But before Lady Han can help out, Park Meong Yi and Jang Geum ______ captured by the henchmen of the merchant Choi Pan Sul.

A Buddhist monk ______ to understand and explain to him what the hermit’s prophecy ______.

But the senior court lady betrays Park Meong Yi to the Highest Kitchen Lady; they ______ her to the forest and ______ her to drink poison.

They ______ under false identities to escape from King Yeonsan’s intensifying persecution of all the people responsible for the death of his mother, Queen Yiun.

In her dying moments, she ______ that Jang Geum is the third woman in the prophecy.

But Park Meong Yi says that their fates ______ now intertwined.

She ______ to a senior court lady what Choi Cheng Qing, another junior court lady, did with the food meant for the Queen Mother.

The hermit then ______ about how his fate will be determined by three women.

Their only child ______ Jang Geum, an intelligent girl who always gets punished for her inquisitiveness and desire for learning.

She secretly ______ her best friend in the Royal Kitchen, who’s now Lady Han.