King George released a royal edict. The instructions were given to the sheriff to arrest the Minister of defence and all other corrupted officials.
The sheriff and his authorities retracted the military seal from the minister of defence, Lord Li. They confiscated his properties and sealed his manor.
Lord Li got shocked when he realized the king instructed the officials to arrest him. He wanted to meet the king but it was denied. He was sentenced to flogging.
The sun glared out of a clear blue sky.
In the hall yard, an authority is flogging Lord Li. Julia watched and sobbed from the corner. She saw the vein in his neck bulged and spitting blood. It seems like he could not bear the pain. He died on the spot.
Julia ran down the hall yard towards her father. She lifted the lifeless body and screamed for help. "Please get a physician quickly!"
Her heart filled with sorrow, her eyes filled with tears. Her father died brutally in front of her eyes, she was abused by her mother in law, her husband got deposed by the king, and she got demoted from noble to slave.
She begged her nanny to inform her uncle, General Li about the news of her father passing away. General Li is the grand marshall of Shilla and blood brother to Lord Li. They have been very close to each other since they were children.
Despite being demoted, Nanny Li continued to serve Julia. Nanny Li quickly travels to the main military camp to meet General Li.
When she arrived at the military camp's reception, she requested to meet General Li. They bring her to the tent, where General Li was drinking and laughing with his captains and troops.
Seeing his happy face, she began to tremble. General Li saw Nanny, he gasped in surprise. He wondered what brought her here.
Nanny looked at General Li. Her face was gloomy. General Li walked towards her and asked, "Nanny, what are you doing here?"
She plucked up her courage to tell General Li about his brother's death. She broke down in tears when she explained to him about the series of tragedies Lord Li and Julia had gone through.
General Li stood frozen and got into his horse. He rushed to meet Julia.
Julia is sitting next to her father, dressing in white to mourn.
General Li collapsed to the ground when he saw the lifeless body of the former Minister of defence. He crawled slowly towards his body with tears pouring down his cheeks.
He gave a pitiful look towards Julia, felt obligated to look after her since he is the only family member to her now. General Li found out the news about the king demoting Julia into a slave. He planned to protest against the king.
Several ministers, who have friendship with the former minister of defence, drop by at the funeral. They told General Li that it was Prince Liam who made the Li Clan upside down.
For time being, he wished to pay attention to the funeral.
The troops, the villagers, ministers gathered at the funeral. They were grieving in tears. Despite the punishment against the former minister of defence, he has an excellent reputation. Commoners are respecting him because had always been helping anyone in need.
After the funeral, General Li requested the king for an audience. The king refused to meet him. He went on a rampage. He gathered his troops. The troops supported him even though the king had retracted the military seal from the Li Clan.
They ambushed the Imperial Palace. Several courtiers rushed to the King's study room to notify about the act of rebellion from General Li.
"Your majesty, I think you should meet General Li. Their troops supported him even though he was not holding the military seal." The eunuch said.
King George freak out completely, thinking that General Li will attack the palace, he quickly asked his attendant to summon General Li.
General Li barged into the palace to meet King George. "You pathetic king! Explain to me, what has my brother done? What has Julia done wrong"
King George cast his eyes down, "I have stripped the title from Julia because Noel is not my biological son. The former Minister of defence is an associate to the former queen."
General Li doesn't like the response from the king, "From generation to generation, our clans have contributed to the countries. We fought for the country while the royal family were hiding. Many of my ancestors came home with broken legs or broken hands, some of them sacrificed at war. Have you forgotten our merits?"
"I acknowledge your family has contributed to the country. Have you forgotten? We have been rewarding your family every year. A country has a law system, we need to punish anyone who commits a crime, there is no exception for the king," King George said.
King George summoned Prince Liam, he requested him to bring along the evidence to show it to the wrathful general.
Olena appeared in the king's study room. She greeted both the general and the king respectfully and handed over the evidence to General Li.
General Li flipped through the ledger, he shook his head and laughed, "Utter Rubbish! Have you been verifying the documents? Are you sure this ledger is authentic? We are keeping the original copy!"
Olena and King Liam both looked at General Li in shock. Olena had a bad feeling the moment he mentioned he had the original copy.
General Li instructed his financial officer to bring the original copy and show it to the king.
She agreed with the verification part. They should verify the documents, which she has overlooked. "We have a witness! I will get him to explain it to you."
Olena requested the attendant to meet Mori to pass him the message.
They waited for the bodyguard to appear after a long time waiting; he did not appear. The other way round, Mori strides forward.
Mori greeted everyone with respect, "I am sorry to inform you that the bodyguard you wished to meet has committed suicide."
The king and Olena were deeply shocked by the news.
Mori continued to speak, "Before he died, he killed the physician we were trying to protect."
General Li slammed the table, "Is this a joke?!"
The financial officer of Li Clan strides forward with the original copy of the ledger. He presented to the king.
The king looked through and rubbed his head. He gave the ledger to Olena.
Olena flipped through the original ledger and she began to feel guilty. She figured the queen had set a trap, and she had fallen into her trap.
General Li glared at Olena, "Prince Liam, this is your conspiracy, you have a thirst for the throne. Apart from getting rid of the crown prince, you were getting rid of those ministers who weren't supporting you."
Olena is getting annoyed, "You are slandering me! I am just working to improve the weak system."
General Li argued, "You trusted a bodyguard that fooled you. How can you judge by listening to only one side? You are the future king of this country!"
The financial officer voiced out, "I would like to highlight something. when the country has no money to fund the troops, it was the minister of defence who uses his personal fund to help them personally."
Olena agreed with General Li. She accepted the fact. In her mind, she began to feel guilty towards Lord Li. "I acknowledge my mistake. I am sorry for this. Regardless of what I do, it will never bring back the minister of defence alive. Please let me know what we can do to help Julia."
King George instructed the authorities to return the properties to Julia and reinstate her status to noble. He released a statement to acknowledge his mistake and apologize to the minister of defence in public to appease General Li.
He gave instruction to release the ministers the authorities arrested earlier. The angry ministers have turned their back against the king and Prince Liam.
Olena walked back to her chamber, crying. Prince Liam noticed Olena was reacting strangely. He wondered what's strong. He embraced her to comfort her.
Olena explained the situation to Prince Liam. They acknowledged their mistake for not judging on both sides. Prince Liam continues to persuade Olena, "General Li is right, instead of blaming yourself, we must not repeat the same mistake anymore."
Plagues had infested several villages. The authorities highlighted this issue in the court meeting for the minister's attention. The ministers could not be bothered to handle it. They have lost their faith with the prince and the king.
The citizens are calling King George and Crown Prince Liam, the royal clown. They were hoping that General Li would seize the throne. General Li and his troops were demotivated. They have been drinking all day long in the military camp.
Meanwhile, in Donghua, King Jamal is excited about Aliyah and Noel's visit. He hugged Aliyah and Noel upon their arrival and brought them to their palace in Donghua.
Noel was not excited. He missed his wife, Julia. Recently, he found out Julia had a miscarriage because Aliyah abused Julia. Julia had pretended to be insane and begged her father to bring her home. He realized his mother and Farah were plotting to kill her. Then, her father died not long ago.
On the same day when Julia left the palace, someone pushed Farah into the lake. They were suspecting Julia. They found her body in the lake and saved her but she turned out to be comatose.