Seven Day Queen: Episode 13

by girlfriday

Rock, meet hard place. They each have what the other wants, but interestingly, their toughest opponent isn’t each other, but the woman they love—the strong-willed, steel-hearted woman who is determined to somehow protect them all, from each other and from themselves. History and fate aren’t on her side, but damn it all to hell, I’m rooting for her anyway.

 
EPISODE 13 RECAP

In the pawnshop hideout, Chae-kyung reels from the discovery of Yeok’s rebellion chart and her legs give out from shock, which leads to another discovery: snail shells scattered on the floor. She remembers Nanny saying how heroic the Snail Brides were to feed starving people and root out corruption—things she thought the king ought to be doing.

And then she spots a note describing how her father would be won over to their side by marriage—marriage to her—and begins to cry. Oh nooo, why would you put that in writing?

The crew comes back after burying Seo-no’s father and panics to find the front lock broken. They race downstairs, but the hideout is empty and it doesn’t look like they were robbed. Chae-kyung hides behind a curtain in the corner, and she gasps when she hears Yeok’s voice as he joins them.

Yeok is quick to notice her hiding spot, though all he can see is a woman’s hanbok peeking out. Thinking quickly, he pretends to see someone running out the door, and they all give chase. Once the coast is clear, Chae-kyung walks out.

But what she doesn’t know is that Yeok has stayed behind, and is hiding to catch a glimpse of their snoop. He’s startled to see Chae-kyung emerge from the corner, and his face twists up in agony when he realizes that she’s seen the note about him marrying her to get to her father.

Chae-kyung doesn’t get very far before collapsing in the street, and with tears streaming down her face she asks Yeonsangun in her thoughts if he knew all of this and sent her to be a spy anyway. She wonders if he really meant for her to kill Yeok with her own two hands.

Back at the hideout, Yeok lies to his crew that it must’ve been a petty thief who broke in. They’re surprised when Seo-no returns so quickly after burying his father, but he says there’s work to be done.

Yeok goes home in search of Chae-kyung, but when she isn’t there, he worries about where else she would be headed…

Sure enough, Chae-kyung is at that very moment walking through the palace gates. She stops when she hears Yeonsangun interrogate a pair of ministers for leading the charge against the former vice minister of war based on accusations from the Snail Brides.

They plead on their knees, but Yeonsangun raises a sword and cuts them down viciously without a moment’s hesitation. Chae-kyung stumbles back in terror, and thankfully she manages to hide just in time before Yeonsangun looks up in her direction.

As Chae-kyung walks numbly through the streets, she narrates in voiceover, “After discovering the betrayal of the one I love, for the first time I have come to face the real world that I never knew.”

She looks around as innocent villagers are torn from their homes, and comes to grips with the fact that the king has turned into a tyrant. She calls herself a stupid girl, and she doesn’t even notice Yeok until he calls out for her.

She looks up at him, but her vision suddenly goes blurry and she faints.

Yeonsangun gets a report from a spy who saw Chae-kyung bust her way into the pawnshop (of course he has spies watching his spies). He’s pleased to know that the suspicion has begun, and he says that Chae-kyung will come by very soon to see him, and orders the minion to watch the pawnshop and be ready.

Myung-hye shows the queen dowager the note she found in Seo-no’s father’s pocket, saying that the late king’s will is inscribed on a woman’s body. The queen dowager rules out the late king’s concubines, knowing that he would’ve chosen someone who would be of help to Yeok, not a woman who would want her own son to be king instead. Great, now everyone and their mother is looking for The Girl with the Secret Will Tattoo.

Nok-soo hears that the queen dowager has learned of the tattooed woman, and worries that their side will be at a disadvantage if the woman supports Yeok. Secretary Im isn’t concerned, since it’s not like they need her alive to see her body. Yeesh.

Chae-kyung stirs awake in bed and pretends to be asleep when Yeok comes in. As he wipes her fevered brow and tries to feed her medicine, Chae-kyung thinks to herself that she can’t watch Yeok die twice, or let him die by her hand. She vows to change his mind about the coup before anyone finds out.

When she turns away from him and refuses to take medicine, Yeok reaches out to touch her face and thinks to himself, “I was selfish. I knew you would be in this much pain, but I was greedy and wanted you anyway.” He sits by her side and tends to her all night long.

And in the palace, Yeonsangun sits up all night waiting for Chae-kyung to come see him, but she never comes.

