This is the Recap & Ending for K-Drama The Red Sleeve Cuff: Episode 16. Yi San hugs Deok-Im and confesses his feelings to her. She realizes that she actually wants to be the king’s woman. But she prefers to stay at her current position.
The Red Sleeve Cuff: Episode 16 Recap
Note: From here on out there are specific plot spoilers for K-Drama The Red Sleeve Cuff: Episode 16.
Yi San gets used to Deok-Im’s rejection. He’s not surprised by the answer. Princess Hwabin goes to see Queen Jungsoon in the evening. She worries that she will get abandoned if she cannot give birth for Yi San. She begs her to help her give birth.
Deok-Im goes to see Sung Sik who tells her that he became Yi San’s bodyguard. She feels happy for him after knowing he reached his goal. Queen Jungsoon’s brother is sick on the way in exile. She asks Yi San to forgive her brother and let him return to the capital. But Yi San doesn’t want to hire relatives after he learned the lesson from Deok-Ro.
Yi San asks Queen Jungsoon for understanding him. But she rejects it and treats him as enemy. She tells him to go to Princess Hwabin’s palace for Deok-Im. Queen Jungsoon summons Deok-Im to her palace, asking her for reading the book for her.
Queen Jungsoon asks Deok-Im if she agrees to take her side. Deok-Im rejects it. Queen Jungsoon turns around and sighs. Deok-Im gets arrested by Princess Hwabin’s maids after she left the palace of Queen Jungsoon. Yi San remembers what Queen Jungsoon said. She goes to Princess Hwabin’s palace.
Yi San sees Queen Jungsoon interrogating Deok-Im after he walked into the palace. Princess Hwabin told Queen Jungsoon that Deok-Im met with a man. Deok-Im is going to get killed according to the laws. Princess Hwabin hands over the evidence to Queen Jungsoon. Deok-Im finds out that it’s the sleeve cuff Sung Sik gave her.
Deok-Im doesn’t explain it when she’s questioned. She admits what she did because she cannot tell Queen Jungsoon about Sung Sik’s identity. He worries that he will lose the position he just got. Queen Jungsoon intends to make Yi San give in with the life of the woman he loves.
But Yi San tells Queen Jungsoon that he won’t be bias of Deok-Im. Queen Jungsoon is furious to let the follower bring Deok-Im. But Deok-Im comes with Hyebin Hong. Court Lady Seo asked Hyebin Hong to help Deok-Im after knowing she got taken away.
Hyebin Hong tells Queen Jungsoon that Deok-Im and Sung Sik are brother and sister, and their father is the bodyguard who served Crown Prince Sado. Princess Hwabin asks Queen Jungsoon to kill Deok-Im and Sung Sik after knowing they’re son and daughter of the rebel. She keeps mentioning Crown Prince Sado is a rebel.
SEE ALSO: The Red Sleeve Cuff: Episode 15 Recap & Ending
Queen Jungsoon is silent. The people in the room stare at Yi San. Yi San is furious to stand up. He scolds Princess Hwabin and tells her that he’s the son of Crown Prince Sado. She realizes that she said something wrong. She gets on knees to him, asking him for his mercy.
The Red Sleeve Cuff: Episode 16 Ending
Yi San chooses to stay with Deok-Im when he’s unhappy. She keeps staying at home to wait for him to see her after she became queen. He smiles when he’s in her arms. He wishes the happiness can stay forever. She slaps his body after he fell asleep. But he wakes up and grabs her hand, asking her if she’s there.
Deok-Im wipes off the sweat for Yi San and sees him off. She finds out that she’s pregnant and refuses to see him with the excuse of illness. He worries her and goes to see her, asking her for speaking out the symptom. He claims that he read some medical books, thinking he knows the illness.
Yi San sees Deok-Im’s trick when she pretends to be dizzy. He tells her that he wants to stay overnight at her palace. He promises to only hold her hand when he sleeps with her. She agrees to it. He hugs her overnight and falls asleep. He keeps his promise.
The doctor sees Deok-Im and tells her that she’s pregnant. Deok-Im’s friends feel happy for her. Court Lady Seo reports the good news to Yi San. Yi San smiles and decides to go to see Deok-Im. But he changes his mind. Deok-Im waits for Yi San. But she’s told that the king cannot come.
Kyung-Hee and Young-Hee blame Yi San for what he did. Deok-Im tears up. Court Lady Seo explains to Deok-Im that Yi San went to see Queen Kim because she hasn’t been pregnant. She thinks it’s his duty as a husband. Deok-Im convinces herself that she shouldn’t ask for more because she’s just a concubine. Court Lady Seo hugs Deok-Im to comfort her.
Yi San thinks of Deok-Im. He goes to see her when she falls asleep. He tells her that he will become a family with her and the baby after she woke up. She asks him if he wished to be a normal person instead of king. She wonders what kind of story it was if they encountered like two normal people.
Yi San tells Deok-Im that the position of maid is suitable for her. She could go out of the palace with her friends each month when she was a maid. But she could only see her friends off after she became queen, crying to say goodbye to the past herself who always had smiling.
Deok-Im becomes unhappy. She begins to think about what she got and what she lost. Only the visiting of Yi San makes her not think about the bad things. He gives the title “harmony” to her because he wants to get along with her. He minded what she said that she will never like him.
Yi San doesn’t care for the answer now. He thinks it’s fine that Deok-Im becomes his woman. She feels happy when she can see him. But she feels sad sometimes. She lets him put his hand on her belly to sense the baby’s moving.
The Red Sleeve Cuff: Episode 16 stars Lee Joon-Ho, Lee Se-Young, Kang Hoon and Jang Hee-Jin.