To My Beloved Thief: Episodes 7-8
by mistyisles
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Between body-swapping, family ties, and that one bloody period in the recent past, our characters’ lives seem inextricably intertwined. And tangled up in dangerous politics, too. But while some resign themselves to following someone else’s plan for their life, others look for a way to follow their hearts instead.
EPISODES 7-8
Our leads have switched back into their proper bodies, and what seemed to be the greater threat from last week’s cliffhanger turns out to be the most easily dealt with. The man with the sword isn’t here to harm Gil-dong, but to recruit her. Eun-jo declines to go with him, choosing instead to stay put so Yeol can find her (aww these two). As for the other threat, Yeol sends Eun-jo on ahead and lets Jae-yi apprehend him on charges of colluding with Gil-dong. Having deduced the origin of the charges (Lord Im), Yeol offers a deal: “You leave Gil-dong alone, and I’ll forget you were blackmailing the former Chief Censor.” The victory for this round goes to Yeol, but in the process he reveals that he’s protected by a pact he made with the king. Lord Im carefully files that away for future reference.
Following Yeol’s release, Jae-yi braces for retribution. But it doesn’t come — at least not from Yeol. Sure, he daydreams about it a little, but he isn’t about to punish the son for the sins of the father. The father in question, on the other hand, beats Jae-yi bloody and locks him in the shed for botching the job. (And now we see where Jae-yi learned to lash out in misplaced anger.) Eun-jo, ever the compassionate physician, sends medicine to help him through it. He’s grateful enough… until he discovers he has Eun-jo to thank. Then he smashes the fresh pot she’s brewing and yells at her for making him feel a smidgen of warmth in this godforsaken house. On the one hand: his cracks are showing. On the other: just wait — he has farther yet to fall.
Lest we forget that Jae-yi is still the lesser evil of the Im brothers, Seung-jae waits about three seconds after his father leaves to accompany the king on a hunt before attacking Eun-jo. She fights back, but he’s still physically stronger. Enter Yeol, who sends Seung-jae away with his tail between his legs. Then he presents Eun-jo with her ticket out of this house: a formal marriage proposal. Eun-jo’s jaw drops (honestly, so does mine). But before she can respond, Jae-yi bursts in and orders her to refuse. This, of course, sparks the fight that has been brewing between Jae-yi and Yeol for days now. It’s petty, childish, and hangs on the absurd premise that the winner gets to decide where Eun-jo lives out the rest of her days. But there isn’t a winner, because Lord Hong interrupts.
Not long after the body-swap, Yeol wrote to him in Eun-jo’s name, asking him to return home. Now that he’s back and knows the truth about Eun-jo’s marriage, Lord Hong drags her home and flogs himself in front of her until Dae-il makes him stop. At this point, the whole household is all emotion with no suitable outlet. Social norms demand Eun-jo be punished for deceiving them, but even Dae-il can’t actually bring himself to do it. Eventually, Mom sends Eun-jo out for some fresh air so everyone can calm down.
For all Yeol’s posturing in front of Jae-yi, he doesn’t press Eun-jo to make a decision. Quite the opposite, in fact. He secretly convinces a cousin of Lord Hong’s to gift the family some land — reparations for what was taken when Lord Hong was deposed, Yeol claims, but really it’s him paying for Eun-jo’s freedom (since the land is worth enough to dissolve the marriage contract) without wounding her family’s pride.
In all the confusion, Yeol’s proposal letter gets dropped on the ground, and Lord Hong finds it. Knowing just how dangerous and volatile palace life can be, he gives Yeol the classic “stay away from my daughter” speech, with a heavy sprinkling of “I’ll threaten to kill myself — or actually kill myself — if that’s what it takes.” (This man is going to have an absolute conniption when he finds out how much time his daughter has already spent in the palace, both in and out of her own body.) Yeol hates being told — again — to look the other way and keep quiet, but he won’t come between Eun-jo and her father.
As if things weren’t complicated enough, there’s a plague going around, and Eun-jo is called away to a village at ground zero. Yeol accompanies her, though he’s not allowed inside the quarantined area. When Eun-jo comes to fetch him at the end of the day, he’s helping the kids pick berries instead of eating tree bark, and they’re proudly calling him “hyung.” Eun-jo is clearly affected, but unfortunately that night is when Lord Hong orders Yeol to back off.
The next day, an anonymous gift of rice turns up at the village gate. It’s from Yeol, of course, but the villagers immediately declare it the work of a resurrected/possibly immortal Gil-dong. Rumors spread like wildfire, and a certain mysterious woman — the same one who sent her underling to recruit Gil-dong before — decides it’s time to speak with Gil-dong herself. She approaches Eun-jo at a temple and introduces herself simply as someone who owes Lord Hong a debt of gratitude for his past service to the nation. She goes to describe the king’s great purge, when he slaughtered those who opposed him and surrounded himself with corrupt yes-men. This is the same event Yeol has referenced before, when he and the king made their pact, and whoever this woman is, she’s clearly plotting revenge. For now, she doesn’t ask anything of Eun-jo. She’s just planting seeds.
Meanwhile, Seung-jae draws up plans for a new royal hunting ground. It means displacing the surrounding villages, but that doesn’t bother Seung-jae at all. In fact, he’s more than happy to use the plague as an excuse to wipe out the villagers and raze the land. And, of course, he sends Jae-yi to do the dirty work for him. Eun-jo catches wind of it and tries her best to evacuate the sick villagers. But time is not on her side. Perhaps Jae-yi would hesitate if he knew Eun-jo was here. Or perhaps he would close his eyes all the same and keep telling himself he’s just following orders. Either way, this will be a hard decision to come back from. After the first few volleys of plain arrows, Jae-yi personally looses the first fire-tipped arrow. It arcs straight for Eun-jo’s back, but someone knocks it out of the air. Once again, Yeol has arrived just in time.
In another drama, Jae-yi would be on a path to reform his ways and win Eun-jo’s heart. But not this one. Even if Jae-yi manages to redeem himself as a person, there’s just no beating the bond Eun-jo and Yeol have been steadily building through conversation and mutual care. Not to mention literally seeing through each other’s eyes.
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