In court, Yeonsangun announces that the vice minister of war will not be exiled; in fact, he will be reinstated and promoted to minister of war. The officials argue that Minister Yoo is deserving of punishment, and that the people all know of his crimes by now. But Yeonsangun says this will prove to the people that those flyers are lies and the king is the one who tells the truth. I… don’t think that’s how it works?

Yeonsangun dares anyone to use the Snail Brides as evidence to argue with him, because the second they do, he will consider it contempt and treason. He singles out Deputy Commander Park and asks if he has any objections, and takes issue with running into him loitering at a pawnshop when he should’ve been working.

The king sentences him to probation and tells him not to come to court for the time being, or to step foot inside the palace unless he wants to make it permanent. It’s personal and everyone knows it, but no one can make a peep.

The Snail Brides convene at the pawnshop without Yeok, who’s still tending to Chae-kyung’s sickbed. Seo-no brings in more reports of corruption and argues that they can’t just wait around being afraid of what the king might do next. They sneak Deputy Commander Park out through the new back exit they’ve dug out, and the king’s spies are none the wiser.

Yeok gets updates from his crew via secret messages hidden behind his front stoop, but they just tear him up inside because all he can think about is Seo-no begging him to hurry up and become king to save the people, and Chae-kyung’s devastation at learning the truth about him. He breaks down in tears not knowing what to do.

Chae-kyung finally feels better and gets dressed to go outside, and now every servant who passes by has become a spy in her eyes. She smiles to see Nanny, who says that Yeok took care of her night and day to get her fever down, and jokes that it’s unfortunate he didn’t collapse from the exertion.

Yeok fusses at her for being outside in her state, but they both clam up as court ladies approach. Thinking that they mustn’t be suspected in any way, Chae-kyung takes his hand sweetly and leads him inside, acting like a happy couple.

She says that this house is filled with palace servants, and the only person she can trust is Nanny. She says warily that she wants to be careful about what they’ll report, but Yeok sighs and says wistfully that this doesn’t suit her. He says that her charm is in acting on what she believes to be true without compromise.

Chae-kyung says that she can’t live that way anymore and looks at him for a long beat before adding, “We’re married now. How can I protect my family if I stay innocent forever?” He seems terrified and hopeful at the same time as he asks, “Are you saying you will protect me?”

She argues that marriage vows already include that promise, just as he—calling him “husband”—will protect them too. He takes a step to close the space between them and puts a hand on her forehead to check her temperature.

Then he suddenly turns to the doors and yanks them open to catch Eunuch Song eavesdropping, and Yeok commands him to leave because he and Chae-kyung are going to sleep together tonight. Oh my.

Eunuch Song scurries away and starts to jot things down in his spy notebook, only to be caught on the other side by Nanny, who demands that he hand it over. She tries to grab it out of his hands, but he’s too fast for her and runs off.

Yeok awkwardly offers up the excuse that newlyweds using separate bedrooms isn’t believable. Ha, are you using her let’s-put-on-appearances plan to get her to sleep here? He says that ordinary newlyweds outside the palace are supposed to share a blanket and not want to leave the bed.

Chae-kyung says that her idea of newlyweds is a husband who brings his wife a basin of water in the morning and carries the heavy things when they go shopping at the market, and holds his wife tightly until she falls asleep.

Yeok smiles at her tenderly and puts his arms around her as he says, “I will hold you tightly until you fall asleep, so stay here tonight.”

Yeonsangun stays up yet another night waiting for Chae-kyung to come, but she doesn’t. He sits there all night in their meeting place until the candles have all burned out, and by the time he stumbles out in the morning, he’s drunk and wobbly on his feet.

The queen dowager and Minister Shin happen to be crossing paths as Yeonsangun comes upon them, and he asks with an edge to his voice if they’ve become true family now that Yeok and Chae-kyung have married.

He asks Minister Shin if he’s known along that he would stand on Yeok’s side and think treasonous thoughts, and Minister Shin protests. But Yeonsangun gets worked up and says if that’s not the case, “How can Chae-kyung be so quiet? She said we were family! She once offered to share in my punishment so I would not be hurt! But now she has gone blind.”

He stumbles past them and only gets a few feet before falling to the ground. The queen has just arrived and rushes to his side, and Yeonsangun embraces her desperately. He begs for her to hold onto Minister Shin and Chae-kyung, calling them and the queen and their son his only family, and his people.

