American Perspectives: Outed and Propositioned Pt. 2 ("기황후" Ep. 7)

 

 

"기황후" can be viewed on Viki or Youtube, as well as many other channels.  It is an amazing classic 사극, and this author is aware that it's not historically accurate.  The real life Empress Ki had a very contentious relationship with the Goryeo Dynasty.  And many liberties were most certainly taken with the fictionalized version of historical characters. Dialogue adapted from English Subtitle translations by the "Imperial Team at Viki.com"

 

 

 

Empress Dowager Budashiri looks at El Temur warily as he slides a beautiful gold and blue embroidered envelope across the table.

 

"What is this?"  Empress Dowager asks.

 

"It is the date of the marriage ceremony," El Temur replies.

 

"Don't you know that it's within my jurisdiction to determine the date of the marriage ceremony?"  Empress Dowager snaps.

 

"There are so many government affairs to attend to," says El Temur.  "Can you entrust a big event for our kingdom to a common fortune teller?"

 

"Prime Minister!"  Empress Dowager raises her voice.

 

"I trust that you will understand the intentions of a loyal vassal taking good care of the Imperial Court."

 

"Then," says Empress Dowager, "until the day of the marriage ceremony, Danashiri will be receiving Empress training in the palace, so please tell her."

 

"Of course, she must," says El Temur.  "My daughter is lacking in many ways.  Please teach her well, Your Highness."

 

Empress Dowager forces a smile.

 

El Temur confidently exits the room.  At the very least, Danashiri will be giving the Empress Dowager a run for her money, and that, in and of itself, makes him very happy.

 

"You must not allow him to manipulate you already," says Lord Jang.  "Please let him know that you've chosen another marriage date, Your Highness."

 

"No need to be so noisy from the beginning.  Let's first begin with the Empress training.  It will be severe," Empress Dowager smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

Danashiri is lazily sleeping in her new bed within the palace.  She's El Temur's daughter, so she is confident that the rules don't apply.

 

Eunuch Dokman clears his throat and bows.  Court Lady Yeom and a palace maid stand beside him.  Danashiri continues to sleep through the noise.

 

Eunuch Dokman clears his throat more loudly.  Danashiri ignores him and pretends to be asleep.

 

"Please get up, it's time for your lessons," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

Danashiri sits straight up.  "Why are you waking me so early in the morning?"

 

Eunuch Dokman, Court Lady Yeom, and the palace maid bow.

 

"It's already late," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

"Late?  Empress is the highest ranking person here," says Danashiri.  "So who cares about when I wake up?"

 

"The highest ranking person among the ladies of the inner court is the Empress Dowager," Eunuch Dokman corrects her.

 

"What?"  Danashiri asks.

 

"Empress Dowager wakes before the Mao Hour," says Court Lady Yeom.

 

"Therefore, all court ladies must rise before the Empress Dowager.  That is the rule," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

Danashiri covers herself with her blanket.

 

Eunuch Dokman and Court Lady Yeom look at each other and nod.  Together, they pull Danashiri's blanket off the bed, and she rolls to her side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Danashiri is outside, walking a straight line down the center of the floor, as if she's auditioning for a modern day runway model casting.  A bowl is balanced on top of her head.

 

"An Empress must walk as gracefully as a crane," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

Several court ladies and palace maids are witnessing a surly Danashiri walking the line.

 

"She must never be frivolous," Eunuch Dokman continues.

 

Danashiri intentionally tips her head and breaks the bowl.

 

"Again," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

Another bowl is placed on her head.  Danashiri rolls her eyes.  She walks forward and tilts her head.  The bowl shatters.

 

"Again," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

She walks forward and aggressively tilts her head.  The floor is now covered in ceramic shards.

 

"Again."

 

She drops her head forward.

 

"Again."

 

She walks down the line, breaking every bowl that gets placed on her head.  With the final bowl, she keeps it on, but at the end of the line, she personally picks it up and throws it.  "I won't do it!  I won't!"

 

*****

 

Finally!  It's lunch time.  All this bullshit has made Danashiri ravenously hungry.  She is eating enormous spoonfuls of rice and huge chunks of meat.

 

"Please see to your dignity," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

"I'm hungry!  Who cares about that?"  She has definitely grown up in a house full of boys.  "Just bring me more rice."

 

"Please maintain your dignity," Eunuch Dokman repeats.  This woman is making him feel like a parrot.

 

She slams down her bowl and sighs.  "I can't even eat whichever way I choose?"

 

"The women of the inner court must not covet food," says Court Lady Yeom.  "That is the command of the Empress Dowager."

 

Danashiri rolls her eyes.  "Empress Dowager.  Empress Dowager.  My ears are about to form scabs!"

