Recap Korean Drama "The King’s Affection" Episode 14

Jul 13, 2022

– The King’s Affection episode 14 recap contains major spoilers –

Biting on his pride, Ji-un asks Seok-jo to get him a position in the palace – any position. Seok-jo initially refuses, saying that he does not belong in the palace because he can distinguish right from wrong and that will not work in the palace. However, Ji-un tells him that he will learn and insists that he help him, in The King’s Affection episode 14.

Consequently, Seok-jo asks Ki-jae to give Ji-un a position in the palace. Ki-jae is sceptical and says that he tried to flee with Yi-hwi, which is why he should have Ji-un punished. However, Seok-jo reminds him of his promise and asks him to reward him.

Meanwhile, Yi-hwi looks as morose as ever and on one of her walks, comes across Ji-un in The King’s Affection episode 14. The latter assures her that he will stay by her side for two months until her wounds are healed. Until then, they can both act as if they do not know each other. Meanwhile, new queen Ha-gyeong runs up to her father and she tells her that she is out to deliver a love letter to Yi-hwi. This conversation lets us know that she was picked by Ki-jae for the new King. The series has skipped through a lot of things, and I sad that I did not get to watch the royal wedding!

Anyway, Ha-gyeong’s father asks her to be confident since Ki-jae chose her personally and that Yi-hwi is definitely reading her letters over and over again. Receiving these words of encouragement from her father, Ha-gyeong goes off on her way but not before tripping once.

Meanwhile, there is a flood of appeals from people to impeach Ki-jae in The King’s Affection episode 14. Of course, these are valid things but Chief Royal Secretary Yang (previously Royal Tutor) turns a blind eye to them. Although his fellow colleagues point out the hypocrisy of his ways, he asks them to go back to their own jobs instead of trying to tell him what to do. Ji-un is trying a shell of his former self and everyone around him have noticed it as well.

Ji-un goes to meet Yi-hwi to tend to her wound. Considering she can’t take her clothes off in front of anyone else, even the royal physician does not know about her wound. Just as they are finishing up, Ha-gyeong rushes inside Yi-hwi’s quarters and bumps into Ji-un which causes him to drop everything, including the bloody rags. Poor thing is unaware of royal etiquettes and gets an earful from Lady Kim for her rash decisions.

After she gets permission to enter her quarter, in The King’s Affection episode 14, she gives her the love letter blushing bright red. Yi-hwi, too, feels a bit awkward and promises to read it. Ha-gyeong then tells her that the Royal Astronomical Bureau will soon pick an auspicious day for them to start spending their night together.

On the flip side of this conversation, Bok-dong and Jaeun are speaking to one of the people from the Astronomical Bureau who tell them that Ki-jae has been after them to announce a date. Well, that and some good amount of bribery. The guy runs off from the threatening duo and run into Ki-jae who tells him to pick a date by the end of the day.

Later on, in The King’s Affection episode 14, Ki-jae seems to talk over Yi-hwi in every palace decision, making her and everyone in court uncomfortable. After the session, Ki-jae apologises for his rash decision and tells her that he had to take matters into his own hands since the problem required a quick solution. He asks Yi-hwi to concentrate on producing an heir and leave these decisions to him.

Lady Kim delivers the date of their night together to an excited Ha-gyeong, in The King’s Affection episode 14, which turns out to be that day itself. She is over the moon but Lady Kim is extremely scared for Yi-hwi and asks her to make any excuse. However, she declines and sets off to the Queen’s quarters. On her way, she meets Ji-un and it’s a heartbreaking and awkward encounter between the two.

Once together, Ha-gyeong is a nervous wreck and Yi-hwi asks her how long she has been waiting for this day, in The King’s Affection episode 14. Unfortunately for the innocent Ha-gyeong, who wants nothing but to love her husband and have children with him, Yi-hwi tells her that they will not be officiating their marriage and not will sleep together. However, for the rest of the world, they will appear to be a normal couple. My heart breaks for Ha-gyeong. She had nothing to do with this mess, yet is forced into a loveless relationship that has no real solution or end.

