Summary:

Wang Yo would no longer tolerate her obliviousness to her own power, and decides to enlighten her. When Hae Soo comes to realize, that for all of Wang Yo's unforgivable sins, he was merely surviving….. everything she had thought she knew about him changed.

Setting:

Moon Lovers SHR Episode 17, in the room with Hae Soo and Wang Yo, right before his death, during the coup by Wang So.

Disclaimer:

I do not own SHR. This is a superimposed imagined moment upon the original story line. I gain nothing from this fan fiction.

Revelation: A Monarch's Final Moments

It was not a good day. Wang Yo's mind kept reviewing the events of the night before. He was not so unhinged that his mind would start hallucinating such visuals. Doors opening and windows rattling had never occurred before. There was no one beside him that night to confirm it did not happen; that it was not real.

Was it possible, given what Woo Hee had revealed, that it had been something more Intentional?- More the doing of men than mind?

Unlikely….how would such an act be pulled off?

However he could not simply assume. Anything was possible now that he knew Wang So would move to capture the throne. It was possible that So had likely heard of his ill health, and decided to make a move to weaken him further and start his coup.

The likelihood of his sharp mind's gut instinct being wrong were rare. Like a tenacious dog, it circled around Woo Hee's revelations and last night's occurrence. Something about the whole episode and its end result didn't sit right with Yo. Something was at work.

Of course, that did not take away from the success of what-ever it had been, divine or more human in the making. He had suffered another attack, and lain unconscious for the night. He had only regained consciousness that morning, and knew his end was swiftly approaching. Wook apparently had gone to see his uncle, and while others may not realize it, Yo had immediately known that Wook would soon vie for the throne if his health deteriorated further.

Even now, while he hid it from others, he was aware that he was dying. In fact, he had had Hae Soo scurry about all morning due to his incapacity. However, dismissing her had been a mistake. His chest pains were recurrent; clenching tighter and tighter for several minutes…. coiling the pressure to a sense of dread, before suddenly fully releasing and allowing him several moments of respite before the cycle repeated - in an ominous pattern. He was drenched in sweat, with a diaphoresis that wet his night-cloths. It was the type seen among those who were near death's door. His once perfect skin looked grayish and sallow.

A wry smile curved his lips. He felt awful, and was likely going to pass away sooner than anyone realized. At this moment, he was very self-aware of the fact that he may not make it through the day. It was with an odd sort of acceptance that he acknowledged that on such a day, he only wanted one thing.

There was only one thing within the palace that gave him any sense of relief or serenity; her face swam through his mind. At this moment, there was only one person he wished to see, and spend his days with. Gathering a bit of his energy, with effort Yo rang for the Eunuch outside to send a message to Damiwon…..he, like his father and brother before him, would spend his last days with Hae Soo.

XXX

Sitting up in his bed, he watched as several minutes later his room doors opened. He had been awaiting her eagerly, truly looking forward to her visit; as enforced as it was. However, as he watched her scurry in with a never before seen nervous shuffle to hurried footsteps and a clumsy trip, he became hyperaware.

Something is wrong, his mind whispered.

He watched her go to the tea hutch, and stared ahead as he heard the stunning atypical clatter of bone china ungracefully clattering together.

Something was causing her anxiety, and likely it pertained to him, he again noted.

He felt a sense of disbelief, as he watched her bring the tray and put it down, struggling to even pour him his tea, as her hands shook and trembled.

Was it possible that some idiot had thought she would be capable of poisoning his tea? - Yo wondered to himself, as he watched her pour more than half the tea outside the cup.

No one who actually knew Hae Soo would consider having her knowingly attempt regicide. The woman was transparent and honest, without a single cruel bone in her body. The greater mystery was that she would have agreed to participate in such a plan. The Hae Soo that Yo had come to know would not have accepted knowingly to do such a thing.

Had she willingly and knowingly gone along with such a plan? - He pondered, as he watched her eyes skirt away from meeting his….fingers trembling to the point he knew the risk of the tea pot falling were high.

