ep 9 spoilers ahead

1.The scene opens to Tianyi sitting on his throne, addressing king bussiness. An official tasked with building the Unending Canal is begging and pleading that he did not misappropriate funds...but Tianyi wonders what it is going on since it is taking so long (but it's called the Unending canal....) He has him executed and kindly does not administer the 9 Extermination...it seems our Tianyi has to inspire fear in others to gain support at home?

2.After prettying Ling'er up (ahh, such a common trope) she is all set to have her private dinner with the king. BTW she learns that there is no sevant girl Xaio Yue....oh wait, who is that white winged beauty descending and interrupting this private dinner? oh wait. it's Xaio Xue, also known as Princess Fei, also pretending to not know Ling'er (not surprised this happened I was hoping it would be his mom or something...)

3.The princess's motive is clear: she pretended to be a servant to scope out the competition, decided she was lacking, and then showed up to make a scene and bragging about all the stuff she knows about Tianyi (I imagine this makes Ling'er feel like a pigeon next to a peacock). Anyways, princess is surprised to see that the food is actually hot food--something wingkind cannot eat :/

4.Tianyi and Ling'er are walking together when Tianyi sees that the man he ordered executed is alive. It seems the Regent has interfered, and his men even throw in Tianyi's face that he has no power until he turns 20. Ling'er witnesses what is clearly an extreme humiliation for Tianyi, and she also sees a darker side of him (he draws a sword and prepares to kill someone)

5.Ling'er has a vivid nightmare in which Tianjun shows up and tries to force her to leave, and is covered in her father's blood. She wakes up screaming Tianyi's name (aww...poor Ling'er)

6.Ling'er goes wandering and runs into an older official (maybe 30s?) and starts blathering a lot about history and poetry (where were these smarts earlier? does she have a split personality? in ep 1 they made her innocent now she is elegant?)....we then learn that Ling'er resembles a princess who has passed on from this man (maybe Tianyi's mother?)

7.Meanwhile, Yu escapes into the place where Jishu is imprisoned. he does not recognize him (mask) and seems to know how to break his restraints but hides as the empress enters. She takes off the mask and we see Jishu's real face. We are then treated to a flashback, of their first meeting, when she fell in love with him.

8.We also learn of their falling out. it seems Jishu and Empress were so close that he shared with her his utopia sky city invention, which allow humankind to fly. He never wanted it to be known to anyone. But she told the emperor because she thought that if she did this, she could marry the genius Jishu who was too far above her in terms of importance (she is a low status princess). Jishu judges her harshly for turning his dream into a weapon and for betraying him for something so stupid as power (I think he would have chosen to be with her somehow) (she just made the wrong choice) (she made the mistake of making a decision without seeing how the other party feels...)

9.It seems that the empress is exacting revenge for him abandoning her for a woman she describes as a 'whore' while it is the love of his life. This seems to be the classic 'make the one I love hate me so I am always on his mind' or something like that, use when that person does not love you back

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