Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Cheoljong tries to discover how much the queen knows about his secret life, while Bong-hwan now recognises him as the attacker from the alley. Their private conversation becomes a contest over what each will reveal. Bong-hwan accuses the king of targeting someone weaker than himself. That response unsettles Cheoljong, who cannot decide whether this strange queen is a clever opponent or someone very different from the woman he thought he knew.
The struggle over So-yong's fall into the lake grows more dangerous as the Kim family looks for someone to blame. Hwa-jin's attendant O-wol is taken and pressured into a false confession, giving the accusation against Hwa-jin a human cost. Cheoljong tries to protect the woman he loves, while others use the investigation to attack the rival family. Bong-hwan is caught inside a dispute over events that happened before he entered So-yong's body.
Hwa-jin offers herself up by admitting that she pushed the queen, and Cheoljong intervenes to defend her. His determination to stand before a sword draws Bong-hwan into the confrontation. Unwilling to watch him command everyone's admiration, Bong-hwan announces that the queen entered the lake to end her own life. The declaration interrupts the attempt to punish Hwa-jin, but makes So-yong's despair a matter for the entire court.