I wanted to drop a quick summary on the politics behind Yeonjo’s father’s execution since I think some people are unclear on what happened or why it happened:
Yeonjo’s father is the right state councilor. The new king’s brother (aka the grand prince, which is the title of the past king’s legitimate son that is not in line for the crown) employed Kwon as an officer because of his record as a brutal solidier. An officer oversees and leads other soldiers. The grand prince believed Kwon’s savagery would improve their military. kwon accepted the position and spent Kwon served years as an officer, even reaching commander level. at At time, a group outside the border of Kwon’s territory called the outlanders were preparing to attack. The councilors and ministers of the state did not agree with preparing a campaign against a possible invasion because the grand prince’s brother had just ceded the throne, meaning the state isnt prepared to fight a war. The state also had low food supplies, so the military wouldn’t have provisions. The grand prince believes the territory is in jeopardy because of the councilors’ reluctance. Kwon even singles out the right state councilor as a threat. Kwon advises the grand prince to ignore the ministry and councilors’ authority for the “greater good” of the kingdom. The grand prince decides to take out the right state councilor (who has the most power of the councilors), his elder sons, and the ministers of defense. This is decided with the goal of making an example out of them and scaring the other officials into complying. Kwon is tasked with executing the right state councilor and his two oldest sons. When the RS councilor and the ministers were killed, the other officials withdrew from their original stances and chose to comply. Once all the officials were in agreement with the grand prince, and the new king was left helpless and without support from the council or ministry, the grand prince took over the throne in order to lead the war and defend the kingdom.
The INTERESTING part is that Kwon did not actually have to take the role of killing the RS councilor, he says it was fueled by self interest because taking on the responsibility would grant him a quick promotion, which is why he is now such a high-rank noble.
anyone else think this story is just going in a circle lol. after this theyre probably going to fight, break up, and then taeju is going to have some epiphany either from his fathers’ scolding or someone else he knows about “euihyun is probably so hurt and sad rn blah blah blah” and then he’ll be like omg i did the wrong thing. and then the two will reunite but when euihyun is like “you know i was so hurt and sad without you….” taeju will be mad at himself for letting that happen bc of his stupid decisions and distance himself once again because he “cant forgive himself” for it.
like im actually kind of surprised taeju decided to break it off after the whole near-death experience and having such a deep conversation with euihyun… where did his character development go? hopefully in the next chapter he’ll realize he said the wrong thing immediately and instead jump into a supportive role for euihyun. ntm its pretty clear euihyun isnt that upset, especially considering he definitely did not want a child?
idk why the author didnt directly state this anywhere since a lot of sangwoo’s childhood flashbacks imply this but… did anyone else think sangwoo’s mom probably struggled with post partum depression that evolved into (postpartum) psychosis? like, a lot of her behavior when he’s little makes sense with those diagnoses. especially when she attempts to kill him as a baby and she starts to yell that she has been “sick for a while” or something like that. that could imply she started to lose herself after giving birth.
oh my fucking god can haruki catch a break