Hong Gil-dong
Lady Yu
Minister Hong's wife
The proud first wife of Minister Hong, protective of her son's rank.
Lady Yu is Minister Hong's legal wife and the mistress of the estate. She is proud, strict, and aloof, and she cares about the legitimate family line and her place in the social order. She is the mother of In-hyeong.
She looks down on Chunseom and her son, and in the story she is a quiet obstacle, not an active villain. She is suspicious even of Choran. Her coldness is part of what makes the Hong house a hard place for Gildong to live.
“He is only a maid's child. He will have no future in this house.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Lady Yu watches Gildong practice archery and Taoist arts with Choran, and says that a concubine's son should not outshine the legitimate heirs. She tells Choran that he is only a maid's child and will have no future in the house. Choran presses her to act, but Lady Yu does not take part in the assassination plot in the outline.
She later appears when Minister Hong comes home ill and In-hyeong vows to resolve the crisis. She is part of the family that Gildong saves by giving himself up.
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