Lord Choi is about to drink poison as well when court lady Kim tells him that the royal taster has died. He rushes out to collect the letter he gave Moo Baek which was meant for Lee Gun.
Meanwhile a gathering of the ministers have been called up concerning the royal taster’s death. The magistrate is hell bent on destroying Lee Gun’s image. Lee Gun and Dosung arrive at the meeting and Lee Gun insists he killed the royal taster without giving any reason.
Meanwhile, the queen dowager has regained consciousness but is upset with Lord Choi for actually giving her a sleeping drug so he could drink poison and die alone. She says she would have died with him of that were to happen and is too angry to look at him. However, Lord Choi notices the sleeping drug hasn’t worn off and decides to treat her.
Myung Yoon tries to find out from Gap seok the reason why her father tried to kill the crown prince. He responds harshly that Lee Gun saw something he shouldn’t have but that the workers around the queen dowager would give her the answers she’s looking for. He leaves but instructs Sang Soo not to let her out of his sight or to let anyone near Lee Gun’s room.
The officials meeting has been called off due to the queen dowager’s health. The Queen is very unhappy that Lee Gun became her scape goat once again. She wants to tell the truth but Dosung convinces her not to and that Lee Gun has promised to take care of everything.
Meanwhile, Myung Yoon escapes the room after attacking Sang Soo. She then heads straight to the queen dowager’s chambers much to Court lady Kim’s alarm. She tries to stop her but Myung Yoon enters and sees her father and the queen dowager sitting close to each other, one part of her body is exposed as lord Choi performs acupuncture on her. With this scene, the truth becomes evident and Myung Yoon asks if this was the reason they wanted to kill the crown prince. Without waiting for an explanation, she rushes out of the chambers. The queen Dowager urges Lord Choi to follow her but he remains still, saying that Myung Yoon wouldn’t listen to him now. So he would wait until she has calmed down. (I’m not feeling their romance at all. They make me so mad.)
Myung Yoon stumbles on the palace grounds disheartened. As soon as she sees Lee Gun, she breaks down in tears crying that she deserves to be killed. Lee Gun embraces her but they are unaware that Dosung is watching them. Gap seok arrives and tells them to go inside to avoid been seen.
They go to a private place and Myung Yoon expresses her pain but Lee Gun responds that he loves her despite everything. She is the first woman he has ever loved and she should remember him not as the crown prince but as the man she loves.
Dosung is bothered over Lee Gun and Myung Yoon’s closeness. He is heading to his chambers when he meets Lord Choi who pleads with him to find his daughter. He adds that he met his daughter In Lee Gun’s room last night but hasn’t seen her since then. He tells him he’s asking for his help because Myung Yoon would be married to him. This triggers Dosung even more.
Lee Gun summons Moo Baek and asks him to help Myung Yoon escape to her mother’s family in other to save her life because she and her father would soon be branded as traitors. He wants to know if he can trust him and Moo Baek responds that his biggest priority is protecting Myung Yoon.
Gap Seok calls Dosung to meet Lee Gun who finally tells him that he’s with Myung Yoon and apologizes for not telling him the truth about her whereabouts because he was overwhelmed when her father tried to kill him. The two decide to help Myung Yoon escape. They tell Myung Yoon to stay at the crown prince palace until she can leave the following day.
Lord Choi tells the Queen dowager that Myung Yoon is safe with the prince and Dosung because they are both in love with her. At the crown prince’s chambers, Myung Yoon and Lee Gun have their final dinner together. She shows him a painting of both of them under an apricot tree and the two finally give in to their feelings for each other and kiss.
That night, Dosung helps Myung Yoon escape the palace and leaves after giving her words of encouragement. Myung Yoon meets with Oh wol and Moo Baek who are ready to run away with her to another city but she changes her mind, wanting to go home and wait for her father. Moo Baek refuses but she threatens to fight him if he doesn’t let go of her.
Lord Choi comes home and at first, Myung Yoon refuses to speak with him so he barges his way into her room and she finally confronts him of his affair and how repulsed she is with him. Lord Choi tries to explain his history with the Queen dowager. Myung Yoon replies that no matter their story, it doesn’t give him the right to destroy people’s lives, frame prince Lee Gun and poison the king. After hearing all these, Lord Choi has no words to counteract her.
The next day, under Lord Choi’s direction, the Queen dowager makes a royal decree, that Lee Gun would not be reinstated back as the crown prince. However, his crimes have been exonerated and he is now to be known as prince susung. When Lee Gun reads the decree, he actually laughs at it knowing this is a plot created by the Queen Dowager and Lord Choi to sow discord in the ministry by making the officials choose between him and Dosung.
To get back at them, he charms everyone by paying respects to both Lord Choi and the left state councilor, his biggest enemies. He then convinces the Queen Dowager to reinstate the left state councilor back to his former position. This shocks everyone and the queen dowager reluctantly accepts.
Meanwhile, Moo Baek tries several times to convince Myung Yoon to leave her father and escape. He goes as far as to add that her father’s top priority is the Queen dowager and not her. When Myung Yoon remains stubborn, Moo Baek gives her shocking information. It was his father who killed her mother. He was a child when he witnessed her mother die by his sword. Before giving up the ghost, her mother had begged him to take care of Myung Yoon who was only a baby at the time. As proof, he shows her the bloody baby quilt she was wrapped in that night and leaves Myung Yoon to absorb the news. He hears her soulful cries and feels sorry.
Lord Choi asks the Left state councilor to join his side using the fact that the Queen actually murdered the royal taster to threaten him. Lee Gun is in possession of the knife the queen had used to kill the royal taster. It was Dosung who gave it to him. That night, Lord Choi returns home and Myung Yoon tearfully asks if he’s the one who killed her mother. To her absolute shock, he admits it.