 

"Take away the table," Eunuch Dokman says calmly.

 

"Huh?"  Danashiri asks.  "Wha--"

 

Two court ladies lift up her table of food.  Danashiri forces it down.  "What are you doing?  Can't you see I'm not finished yet?"  She yells at Eunuch Dokman.

 

"Take it away," says Eunuch Dokman, keeping his calm.  He would have been an amazing dad.

 

The two court ladies once again lift up the table.  Danashiri tries to grab a plate of pastries, but Dokman snatches it away.  He hands it to Court Lady Yeom.

 

"Then...why not just starve me to death?"  Danashiri hisses.

 

"It's time for your private decorum lessons," Eunuch Dokman calmly replies.

 

*******

 

Danashiri is seated in the outdoor study area with Eunuch Dokman standing in front of her.  The day is way too nice to be reading from a boring old book.  No one even truly follows these stupid books anyway...

 

"Try memorizing it," says Eunuch Dokman.

 

"Jaeil Su-jeol.  Jaeyi cheong-jeong.  The first important thing is for a woman to be faithful to her husband.  The second is to be upright and chaste.  Yooyeojaesil Makchulgyujeong.  A woman's place is at home, she must not venture out the door.  Speak no evil, hear no evil.  She must not spread gossip, and she must not listen to it or obscenities.  Hwang-on--" Her mind goes blank.  "Rae..."  She reaches for the blue book in front of her.  Eunuch Dokman strikes the book with his stick.

 

"At twilight, she must light the candles," Eunuch Dokman says sharply.  Every woman in the nobility should know this.  How spoiled is she?  "She must light candles at dusk.  Start from the beginning."

 

"Recite it all again?"  Danashiri asks.

 

"Yes, recite it all again."

 

In frustration, she tears out the pages, and starts to throw them.  "I can't do it!  I won't do it!"

 

"If you cannot complete your education," Eunuch Dokman says calmly, "you cannot become Empress."

 

Danashiri crosses her arms.  Good.  This is way too much work for such a superficial position.  "No matter.  I just won't become one.  I give up.  I give up."

 

 

 

 

 

Emperor Toghon is laughing so hard, he's crying.  "She really said she gives up?"  

 

"Are you that happy about it?"  Eunuch Baek asks.

 

"She's leaving on her own.  If that isn't a happy occasion for the Empire, than what is?"

 

"Prime Minister El Temur will not permit it," Eunuch Baek drags the Emperor back into reality.

 

"Want to place a bet with me?"  Emperor Toghon asks.

 

"Do I have a choice?"

 

"I will bet one dried persimmon on Danashiri giving up."

 

Eunuch Baek smiles.  "It looks like you two are made for each other."

 

"How dare you?"  Emperor Toghon raises his hand and shouts.  "How can you say something so appalling?"

 

Eunuch Baek lowers his head.

 

"Just you wait.  Danashiri with her fiery temper will never complete her Empress to be training."  Emperor Toghon smirks.

 

He has no idea what he's getting into.

 

******

 

Danashiri abruptly sits up in her bed.  Now what?  "That miserable half-wit.  Do you dare to boss me?"

 

"Empress Dowager is here," Court Lady Yeom announces from outside her door.

 

Danashiri rolls her eyes and sighs.  With a rustle of her satin skirts, she rises as Empress Dowager enters the room.  Danashiri bows.  "The hour is late."

 

Empress Dowager eyes her room judgmentally.  Ah yes, Mother in Law side eye.  "It's not the slumber hour."

 

"And I had not retired yet," says Danashiri.

 

"I hear that the Empress training has been difficult for you."

 

Danashiri smirks.  "To be honest, it's not that easy."  

 

"The palace is different from your private home.  It has many rules.  It's even more true for an Empress, the Mother of the Empire.  That is why it's so difficult."

 

"In that case," says Danashiri, "I can just change the rules of the Inner Court."

 

Empress Dowager's face drops.

 

"Aren't you the one who made the Inner Court rules, Empress Dowager?"

 

Shit.

 

"When I become the owner of this palace," Danashiri continues, "I will be changing the rules anyway."  She smirks at the Empress Dowager.  Love Danashiri, or hate Danashiri, one must give her credit for not allowing her mother in law to push her around.

 

Empress Dowager smiles.  "Please don't misunderstand.  This isn't personal."

 

Danashiri smiles smugly.  Even though she grew up in a house full of boys, she is fluent in the mean girl language.  You picked this fight first.

 

"Rest well," says Empress Dowager.

 

As she walks away, Danashiri adds, "Please go safely on your way, Empress Dowager."  After she leaves, Danashiri says, "You think I will give up?  Let me give you a taste of something hot later."

 

***********

 

"So insolent," Empress Dowager grumbles as she heads back to her quarters.  "I think we must prepare that item," she tells Court Lady Yeom.

