The empress wakes up and tells the emperor that her injury is still not healed. The emperor tells the empress to go fetch medicine and then prepare a soup for her. He tells her that the dowager is in prison for treason and that he will not touch her until she is tried by the dongchang court. He says that he has saved her life, but that he cannot bear to send her away. She tells him that she was born in his clan, and that she wishes to pay for her sins. He asks her if she has forgotten that she will always protect him, and she says that she does. He then asks her how he can make her a country princess. He wants her to buy a house in hanoi and return there to support her parents.