The crown prince died in “Under The Queen’s Umbrella,” and a game of power play began in the palace. The consorts are all eager to see who becomes the next crown prince. The noblemen of the palace, on the other hand, have been cornering the king. The rightful owner of the throne of the crown prince is his son, but as the crown princess suspected, the grand prince is being slow-poisoned.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did The Queen Agree To Taekhyeon?
The queen threatens the grand prince’s nursemaid to reveal who ordered her to poison the grand prince. The nursemaid cannot say a word because then her family would be in danger. She only tells the queen that those people are dangerous and the queen cannot stand up to them. The nursemaid dies without telling the truth. The queen dowager has been pushing the king to give his consent to Taekhyeon, for which they get into an argument. The king says to his mother that she cares more about the throne than her son.
Prince Seong Nam has been feeling guilty and confesses to the king that he had brought the medicines from the outside. The king tells him that the adults will take care of the matter and he shouldn’t get himself into this mess. Prince Seong Nam tells him that he wants to prove that the medicine didn’t kill the crown prince because he doesn’t want to live with the guilt. The king understands his feelings because he has been living with the guilt of seeing his brother die because of him. The king tells him to bring the evidence at the time of the interrogation.
Prince Seong Nam travels from one village to another to find master Toji but can’t find him anywhere. He was close to the master, but the master is now avoiding him purposely. Seong Nam couldn’t bring the evidence, and the chief councilor framed the queen as the culprit. However, the queen puts the blame on the crown princess, who brought the medicine. This changes everything, and the noblemen put forth the petition to depose the crown princess and execute her son. The king is not happy with what is happening in the palace, and neither is the queen.
The queen meets the chief councilor and the queen dowager late at night and tells them to demote the crown princess and her children to the commoner status because that is equal to punishment. In exchange, the queen gives her permission to hold Taekhyeon and also promises to step down as the queen if none of her sons becomes the crown prince. It is a good deal for the queen dowager and the chief councilor since it solves all of their problems easily.
The king wanted to end the Taekhyeon practice himself, but the queen told him that it was best for him too, because it would also prove that the king was worthy of being the crown prince and didn’t just get that position because he won the favor of the court officials. The king finally announces Taekhyeon, but he will hold a customized contest this time and will not go by the traditional method that favors the one close to the court officials. By the time the queen informs all the consorts about Taekhyeon, the contest has already begun.
The crown princess gets demoted, and the chief councilor makes sure that she and her children get killed on the same day, but the queen has other plans. She fools the royal guards and takes the crown princess to a safe house. She promises to bring them back soon. Prince Seong Nam has one more reason to become the crown prince. His mother had asked him if he could replace his brother, and he said that he was confident that he could. All of the princes get abducted and carried to a mountain where the first contest of Taekhyeon begins.
How Does The Queen Find The Bandit?
The princes have been given some tasks to do, which they have to complete within the given time. Their name plaques will be in the palace, and the last standing name will become the crown prince. Prince Seong Nam has practiced with the crown prince before and knows more techniques than others. All the consorts have started making moves to find out the format of the contest and how they can help their sons. The queen is worried that the prince might get hurt, but the king tells her that he has taken care of it.
After their initial tests, the princes are assigned the roles of police inspectors. They have to pick up a name plaque and find the person whose name is on it. The two people they need to find are Park Gyeongu and Seo Ham-deok. The court officials didn’t like it because those two were the people who opposed the king from becoming the crown prince. Elsewhere, consort Hwang, consort Ko, and consort Tae are busy making a plan to help their sons. Prince Uiseong makes the horses sick by adding a herb to their food. Most of the princes that came following him couldn’t get a horse and strayed away in search. Prince Seong Nam, however, takes a wild horse and tames it.
The queen has gathered all the consorts and has ordered them to do embroidery for the new crown prince. All of them know that this is only a trick to stop them from cheating and helping their sons. Prince Seong Nam gets attacked by a group of bandits in the forest, but thanks to the king’s hidden guards, he doesn’t get killed. The king sees the red arrowhead and recognizes the bandits. However, their leader has been killed. The king calls the chief councilor to talk about investigating it, but he gets brave and indirectly threatens the king to expose the truth behind crown prince Taein’s death.
The chief councilor had hired some bandits only to rob the princes and not to hurt them. Hence, the councilor is confused and asks his guards to find the sub-leader of the bandits. The queen has put her guards to tail the councilor’s guards, and she snatches away the subleader from them. Prince Uiseong has received help from his mother because the chief councilor has prepared everything for him. Prince Bo Geum and Prince Seong Nam have been looking for Park Gyeongru, and they find him at the same time.
‘Under The Queen’s Umbrella’ Episode 8 Ending
Park Gyeongru tells them that he is no use to the kingdom because he is blind, but Seong Nam is adamant about proving that he is not blind. He jumps off a cliff, and Gyeongru shouts at him. Seong Nam saves himself by hanging to a tree branch and gets three days of time from Gyeongru to convince him. They are in a beautiful seaside town, and Seong Nam has an unexpected encounter. Yoon Cheong Ah, who had been looking for him for many days, finally finds him and hugs him. She sends a letter to her father telling him that she has found a man she wants to marry.
The queen makes the subleader speak up, and he tells her that a woman had come in with a sketch of a person, but he didn’t see her face. However, he remembers that she wore a frog pin and smelled like peonies. The queen quickly guesses who that could be. She barges into the queen dowager’s quarters, and this time, she warns directly not to hurt her sons. It was the queen dowager’s court lady who met the leader of the bandits. Taekhyeon is a competition for power, and in “Under The Queen’s Umbrella,” the royals can go to any lengths to gain it.
See more: ‘Under The Queen’s Umbrella’ Episode 5 & 6: Recap And Ending: Who Poisoned The Crown Prince?
