Queen Seon Deok
Enjoy:)
Episode 3
His Majesty might conceal one of the twins to escape from this prophecy.
I knew it would be Munno.
Munno will be the one helping the child escape.
Mobilize all troops in the palace,
and do not allow a soul to leave these premises.
- Sire! - Now...
- Now! - Sire!
Sire!
You cannot...
Sire!
Forgive me.
Forgive me, my child.
Forgive this father of yours.
Leave at once.
Now!
W...hat?!
I said leave immediately!
Your Majesty...
You cannot enter!
Your Excellency, you cannot go any further!
You cannot, Sohwa!
Sire! Sire!!
- What is the matter? - Sire!
It is the Gukseon, Munno!
Gukseon?!
Sire!
Gukseon.
Did not the Gukseon head this way? Where is he?
He whelmed us all, and stubbornly entered the gates.
- Stop him. - Yes!
Announce my presence.
But...
What are you waiting for?
I am here to extend my congratulations for this propitious birth.
Announce me.
Your Highness...
His Majesty deigns you with his presence!
Long live His Majesty the King!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!!
Hurrah!
A new princess blessed our Shilla, Cheonmyeong!
Long live Her Highness Princess Cheonmyeong!
Hurrah!
Who is there?
Who is this, prancing about at this belated juncture?!
Ahh... you?!
Are you not that varlet who has long been serving His Majesty?
But...
Raise this child for me.
What?!
May you raise this child for me!
I will never be able to.
And it is not even mine!
So, does this child become mine, then?!
Why should I do that?! Here... here.
I implore you, raise this child for me!
Hey!
I have a bride and children at home already!
Here... here.
This child is not mine!
Raise this child for me, I beg you!
It daunts me!
Hey...
You first raise havoc on someone's berth, and I get to deal with the results?!
No!
I told you this child is not mine!
Not yours, my ass!
Look at this varlet trying to blandish with me. Here...
Leave at once!
I said leave!
Nunim!
Nunim!!
Munno was not the one. He had no child with him.
Munno... was not the one?!
Then...
It cannot be...
That varlet who kept pestering about at the shrine's chamber?
Now that I think about it, she never came out.
Were the guards alerted on the twins' birth?
Do they know it is a child what we are looking for?
They don't.
But I did clamor them not to let a soul out of these premises.
They will never escape!
Indeed!
Impart new orders.
Be it people, beasts or even dross, nothing shall escape these gates.
Yes.
Seolwon Rang, find that varlet's whereabouts at once.
Yes.
Just go... Uh?!
Standing there will be of no use. Uh?!
Ahh... get moving!
As if we were not in a state of emergency already!
Before I put you behind bars, head to your abode at once!
Now!
Hey... Hey!
Hey! Hey!
Varlet! Varlet!!
Varlet...
Varlet!!
I beg you, raise this child for me!
Do not even jest about that!
Whatever!
Just take the child!
You! Put the child back inside, and it shall spell your demise!
It cannot be helped.
From here on in, you are a mother. A mother!
Right... my child.
I am now your mother.
I...
shall save you at all cost.
Indeed, well done.
What can you do?!
- Once you are blessed with a child... - What are you doing there?
What are you prattling about all alone?!
Ahh... yes, don't you know?!
That varlet, I mean.
Which varlet are you referring to?
Ahh... that varlet,
the one who kept following His Majesty, the fatuous one.
Ehh Ehh! You knave! What are you talking about?
Aigoo... that varlet must have caused a wreck with some fellow...
What, varlet?!
So, what happened to that varlet?!
Where on earth is this varlet you talk about?
Take the child and flee far away from Seorabeol.
And... protect her.
You must save her!
Then, how long has it been since she fled?!
No more than one gak (15 minutes), Your Excellency.
We shall not squander any more time here.
- Let us reinforce surveillance in and out... - Nunim.
What are you gazing at?
What...
is that?!
Ahh... that?!
Is that not the seven...
Next to Gaeyang of the Northern Dipper...
Is not something shining by its side?!
Another star graced the Northern Dipper?!
What?!
Then, the seven stars of the Northern Dipper...
have now become eight?
Unless the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight,
no one under the heavens shall ever contend with your might.
Your Highness!
Gukseon Munno penetrated through our defences, and escaped.
How many of our men were there?!
They could not even contend with a single man?