Given whom he knew Hae Soo to be, it was not possible.

The only one who could have convinced her was Wang So (- if even that was possible; Wang Yo did not think so). If Wang So had actually thought to use Hae Soo for such a role, then he (Yo) had given his brother more credit regarding his mental shrewdness than he should have, Yo mused.

As an odd combination of resigned apathy and anger mixed within his chest, he watched her struggle with the guilt of whatever it was that she knew. She was incapable of killing a fly knowingly, Yo confirmed, as his narrowed eyes took in the telling trembling and shaking hands and her quivering form as she tried to hand him the tea cup. He had never seen a more pathetic attempt at murder. The only thing that could be more obvious would have been for her to announce his tea was poisoned as she fed it to him.

Suddenly an angry resentment that had been brewing for some time now, suppressed to a dark corner of his heart, burst through his chest; at the thought that she would have accepted such a deceptive method to do him away - even if it had been ordered by Wang So. Though he did not think Hae Soo held any extra affection for him (Yo), he had felt that through the years, this woman had likely come to understand and know him better than anyone else within the palace. He had promised not to harm her, and had held to that promise well. Hurt he had, but truly harm?-He had not. He had come to feel she had understood that of him well. He had not thought she would personally ever accept to partake in his death unless he had attempted fratricide again.

Also……. Yo felt that he warranted a better attempt at his life than this…..it was seriously insulting his sense of self. If Wang So thought this was acceptable, Yo would have to enlighten him.

Did he not deserve a more fitting end?

Recalling how Mu had died before his eyes, and his sodden corpse left to rot in Damiwon, Yo felt the crushing guilty acknowledgement within him confirm that perhaps he did not.

Watching her hold out his cup with trembling hands, Yo could feel the blood pound through his vessels, as he realized that he may have to address Hae Soo's third regicide charge… and that he did not want to. Just the thought that she had been sent to kill him, spiked his anxiety and his mind shied away contemplating the edict he'd have to be responsible for if she was really currently involved in an assassination attempt upon him.

At the mere thought, tightness built behind his left chest zinging up into his neck and left jaw. Yo grit his teeth together and struggled to overcome the dreaded chest pressure and the associated diaphoresis that had beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. Luckily they were alone. He had not wanted even the Royal Eunuchs inside to watch his moments with her. Apparently he would not be gifted serenity with her presence today.

Feeling drained of any energy he had had earlier when he had awaited her, he lifelessly swatted her hand away, unemotionally watching the china cup crash to the floor.

"You….What are you hiding from me?" He put his head down, momentarily suppressing a sudden unusual sense of despair that threatened to overcome his as he contemplated the possibility of this woman actually truly trying to kill him.

"Did you poison the tea or something?" he rasped out.

Yo felt like he has having an odd out of body experience where he was watching the scene, with half of him enraged while the other half of him remained detachedly calm; knowing her to be better than what his mind was thinking at this moment.

He watched her stunned surprise, as she stammered out her sincere denial, obviously shocked he would think her capable of something like that.

So she had likely not poisoned the tea

Yo didn't think twice that he had automatically trusted her based on only her word. In his mind, Hae Soo was someone he knew would never poison, harm, hurt or kill willingly. If for some reason she had to do so and was caught he knew in his heart that she would never lie, and would have admitted to it bravely along with her reasons. Yo felt a sense of relief for a moment, but it quickly died, as he realized something was still not right.

His mind whirled furiously as it tried to logically reason where her anxiety was stemming from…..

It would have to be something to do with the throne, since she was reacting to his (Yo's) presence. Was he in danger?

Looking back at her, and her glowing visage and innocent eyes, he knew she was not his executioner, but he also was aware that she apparently knew something she should not. This woman could not kill her own tormenter without such a reaction…..he knew. And yet, apparently in a choice between his life and the throne, she had chosen against him. This much was clear. He could see her anxiety and guilt in every quiver and shake of her trembling form and wide innocent eyes. As he watched her, he became aware of his own intense emotions towards her, in this moment.

