Just as she anticipated, the cornered mouse has lashed out against the taunting cats. And like she fears, Haedong Gapjok is bearing the brunt of that angry mouse. 

A direct political attack is something they always managed to avoid until today. “The possibility of everyone taking Hong In-Bang’s side is high. So, if we come to the decision of signing our names on the document—” Father’s unspoken words hang in the air.

Father’s news bring no music to her ears. Instead, the marriage she forges barely two summers old, is the root of Haedong Gapjok’s biggest threat.

“General Yi Seong-Gye will be immediately attacked,” Da-Gyeong finishes.

Hong In-Bang is grasping on to straws for his final attack. Killing two birds with one stone, her father-in-law and her clan’s. He’s terrifyingly desperate and bold. He is a man who already lost his integrity once. Losing it the second time won’t make the man blink.

“It’s an urgent matter. We don’t have time.”

Nothing matters than the Haedong Gapjok’s survival. This has been ingrained to her and the children of Haedong Gapjok. It’s instinct to secure the clan’s survival more than anything else.

Nonetheless, there is yet a commander that is the likes of Jang Bogo, Kyeon Hwon and Kim Yushin, and filling that large shoes comes natural to General Yi.

And while General Choi Young locked in his warrior’s mindset, General Yi Seong-Gye is more malleable.

A boy like Yi Bang-Won doesn’t spring everywhere, like he’s a wildflower. He’s something, that Da-Gyeong cannot put a word on him yet.

Should she let go of the alliance her marriage brought her, will it be the mistake, among many yet to be committed, that she regrets for a lifetime?

Funny how that once she’s involved, observing politics isn’t all the fun and games she remembers as a girl. The clan isn’t skirting around danger, they sit at the edge of a bull’s horns.

“Da-Gyeong, if we decide to go to that side, I will send someone. So be prepared to leave that house immediately.”

Whatever the decision of Haedong Gapjok, she’s tied to filial piety and her natal family. It’s a shame that she doesn’t get to know her husband beyond his name, his act of defiance that caused him a torture session and that he snores. It seems like fate has other plans for her marriage. This one may not work out to her favour or the Yi’s.