 

"Do you mean...that, then?"  Court Lady Yeom asks.  She bows.  "I understand, Empress Dowager."

 

"As to what a veiled, hostile place the Inner Court truly is, we must teach her well."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emperor Toghon and Danashiri are strolling through the Imperial flower garden.

 

"You look even more beautiful today," says Emperor Toghon.

 

Danashiri blushes and laughs.  "Actually, my face is swollen since I didn't sleep well last night."

 

"Is that so?  But to me, you are far more beautiful than these flowers."

 

Danashiri smiles.  Looks like he's really fallen for me.. "But, I don't really like this flower garden.  The landscaping and the planted flowers.  They're not very aesthetically pleasing."

 

"It was created personally by my late mother."

 

Goddamnit..."I apologize," Danashiri lowers her head.  Me and my big mouth..."I was rude."

 

"It's fine.  I don't really like this flower garden, actually."

 

Danashiri smiles.  "May I ask you one thing?"

 

"Please, go ahead."

 

Danashiri coyly walks ahead.  "You must answer truthfully."

 

"I never lie," Emperor Toghon lies.

 

"Do you really..." She turns to face him, "want this humble consort to be your Empress?"

 

"I have never imagined anyone else becoming my Empress," he lies again.

 

"Then, please listen to my conditions."

 

"Of course, I must."

 

"I'll bring my own people into my quarters."

 

"That, you cannot do," Eunuch Baek interjects.

 

Danashiri looks at him sharply.  Who the fuck are you?

 

Emperor Toghon smiles.  "Fine.  What else?"

 

"Whenever you come to see me, you must ask me first."

 

"I will allow that.  Any other requests?"

 

"I would like...a proper proposal from you."

 

"Proposal...what would you like me to do?"

 

"I really love flowers.  Please make me a coronet of precious flowers."

 

"Fine.  I will do so."

 

"I will take my leave now, Your Majesty."  Danashiri bows.

 

After she leaves with her entourage, Emperor Toghon looks to Eunuch Baek and says, "Pull out every flower in the Imperial Palace."

 

"Huh?"  Eunuch Baek asks, as he was apparently also taken in by Emperor Toghon's blatant lies.

 

"She says she likes flowers.  Get rid of them all."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toqto'a and Bayan are riding through the forest, ready to meet their doom.

 

"Without giving us a single soldier, he tells us to go fight on the front lines, and defend the frontier," Bayan says bitterly.  "This isn't even a demotion.  How is this different from an exile?"

 

"But it's a relief that we have preserved our lives," Toqto'a points out.

 

Bayan growls in frustration.  "I chose the wrong faction to support.  If I had known this would happen, I would have beheaded the Emperor on Daecheong Island, and won merit from the Prime Minister."

 

"Uncle, we have a long road to travel ahead of us."

 

"Eh!"  Bayan yells to his horse.

 

Toqto'a watches his uncle gallop several yards ahead before spurring his horse forward.

 

*******

 

"The tributes have all been burned up," Talahai says in the main ger.  "We need a plan, don't we?"

 

"This is all because of that deposed King, that bastard," says an angry and emasculated Tanqishi.  "We can pin all the crimes on him."

 

"That's dangerous," Talahai interjects.  "As long as the father of the deposed King has been reinstalled..."

 

Tanqishi slaps the table and stands up.  He was supposed to be getting laid last night, but he was cock blocked, and now he's in the worst of moods.

 

"There isn't any way," says Wang Go.

 

"Do you have a good idea?"  Tanqishi asks irritably.  If his father finds out he was lax about managing the encampment due to wanting a piece of ass, he's a dead man walking.

 

"I just received a letter from a messenger.  It says that General Bayan of Merkid was sent to clean up the Turkic Khaganate."

 

"Yes, what about it?"  Talahai asks impatiently.

 

"The best thing to do with a dangerous item is to get rid of it," Wang Go advises.

 

"So, we send the deposed King there?"  Tanqishi asks.  Maybe he will be getting laid tonight after all...

 

"I heard that it's a very dangerous and dilapidated place," Wang Go replies.  "So, if the deposed King does us a favor and dies there...won't that be what we all want?  We will tell Ji City that the deposed King had volunteered to go there in order to atone for his sins."

 

Talahai smirks.

 

Tanqishi slowly sits down.  "Sending the deposed King to his death..."  He slowly begins to smile.

 

********

 

The door to the ger where Wang Yoo and Seung Nyang are being held, swings open.  Talahai is the first to enter.  Neither Wang Yoo nor Seung Nyang feel good about this.

 

Byeong Soo and two Mongolian guards are right behind him.

 

"Drag the King out!"  Talahai commands.

