BASED ON THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS
Sir.
Uh...
Highness,
I know I've committed a grave error,
but I must thank you for your forgiveness.
But you have done this once already.
The cookies and the pomegranates.
What else was there?
It's so hard to remember. You've stolen so many things from me.
Highness, I deserve to be executed for touching your table.
However, I beg you, please take pity on my wife.
She works many hours as a seamstress supporting me.
Until I was finally able to pass the exam at 40.
My wife is pregnant,
and she is struggling with morning sickness.
She needs nourishment,
and I am unable to provide that for her.
It's tearing me apart.
I know it's wrong to steal, but I hope you understand it was for my wife.
Sir, I'm begging you for your mercy.
So then,
do you truly take them home to your wife?
Yes, Highness.
I would never lie to His Highness about anything.
Is your wife in good health?
Yes, my wife is well.
From now on...
you should've probably tasted first.
What do you mean by that, sir?
Am I allowed...
Are you saying I can keep taking things back to my wife?
Let's say that I am, what would I get in return?
I will gladly offer anything I have
in service of His Highness.
I want your loyalty.
That is my duty as your personal guard, Your Highness.
Of course, I would be loyal.
No matter what comes or the circumstances,
I want you at my side.
Do you think you can do that?
Yes, Highness.
I can certainly do that.
No matter the cost or what I might stand to lose,
I will stay at Your Highness' side at all times.
Sir.
We have to keep moving.
Your Highness told us that Cho Hak-ju must be destroyed.
We still believe in that cause.
HANYANG
Open the gate!
The Chief State Councilor has arrived! Open the gate!
He's in critical condition.
We must act quickly to save him.
Uncle, are you all right?
Seo-bi, what on earth do we do?
I'm willing to do anything. Just tell me what to do.
Those medicines won't work.
Traditional medicine won't treat the cause.
So you're saying we should just sit here and let him die?
What caused this was a bite from the plague victims.
Paying attention to the symptoms
will help us learn how to cure the disease.
We just have to be objective.
The creatures lose all reason.
They seem to only care about where they're getting their next meal.
We've learned that they hate water and fire.
They seem to be nothing but beasts.
Seo-bi!
The stream that saved us wasn't even that deep,
but the plague victims were still all willing to cross it.
Burning heat scares them off.
But water.
Why would water?
What is it that made them hate it?
Will this work?
Are you sure it will help?
You know as much as I do.
There aren't a whole lot of options available to us at the moment.
Seo-bi, something doesn't seem right.
Anyone! We need help with my uncle right now!
Just a moment!
Oh!
What is that?
Finally, a prince.
It seems our dark days are over.
Her Majesty has given us a prince!
This is wonderful!
Wonderful!
Your Majesty!
Congratulations are in order for the birth of a healthy prince!
Congratulations!
What a glorious day for our kingdom.
Please accept our well wishes.
HANYANG
NAESEONJAE
Quickly.
We need to finish the job before dawn.
Looks like Your Royal Highness' guard was right.
Look at them.
They're definitely pregnant.
This one is still alive.
What are you trying to tell us?
A murder took place at the family residence of Her Majesty?
Perhaps I was not clear enough.
Seven pregnant women and female infants
were found dead in Her Majesty's estate.
We still don't know who has committed this cruel act or why.
What we do know...
is the crime is connected to the Queen's Palace,
and that the culprit was most likely searching for a male.
Are you implying
that the Queen took a baby from a commoner
to fool us into believing she birthed a prince?
I have never heard such nonsense!
Such as thought itself is insolent!
If there's any truth to this,
it will destroy this country.
The head of the Royal Commandery went there to discover the truth.
Welcome, Chief State Councilor.
I wasn't aware that you returned from Mungyeong Saejae.
Where is your evidence?
I ask again, where is your evidence?
You had no proof
when you barge into the Office of Royal Delivery,
and while she was in the pain of labor.
He defiled the space,
while even His Majesty cannot trespass.
Attacking the royal family with smears are threatening national security.
I see no other option but to behead the Royal Commander.
Lord Cho.
This is unprecedented.
We can never behead such a high-ranking officer.
One officer is not enough!
The Training Commander in Mungyeong Saejae
along with the soldiers
who joined in that traitor, Chang, should also be beheaded!
Lord Cho, that is preposterous.
Think about what you are saying.
Those are our soldiers!
Why would they ally themselves with him?
The reasons are never important.
When will you realize these men are against you?
And we must punish them with a swift hand
so that justice may return just as quickly.
