Zhystel

i think they were referring to king yeongjo's mother, royal noble consort sukbin who was a maid (lowest class) before she gained the favor of king sukjong.

it's just that he wants to guilt trip deokim because he prolly wouldn't have killed himself if she accepted his offer to leave together. i don't think he was saying it too seriously tho

it has been banned since king sukjong's era because of jang hui bin's controversy (who became a queen consort from concubine from court lady but was deposed because of her greed/her clan's greed). while for a servant's son, he still has royal blood because he's the son of king sukjong (he definitely did not had it easy tho). aside from that, yisan already had a crown princess ever since he was a child (tho they didnt show it) so the queen was already fixed.

if im not mistaken, it was only said that she suddenly died of a severe illness but was never specifically stated what it was

junho and seyoung said they cried a lot when they read the script and when rehearsing, the director cried so much on some scenes that she forgot so say cut. TRS nation are we ready?

i guess it's because i watched too many sageuks already?? im the opposite. i really appreciate how he has such few concubines HAHAHAHAHA when i finish watching a sageuk and would visit the king's wiki, they would usually have around 10 concubines and so many sons/daughters. it's the first time i've seen (out of the dramas ive watched) that the king has only 4 concubines, and only 1 son and daughter aside from the fl's (which was necessary to have a heir). comparing to other kings, you can clearly tell jeongjo really loved only deokim.

i think the reaction was more on her being a concubine, i don't know if they had a clue about their relationship tho

it's not like the whole drama is nonfiction. the rejections are one of the most important part and most highlighted part of their story- deokim rejecting the king many times and yisan having to wait for 15 years (which was already shortened a lot). imo it was necessary, but i wished we had more episodes of her being a concubine. and besides, what's the point of emphasizing her character as someone who firmly does not like to become a concubine if she'll accept the proposal easily

but the character she's portraying really did reject yisan many times. i heard king jeongjo (yisan) waited for 15 years for deokim. the story is actually already a compressed version of what happened in real life