The Blade and Petal
Yeon Gaesomun planned treason on the day of the installation ceremony,
but the plan fell apart due to an unexpected incident.
Now that Yeon Gaesomun and the traitors have revealed their true intentions,
we will hit them first on the parade day.
From now until the day of the parade, we will be on full emergency alert.
To prevent people from entering the palace freely,
we're thoroughly controlling the entry gates.
We selected the finest soldiers from each family and have them on stand by.
On the day of the parade, the palace will be ours.
We will switch the snaffle bits with the poisonous ones in advance.
It's poison.
W-W-Why are you doing this?!!!
Cure him at all cost.
If not, you won't stay alive!
I told you, you had to cure him at all cost!!!
How's the Royal Doctor?
He's still resisting.
Make sure to have him confess
that he is Yeon Gaesomoon's spy.
You, General Yeon Gaesomun, will, after the parade,
go to the border where the wall is being built, as scheduled.
I will no longer just sit and watch Yeon Gaesomun.
I will cut off his head first.
I'm asking you to help me, since this is the opportunity to change fate.
Are you not afraid?
How can I not be afraid?
For the new future,
we are here today.
The installation ceremony for the Crown Prince will be the beginning of it all.
Episode 8
Your Majesty, you seem to be in a good mood
as today's the day General Yeon Gaesomun is leaving for the border.
Do I seem that way?
Will it be the Princess or filial piety?
Father!
You can't have both.
Our family will be the master of the royal palace.
I will now head to the palace.
Will you go to the palace with me, or...
die here?
To the palace,
I will go.
To the palace,
I will go with you, Father.
Bring the Princess's head to me.
If I bring the Princess's life,
will that take care of everything?
I'm not killing your father.
I am... killing Goguryeo's traitor!
How can we go to the palace with your son when he can't be trusted?
I will have three swordsmen accompany him.
As soon as he joins the main party, you take care of him.
If he interferes again,
behead him on the spot.
Father.
You seem to have a lot on your mind.
Now,
Yeon Gaesomun must be on his way to the palace.
Who do you think is a good king?
Why such a question?
It is not even the Tang or Shilla dynasties, but the loyal subject Yeon Gaesomun...
who has betrayed Goguryeo.
Father.
But they must've been afraid.
They must've also been angry, and sometimes,
they must've really hated me, I think.
Nonetheless,
I must kill them.
That makes me a pathetic king.
However, in your generation,
you should not be pathetic.
There are always things not to be forgotten in Goguryeo.
It was the same for the Soo Dynasty and for Tang as well.
When the countries in the middle region became strong, they always targeted the east,
us Goguryeo.
However, will we fight them every time?
Or will we co-exist with them?
You should always try to find ways to co-exist with them.
I will keep that in mind.
Your Majesty. The parade is about to start.
Now is the time
to depart.
Stop!
Open the gate. We're on our way to the royal palace by the King's order.
There was an order that the militaries from the outer regions be on stand by outside the palace.
The order we received tells us to enter the palace.
This is the new King's order which came down early this morning.
Please wait here until further notice.
Open the gate only when you hear the drum sound from where the parade takes place.
The soldiers who were outside will come in. [North Gate of the palace]
You must pay close attention to where the parade takes place.
Princess.
I will definitely save you.
As you wished,
General Yeon Gaesomun will go to the wall near the border.
Shouldn't you at least thank us?
You're doing what you're supposed to do as a Goguryeo's general.
He's right.
Traitor!
Today will be your last day on earth!
Please watch your mouth!
You might ruin the Great Cause.
Please control your temper!
No one can possess a weapon in the parade.
Please follow the palace procedure no matter how inconvenient.
Take out the swords!
Please go in.
His Majesty's personal guards
shall stand by before the throne room.
Once the parade starts, move to the parade as His Majesty's order.
The palace guards shall go to the parade site with me now.
Bring the Royal Doctor spy.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Who are they?
Just some crazy nuts.
They were in a brawl in front of the palace, so I decided to detain them.
Get in.
I never thought I'd ever
use this to cut off the head of a traitor!
I'll wipe them all today!
Please, don't get too excited.
I'm just nervous, that's all.
Share some of your love for Young Hae with me, too.
It's no use to expect anything from Seol Hwe. All he cares about is Young Hae.
At any rate,
are you really going to get married after this?
Didn't you say I'm destined to get married?
Our destinies are already set!
