The second half of the series reveals that Hong Ra-on is the biological daughter of Hong Gyeong-nae, the leader of a historic peasant rebellion, making her presence in the palace treasonous. Concurrently, Royal Guard Commander Kim Byung-yeon is exposed as an undercover operative for the rebel group Baegundang. During a public tribunal for the captured Hong Gyeong-nae, Byung-yeon turns his blade on Prince Yeong to secure Ra-on and her father's escape; he is critically cut down by palace guards but secretly saved by Dasan Jeong Yak-yong.
Premier Kim Heon orchestrates Prince Yeong's poisoning and orders assassins after Ra-on. Kim Yoon-sung intercepts his grandfather's hit squad, killing them before succumbing to mortal wounds and dying peacefully in Ra-on's arms. Premier Kim Heon subsequently commits suicide in his chambers using Yoon-sung's gun. Crown Princess Jo Ha-yeon gracefully relinquishes her royal title, allowing the marriage record to be annulled. Prince Yeong ascends the throne as a reformist King who walks among the people, while Ra-on is fully exonerated and publishes her novel Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, culminating in their reunion in a cosmos flower field.