- Where have you been? - In the forest.
- What were you doing there? - Training with my sword.
Why did Su-baek accompany you?
- We met on the way. - Where on the way?
Mark my words: we are not here for pleasure.
Let's just lie low for a while.
Get married and settle down here.
I'm sorry?
Make this your home as I did.
What about General Jin?
We will carry out the mission when it is due time.
And be exceedingly cautious until the prince arrives.
Was Yu-hwa arranged to marry
Su-baek from the beginning?
You want her to actually marry into that family?
Wouldn't that be an advantage
for us when the prince arrives?
Why do we have to arbitrarily abide by your orders?
You promised.
Once you succeed you will be conferred with status,
title, and a reward.
You selected us over them.
Didn't you?
Miss, General Su-baek is here.
I dropped in after a trip to the marketplace.
Can you give us some tea?
Of course.
Let me introduce you two.
This is General Mok Tae-su's daughter Yu-hwa.
I am Priestess Keum Ka-in.
Please go ahead.
She makes a great cup of tea.
How does it taste?
I'm not sure.
It's my first time drinking tea.
It may taste bitter at first.
Once you grow used to it,
you will be able to feel the taste and aroma.
Why do you keep laughing?
Don't laugh.
I'm sorry.
To think that face is that of an agile and intrepid warrior...
Have you begun the preparations for the marriage?
I've thought about it, but I must refuse.
Even if she's my sister,
I can't sacrifice her for our mission.
Don't you know how intimate they've grown?
But that won't be all that matters once they're actually married.
If General Jin is assassinated after my sister gets married,
what will become of her?
So you're refusing?
I can always escape with my sister
immediately upon eliminating General Jin.
Then there should be something more in return.
Shouldn't you at least take
responsibility for my sister's life?
She won't be able to get remarried.
Then what do you propose?
I made it clear in our last and final
negotiation that we cannot make any more concessions.
This is an entirely different issue.
We never discussed marriage.
You're the one who suggested it.
Please try it.
It's good.
I envy you.
You are widely read, musical, and effeminate.
I wonder what I've been doing all my life.
I heard that you are a master swordsman.
Not everyone can achieve your feat.
Please follow me.
Would you like to apply it yourself?
Take a look.
You have a woman's face, and a beautiful one at that.
- Please take it with you. - No, it's all right.
Please take it with you.
I want to give it to you.
When will I have the chance to ever apply makeup again?
It's all right.
Please take it.
There will come a time when you wish to be a woman.
This is where you were.
You are wearing makeup.
Keum Ka-in appears to be a perfect woman.
She is kind.
Are you enamored with her?
I don't know what would be the correct answer.
To me, she is a tea cup already brimming with tea.
What do you mean by that?
I can fill an empty tea cup to the rim.
But one that is already full will merely overflow.
- Sir. - Nurse, what is it you wanted?
I came to see Miss Yu-hwa.
Lady Jin would like to see you again.
Would you come for a visit?
Mother does?
Yes, she longs to see her again.
Why?
Don't worry.
She's very alert these days.
She just wants to see her.
- Yes, I understand. - Let me go with her.
Miss Yu-hwa. Welcome.
I missed you so much.
The nurse told me you're busy training, but I still insisted.
No, that is quite all right.
It is, isn't it? It wasn't inappropriate of me, was it?
No. I'm the one that is sorry to have come belatedly.
No, please don't be.
How pretty you are.
How can you hold a blood-stained sword with these hands?
- Can I hug you once? - Yes.
Mother is extremely fond of you.
I didn't know she would be.
I had a lump in my throat as
if I was reunited with my own mother.
Both of our parents died when we were children.
It was as if receiving maternal love for the first time.
Mother has sustained deep wounds in her heart.
That must be why she's gotten to be the way she is now.
In fact, I was born as a fraternal twin with my sister.
But an oracle prophesied that the nation will be destroyed
if we stay together hence my sister was sacrificed.
We have lost our nation nonetheless.
I heard this coming from our servants when I was a child.
Since then, I've always felt indebted.
I need to live two lives in order to
compensate for my slain sister.