They want to join hands with the traitor,
that makes the rest of them the same.
We'll behead their families and relatives...
and their wives' families and relatives.
And their mothers' families as well, to set an example.
We cannot simply kill these people. Not without a proper investigation.
For our national security, it must be done.
Are there any objections?
Gather all the families. Do not let anyone escape.
Stop this at once! Do you even know where you are?
Come!
Move it!
Get up!
Come on, we should hurry.
What made them guilty of treason?
The people and soldiers in Mungyeong Saejae aren't traitors.
You know that better than anyone, my lord.
Watch what you say. Are you not aware of how scary my uncle is?
Daddy!
Daddy?
Daddy...
Shut up!
Let's get out of here.
Did you need to buy herbs? The apothecary is over that way.
I can get them alone.
Why don't you go to the house? Please, you should go on with that.
SCHOLARLY INSTITUTION NEAR THE CITADEL OF HANYANG
THOSE WHO TRESPASS ON THE INSTITUTION WILL BE PUT TO DEATH
They took...
They took my baby.
How is her condition?
She's out of the critical stages.
She doesn't seem like she can handle the shock.
Highness, may I ask how you know her?
She is Mu-yeong's wife.
Is it true Cho Hak-ju has recovered?
And what is this?
This worm is the disease.
Just below the bloom, these white spots,
those are eggs from this worm.
If a person would ingest this flower,
the eggs would hatch and turn them into a monster.
What about how to stop it?
Are we any closer to finding a cure?
We must save those in Sangju.
I'm sorry, Your Highness, but it will be a while before I can cure it.
Chaos in such tiny package.
It's taken countless lives,
nearly destroyed the Gyeongsang Province,
and has brought the entire kingdom to its knees.
All from a worm.
Are you all right, Your Majesty?
I know you have some injuries.
Dongnae would've been difficult for anyone.
There are plenty others that have suffered worse.
And even more will be hurt by the end of this.
I will put a stop to it.
To do that,
I need you to do something first.
My lord.
What kind of herb did you need that it took you this long to go and get it?
My lord.
I must ask a favor.
You wish to work
as Her Majesty's physician?
This woman was the one who saved you, Uncle.
She deserves a reward.
I ask that you consider her request.
I was planning to visit Her Majesty to honor the prince.
Perhaps you should come.
THE QUEEN'S PALACE, INNER ROOM
Hm.
Your Majesty.
The Chief State Councilor is here for an audience.
You may let him in.
I was so concerned after hearing that you have fallen ill.
Have you made a full recovery?
And Saejae, did things go smoothly for you?
It's my little prince.
Look at him. He's so healthy and bright.
We have him now.
I heard you'll be executing all the soldiers and their families.
It was a wise choice.
No men loyal to you would ever side with the Crown Prince.
It is beyond comprehension.
They're the bait.
The means for me to draw Chang out of hiding.
There is another who has committed a great sin
and who should die.
The woman in the next room...
she is a skilled physician in her own right.
I am greatly concerned by the physical toll
that birth has taken on you.
I would like her to examine your pulse.
What would I stand to gain from a commoner looking after my health?
Why do you wait?
Her pulse needs to be examined.
Father, stop.
I am done repeating myself!
If you have nothing to hide,
then let her take your pulse.
What did you find?
No rough pulse.
Her heart is beating normally.
And what does that mean exactly?
That baby...
is not Her Majesty's child.
When did you plan this?
Explain what's going on.
Sir...
The cubit and pregnancy pulse are not present at all.
Does that mean Her Majesty lost the baby?
Please punish us.
I thought we told you to take care of Her Majesty?
We apologize, but the thoroughfare and conception vessels are too weak.
We tried every remedy we could think of,
but nothing has been successful, my lord.
Is conceiving one child...
really that difficult?
I'll have no issue bearing a child.
I am ready to give him an heir
and it will be a boy.
You would dare consider faking a pregnancy?
How would you go about fooling all the eyes and ears at the palace?
Forget this preposterous idea.
Focus on your health. You need to conceive.
His Majesty is well over 50 years old.
What if he were to pass on before I got pregnant?
So you'll just stand aside...
like a dog?
Watching the prince that you despise, ascend to the throne?
Not even the King himself can touch me when I am with child.
Working out a solution wouldn't be that difficult.
We'd need to swear everyone in my service to secrecy.
And what about father?
It will not have our blood in its veins.
He would never accept such a thing.
Of course...
we will keep it a secret from him too.
What if he finds out?