As you may all know very well,
we must move exactly according to plan with no mistakes.
And if something unexpected happens,
our top priority is to protect His Majesty and the two Highnesses.
Station yourselves at the parade site.
Before the parade starts, when the Royal Doctor gets there,
reveal Yeon Gaesomun's treacherous acts, and join the palace guards of Jang
to capture Yeon Gaesomun and his band.
[Royal Doctor (Yeon Gaesomun's spy)]
What?
What happened?
What's going on?
I think he killed himself.
Why did he have a knife with him?
Well...
Get rid of the corpse and watch the inmates.
Yes, sir.
I can hear the drums!
Open the gate!
Kill them all!
Young Master, you must stay with us. Let's go.
As soon as the spy comes, we'll leave for the parade site.
Is everything ready?
Yes, Your Majesty!
Your Majesty!
The spy killed himself.
What?
How on earth...?
How was that possible?
I wasn't able to figure it out exactly yet.
Father, this doesn't bode well. The spy killed himself?
Messenger, go to the parade site and check out the situation.
Yes, Your Majesty!
We can't stop here.
Bring the dead body at least.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Now that we have drawn our swords, we can't go back.
We must cut their heads off!
Hey.
Hey?!
Off to the palace.
Yes, sir.
Station yourselves at the site of the parade.
Before the parade starts, when the Royal Doctor comes,
reveal Yeon Gaesomun's treacherous acts,
and join the palace guards of Jang to capture Yeon Gaesomun and his band.
Something must have gone wrong with the plan.
We must protect His Majesty and the Highnesses. Retreat right now!
Great Goguryeo's
Cheollijangsung construction overseer
Yeon Gaesomun!
Ge, ge, ge, general! What...?
Did you want to become a Prime Minister so badly?
General! I betrayed you only because
the King threatened me with my brother's crime of pillaging, so I had no choice...
Did you want it that badly?!
At first, yes.
But I realized that His Majesty is not so feeble as we had thought.
I believed that you and His Majesty could
work together to make Goguryeo stronger than ever!
That's just a vain dream of yours!
Put on the wrist band.
The blue bands are traitors! Attack them!
I'll go ahead to the throne room.
Please, spare me!
It is treason!
What?
You must leave!
Open the gate and bring the soldiers that are standing by in!
Also, bring in all the soldiers that were guarding the city wall!
Your Majesty,
there was no army standing by
outside the city.
What?
It seems that the soldiers who were going to guard the palace from the outside couldn't get into the city.
It seems
Yeon Gaesomun's soldiers came in instead.
Ho, how...
Just how can this happen?
How on earth...?
No way!
I believe
the Chief of the palace guards...
What?
Jang?
Jang would never do that!
Your Majesty!
We must join the soldiers who didn't make it into the city.
Take the secret passage to get out while we buy time here.
The King of Goguryeo does not retreat!
Go bring in the soldiers that are stuck outside of the city wall.
Yes, Your Majesty!
Your Majesty!
If you want to protect Goguryeo, you must flee now.
You said that it's not the strong that survive
but those who survive are strong.
Leave the palace to us.
The Royal family must live
for Goguryeo to exist.
It can't be ended like this.
Escort His Majesty and the Princess to the secret passage.
Shi Woo has already gone for the Prince.
Your Majesty!
Boo Chi!
We must stand our ground until His Majesty is safely away!
Yes, sir!
Wait! Who are you?
A-A-A killer!
If he interferes again,
cut his head off right then and there.
Princess!
Treason! It's treason!
♫ Love without a care ♫
♫ Leave without a care ♫
♫ Waiting for your heart ♫
♫ I don't have a place to stay. ♫
♫ Whenever I look at you ♫
How can you...? ♫ When missing you became too unbearable ♫
♫ Will you come then? ♫
Princess, we have to get out of here. ♫ To the same path ridden with sad memories ♫
♫ My love! My toxic love! ♫
It's a rebellion!
Is there anyone out there?
Come here!
Is there anyone out there?
How could you betray the King?
At least I,
I didn't betray Goguryeo.
What citizen of Goguryeo will serve you?
If I serve the people first,
they will also come to know my sincerity.
That is mere nonsense of a traitor.
Must you die here?
Wouldn't you like to see for yourself
the Goguryeo that I establish?
My heaven is only the Great King, His Majesty.
I will present the traitor's head to my liege.
(no voice)
Cut down the traitors!
You bastards!
This way.