Watching her quivering form and palpable anxiety and guilt at whatever it was she had done to him, his mind wondered: Was she really so pure? ; Truly that innocent at heart?

Somewhere within him apparently he knew the answer was an emphatic yes, and yet, his shrewd mind had to wonder, especially now that she had apparently made a choice against him.

He wondered if it was possible she was all a pretense? Given her personality it was unlikely…but how could one not see and know the effects they had upon such powerful and important outcomes? Was it really true that Hae Soo had no inkling- no idea -of the effect she had had upon his world?

It suddenly angered him that she could be so obtuse…. So unaware of her effect. Her effects had rocked his stable world to the point that he had found himself floundering to survive each time her powers changed the rules of the game.

He suddenly felt winded, as a slight increased tightness pervaded his chest, as his anger at her came to the forefront. He coughed twice to clear his breath.

"Now that I am in this state and have given it some thought….."he began, deciding to voice his resentment; Aware he had to get this off his chest, and enlighten her to her own effect. He turned his head to look her straight in the eyes. "Everything started with you." He finished.

She had been looking down as he had began speaking, but with his final statement, he watched as her body took on a different tremble as her head jerked and moved up , as her bewildered gaze came to meet his. There was complete innocence within her eyes, but an odd underlying fear as if she was suddenly realizing something .

"Pardon me?" she stammered, her guileless gaze clear of any guilt of knowledge or understanding.

She had not known…..

The fact simultaneously enraged and reassured him. But how dare she not know? He suddenly wished for her to be acquainted with the knowledge of his burden and of his all consuming guilt; for they were the end results of his actions to overcome her effects on his world. How could her conscience be so clear, while he struggled so with his own.

Bitterness swept through his veins. He would not be able to leave this world without truly hashing this out with her, even if it tore apart her innocence and saddled her with a guilt that even he had not been able to handle. But Yo was aware that he was not a kind man.

"Moo , Eun, and Eun's wife. Even King Taejo," he bit out through clenched jaw, watching her tremble as a new fear lit behind her eyes, as she awaited his revelation. "All of those dead people are bothering me." His gaze bore into her, and he could feel the weight and trauma his next sentence would have upon her, and yet could not stop himself from spewing them. If he and Hae Soo did not have this out, he would die to haunt the palace for eternity. It would bother his eternal rest that much.

"It is all your fault. I made the decision to kill my brothers and become king….." He looked up to see the impact his words would have upon her, "All because you helped So cover up his scar and take my seat."

Bitterness, regret and anger mingled in his chest, a toxic concoction swirling within his blood. He watched her a bit more as the significance of what he said slammed into her, and a horror etch itself upon her visage that he had not seen since her comprehension of Wook's hand in Moo's death.

"Because he took what was rightfully mine…" he bit out, cutting himself off, as he heard the drums and gongs ring as the palace filled with the sounds of clashing swords and war-fare; the screams of terror and death that only could be heard in a political coupe. Yo would know better than anyone these sounds. He had led two of them himself. His gaze wondered, as he realized what had been bothering Hae Soo. Wang So had likely begun his move; Only So could have brought an army the size to contest the throne right now.

"Your Highness!" he heard his mother's anxious cry, as he noted Hae Soo inching away from him, and stop as the doors flung open and Queen Yoo, bustled in. "It's So!" she shouted out as she stood before him, "Wang So has raised a revolt!".

He watched his mother scuttle to his desk for paper and pen, as he rose from his bed. A sudden horrified final comprehension overcame him, as he watched her actions in this moment of truth, and heard her words. There was no anxiety on his behalf. No beseeching for him to hide or that she would stand in So's way. He watched as she came towards him with that paper and pen, and his remnant naive childish hope, that he had touched her with his filial love shattered. The lingering small hope that his mother's love, that thing from which all of his hopes had stemmed from, would be there shriveled and truly died. That sliver of hope that the significance of his life as Wang Yo, her son and nothing more, would mean more than merely the throne and its power to her was extinguished.