My apologies.
But he also left a message for Your Highness.
I shall now disclose the second revelation I experienced.
"Unless the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight,
no one under the heavens shall ever contend with Mishil's might."
The next one...
"On the day the seven stars of the Northern Dipper will become eight,
someone able to contend with Mishil's might...
will grace us."
The twins...
People can lack dexterity.
People can display negligence.
People...
can commit mistakes.
Y...Your Highness!
Your Highness, Your Highness!
People can certainly do that.
But...
my people cannot!
Chilsuk!
Yes, Your Highness!
Immediately find that slattern and the other twin.
How long it will take, how many will perish does not concern me!
You must find them and bring them before me,
is that clear?!
Yes! Hwarang Chilsuk shall answer your call!
This way!
~ (Geum) No Trespassing ~
- Let us enter. - Yes!
I beg you...
Right...
How shall we proceed?
Should we rummage the entire place?
Set fires before every entrance.
Yes!
Set fires before every cave entrance!
Yes!
Child...
No...
You cannot...
Don't!
You cannot do this.
My child...
Let go!
It is my child!
No!
You cannot!
You can't!
- That child is mine! - Apprehend her.
- Yes! - My child...
Give me my child back!
Give it back!
It's mine!
Give me my child...
It's mine!
You knave!
Are you really incognizant of whom that child is?
No!
~ 15 Years Later ~ (approx. 617 A.D.)
~ Taklamakan Desert ~ (Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China)
And in the end, I lost them.
So, did you give up?
No...
I did find their hideout after an odd month,
but I once again was too late,
*China, Zheijiang Province
as they already rode away on a boat headed to Hangzhou*.
So that brought you all the way here to the mainland?!
Back then, the sole thought gracing my mind was capturing her.
And then?!
You have spent the last fifteen years looking for the same woman?
No.
I wandered these lands for two years, looking for her,
and as the way home was becoming more and more remote,
I maundered for years engaging in various endeavors.
I should have rather returned to my homeland,
and have perished with honor before Her Highness.
Ahh... right.
This is an international trading area, right?
Yes. Why?
Will you engage in trading here?
No...
*Daebullimguk: archaic Korean for the Eastern Roman Empire, from the Chinese
I hear that Roman* merchants remunerate their guards quite generously.
Really?
Then, you have met with just the right person!
~ Deokman ~ (King Jinpyeong's daughter, future Queen Seondeok)
You have been blessed by meeting me, Ajeosshi.
Had you not met me, it probably would have direfully hampered you.
Right?!
But...
*Capital Gyeongju and Shilla's moniker ever since 65 A.D. (King Talhae 6th)
How could you be so fluent in Gyerim* language, despite not being from there?
I live amongst traders.
Most traders coming here are conversant in at least a couple of languages.
Wait!
- Don't move! - What is the matter?
They are quicksands.
Quicksands?!
Look there.
In the desert, you will find draining sand from time to time.
Should you fall there, you would never escape.
Let's go.
Wait!
Do not step on this.
Should this one bite you, it would hurt a little.
But these ones seem to be favored goods for those traders.
Here...
Ahh!
Are you sure of where you are heading to?
It is quite easy to get lost in the desert.
That is only for those who travel merely guided by maps.
Whereas I...
am guided by that.
And also,
meseems the polestar is maundering in my mind.
Whenever I seem to think... it's this way! It indeed is.
Or if I think... it's that way! It turns out to be true?!
One day, I was wandering in the desert,
and suddenly, I got lost.
So I just awaited until the eventide,
and looking at the nightly sky, the stars guided me.
Thankfully, I was able to return home unscathed,
not to mention the praise my mother graced me with.
Ajeosshi.
Over... there.
Nice, is it not?
Let's get moving.
Ajeosshi! Hasten down here!
Now!
I'm coming, one moment!
Mother!
Aigoo...
Be careful.
Are you all right?
I'm just fine.
That is my mother.
She tumbles all the time.
It is twenty taels for one meal, fifty for three, and fifty for the night.
I told you I did not come to lodge here.
Did you not say you were here to be employed by Roman merchants?
Mother! We have a guest.
Yes...
Ohh... Deokman!
You can just follow my mother.
Cartan Ajeosshi!
May you follow me.
[In Latin] Quomodo te habuisti?
(How have you been faring?)
(Why are you so late?)