You have cursed me with this since you were a girl.
You were gifted at birth with a bit of cunning,
but you have always been foolish.
And now it has brought us this.
Putting everything we struggled for at risk.
The Haewon Cho Clan is on the brink of its demise.
You're wrong.
I was the one who protected us.
What can you protect with a commoner child
that does not even know its own mother?
I do not want that for my country.
I will not have any of it.
What now?
Will you take back what you did to Chang
all because you don't like this baby?
Prince Noseong was exiled.
But they still don't know I'm alive, on Ganghwa Island.
They may be distant relatives,
but they are more suited to that throne than him.
As for that child...
I will put an end to his life tonight.
But I will not stop there.
Countless more will need to die.
Your court ladies and all your physicians.
Anyone else you might have included in this fuss.
It would be done.
Nothing but a childless dowager
locked in West Palace.
Punished as you live out the rest of your days.
And what about father?
It will not have our blood in its veins.
He would never accept such a thing.
What if he finds out?
Has there ever been a time you didn't hate me?
All for having been vulnerable being born a girl?
I never needed your approval.
I'm about to have everything you ever wanted.
I'm the most powerful Haewon Cho.
This kingdom...
must fall at my feet.
YOGEUM GATE
I hear he died from the plague.
Even the Chief State Councilor isn't safe from it.
He was a powerful man.
Now, he and His Majesty have died of this disease.
Not much hope for us, is there?
We're all gonna die soon.
GANGHWA ISLAND
Oh, it's cold.
Either join me or leave me alone.
I don't like you standing and watching me in the cold.
It's been a few hours.
You haven't caught a single fish, have you?
Are you trying to pick a fight?
All of our food sources have gone dry.
Same goes for the fish, there's hardly any out there.
I'd be happy for the opportunity to catch anything at all
the way this week has been.
You know, these days, people worship food like a god.
And that just means this country has gone through hell.
Oh, oh!
Oh, grab that, please!
Oh, oh, do you have it?
Oh, okay! Easy, easy, easy!
Hold on. Hold on!
Oh, let me help.
No, no, no, don't pull.
That's it. That's it...
Hey...
Why did you...
I don't know what I did to deserve this.
You, sir,
I hope to never see you again.
Goodness.
Why did you pull?
I told you to hold it.
Uncle.
What did you call me?
I checked my family tree.
You are to be my distant uncle.
You're a forgotten member of the royal family.
Even so...
Bloodlines cannot remain hidden for very long.
"People have a tendency to worship food like a god."
Is it The Book of Han you're reading?
"The royal bloodlines".
What do you know?
It doesn't matter who it belongs to.
Your Highness, or I, or even some lowborn.
We all bleed the same blood.
It may have lost its meaning for you,
in this country, though,
it is the most important asset.
Through the generations,
our blood stays strong.
Our soldiers' families have been rounded up.
They'll be killed tomorrow.
Tell me...
why are you so loyal?
I heard about what happened to your family.
I know that's why you help me.
So that you could avenge them.
My master and Cho Hak-ju had gone.
Their sins will lay to rest with them.
So why?
Why are you still standing here?
Since they've gone...
have we gotten any meat or rice?
Even though they're gone, everything is the same.
The country is a mess. Everyone in it is starving.
But I believe in you.
I think you can bring about the changes we need.
Was I mistaken?
Such a horrific tragedy for the nation.
I was concerned about keeping up with my duties as a Queen.
You are kind enough to make the arrangements for the funeral,
and I'm very grateful.
I was simply doing what was necessary of me, Your Majesty.
Yes, but you have a kind heart and have gone out of your way for me.
That is why I am so fond of you, Beom-pal.
Oh... oh.
That's very kind of you...
Might I request another favor?
My family's gone. Now that my father and brother are no more...
I have no one left to watch over us.
You're being promoted.
I'd like to appoint you as the head of the Royal Commandery.
You'll stay by my side with my palace guards
and help protect me and my prince.
I am honored to accept these orders, Your Majesty.
But there is one matter I'd like to discuss.
Just before he passed away,
my Uncle visited Your Majesty's chambers with a female physician.
Would you know what happened...
I sent her away as I already have a physician.
She wasn't necessary here.
I see.
I heard you've studied under Lee Seung-hui.
Is this true?
You'll do everything in your power to learn more about the plague.
Your teacher wasn't good enough.
I hope you have more success.
My father had the right idea.
These monsters are powerful.
I can add their power to mine.
Subtitle translation by Liya Choi