The queen dowager expresses concern over the king’s growing suspicions, but Minister Shin says that if Yeok remains true, it will end as merely unfounded suspicion. The queen dowager bristles and asks if he finds Yeok so untrustworthy that he’s investigating him, and Minister Shin points out that he’s investigating the Snail Brides, not Yeok. Ack, did you just incriminate your son? That was dumb of you.

She realizes the slip and covers up by saying that she doesn’t know what he’s formally investigating and was referring to general suspicion. Minister Shin pleads with her to help Yeok and Chae-kyung be happy, pointing out that she called them fated to be. He remembers that the late king said the same thing when Yeok and Chae-kyung were children, and muses that their fate began long ago.

Yeok wakes up next to Chae-kyung in the morning and smiles to see her there, and they each take turns watching the other sleep.

The queen dowager thinks over Minister Shin’s words and recalls Chae-kyung’s parents bringing her to see the late king when she was just a baby, along with a priestess. She wonders why she’d forgotten about that until now.

Chae-kyung takes out the note of the king’s promise to grant her a wish and calls for Eunuch Song, and by the time Yeok returns home with medicine for her, Nanny tells him that she’s gone to the palace to see the king.

Yeok runs off in a panic, and meanwhile Chae-kyung takes a deep breath before using her key to enter the secret meeting room in the palace.

Yeonsangun gets drunk and tells his head eunuch to go preside over court in his place and sit on the throne, but then Eunuch Song announces himself and Yeonsangun races out of there to meet Chae-kyung.

He’s relieved that she’s come at last, and though she’s terrified thinking of how mercilessly he killed those ministers the other day, she asks if he’s been waiting for her long. He asks if she means how long he’s been coming to this room, or how long he’s been waiting for her. “A long, long time,” he says, his voice taking on a gentler tone.

He eagerly prods her to tell him what she saw at the pawnshop, but she says she saw nothing, and his face twitches in anger. Chae-kyung says she realized she needed to ask him something before accepting his royal order, and asks when he began to suspect Yeok.

Yeonsangun says he knew the moment Yeok returned that he intended to exact revenge and take the throne because Yeok believes that he ordered his death. Chae-kyung asks if Yeonsangun really gave the order, and he says, “Yes. I killed him. Even if I didn’t kill him directly, every night I stabbed him with a blade. I hoped that someone, anyone would kill him in my place.”

Crying, Chae-kyung says that he didn’t really kill Yeok, but Yeonsangun argues that even now he’s just waiting for the justification to kill Yeok with his own hands. She asks if the brothers can’t make amends because this might be their last opportunity, but Yeonsangun counters in a sad, small voice that if he does, she’ll forgive Yeok too and live happily with him. Augh, what a heartbreaking way to declare your feelings.

He says that she’s barely begun to suspect Yeok and he’s finally managed to drive a wedge between them, and he refuses to stand by and let them become happy again. He spells it out for her plainly—that he cares more about driving Yeok and Chae-kyung apart with hate and resentment than he does about making amends with Yeok. “That way… that way…” he begins, but he can’t bring himself to say out it out loud.

Chae-kyung understands what is left unsaid, and with tears spilling down her face she kneels to the ground and hands him the note he gave her years ago, promising to grant her a wish.

Yeok has been racing through the palace in search of them, and finally arrives outside the door and orders Eunuch Song to move aside. He listens just as Chae-kyung asks for Yeonsangun to grant her wish and allow her and Yeok to move to the countryside.

Yeonsangun snarls as she says this is the only way for all three of them to live at peace, and that Yeok promised her he would move. Yeonsangun shouts that there’s no way Yeok would do that, when even on his wedding day he went out in search of their father’s secret will.

This is first that Chae-kyung has heard of the will, and Yeonsangun freely tells her that their father left a will ordering him to pass down the throne when Yeok comes of age, and that he had it inscribed on a woman’s body. Chae-kyung goes limp at those words.

Yeonsangun draws his sword and demands to know what she saw at the pawnshop and whether it was evidence of treason. She denies seeing anything, but he lets her know that his spies saw her walk out of there in a daze, and demands the truth.

Yeok knows she’s out of excuses, and bursts into the room to say that he’ll answer instead. He steps between them and grabs the sharp end of Yeonsangun’s sword with his bare hand, using brute force to pull it up and away from Chae-kyung, not caring that his hand is dripping with blood.