He felt like a strength less puppet as he felt her push him down to sit again, as she held the pen and paper up to him. "Write down that you will be abdicating the throne to Jung."

He felt surreal and shattered, as he watched his mother push the pen into his hand. Tidal waves of despair, regret and shattered love crashed over him. He felt as if he was watching his life from out of his body. "What?" he managed to get out.

"We cannot lose the throne." his mother's sincerity for the throne shone out in her words and face. "Hurry, Write down that Jung is to be the new king."

What small splinter of hope he had held shattered, opening up flood-gates of emotion he had held within him regarding his mother's love.

"Then we can plan for the future. Go on." His mother – No, Queen Yoo- shoved the paper and pen in his hand again.

He stared at the monster before him, whom he had truly loved, respected and protected. He knew before he even asked her, that unlike Hae Soo, nothing his mother would answer would allow him relief.

"Then…..what about me?" he softly and intensely asked, hoping his mother saw the last vestiges of love and hope for reciprocation in his gaze as he looked upon her. He watched as she she looked up surprised as if that had not even been a thought of consideration to her, until he had voiced it.

He felt the reality of that pierce him, as he finally faced the woman who had ruined him. "Am I even your son?" He could hear his voice crack. "What am I to you?" He was sniffling like a child, as tears filled his eyes. "Am I just something to sit upon the throne?" He wretched out his hand from hers, as he saw no softening nor concern fill those cold fox like eyes, which merely stared in surprised afterthought at him and his question.

"Do you no longer have any need for a son who isn't the king anymore?!" he cried, feeling the tears starting to flow. He watched his mother's face morph into concern finally, but his shrewd mind would not allow him to assume it was maternal love. No, Queen Yoo likely realized that in angering and shattering him thus, she would lose his cooperation to get Jung on the throne. He watched her, awaiting her lies, and greedy machinations- things he could no longer deny nor hide from. She was so foul, he wondered how his father had even born three children from her.

"Yo-yah. Don't be like this," she cajoled as she began. "Hand it over to Jung," she pleaded desperately.

He could no longer gaze upon the woman he had called mother and lived so filially for. He looked down to avoid her gaze , unable to even bear the sight of her anymore.

He looked down , taking a moment to compose himself from how much she had shattered him as a person in this moment of truth. He looked down, hoping despite all this, that in this last moment she would reach out, and hug him and say she would protect him, that nothing could happen to him when she was there.

Looking up finally dry eyed and less emotional, he helplessly and lifelessly looked to the side, as he stated. "I think I can understand So now. I can relate to how he feels."

Looking towards the door, he raised his voice to announce ,"Take the Queen Mother out of here!"

"Yo!" Queen Yoo shouted, as she realized her mistake. "Yo, Don't do this. Yo, Yo!" He heard his mother shouting at the guards heaved her out.

"Yo!" he heard her cry out. "Don't do this!"

He could only stare off up to the side so as to not watch this scene, and come to terms with his life's reality and his emotions. After-all, this was not his biggest issue. There was a rebellion within the palace walls, and it would only be a moment before it reached his door. He was in no form to fight, nor even to run or hide at this point, like he had in the past. It was all coming to a disastrous unraveling end.

From the corner of his gaze, he could see Hae Soo turn her head to watch Queen Yoo's enforced exit from his chambers. He watched as she turned with fear, to look at him, before she scuttled herself quietly to turn around and start for the door. She was well versed with his anger and rage, and likely wished to hastily exit after witnessing such a thing.

He had only wanted to spend the day basking in the calm and serenity of Hae Soo's care. It appeared he had asked for too much that he did not deserve, and that he would not get this peace today or ever again.

