Daldajang

Declining to confess out of fear of losing a friendship (or settling for an unsatisfying short-term "trophy" relationship), are entirely typical reasons which anyone might choose. Considering the obligation imposed on him to perpetuate the role by his "Min political family", I find it reasonable that these external pressures were sufficient so he never even made his own choice in the matter. Until the prince reminded him that yes, he did have a choice.

Unrequited love can be one of the most enduring pains people experience. This helps explain why the theme of confessing one's feelings has such a strong presence in K-dramas, and is so well-received.

What makes Jeong U's situation especially thorny is the absolute line preventing him from ever daring to confess to Hui Ju because of his families expectations for him, his own ambitions, and her lowly social status as a commoner. The simple fact is, he would never have risked exposing his feelings towards her had the grand prince not done so first. He would have kept them bottled up forever, sadly but successfully. But when his friend opened that forbidden door, all his pent-up emotions became unleashed. And now he gets to deal with what all that entails…

delete this pls

"Chekov's legal document" is a rule among scriptwriters which stipulates that if a marriage contract makes an appearance early in a drama, it will resurface by the end of the series with tragic ramifications.

Someone could have accessed the contract prior to it being placed in the safe

I guess a pinky-swear-finger-stamp seemed too casual?

What is certain is that we are all supposed to think that! The production made sure of it when they cast that particular actor in the role, and styled him to resemble his most famous & instantly recognizable villain character.

The titanic homage wasn't cheap. It foreshadows FL's HEA—when she becomes Queen of the World!

I also agree

IMO:
1. The PM knows he won't get what he wants should he try to intercede directly, so his strategy is to await the aftermath to pick up the pieces (so to speak).
2. He is an egocentric chaebol CEO. Any attack against his property is an attack against himself. Only he can abuse FL. Not the grand prince or anyone.
3. She was overly wound up since the beginning and now she is beginning to unravel!

The king is playing chess. He merely sacrificed a piece to lure him into an anticipated course of action.

Yun Seong Won, but everyone here has been calling him Jin Mu for obvious reasons.

I think he sees her as his property; as an extension & reflection of himself. Any feelings like caring for his daughter are weakness which others could use against him, and must be extinguished.

That would be a hoot!

"Lost Orphaned Royalty" is an established trope.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LostOrphanedRoyalty

KJG had cameos in eps 2, 4, & 6. She appeared as an acquaintance of the FL's brother's wife (both of them from noble families), in the palace when she was with the queen dowager to meet the grand prince about their arranged marriage (which was called off when ML chose FL as his bride), and again with the SIL in front of the FL's father's building.

This is what I believe. Our grand prince is smarter than he looks!

I dislike when characters are made to act stupidly just to move the plot along. I want them to be smarter, to outwit their foes due to their own abilities, not just by luck or fate or as a result of interventions from others.

The king grew up in the palace of intrigue. He should know how to play his opponnents off of each other and ensure his advantage—otherwise he does not deserve to win!

Only 167 hours until ep 9!

Someone may have photographed the contract from when it was laying out, before it was stored in the safe.

Yoo Ji Won is just some previously-unpublished writer whose script just happened to win the MBC 2022 writing competition grand prize (out of 997 submissions), and which also secured Disney's interest to collaborate on its production. Maybe she made a deal with My Demon? Or perhaps she actually wrote a decent script, earning accolades and approval from industry professionals!