Reminiscing about the gift that he bought Yi-hwi when they were on the run, Ji-un gets a surprise visitor in the form of Soek-jo. The latter asks him about Yi-hwi’s wound and whether he has been treating it. However, Ji-un tells her that he has not and that maybe it wasn’t deep enough to require continued treatment. Seok-jo leaves but is rather sceptical of his son’s excuse.

The next day, in The King’s Affection episode 14, Lady Kim asks Yi-hwi why she didn’t lie to the Queen. She tells her that Ha-gyeong’s affection for her is sincere and she truly does love her. So, he cannot just lie to her since it’s not right. On her way to meet Grand Queen Dowager, Bok-dong asks Lady Kim where Ga-on is and we see him in the next scene looking into the curious suicide of the Royal Eunuch of King Hyejong.

Anyway, Yi-hwi and Ha-gyeong are under pressure from every quarter to produce an heir, one that is difficult to produce, considering the circumstances. Although they ignore Dowager’s words, the looming predicament of having a baby looms over the young couple.

That night, in The King’s Affection episode 14, Ji-un sees Yi-hwi and Bok-dong slip out of the palace and follows suit. Yi-hwi secretly meets Hyeong-seol and asks him about Yeoyeon. He tells her that Ki-jae has been transporting weapons using cargo ships. She surmises that he must’ve been using the Minister of Taxation and promises to look into it. However, he asks her to be very careful although she tells him that he will not see it coming. Ji-un overhears all of their conversations and right on time snatches her so that she is not discovered by the patrolling guards.

After they leave, in The King’s Affection episode 14, Ji-un asks Yi-hwi to go with him to her quarters to tend to her wound. The wound in question is almost healed and Ji-un tells her that it will not leave scars. As his work gets done, Ji-un takes her leave but tells her to not get hurt anymore. Lady Kim also thanks Ji-un and with one last longing look, he leaves but comes across Jaeun.

Jaeun tells Ji-un that he is thankful that he is tending to Yi-hwi’s wounds since he is the only person that he can trust. He also tells him about his feelings for her, a heartfelt little monologue about keeping his feelings private so that she did not get hurt in any way. He asks him to do the same since if Yi-hwi got hurt, he’d lose his mind.

After this emotionally charged conversation, Ji-un finds Yi-hwi strolling outside and is in a rather pensive mood. The next day, in The King’s Affection episode 14, Yi-hwi comes across a ledger that proves the amount of rice being loaded on the cargo ships is inconsistent. However, this was actually Ji-un’s plan, who had overheard this plan previously. Yi-hwi overhears Ji-un’s conversation with the Royal Tutor and realises that he had stolen the ledger, not the tutor.

That night, Yi-hwi, out on a walk, finds the lanterns down the palace path lit and finds Ji-un lighting them in The King’s Affection episode 14. When she asks him why he was lighting the candles, he tells her that he didn’t want her to fall and get hurt, since she always chooses the difficult paths. Yi-hwi tells Ji-un that her wound has completely healed – the two look at each other sadly as the realisation sets in.

She asks him to stay at the palace for a while longer if he wants to since she wants to spend some more time with him. Ji-un hugs her and thanks her for saying it since he has been waiting for this for a long time. Seok-jo, watching this unfold, is finally able to solve the puzzle regarding Yi-hwi’s real identity as the two lovers kiss each other.

Final Thoughts: The King’s Affection episode 14

The King’s Affection episode 14 continues to be a thrilling and rather emotional episode. First and foremost, the heir thing will be a difficult thing to produce without an outside intervention of some sort. Even if that was possible, I am a little scared for poor Ha-gyeong. She deserves none of what she is getting from her husband and the moment she can’t produce babies people will tend to blame her or even kill her.