Shame filled him, as he was aware that Hae Soo had witnessed all this, and his ultimate shame.

Right now, when faced with Hae Soo's self sacrificing form, in contrast to his mother in every way, Yo found himself railing at the gods of fate. The throne would demolish any future for her and Wang So, but he knew, that if So wished to be king, Hae Soo would help him – even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness and safety for him. Wang So truly would have it all compared to him Yo. In an odd way, he was glad it would be So and not another. It would drive his mother mad.

He tossed the fine bone china tea cup towards Hae Soo , aiming for it to crash upon the floor before her. She stopped and slowly turned around, fear etched in every feature. Yes, he had done nothing to warrant any kindness from this woman, and yet he wished he elicited some respect from her.

He stood up, watching her agitated fear, as he advanced gracelessly towards her. He allowed a bitter hysterical laugh to chuckle out, as he moved towards her. "I knew that he would end up getting everything," he told her. When he saw that she feared his advancement , he stalled, looking down hopelessly. He would not be able to undo years of damage in a moment. There was however, a desperate hope to have her understand him, even if it was just a glimmer.

"What did I do that was so wrong?" he asked her, as he looked to the ground. He looked up to meet her eyes, as he confessed, " I was afraid that I would be thrown away also." She had understood Wang So's trauma of abandonment at his mother's hand. Would she come to comprehend his greatest fear as he grew up within that shadow and with the expectations upon him ? He hated that he could feel the tears pooling in his eyes, as he desperately explained to her, "I thought I would be cast off."

He took a desperate step towards her, wanting to ask her forgiveness, and understanding; Wanting to hear that she at least held some understanding for him, even if there was no affection, respect or friendship (like she had with his other siblings). The anxiety of making her know enough to understand him before it was too late consumed him. Suddenly he felt his heart clench like a vise. As if a hand had gone into his chest and clenched around his heart and throat. He felt himself sway and grunt as he withstood its efforts to take him down.

There was no more time….

Clenching his hand to his chest, vainly trying to pull off the vise that gripped him, he hastened to finish. "Mother said to me…She said I was complete and not lacking in anything." He stared at Hae Soo desperately trying to convey what no other soul knew. She fearfully looked back. He was unsure she understood anything he had said, or that she would even want to care to understand it.

Suddenly he realized that he would die today, and that in these final moments with the only soul on earth who unknowingly held his respect and some odd part of his heart, he was reducing himself into a teary, blathering weak man. Today he was out of character ; and he became aware that such behavior would lessen him in some way from the powerful assured man she had come to know. She had already seen the ugly reality of his life. From that deep sense of shame, now arose a bitter rage at fate and life. It found its focus in Hae Soo now. He had nothing to lose now. He refused to be shamed in her eyes any further…

He had explained the best he could, and he would not leave Hae Soo seeing him pathetic, whiney and desperate in his last moments with her. There was very little time, and one more thing to do. In his last moments with this amazing girl, he would allow his own actions to amaze her. First and Final impressions were everything. He was aware that Hae Soo was going to watch another King die today.

Today he would empower her to choose her future as well as the next king. If there was one person that both Wook and Wang So would not cut down or kill, it would be Hae Soo. Her future happiness, which he had wretched away from her, depended on whether Wang So or another was enthroned. If she chose the king, none of them could refute it. Infact, Wang So would be forced to stand behind her choice and protect it and her. Jung and Baek Ah who would have no chance if he chose them, would have a chance if she did.

He had spent much time turning her effect around in his head. She had been the factor to change everything in the beginning from the moment she had peeped on them in the royal baths…..

Hae Soo was not some ordinary girl. No, Hae Soo was the King maker. An entity so powerful, that she had crowned both him and his brother the Kings of Goreyo.….

Everything had hinged on her. Yo would debate it well with anyone who disagreed.

He built up his walls, and made himself revert to his norm, as he lashed out.

"It was all because of you," he turned to look at her. He had to force himself to remain in character with man he had always been to her. He would leave, being consistent to whom he had always been. It would serve his purpose much better this way.