Quare tantum tarda habuisti?
(I have been waiting for you at the half moon dunes every day)
Super monticulum vade dictum, cotidie te expectavi!
(I missed you as well.)
Ego etiam, te videre volebam.
(I thought the wait would kill me.)
Me videor patruum mori.
(I was waiting there today as well, where did you come from?)
Tantum tempus te expectavi, etiam hodie ex quo venio, unde venis?
My apologies.
*Gansu province, famous oasis and one of the major Silk Road routes
I was trading in Mongol land, so I had to take the Dunhuang* route.
Wow! Your Gyerim language skills have improved!
Right?!
Your mother was commending me as well.
- This way, please. - Yes.
Here is your room. If you will...
Yes.
Some tea, if I may ask.
Ahh...
Since your daughter is fluent in our language, I thought...
I would like some tea.
Yes.
~ Bioi Paralleloi (Parallel Lives) ~ Plutarch
I wrote down everything, so I could ask you later.
Aigoo... what have you turned this into?
How many times have you read it?
If you treat a book like that, you will ruin it!
Feels almost as if you were handling a treasure of some sort.
To me, this is a treasure.
I thought the world was only made of sand and stars.
But, ever since you allowed me to peruse these books...
Ever since?!
My chest kept beating uncontrollably.
Your chest?! Why?
I don't know.
The mere thought that a huge empire graces the land past those dunes,
that they use the same stars and sun I gaze at every day...
to make almanacs and cultivate the land, was so astonishing.
Ahh... Ajeosshi.
Here... here.
If you read here...
This man, this man it narrates about is so fascinating!
Ehh... he was murdered.
Still!
Heroes struggling to conquer or protect a country, fervently deliberating!
You spent your entire life in these silentious dwellings,
so you seem to enjoy boisterous crowds jousting at each other.
It is not.
It is not as wondrous a place as you imagine.
It's only because you're afraid I would ask you to take me there, isn't it?!
Cartan!
It's you!
There is no time left to squander here.
A prohibitory edict against tea trading has been issued!
Say what? Is that true?
Yes, of course it is.
Right, tea was indeed prohibited.
Deokman.
What is all this prohibitory edict about?!
A new feudal lord is here,
and right as he arrived, he ordered anyone trading tea to be beheaded.
What?!
Here is your tea.
Come in.
- I brought the tea you requested. - Good.
Then, I wish you a peaceful night.
Fine, my gratitude.
Why did he issue that kind of edict?
*Honorific for esteemed figures
According to Chen Daren*,
the new feudal lord is quite the desirous specimen.
So, in order to hold control over all tea trading in the area,
it seems he prohibited everyone else from trading.
What?! No way! This is inadmissible!
Said it was all because he wanted to purchase large quantities of steeds.
So, what?!
He merely prohibited tea trading to raise a private army?!
It took over a twelvemonth for us to get here.
If we cannot acquire any tea, we are done! It is over for us!
Let us just contend with him!
Indeed! Well said!
- He cannot get away with this. - I concur!
(Guangdong dialect/Cantonese)
So what you're asking...
is for me to close an eye on tea trading for this area alone?!
(Northern dialect/Mandarin)
What?!
Your Excellency, you use Guangdong dialect?!
(Cantonese) If you came from Guangzhou in the south,
I trust you shall appreciate these even more.
If you could, just this once accord us your clemency...
Turn these upside down, and one will say "saang" (live), the other "sei" (die).
- Choose one. - Your Excellency.
And why... why should I?!
Choose "saang" and you shall live.
Choose "sei," and perish you shall!
Your Excellency.
What are... What are you talking about?!
Choose!
I said choose!
~ Sei (Death) ~
Behead him!
Yes. Slay him!
Yes!
Your Excellency...
Your Excellency!
Spare my life!
Spare my life, Your Excellency!!
~ Sei (Death) ~
From here on in,
not a single leaf of tea shall be traded within these premises!
Is that clear?
Yes, Your Excellency!
The issue is after the deal goes through.
Indeed.
If it happens inside, and we deal with Sui traders,
we will have to get past the fortress gates anyhow.
Ajeosshi, Ajeosshi.
This is all to get through the fortress gates, right?
Indeed.
We have so many goods that we will probably be spotted...
I... actually... because I was worried about you.
Reflecting upon it, I found a way.
What?!