The brothers stare each other down with murderous glares, and Yeok breaks away to bring Chae-kyung to her feet. Yeonsangun can’t stand to see them like this and swings his sword angrily at Yeok. But to both boys’ horror, Chae-kyung sees it first and steps in front of Yeok, arms outstretched to protect him.

Yeonsangun ends up slicing her in the arm, which stuns him more than anyone. Yeok blocks him from trying to go to Chae-kyung and check on her, and when Yeonsangun growls at his impudence, Yeok growls back, “She’s my wife!” Dayum.

She tells them both to stop and stumbles past them, and Yeok runs after her. She tries feebly to push him aside, but he won’t have it and just picks her up to carry her home, leaving Yeonsangun shaken and alone.

As Yeok carries her out of the palace, he tells her never to go see his brother on her own anymore because it’s too dangerous. She aptly points out that Yeok is more dangerous… but then she switches to metaphors and says he’ll fall if he keeps going like this, outwardly referring to him carrying her.

He counters with his own doublespeak that she should just hold on tightly then: “No matter what happens, don’t let go of me. Hold tight.” Aww.

Yeonsangun seethes at the memory of Yeok calling Chae-kyung his wife and blocking him from going to her. When Nok-soo asks if he wants to examine the next group of women for a tattoo, he tells her to do it without him and then requests for Myung-hye to be brought to him.

Nanny is so alarmed at the sight of Chae-kyung’s wounded arm that she yells at Yeok for letting her get injured, and nobody tends to his bloody hand.

After Nanny has bandaged her up, Chae-kyung checks to see if any spies are nearby and then undresses to look at the tattoo on her back, suddenly afraid that it’s something far more dangerous than a curse.

When Myung-hye arrives to see the king, Nok-soo leads the latest group of half-dressed court ladies out of the room, and Yeonsangun greets Myung-hye with a sword to her throat. He says it’s Myung-hye’s fault what happened today—that Chae-kyung was injured because of Yeok, which is her fault because she’s the one who saved Yeok’s life.

He declares that she’ll have to pay the price, and slices her on the arm in the same place Chae-kyung was cut.

He says that for every question she can’t answer, he’ll cut away a piece of her clothing, and when none of that remains, he’ll cut her skin, and then take her life. Holy crap.

Yeonsangun asks who the leader of the Snail Brides is, and when she says she doesn’t know, he cuts away her outer layer of clothing and muses, “I wasn’t particularly interested in your naked body, but if you continue this way, it can’t be helped. It looks like we’ll become very close today.”

His smile turns manic as he says, “Do you know why I haven’t killed Yeok yet? Because it’s fun.” He calls it funny to see Yeok shaking in fear not knowing when he’ll be killed, wearing a mask to try and fool him just to survive. He says that since Yeok has provided him such enjoyment, he’ll make sure to repay that in his death by torturing him, tearing his flesh, and hanging him like food for a wild beast.

Myung-hye comes home badly shaken up, and she hurriedly starts packing her things with a look of determination on her face.

A palanquin stops outside a large tree and Chae-kyung steps out and asks if this is the place that people call the Divine Tree (which are the same characters tattooed on her back). The man says the 200-year-old tree is believed to chase away demons and grant wishes, and there’s even a headstone there erected by the late king.

Once alone, Chae-kyung approaches the tree and addresses the late king in her thoughts, asking why he left her such a heavy burden, and how he would have her choose a king. She digs near the headstone and uncovers a box with a scroll inside, and Chae-kyung thinks, “I’m just a woman who wanted to live an ordinary life.”

In the morning, Chae-kyung is surprised by the sudden arrival of the queen dowager, whose first order of business is to punish a suspicious girl who was lurking outside the house. Ack, it’s Myung-hye, dressed as a peasant girl. I don’t like this at all…

Chae-kyung recognizes her from their time together in prison, and lies to the queen dowager that the girl was with her when she lived in the country and that she called her here. Nanny makes a quizzical face but doesn’t argue, and Chae-kyung saves Myung-hye from being turned in, or so she thinks.

Myung-hye gives the queen dowager a surreptitious glance before heading away with Nanny. Great, what this house really needed was another spy. Myung-hye asks Nanny for a job as a servant hoping to live here, and Nanny is wary about taking her in if she’s been in and out of prison, wondering if she’s planning to take advantage of Chae-kyung’s generosity.