 

"Yes!"  The guards bow and run up to Wang Yoo.

 

"Where are you taking him?"  Angry tears fall down Seung Nyang's face.

 

"He'll be taken to a place worse than hell and die," Talahai smirks.

 

"Take me, too.  I'll go with him!"  Seung Nyang insists.

 

"Don't worry, wench," says Byeong Soo.  "You will go to a place that's like hell."

 

Talahai smirks.

 

Wang Yoo holds on to her hand.  "Seung Nyang."

 

"No matter where we go," says Seung Nyang, "please, please do not die.  You must...You must survive, no matter what."

 

"I..." Wang Yoo says tearfully, "will come back to life because of you.  You must stay alive because of me.  This is a promise and an order, understand?"

 

"Yes," Seung Nyang tearfully replies.  "I will obey your orders, Sire."

 

"Hurry and untie them!"  Talahai barks.

 

Wang Yoo is untied first, and he holds on to Seung Nyang's hand for as long as he can before he is dragged away.  He looks back at her for as long as he can while they take him out of the ger.

 

"Your Majesty!"  Seung Nyang sobs.  "Your Majesty!"

 

"Seung Nyang!"  Wang Yoo yells from outside.

 

**********

 

Talahai, Byeong Soo, and Jo Cham drag Wang Yoo into the main ger to meet a waiting Tanqishi and Wang Go.

 

"From this moment on," says Tanqishi, "you will go on a long journey.  It might become the road to your afterlife."

 

"What are you going to do with Seung Nyang?"  Wang Yoo inquires.

 

"Why?"  Tanqishi asks.  "Does it whet your appetite to know she's a woman?"

 

Wang Yoo looks at him with rage.

 

"I'm going to take her as a slave and trample on her for life," Tanqishi says smugly.  He is sure he is getting some tonight.

 

Wang Yoo lunges forward, but Byeong Soo and Jo Cham grab him.

 

Talahai rams him in the back with the handle of his sword.  Wang Yoo doubles over in pain.

 

Tanqishi laughs. 

 

"If anything happens to Seung Nyang, you are all going to die," says Wang Yoo.

 

Tanqishi's smirk fades.  "Talahai, drag him away."

 

"I understand, Older Brother," Talahai bows.

 

***********

 

Tanqishi and Wang Go lead the procession of tributary women.  Seung Nyang has her wrists tied, and she's being lead by a guard on horseback.

 

"Move it!"

 

"Move!"

 

Seung Nyang's knees buckle, and she falls in the grass.  Most of her fighting spirit is dormant.  Tanqishi turns around, and his heart skips a beat as he sees her face down.  He momentarily wants to help her.

 

"What is it?" Wang Go asks.

 

"It's nothing."  Tanqishi shakes off his moment of compassion.

 

Wang Go looks back at Seung Nyang as she stumbles back up.

 

"Hurry it up!" Tanqishi yells.

 

"Yes!"  His men reply.

 

Wang Go eyes him suspiciously.  Am I going to have to dispose of Seung Nyang myself to keep everything going according to plan?

 

Seung Nyang is already finding her first 24 hours as a woman completely exhausting.

 

****************

 

Talahai and Byeong Soo are leading Wang Yoo and his entourage  to the Turkic Khaganate.  Wang Yoo is bound  and on horseback, while his friends' wrists are bound, and they are following him on foot.

 

"This isn't the way to Yeongyeong," Moo Song points out.

 

"We've been going west for three days," says Bul Hwa.

 

"Are they going to kill us?"  Jeom Bak asks.

 

"If they wanted us dead, would they have made us suffer like this?"  Eunuch Bang asks.

 

*************

 

Toqto'a and Bayan enter the ragtag military encampment in Turkic Country.

 

They ride their horses through the open gates, and see many listless guards strolling around like zombies.

 

"They're in military uniform, but they're no different from beggars," Bayan observes.  "Telling us to go to war with this gang of wretches.  It's like telling us to die."

 

"Something feels weird," says Toqto'a.

 

"What is it?"

 

"They look like a bag of bones.   Not only is there a lack of discipline, there are no weapons prepared for war."

 

Bayan scans the camp.  "You're right.  I'm sure there's a reason for this, other than losing the war."

 

"It seems like we have a great task ahead of us to make them into soldiers again," says Toqto'a.

 

Bayan sighs.

 

"General!"  A general and several guards approach them and kneel.  "Welcome, General Bayan."

 

"Welcome, General!" The guards chorus.  "Welcome, General!"

 

"Are you in charge here?"  Bayan asks.

 

"Yes, General," says the leader.  "You came from very far away.  We heard you were coming, so we prepared a liquor table."

 

Bayan tilts his head.  "Liquor table?"

 

"Please come into the command tent," says the leader.

 

 

...To be continued...