You thought of that?!
Why?!
What did she tell you?
Tell everyone, quick!
You know how to get past that?! Right?!
- And how did you learn Gyerim lang... - Just because you are closer with Cartan,
you cannot treat us like that!
Of course, Cartan might have rescued you and your mother,
and he helped you settle here.
Otherwise, you both would have perished.
We know that well!
Still, help us out!
Save us as well!
What can you do?!
We are all in the same situation.
I mean... it's not that...
It's just that I cannot be sure myself...
What is this?
*Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 A.D.) calendric system
It's the Zhenguanli*?!
Really?!
Is it really that illustrious calendar from the Wei?
Anyhow... when it's books, there is no way out.
We have something ourselves!
Ehh... and where would Deokman use that?!
Then...
We have this as well.
It is wondrous.
A magnifier.
Really?
This is that glass which can burn paper if exposed to the sun,
and you're giving it to me?!
Not at night.
During the day, you gather rays, and it catches fire.
Dried grass... burn!
Then, that is a deal.
But, know that it is not because I covet this book or the magnifier...
No way!
In the morrow, I shall show you how to safely go past the gates.
Let us all see each other at the trading post!
Hey... little bairn.
What happened to my job?!
Ahh... right!
I forgot.
But don't you worry.
Seen that fellow, earlier?
You know, the one I embr... Ahh.
There, that fellow.
That is a Roman merchant.
Should I talk to him, he will employ you for sure.
Ahh... I said not to worry!
In the morrow, I shall tell him.
- Greetings. - Greetings.
So this can set things on fire?!
What... fire?!
This?!
Ahh... no, Mother!
What fire?!
Is that even possible?!
Give it to me.
Is that dangerous or something?
It does not set things on fire!
It is nothing but a crystal,
I got it from the Yeoheonguk* merchant.
*Archaic Korean way of spelling ancient Egypt
I will go bathe.
Deokman!
Ehh...
Are you done bathing?
Yes.
Then, stop fooling around and sleep.
All right.
By the way, Deokman.
Uh?!
That guest earlier...
He spoke Gyerim language?!
Yes, he is a warrior.
I tell you he speaks Gyerim, and now he's a warrior?!
Yeah!
Right! Mother.
You know, that man?!
That man, I mean.
That man and my father come from the same land.
Your father?!
Yeah! Gyerim, he said!
The world might be vast, but at times feels quite small, isn't it?!
So?! You told him?
That your father came from Gyerim as well?!
I didn't.
You told me not to, no matter what.
Right.
You must never tell anyone.
No matter whom!
Yeah...
How did a man from Gyerim end up all the way here?!
By the way, Mother.
Does that abash you that much?!
What?
That I was borne out of your union with a Gyerim native.
You have never told me anything about my father.
Does it abash you?
It's not that...
Mother...
What is it? Anything wrong?!
No.
I can live without a father.
Even without one...
Mother.
Let us go to Roma.
Why?
Because you like Cartan Ajeosshi?!
No...
If we go there, we will find physicians who can treat you.
If we go there,
you can fully recover.
Should we go to Roma, we will earn money,
and treat what happened to your lungs, because of the fire.
Your trembling, tumbling, collapsing,
your nosebleeds...
I shall treat them all for you.
Even without a father,
I can do it all.
~ Shilla Royal Shrine ~
Are you still concerned about the Northern Dipper's stars?
You have come.
Gaeyang was split into two stars,
making the seven stars of the Northern Dipper become eight.
But one of Gaeyang's twin stars has long lost its light,
it has already been fifteen years.
The same time marks Munno's disappearance,
along with that of Chilsuk, fifteen years.
Chilsuk's disappearance is most lamentable,
but that star surely lost its light once he completed his task.
Is that so?!
Yes.
The seven stars gracing the Northern Dipper shall always remain as such.
Then...
will this prince also...
In accordance with the prophecy.
Everything shall go as Your Highness wishes for,
so never you fret.
Time is always on your side.
So I thought.
That time would always aid my cause.
But, looking back...
Time holds no keepers.
What?!
Fifteen years it has been.
Did not time...
manifest its passing on my visage?!
What unearthly concern.
Who could ever contend with your beauty in Seorabeol?!
Not even in jestful whims shall you indulge me again,
creation would deride all this.
Seju!
What brings you here, in such frantic frenzy?!
