The Red Sleeve episode 14: San bans Duk Im from returning to the palace after her betrayal

The Red Sleeve episode 14 saw Duk Im (Lee Se Young) get forced to choose between her loyalty and her love for King San (Lee Jun Ho). Three years after the death of San’s grandfather and three years after San took over as the King of the country, he asked Duk Im to be his concubine. Initially, she said that she would think about it. However, things got out of control when her best friend, a fellow court maid, disappears.

Caution: This article contains spoilers!

This episode of The Red Sleeve also brings attention to San’s expectations from Duk Im. While she is the only woman that he has ever loved, he expects her to give up everything for him. In a way, he wants to possess her, but Duk Im is not ready to let her past be erased for love.

She is the daughter of San’s father’s closest bodyguard. San is not aware of this yet, and it will be interesting to see how all of this pans out in the The Red Sleeve's finale episode.

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Why did Duk Im betray San in The Red Sleeve?

Duk Im perseveres to find out the whereabouts of her missing friend in The Red Sleeve. She follows one of the court maids who could have seen her friend before she disappeared and she pesters the girl into telling her the truth about her friend’s disappearance.

Turns out that Hong Duk Ro did not only want his sister to become the queen and birth a prince, but he also wanted clout. Unfortunately, his sister died under suspicious circumstances. He wants to pin the blame on another consort of the King.

Duk Ro believes that the favor that he did the King when he was a crown prince would protect him now. After all, he was the Royal Secretary. He says this much to Duk Im too. This is exactly why Duk Im is forced to take steps to save her friend without informing San. She believes that he would act as a King and may even decide to sacrifice the life of a mere court maid in favor of a Royal Secretary.

She also decides to involve the Queen Dowager if things get out of control and this is a huge betrayal. At the moment, San is trying to do everything he possibly can to rule his nation in a fair manner. Involving the Queen Dowager in his plans would have done more harm than good for him. This betrayal is something that San is unable to digest in The Red Sleeve.

Until then, he had let Duk Im do as she pleased, but this hurts him unlike anything else. So he bans Duk Im from entering the palace ever again and bans her from showing herself in front of him in the future. He does save Duk Im from Duk Ro’s clutches before she does this though. His love for her doesn’t disappear overnight for certain, but he hopes to move on from her in The Red Sleeve.