The queen dowager tells Chae-kyung that she’s here to have the doctor examine her because the date has been set for her and Yeok to sleep together (members of the royal family were required to follow auspicious dates set by fortunetellers for conceiving an heir), and Chae-kyung wonders to herself if the queen dowager knows about her tattoo, and is pushing for this because of the will.

The queen dowager puts on a sweet act and says that she wants grandchildren, and urges Chae-kyung to address her as “mother” from now on because they’re family. Chae-kyung complies with a nervous smile.

Myung-hye sneaks into Chae-kyung’s room and starts to dig through her things while cleaning, and stops when Chae-kyung comes in. But this time Chae-kyung gets another good look at her and remembers the other time she saw Myung-hye’s face, on the night she kissed Yeok. Oh thank goodness you remember! Don’t trust her!

Myung-hye bows to the ground and asks Chae-kyung to let her be a servant here, and Chae-kyung narrates, “Everyone began to lie to me in order to find the secret will from me.”

Yeok comes home just then and freezes at the sight of Myung-hye, who greets him as if they’re meeting for the first time. Chae-kyung looks back and forth between them warily.

 
COMMENTS

There are a lot of things I’m willing to let slide, but if Yeok lets Myung-hye live in that house and spy on them, I will be so mad. Not to mention the fact that he’ll be in deep trouble, considering that Chae-kyung already suspects Myung-hye of being a past lover. I’m less concerned about Myung-hye snooping around for the rebellion and more upset with what Chae-kyung will assume is a betrayal of their wedding vows. But maybe I should have more faith in this couple, who have thus far managed to avoid all the other glaring misunderstanding pitfalls around them and chosen to trust each other above all else. I just hate the idea that Myung-hye is in their bedrooms; the house is creepy enough with all the palace servants lurking in every corner and reporting their every move to the king, but she’s invasive in a new way.

Even though we knew it was bound to happen soon, it was a bittersweet moment when Chae-kyung shed her innocence and was suddenly awakened to the king’s tyranny and Yeok’s treasonous intent all at once. She’s always faster on the uptake than anyone gives her credit for, and I was impressed that she immediately looked for reasons why Yeok would want to be king, and opened her eyes to what kind of king Yeonsangun has become. If she had lived a less sheltered life, she’d probably have come to know these things long ago, but she’s only ever thought of Yeonsangun as her family. I found it so sad when Yeok saw the change in her immediately and regretted having her lose her bold, fearless innocence. But I don’t think there’s any going back for her now. I see why Yeok thought he was being selfish by marrying her, because he knew this day would come, and he’d be the reason she changed and carried a burden in her heart.

I was all prepared for the race to discover Chae-kyung’s tattoo, and didn’t expect the twist that she’d find out what it meant first and find the secret will herself. I love that this heroine takes her fate into her own hands and doesn’t sit around for things to happen to her. She’s taking on a huge risk now that she’s the only one who knows where the will is, but in one move she’s rendered the tattoo obsolete and bought herself some leverage (and moved the plot along!). The question is what she’ll do with that hot potato now.

This show always gets a burst of energy when the brothers clash face-to-face. It’s enough that I almost want it in every episode, except then I probably couldn’t handle the emotional stress, and poor Chae-kyung would probably pass out halfway through every episode. It was just so refreshing to see them argue without putting on appearances of civility, because let’s face it—they know the subtext and can dance around it all they want, but they both know Yeok is after the throne and Yeonsangun wants Chae-kyung’s heart, and that they’ll die before giving up what’s theirs.

Yeonsangun’s tragic downfall, of course, is that he doesn’t see that Chae-kyung’s heart doesn’t just transfer to him if he defeats Yeok—it’s her love to give, not anyone’s to claim, and driving a wedge between them won’t make her come to him. But it still broke my heart when he confessed it to her thinking it would happen that way. He’s so twisted and wrong (and so scary when he lashes out at other women as stand-ins for Chae-kyung), but his jealousy and heartbreak feel so real in the moment when he’s standing in front of her and too scared to admit that he wants her love, or unable to go to her side confidently the way Yeok does. It’s like he never even considered the idea that she might love Yeok enough to trust him no matter what, because that’s not a love he’s ever known. I can only imagine how deep his jealousy will grow when he learns how unwavering their love has become.

 
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