"Because you got involved, you wench!" he moved towards her, pushing her down, as he stood glaring at her, clenching his teeth. It was not all an act and show, because it was partly how he truly felt as well. There had been a part of him that had always wished to confront her and shake her this way. It was why he had initiated the conversation prior to being interrupted.

He turned to trudge back towards his desk. Seeing the paper and pen Queen Yoo had dropped before, he bent to grasp them. The physical position he was in, along with the emotional turmoil of everything winded him suddenly. A fit of coughing overcame him and he felt a sense of doom close in upon him. There was very little time….but in one way, perhaps such a natural death would be a kindness to him in the end.

He began quickly writing up a Royal decree for naming the next crown prince. Looking up unseeingly, his back to her, he asked,"Who should I give the throne to?" He turned, looking at her once more, and his face softened. Gently yet firmly, he commanded, "Choose."

He watched her own hand tap her chest as if to dislodge something stuck .

"Jung? Wook?," he questioned. "Baek Ah, or" he felt his voice raise as he ended, "So?" Would she want that for him (So) despite it all? It angered him (Yo), on her behalf, since he was aware she would not hold it against So on her own. She would never aspire to think she could be a queen, and would have not wished for this. No, this was Wang So's enchantment and greed in response to the Throne's siren call.

"You're so great… Why don't you choose?" he felt an urgent hysteria take over his voice, as he watched her unable to respond to his order.

"Find the King Now!"- A voice shouted from outside his room.

It would all end quickly now.

Desperately and frantically he began writing at a speed he had never done before, completing the royal decree in record time. She had to help him fill in the name. She had to understand the implications it would have upon her future. He had to let her know. Another wave of pressure clenched within his chest- nearly causing him to faint. He forced himself to clench his jaw and bear it, as he stood and turned with the pen and edict in hand, desperately trying to catch his breath to give voice to his thoughts and guidance for her. It would be tricky but possible for her to somehow have what her own heart wished. But only if Wang So did not become king. He, Wang Yo was empowering her with that option.

But all he could do was gasp and desperately hold her gaze, hoping to convey this somehow. Fate had stolen his breath, and he felt another tighter vice slam down into his already tightened chest. It took him to his knees, before her. A fitting irony he would have appreciated any other time. He did not have enough voice nor breath to explain things. He would leave it to the Gods, who silenced him, to decide. He knew, Hae Soo would never choose for greedy or selfish reasons. No, Hae Soo; She would choose Heaven's will. There was nothing more he could do. He was grateful that he would likely die of his own health before her, than be imprisoned, or killed by another. It was one small leniency the heavens had allowed him, though he did not deserve it.

Looking straight into her eyes, he decided despite his prior thoughts, that he would end this- their final moment, with a single explanation to her.

"I was only trying to survive," he desperately voiced, as deaths hand clamped over him.

The Gods would not allow him to further speak. An ironic partial smile graced his lips as he realized he had never spoken much to this girl his whole life, and when he had finally wished to, there had been no more time. But while his regrets were many, ultimately Yo found peace in the fact that he was leaving with one person in the world, aware of what and who he truly was. No one, not even his wives, had such insight into his life.

Wang Yo departed life, gazing upon Hae Soo. In the end, it had been best that she be here now, by his side as he met his end. She was his king maker. She was a girl he had never realized true potential from. She was his greatest regret. He hoped he would have another life, in which he could right the wrongs he had done to her. A life where he could meet her and know her, yet somehow remember her as she was to him now- a most precious person... a fact none would ever come to know.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

(Just a small opinion regarding my take on SHR's deeper meanings. Its my own thought and not official in any way.)

I actually wrote this before the episode of his death came out, but could not publish it before then due to corrections. When I saw his death scene, I sort of felt validated. Though SHR does not detail them, Yo was moved by Hae Soo. This was the only scene in the series where it appears. Given his character the whole series, he was not a man (even in the clutches of death or end) to have given import to someone like her unless he realized her significance.