Divine providence must truly be on your side.
This prince as well...
perished like the others.
My child!
How could you abandon me in such nefarious ways?!
How could you so unfeelingly leave my side?!
~ King Jinpyeong ~ (Shilla 26th ruler, Seondeok's father)
~ Maya ~ (Jinpyeong's consort, Lady Kim)
How...
How could this happen?!
My child...
Sire, you cannot!
Give me the child!
You can't.
Now!
Is this child not your flesh and blood as well?!
Give me the child.
Sire!
- Now! - Sire.
- Now! - Sire!
Sire...
You cannot...
Sire!
Sire...
Queen...
What are you doing?
Sire.
May you punish me.
Queen!
I lost three of the princes you blessed me with.
And why would that be your fault?
Don't you know, Sire?!
- The twins I gave... - Queen!
Leave us alone.
Yes, Sire.
Everyone, leave!
Yes.
Dear.
(Eochul Ssangsaeng)
If royalty bears twins,
(Seonggol Namjin)
males of the sacred bone lineage shall disappear.
The reason I lost all our sons...
is surely...
because of those twins.
So, may you punish this vile malefactor for her misdeeds.
Queen!
I shall gleefully sacrifice my life.
Cheonmyeong and I must be sacrificed...
That shall never happen.
Sire!
Should even the sacred bone lineage vanish into oblivion,
never shall I sacrifice you and Princess Cheonmyeong at the altar!
She survived Mishil's direful subterfuges.
Cheonmyeong will surely be able to contend with her might.
Father...
~ Cheonmyeong ~ (Jinpyeong's eldest daughter, Seondeok's twin sister)
How could even my third brother...
Cheonmyeong.
No less than three princes have in the Grim Reaper's darkness vanished,
so what will happen now?
~ Hajong ~ (Mishil & Sejong's son, 11th gen. Pungwolju)
Uh?!
My dear nephew.
I do understand the feeling, but let us be respectful.
Why, you are not elated about all this?
His Majesty might have succeeded in hiding the other twin,
but did not all males of sacred bone banefully perish afterwards?!
Right?!
You are elated as well, are you not?!
You are. Right?!
Seonggol... Namjin!
Mother!
- Even the third prince... - The palace is in mourning.
How could you besmirch such sacred rites with your disdainful guffaw?!
- Ahh... what did I say?! - The same goes for you.
Should we not nominate a crown prince?
There is no reason to hasten.
Let us deliberate after the rites.
Ohh... however, Seju.
Would Maya give birth to another one, in the meantime?!
Seorabeol has now...
no males of sacred bone left.
Mother.
Was all my three brothers' direful demise...
caused by me?
What are you saying?
That is nonsense.
How could you even say that?
Did anyone tell you something?!
No one did.
I just kept thinking that.
Such thoughts...
shall neither grace your lips nor engulf your mind.
Your Highness!
Princess Cheonmyeong.
What brings you here, at this belated juncture?!
~ Young Cheonmyeong ~
Is it because of your brother?
What caused another prince to perish...
was... you!
And the next prince,
the one after him...
they shall all...
die because of you.
Your Highness.
Did you not visit my gates for a parley?
Your Highness.
Seju.
Yes.
Go ahead and tell me.
On the day my second brother perished,
you told me something while embracing me.
That it was all because of me.
That my brothers all died because of me.
I wonder what you meant by that, so here I am.
Your Highness.
Not a single thing...
is what you shall do.
That will bring you survival.
Not doing...
a single thing...
will save you.
~ On The Next Episode Of ~ Queen ~*~ Seondeok
Will Your Highness try to contend with me?!
Becoming Queen is what you wish for? Or is it the Hwarang you wish to control?!
Should he become King, a crimson tide shall swelter us all.
Crimson tide?! Who will ever allow him to become so?!
Only those of sacred bone can inherit the crown!
How could he be called a prince?!
No man who does not listen to his people deserves to wear the crown.
Don't concern yourself with that, Your Highness,
so Mishil will worry about Mishil's affairs.
I did not run away.
I shall find Munno, and meet him, after which we shall engage in parley.
The Gukseon... This Munno...
Is he my father?
How do you know the Gukseon?!
If it's him, we could regain the Hwarang Mishil stole from us.
You have grown a lot.
I have been looking for you all this time.
It cannot be...
I am...