That was always etched in my mind.
I beg you.
Mother seems to long for my sister desperately.
Please be her daughter.
Yu-hwa, you will soon be wed to General Su-baek.
- So-ho. - What is it?
- I refuse. - What do you mean?
- I will not marry him. - You like him, too.
Who do you mean?
You know perfectly well.
Why don't you want to marry him if you like him?
- I am not qualified. - What does that mean?
My conscience will not allow it.
No need to invoke conscience when it is just for pretense.
I will promise you that an actual marriage will never take place.
Still, I refuse.
What is your reason?
Are you in love with him?
Have you truly fallen in love with the son of General Jin,
who deceived Father and drove Mother to her premature death?
Why can't you answer me?
Is that integrity of yours precious enough to blatantly disregard
Mother and Father and my wishes?
The father has taken my father and the son my sister.
How can you love him without
regard for Father's unjust death and disobeying me?
Is that so?
I will do as you wish.
Please... give me a little more time to think.
Did you summon me?
- Have a seat. - Yes, sir.
You're already grown enough for us to discuss marriage.
What do you think of Yu-hwa?
In what aspect?
As your wife.
Don't feel obligated.
I think... I... we are embroiled in warfare hence I believe
I need a warrior wife more than I do a beautiful one.
In that respect, having her for my wife is not bad.
If it isn't bad, do you mean it isn't good, either?
- That's not what I meant. - Then what did you mean?
Can I assume that you are willing to marry her?
I am embarrassed.
I've never embraced you warmly
as is the case with your mother.
I am always grateful for your
growing up to be an upright individual nonetheless.
Thank you.
What is your reason?
Are you in love with him?
Have you truly fallen in love with the son of General Jin,
who deceived Father and drove Mother to her premature death?
We need to talk.
I have something to say to you.
Listen closely to what I have to say.
We are not related by blood.
You were abandoned by your parents.
They were slain by thieves and when we found you,
a Chungdong mirror was ensconced in your clothing.
Shouldn't you be grateful to us for raising a tramp
like you as the daughter of General Oak?
Then who were my parents?
I don't know. Nobody knows.
They were peasants by appearance.
However, as long as I'm alive,
you are General Mok's daughter and my sister.
Now let me ask you again:
For whom will you give your life?
- How are you feeling? - Not too badly.
I intend to arrange a marriage for Su-baek.
The bride-to-be is General Mok's daughter Yu-hwa.
I heard you also know her well.
She has grown up upright and proper.
Since we promised such an arrangement
while General Mok was live,
I will proceed if you don't object.
And... I plan to hold a banquet.
The whole family will gather for the first time in a long time.
Please do not be hasty with the preparations.
Aside from our family, we only invited the priest.
- I would like for you to come. - I couldn't possibly...
What do you mean?
I cherish you more than anyone else.
And everyone in my family is fond of you.
I will not attend.
You are truly oblivious, General.
No, what I meant was...
Do not frequent this pavilion any longer,
if only for Miss Yu-hwa.
I will not ask foolish questions of you.
But I want you to promise me one thing.
Next time, sometime in our next lives, if only for once,
please love me more than I love you.
Are you ready to leave, My Lady?
Are you scared?
No.
You should venture out of the house from now on.
And meet people.
- I will be by your side. - You will?
We should go now.
- Welcome, My Lady. - Mother, you've come.
Please be seated.
Let us drink.
Have you talked to them?
What do you mean no?
Did you not relay my words or isn't it acceptable?
I received word that we cannot make further concessions.
You are overly greedy.
One, no, two lives are at stake
and you're telling me I'm greedy?
We cannot make any more concessions.
Be careful. Destruction invites further destruction.
I don't know to what extent I should believe you.
I will deal with them directly from now on.
Don't be indiscreet.
I will come face-to-face with them
and renegotiate from the beginning.
You had better be cautious.
We have begun weigh down on us.
Is that really the case?
Can anyone other than us
gain such direct access to General Jin?
Is your sister aware that her brother is base enough to have
traded off her future for his own enrichment?
