded Gwangjong that Hae Soo, in order to avoid marrying Taejo, had slit her wrist. A king cannot marry a woman with a scar. The Eighth Prince drove home the point that he, Gwangjong, would not be able to make Hae Soo his queen. 
The devious brother-sister pair had launched a perfectly orchestrated plan with the aim of wearing down the lovebirds, Gwangjong and Hae Soo.
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