They have surrounded the palace.
We will bring the Prince shortly after, so you must escape through the secret passage first.
I understand.
Father. I want to bring the Prince myself.
No, So Hui. It's too dangerous for you!
Princess!
No, Your Majesty. You must escape!
I cannot step back. Out of the way!
Gwon!
Sister!
I waited for you, Sister.
I had something I had to say to you.
We must first leave here. Let's get out of here quickly.
No!
Never mind me.
However, you, my sister, you must
survive! Please make haste!
What are you saying?
You cannot give up here. Let's go together.
We must leave now.
No.
I have, thus far, been
happy because I was your younger brother.
Please cease your worry over me and go!
I cannot do that.
We have too may things to achieve together.
Didn't we promise each other?
We must not weaken here. We must go together.
Gwon!
Hurry. Hurry!
Go quickly!
Don't touch the Princess!
Kill me instead.
No, you can't. Gwon?
Si-sis-ter.
I wanted
to see you
wearing your wedding garb.
I hope
you
will sur-vive...
No,
No! Gwon!
You must live! Didn't you promise me!
Gwon!
GWON!
As you promised, cut off the Princess' head and prove that you're Yeon Gaesomun's son.
You were just
a son of a rebel.
You betrayed me.
What within you has
made me believe you?
I cannot forgive myself
for trusting a rebel's son.
Cut me down then.
No one can choose his parentage.
Unfortunately, I was the son of General Yeon Gaesomun,
and my father became a rebel with no help from me.
However,
I, who couldn't sever the relationship of the man, is also a sinner.
Please cut off her head.
We must leave now.
No! We cannot leave the Prince here.
You must leave now! That is the Prince's will!
I think His Majesty must have escaped by now.
To the King's residence.
Your Majesty!
You must get out of the palace!
We will save the Prince and the Princess without fail.
Where would the King go other than the palace?
I will not step aside. Tell them to come with all their might.
Your Majesty!
So Hui!
The Prince..
The Prince is dead.
The Prince is... ?
Your Majesty!
Your Majesty, we must make haste and leave the palace!
And where is the Prince?
He passed away.
Your Majesty!
You must avoid the rebels. We must hurry!
How can I depart,
leaving the palace?
Move aside!
Cousin,
you aren't even related to me anymore.
I was foolish to trust you.
I will look with my eyes wide open
and watch how you face your death
in this spot.
I must find the Princess, without fail.
You?
You would in the end...
How can you (betray) me?
The first word I've ever learned since birth was
not "mother" or "father" but "Your Majesty".
Becoming facile to speak, wield a sword,
learning the literary works, and all other actions since that day forth,
were for Your Majesty.
I believed that was my duty as a royalty
for Goguryeo.
Your Majesty loved Goguryeo,
and put effort forth towards education and military science and was benevolent towards family and citizens.
Thus, Your Majesty was superior in intellect and greatness
amongst all other kings in history.
However, Your Majesty
never treated me with warmth.
It is because I did not exist to Your Majesty.
Hence,
did you covet becoming the King so much?
Your Majesty took away a young nephew from his parents and used him as servant but never trusted him!
I was always incompetent to Your Majesty.
So what you chose in the end
is betrayal?
I realized that there was more than one path I could take,
and realized that Your Majesty was not the final decider of that path!
Now you must discard me, Your Majesty.
It is still not too late.
I will not discard you, ever.
However, Captain!
I have already
stepped onto the road I cannot turn back from.
Goguryeo did not want your way of governing.
An enemy nation is just a hostile army. Amity with Tang is just a weak excuse.
You were afraid.
However, I wasn't afraid of Tang.
Thus, I thought we could live together with them.
Not so. That is not my method.
Your method is to deal a sword death your way with a bigger sword.
However, the sword
only destroys all.
For 600 years, Goguryeo
withstood with the power of the sword.
General Yeon, Goguryeo did not govern the neighboring countries with the sword.
Every time there's an ordeal, we have
lived symbiotically coexisting with the neighboring countries.
If we didn't have the sword, we would not exist on this earth.
More than coexistence,
Goguryeo needs the sword!
That is only your belief and not Goguryeo's path.
Ask the late Kings who has protected Goguryeo,
just which of us is
letting Goguryeo take the right path,
and knows what Goguryeo needs.
Your Majesty!
You must save the Princess, no matter what.
I will save the Princess, no matter what.
Father... Father...
FATHER!!!
Majesty!