The Red Sleeve

A young maid Duk Im is ordered to visit the late Royal Noble Consort Yeong’s funeral. There she meets the Crown Prince who also secretly came to say goodbye to his grandmother. Duk Im learns about the forbidden book which King Yeongjo despises because of a certain phrase, and is warned that she’ll be losing her head if she is to read it. One day, she hears that the book is kept in the Crown Prince’s library, which makes her worried.

The tiger is on a killing spree within the palace. Unlike any other animal, it is smart. It knows exactly when to run, stop, and hunt. Although Lee San struggles with hunting this tiger, he unintentionally gets help from Duk Im as he was fooling around with her by pretending not to be the Crown Prince. To stop further casualties, this horrid tiger must be stopped.

All the young maids start to panic when they see the tiger. Duk Im comes up with a way to help the maids escape safely. San saves Duk Im, who’s in danger, but for mobilizing the military in the palace without the King’s permission, San almost receives punishment. And those who want to dethrone the Crown Prince are about to use this incident to their advantage.

Duk Im is shocked to find out San’s true identity. She gets upset as she thinks he fooled her on purpose, and therefore, she tries her best to stay away from him. However, with her outstanding skills and cleverness, she gets chosen to be his personal maid. Meanwhile, Princess Hwawan is not fond of Duk Im and finds a way to frame her and punish her.

Just as the Prince’s Lecturer orders to kill Duk Im, San appears to save her. Claiming that he was clearly mistaken, the Lecturer begs forgiveness and San lets this incident slide for now. Today is the day of the coming-of-age ceremony for the court maids. Duk Im is also very excited to celebrate this special day. However, the Queen does not make the day enjoyable for both San and Duk Im.

Lee San’s confinement still takes place. Despite the long boring time without books, Duk Im’s company helps him to stay sane. Lee San needs an ally who can closely advise the King. As Duk Im has sworn an oath to serve San, she volunteers to persuade Queen Kim. She comes up with a plan to make it possible, but whether it will actually work still remains a question.

After the incident at the bathtub, San happens to eavesdrop on the conversation of the court maids. From that conversation, he learns something that truly makes him happy. Meanwhile, something is not well with the King. Despite his great age, he maintains good health and a clear mind. However, some symptoms show that he is now not as healthy as he always used to be.

After an inspection of the court maids, a royal book that belongs to Consort Yeong has emerged from Duk Im’s belongings. Although it is a gift from the King himself, she is suspected of theft and undergoes questioning. Meanwhile, Hong Duk Ro eventually disobeys the Crown Prince and recruits a royal physician to the Dongdukhoe meeting. The reason is yet to find out.

The King orders San to go on a trip to visit the royal tomb on his behalf. When the court ladies from Gwanghan Palace hear this news, they realize they have to get rid of San as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Duk Im and Court Lady Seo leave to get ingredients for Royal Kitchen and see a bunch of gunpowder bags that belong to East Palace thrown out at the river.

The King suspects that San is plotting treason for bringing the soldiers to Royal Temporary Palace when he was the one who had been attacked. Now that Duk Im knows Lady Seo was forced to join Gwanghan Palace by Head Lady Cho, she tries to save her by stealing the list of signers at Head Lady Cho’s residence.