You should be careful, as well.
I don't know who you are,
but here and now,
I am above you in status and rank.
I can behead you overnight.
I have no more use for a middleman.
I will deal with them directly.
Relay this, my final message, to them,
that I wish to see them in person.
Master, please enjoy.
Why is So-ho still nowhere in sight?
I heard this morning that he will be delayed.
He did, did he?
I feel as if I'm soaring to the sky tonight!
My Lady, it has been so long
since the entire family gathered for such a pleasant supper.
Moreover, our future daughter- -in-law has joined us
in all her exquisite beauty!
We may have lost our country,
but I have never been happier.
Here! Let us drink!
That is indeed the case, Father.
I am overwhelmed seeing the two of you like this.
It is my earnest wish that the
nation regains its former prowess by dint of our marriage.
Yes! And how!
I feel heartened tonight!
I'm all right.
Let me go rest in my quarters for a while.
My son! General Su-baek!
I will forget the affairs of the nation just for tonight.
I will think of only my family just for tonight.
Yu-hwa.
I feel as if a load has been finally lifted.
Whether it be reclaiming our nation or reunifying our people,
you, not I, will realize those aims.
The future of this land rests in your two hands.
I bid you good luck.
Father, you have drunk excessively.
Yes, it is time for me to take leave and rest.
Su-baek, please escort your mother to her quarters.
- Yes, Father. - Good.
All I need is the assistance of my daughter-in-law.
Be off. I wish to be only with my family tonight. Go rest.
Do not worry.
My daughter-in-law's escort is more than sufficient.
Let us go.
I feel fortified tonight.
So-ho! Welcome!
Why have you come so late?
Forgive me.
I had matters to attend to.
General, General!
Good work.
Let us leave.
Why so suddenly?
I had no alternative.
I killed the messenger.
We must complete our mission
and leave before our identities are revealed.
Hurry! Get up!
What are you doing?
It looks like we've caught a snag.
So-ho. Yu-hwa. Why?
What is your identity?
Are you curious?
We infiltrated the village from
the beginning with the mission of assassinating General Jin.
General Jin is the nemesis of our parents.
Ten years ago, General Jin betrayed my father
in order to salvage his own life.
Your father returned with his
life intact abandoning his men unlike my father.
He wronged not only my father
but everyone who was slain in battle. He cannot be forgiven.
We infiltrated this village, no,
we lived, to take vengeance.
We have now accomplished our mission.
This can't be.
Of course, that wasn't your sole objective.
I should have found you out long ago.
Do you feel the same?
Answer me!
Yu-hwa! Is that the case with you, as well?
Father has been murdered!
My Lady!
They are spies!
With my marriage as pretext,
they tried to obtain our secrets!
Look at me.
Was there no alternative?
Please forgive me.
As you seek vengeance for your father, so will l.
Forgive me. I loved you,
but you felled my father and my country.
Why? Why did you do that?
Please forgive me.
I was hopeless from the beginning.
You are brother and sister.
She's your sister I sent away as a baby.
Was the funeral held without incident?
Yes, thanks to you.
What's this?
She did not let this mirror
out of her grasp and wept till the day she died.
Can you tell me the story behind it?
It is perplexing where to start.
General Su-baek, are you aware that you were born as a twin?
Yes, I am.
And the fact that your sister
was sacrificed heeding an ill-fated prophecy?
Yes, I was.
ln fact, your sister was salvaged.
Your belated mother believed that as long as you were apart,
the misfortune could be avoided and sent your sister away.
She told me that as they parted, she lodged the Chungdong mirror,
her most prized possession, in the baby's bosom.
What was the nature of the ill-fated omen?
The two twins will fall in love and marry each other.
A race will be obliterated and a nation destroyed.
We tried to circumvent fate with all our might,
but it proved inadequate.
If fate is so absolute, what is man?
Do you think this life is the end?
Fate might come to an end
but not predestined human relations.
Although your fate in this life might have come to an end,
you will begin anew.
Must you leave?
I am forever hopelessly indebted to you.
You still maintain that
you've done nothing but receive affection.