Any mighty stranger can care enough to tell me what happened in this chapter. I didn't und...

Its a bit hard to explain but I think what was happing was the uke had finished telling his backstory to the seme (which as the contents of the last 2-3 chapter) and most of this chapter was him reminiscing and tying the events of the past into the present (mainly to give us as the reader more understanding of uke and his backstory rather than the seme for a change since the story is being told from the seme's POV). there's deffinitly more to it but I've tried explaining it as simply as I can if my wording isn't too confusing sorry
(づ￣ ³￣)づ

I got my words mixed up sorry, the seme's backstory was the main focus hee-ryang my bad, not the uke yeonjo

Spark notes version: After the province near the border was secured from the attacks, the scattered families who had made up the nobility in the region and reigned in somewhat self serving unison, were problematic. One reason being, a part of the soldiers they utilized during the battles at the boarder were without purpose or proper title and therefore spiralled out of control, but as long as the nobility were happy they were unlikely to act or accept the kings (former grand prince’s) plan to add them to his forces to gain power and also give them purpose. Hence, why our Kwon Hee-Ryang here has been tasked with weakening the group of nobles and their ties, so that the armies can be reclaimed/tamed and to stabilize the province without succumbing to civil war. However this stabilization of power, also includes using morally corrupt ways to replace allegiances and rotten nobles so they fall in line with the kings faction. This also allows Kwon Hee-Ryang to rise into power as the person spearheading this political shift, and hopefully earn him a higher title to quote on quote satisfy his desire to be recognized despite being the black sheep of his family who abandoned him.

What was mentioned before the break in his story telling is the poor reason as to why he killed Yeonjo’s family, and it was primarily to open space to break the power of three strong families who were particularly resistant against the ex grand princes schemes. Kwon Hee-Ryang also openly admitted that there was good reason for Yeonjo’s family to hate him as the ex grand princes faction was doing this for the good of the kingdom, but also out of greed to rise higher in position.

Yeonjo’s reaction in this chapter is rather interesting, because he jokes, pranks, and finally kisses Kwon despite Kwon opening up about how he got to this position that labeled him a cold blooded killer and strategist. Maybe because he’s blinded with the facts at the start of the previous chapter, where he learns that Kwon only did this to survive at the start, because he’s starting to not care about what has happened and only wants to focus on whims that take away the pain, or he’s acting. Which yikes to the latter.

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. English is not my 1st language so it was little bit hard for me to understand. But now I properly understood thanks to you.

I don't think Heeryang said all this backstory out loud tho, so Yeonjo's response is a little more understandable because all he heard were "cryptic remarks." that's why he didn't understand what "not having the prerogative to be too bright" exactly means.

I think Heeryang started to say *some* stuff about his past but then stopped before it got explicit, which piqued Yeonjo's interest and/or sympathy, which is why he's acting that way. but unless it's actually in a speech bubble, I don't think Yeonjo knows what we the readers know.

Yeah you’re right, I went back to the chapter, and realized what Yeonjo said. I only read the chapter once when I responded to this.