{ Original Name: 귀야곡 | Publisher: Lezhin }
This felt like such a painfully short chapter, made even more so by the fact that the series had a dual episode release on the Korean Lezhin site, but on the US site, episode 35 and 36 were released separately. *sigh*
Anyway, enough of my grumbling.
Jaeshin in his puppy form is grumbling about the prince’s attitude from the night before. He’s approached by the malevolent spirit that we met in the previous season. Now, I can’t remember whether she actually said her name so I don’t know what to call her, but what I do remember is she is out for revenge on the Queen and that she’s the one who suggested winning Lee Nok’s heart to Jaeshin.
“There is no great secret to the human heart. A kind word to the lonesome… A flower to the forlorn is all it takes.”
Jaeshin is still completely clueless as to why he still hasn’t won the prince over, and the malevolent spirit tells him that there isn’t much to it. A simple kindness will work. It’s a great scene between these two characters showing just how unaware Jaeshin really is, but the only thing I could focus on was:
The braid. LOOK. AT. THE. BRAID. I’m sure one of the younger palace girls braided Geumdong’s fur, or maybe Jaeshin braided his hair himself and it followed into his puppy form, but I love that it transfers over.
You know thinking about it… I’ve been curious about how to interpret this scene, as well as other scenes where we see both Jaeshin and his puppy form during the day. We know Jaeshin is relegated to his puppy form (Guemdong) during the daytime. So whenever we see his human form too… is it what the malevolent spirit is seeing? Or is it simply for the reader? I’m guessing it’s the latter? And I’m not complaining. He’s so pretty.
Elsewhere, the king is told by his advisors that there’s a solar eclipse coming in about two weeks. Upset that he’s been notified late, he demands that an investigation take place as to who dropped the ball, but the prince suggests that the investigation, while important, should take a backseat to preparing for the solar eclipse ritual. The king agrees and leaves the prince in charge of the preparations. But somebody doesn’t look happy about that.
Later, the prince is in his pagoda, admiring the weather with one of his guards and Eunuch Ahn. Suddenly, Jaeshin appears behind him, whispering sweet nothings into his ear.
The prince becomes flustered instantly, and his attendants ask if he’s all right. He assures them that he is. The thing is… is that really Jaeshin? Or is it just the prince’s imagination? It’s still daytime so Jaeshin can’t be in his real form. And weren’t the two of them together just last night? Aren’t other ghosts supposed to stay away from the prince at least for three days after the Jaeshin and Lee Nok meet? So it can’t be someone imitating Jaeshin, right? So. Many. Questions.
