INT/EXT. CORRIDOR/PATH – NIGHT
Gwi approaches MS in the corridor.
MI-SOOK
Your Majesty.
GWI
Kim Mi-sook, tell Hye-ryung that I'm leaving for a walk if she wants to join me. I'll be out front.
MI-SOOK
(smiles)
Yes, sire. I'm sure she will.
PATH IN FRONT OF PALACE
HR walks quickly towards Gwi, very happy to be called out for a walk.
HYE-RYUNG
(beaming)
Hello, Your Majesty. Thank you for waiting.
Gwi surprises HR by pulling her in and kissing her deeply, then stops suddenly, smiling.
GWI
Hello.
Gwi takes HR's hand and puts it on the inside of his arm to have her closer and begins walking. HR still in a light daze.
GWI (CONT'D)
So what are your thoughts on these days?
HR looks up at him, embarrassed.
GWI (CONT'D)
(laughs)
Apart from what I can already guess, of course.
HYE-RYUNG
I've been practising reciting some new poetry like you said.
GWI
Very good, let's hear it then.
HYE-RYUNG
(transformed from previous recitation, somewhat nervous and uncertain but still full of simple beauty and depth)
Swallows perched in the angled eaves fly in pairs;
Blossoms falling pell-mell tumble against silk dresses.
As I sit in the bedchamber gazing as far as I can see,
Feelings of love wound me.
The grass is green South of the River,
But you have not returned.
GWI
Yes, that is a vast improvement. Keep working on that with the poems you like best.
HYE-RYUNG
(pleased)
Yes, Your Majesty.
GWI
Would you like to have a dinner party soon? It's been such a long time since you came to my smaller gatherings. I'll admit we don't have anyone like Jang-su who would be genuinely good company, but I can find a few people who might not be such a bad bunch.
HYE-RYUNG
(hesitates, terrified that at some point she'll see that Gwi plans to continue being surrounded by women)
I don't know, Your Majesty. I never quite feel myself at dinners. I don't know what I ought to say to the men and-
(quietly)
I don't know how to fit in with the women.
GWI
I wouldn't want you to fit in with the women.
HR on edge. Gwi stops walking and looks at her more closely.
GWI
What's the matter?
HYE-RYUNG
I don't think I can manage going to dinner parties anymore.
GWI
Why not? Is the company that bad?
HYE-RYUNG
(quietly)
I don't want to see you with other women. I don't want to be with you, sitting there, just as the third or the fourth.
GWI
(breath laughs and pulls HR into a hug)
Oh, my dear. You don't have to worry about that. When was the last time you saw me with any women?
HYE-RYUNG
I don't know.
GWI
I don't know if I remember myself. But it was probably at the banquet last year. I don't expect you to understand. In fact, I hope you never get to the point of using pleasure to fend off complete and absolute boredom, but it was never anything more than that. You shouldn't take it seriously.
HYE-RYUNG
Are you fending off boredom now?
GWI
(breath laughs)
Do I seem bored to you? Let's have a dinner party with some of the girls. Then you can see for yourself the difference between boredom and distraction. Or maybe I should say attraction. What do you think?
HYE-RYUNG
(somewhat reassured)
If you like, Your Majesty.
GWI
I am going to start denying you kisses if you continue to call me Your Majesty when we're alone.
HYE-RYUNG
(playful)
That's okay, I can live without kisses.
GWI
You think?
(Gwi pulls her in and nearly kisses her but waits, and waits)
Can you live without kisses, goddess?
HR isn't able to hold out for very long.
HYE-RYUNG
Gwi.
(both laugh)
