Despite the new King's surprise at the news, it becomes clear that the Vice Premier will be the person who has the most power and control of the new reign. Yul bitterly resents his new position as the Crown Prince of Joseon. Ten years later, Yul has grown up to be a cold and unlikable Crown Prince. Due to the trauma of his past, Yul is also very smart and skilled in the martial arts. His father is now remarried to the new Queen who dislikes him and wants the Crown Prince title for her own son while he himself is married to Kim So-hye, who is Vice Premier Kim's daughter. Despite the marriage, Yul still longs for Yi-seo, even though he believes that Yi-seo was killed. This causes him to despise the Crown Princess and her father and his constant avoidance of consummating the marriage, despite the various schemes in place to ensure the consummation takes place. At the same time, a drought happens in Joseon and people begin to blame Yul and his refusal to consummate the marriage as the reason. Annoyed, Yul orders all the singles in the nation to be married off in a month to help alleviate the drought. While en route to a rain ritual, Yul and his followers are ambushed by assassins, and he is almost killed. His childhood friend and guardian Dong-joo, forces them to switch their garments, essentially luring the attackers away from Yul. Dong-joo is subsequently killed and falls into the river, even though the attackers did not get to see his face, thus believing that it is Yul. Meanwhile, Yul gets shot with an arrow on his chest while on the run, and accidentally knocks his head, becoming unconscious. When he wakes up, he has already lost his memory. Yi-seo, who managed to escape unscathed in the coup years ago, has been adopted by a commoner man and now lives undercover as a peasant girl named Hong-shim in Songjoo Village. It is her adoptive father who found the terribly wounded Yul and nurses him back to consciousness. The fate of her brother Seok-ha is unknown, as they separated after Seok-ha buried her under a stack of leaves and ran away to lure Cha-eon's people who were hunting them in the woods. Before separating, they promised to wait for each other at a bridge every 15th of the month. While Yi-seo goes to the bridge as promised without fail, it has been ten years since the separation and she is beginning to lose hope that her brother is still alive.