the afterlife. Yeongjo died of dementia, in 1776, while in his 80s. Queen Jeongsun (played by Kim Yeo-jin) King Yeongjo's second wife. She is the daughter of the extremely wealthy and powerful Gyeongju Kim clan. Yeongjo married her when he was 66 and she was 15. Of all the characters in the series, Queen Jeongsun has the best split character. She is very caring and smart, but deep inside she has a greed for power, is very manipulative and holds a silent grudge against San even though she is his step-grandmother. Queen Jeongsun is the leader of the conservative Noron Faction and the mastermind behind a decades long plot to destroy San. Later, she is forced to give up her titles and power but is permitted to live in the palace. Princess Hwawan (played by Sung Hyun-ah) Yeongjo's beloved daughter. Hwawan is a very beautiful and filial, but impatient young woman. Because she is widowed and has no children, she adopted the orphan Jeong Hu-gyeom, who became a court official. Like Queen Jeongsun, Princess Hwawan affiliated with the Noron Faction and is also a mastermind in the plot to destroy Yi San. This costs her the favor of her father. In the end, Princess Hwawan is stripped of her titles and exiled to a place far from the capital, where she lives in seclusion under house arrest with only her lady-in-waiting to accompany her. Jeong Hu-gyeom (played by Cho Yeon-woo) Princess Hwawan's adoptive son. He is incredibly intelligent, and the youngest person to be part of the government, serving as Royal Secretary. He is very smart and filial to his adoptive mother. When he was a child, he was San's study partner at the Confucian Academy. In his teens he studied in Qing China and as an adult he is very successful. Like his adoptive mother, he is a key member of the Noron Faction and also part of the plot to destroy San. When the participants are punished, Hu-gyeom is exiled and put to death by poison, but not before warning Hong Guk-yeong from personal experience that he too would fall from grace if he couldn't keep his lust for power in check. Hong Guk-yeong (played by Han Sang-jin) King Jeongjo's right-hand man, as well as distant cousin to his mother, Lady Hyegyeong (both are members of the Pungsan Hong clan). He is a very loyal adviser to Yi