\^O^/

Also when you think of the series name, and its significance, you know they imply she moved all the Suns (Sons) AKA princes in the series.

To me the series Title of: Moon Lovers , and the link to the lunar eclipse is for the Asian association of future kings and princes as the Sun, while the moon signifies the influences of a beautiful and powerful woman.

Given this, as I watched the series, I was looking for and assumed that eventually Hae Soo would affect all the Suns (Sons of Taejo) and that they all would love the Moon (Hae Soo) in different emotional ways(hence the name Moon Lovers) , when Hae Soo for a brief moment affected their world (like the moon does for a moment during an Eclipse- where it can hide the whole Sun). In the moment of an eclipse, the Sun's effect is completely influenced by the Moon (from the standpoint of Earth), but it is only a short while that the Moon can Reign with such an effect, after which the Sun alone reigns the solar system, and the moon is not even seen to be near the sun or influence it. It is in another place entirely unrelated to the Sun outside of that one event where their paths cross. Much like Hae Soo and the princes.

Therefore, the princes or Suns/ Sons would find some form of emotion/love/appreciation for Hae Soo in the moment when she affected their lives.
If you look at it that way:
To Eun she was a First Love
To Jung she was a One sided Love and a sacrificial love
To Wook she was a destructive Love
To So she was an empowering love and life long love/ soul mate
To Baek Ah she was a sisterly/ friendship love
To Won she was a point of manipulative emotion or a love to manipulate (I hesitate to use love as they did not do well to portray that in the series...)

To Yo- I believe he was more aware of her influence than any other prince. ( I think only Taejo saw more than Yo when analyzing her effect.)
To Yo, Hae Soo was an love of power; She was to him a controlling entity that was a source of influence and thus power. It led him to both be in awe and angered with her about her effect on things. I believe he was fascinated by her, enthralled by her ability and power, and her remaining true to her moral codes. He may not have liked its effects on his own life, and may have been enraged by her effect... but he did not hate her despite this.

He did not punish her for Eun's hiding... it was interesting to me that he would not, if he was true to his portrayed merely cruel character. There were many more instances. He was one most amused by her antics (be it her fight with Eun or the Whipping punishment, or her treating Mu and when she gave Wook the Emoji-con response... and yet their thoughts on each other were the least explained in SHR.

Yo liked women of influence and back bone (I think a Mommy effect). It was likely why in SHR that Yeon Hwa held an attraction for him initially. But Hae Soo's backbone, influence and internal strength were more powerful than Yeon Hwa. I would like to believe that he was astute enough to see that. I believe that point along with her power to affect his world likely led him to have some strong love-hate emotions regarding her. In the end, I felt they rushed to explain this with the one death scene in SHR.

I agree and also felt that while he was selfish and self-centered, his personality and goals were groomed from childhood by a mother who was less than ideal. He would have had the choice to fail her expectations and be cast aside (much like he had seen happen to So ), or accept his mother's goals and expectations as his own to become a beloved son. Yes it is a form of survival. He only ever wanted to get Mu out of the throne- until the rain ritual mistake, in which he was educated by his mother that he must tear out throats to get where she wanted him to be. That and the first failed Coup led him to consolidate mentally that he would do whatever it took to get the throne. I do feel we would all do what it takes to survive.

Had Yo been really only cruel and ruthless to a point of evil, he would not have suffered for Eun's death and would have punished Hae Soo for hiding him. He would not have been hurt nor influenced as he was by his mother's lack of love, nor wasted time to reassured Hae Soo he would not kill her, or have allowed her that final discussion before he died - where he left her the power of choosing the future king.

Unfortunately SHR did poor writing and editing in telling their story- and therefore we all turn to fanfiction to fill in our needs!

Thank you all for reading. Please try to take a moment to give me your feed-back. Even a single word.

Sesh.