Chae Gyung accepts Myong Hye as her handmaiden. The Queen Dowager suspects that Chae Gyung is the woman with the secret letter and sets the date for their consummation. Meanwhile, Chae Gyung's suspicion towards Yeok continues growing. This only torments her, and she decides that it is time to come clean to him and tell him what she knows and believes.

Yeok helps Shin Su Geun and decides to leave the capital with Chae Gyung. Meanwhile, Yung gives Su Geun a royal command to catch the snail wives. In the search for the snail wives, anyone who has received rice from them gets captured, tortured and put to death. Seo Noh sees innocent citizens dying due to Yung's tyranny and gets angry.