Well, no one ever claimed protecting a princess is easy, especially with one as strong willed and busy body as Alice. This episode brings Dawin to the onset of duty and love, though duty is heavy at this point, I’m hoping love would kick in soon? We can have both, Show!

EPISODE 4 RECAP – “Duty or Love”

Petra reports to King Henry that she uncovered an important piece that may pinpoint that Andre is the perpetrator behind Alice’s attempted murder. Andre has been in secret communication with a band of hired ex-military. King Henry couldn’t fathom why his son is so gullible to listen to his wife and harm his own niece.

Alice dreams of running through the palace in a panic again. When she comes to, she asks Jacee how she got home, last she remembers, she was in a fire, trying to save a boy. She immediately asks if the boy is okay, not worrying one bit about herself. Dawin waits until he’s alone with Alice in the room to scold her, he says the boy is just fine, but she almost didn’t make it. Alice replies that it’s not his fault, but Dawin argues that it’s absolutely his fault for not keeping his eye on her and she almost DIED! Alice relents that she didn’t die, but if he’s afraid of being punished then she’ll report to the general and her grandpa herself. Which is beside the point Dawin is trying to make, and Dawin asks her exactly this, “You think I’m angry because I’ll get punished?! If you don’t consider me, at least think about the people of Hrysos! Don’t forget that there are people waiting for you!”

Alice spites that she has never forgotten, but if she can’t help one child, how could she help her nation? Alice is almost brought to tears when she says that it might just be one child, and the child may not be one of her citizens, but no matter how risky or how wrong of her to do this, she’s still willing. It reminds me of a time where you stare at your child, realizing that this is who she is, her true essence. No matter how much you try to change her or make her see reason, you just end up losing. So Dawin gives himself a time out and storms out of the room.

He thinks back on her words in the security room while he watches her through the camera. Muat Paen gets her commander to take a seat as she tends to his wound. She wonders if the princess knows how hurt her bro got during the incident. Yeah I’m surprised he’s not more hurt, you know, after running through fires and all.

Alice falls asleep waiting up for Dawin, she realizes how late it is and takes a peak out the window to see if he’s on his way back. But omg, it’s his face she sees through the window. Caught! Dawin asks why she’s standing there, to which Alice just looks away, but instead notices the bandage on his arm. This saddens her as Dawin pulls his arm back so she doesn’t see it. Alice replies that she was just checking to ensure the door is locked, but couldn’t say exactly what’s going through her mind. How about, “thank you and I’m sorry?” That goes a long way, but sometimes, the simplest words are the hardest to say.

Alan tells Will that he doesn’t know a whole lot about Alice’s disappearance, but that his mother really wants him to find out. He thinks Muat Paen has the answer but unfortunately she must have caught wind of his knowledge and sent someone else in her place. Will says he’ll hire a private investigator and doesn’t think it would be difficult to find Muat Paen’s address. Alan is convinced that if they find Muat Paen, they will find Alice as well.

King Henry decides it best to find interim heiress. Mona thinks that maybe the king has seen the light and will crown Andre to show that he’s sorry. Lol, sorry had to laugh. She’s so delusional. During a meeting, both Andre and Mona lament that they are here to support whomever the King decides to promote. The Kind smiles and thanks her. Kate appears, thinking that she’s only here to see the king, and didn’t realize that there’s a head of state meeting. Mona laughingly talks down on Kate, that she needs to leave because adults are talking. Which it gives great satisfaction that the King grants Kate as the interim heiress. As they provide Kate with the stamp of approval, her very own dad, Andre, rushes over to take it from her! He questions what the king means by this. Andre says that grandpa is the kind of dad that stands in the way of his own son and shouldn’t call himself a dad. As he storms away, Andre declares that he’s not going to mind his manners anymore.

Kate tells grandpa that she doesn’t want this position nor does she want to have any problems with her father. Grandpa says that her dad thinks he’s the only heir for the throne, and he needs to be stopped. He reassures Kate that this is temporary and asks her to do this for him, Alice and Hrysos. No pressure.

During a video conference, Alice agrees with the King, that Kate is the person she trusts the most at Hrysos. The King apologizes on behalf of his granddaughter, who caused trouble for the dream team. Dawin says that they don’t fault Alice because she’s only trying to save a boy’s life. Alice smiles at his admission, though from the look of things between them, they haven’t quite made up yet.

Mona berates her son for being a failure at everything, lol. She’s even trying to pit everyone against Alan, even Kate, that she has taken grandpa’s love from Alan. She orders him to make the king see that he’s capable too. Frustrated, Alan just hangs up and falls on his bed in defeat. The next morning Will notices Alan’s mood and offers his counsel. Alan is looking to create something that his grandpa can be proud of. Will advises to look at doing something not too difficult, something that is useful, and something that hasn’t been done before. Hm. Alan thinks of a brilliant idea, he will open gold trade with Thailand, which makes Will smile. Will says that word on the street is that new gold is coming to Asia and just needs to inquire with his ministry. Alan has a friend who has a connection with the gold trade community in Thailand, and can seek a meeting. Second great news for Alan is that the private eye found Muat Paen’s location and Will suggests that Alan pursue her on his own, that way when mom hears that Alan was able to find Alice, she’d be so proud.

As Dawin watches Alice get her hair trimmed, he smiles at her beauty. But he’s quickly reminded by Jasee that even though he may think of her as Naree, she is in fact a very important person in Hrysos, a Princess whose freshly cut hair is wanted by every women in the nation. Jasee gives Dawin some of Alice’s hair for good luck.

Meanwhile Alan trails after Muat Paen’s car and finds their hideout (security house). The team scrambles to hide Alice and stall Prince Alan. As Dawin rushes to Alice’s side, he doesn’t realize that she is just leaving the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body..

Dawin gets an eyeful of skin and immediately looks away. He fishes for the first dress he sees in the wardrobe but much to his pleasure dismay this outfit shows even more skin. Lol. He stares at the pretty for five seconds before averting his eyes and rushing her down the stairs, hiding away from Prince Alan. Muat Paen sees to Alan as he jumps the fence, trying her best to stall him.

He invites himself into the house, asking who owns it. Muat Paen lies that it belongs to her friend who owns many cars. (Alan had asked why there’s an extra car parked in the driveway). Alan questions why she’s avoiding him to which Paen explains that her assignment got switched – and that if he’s here to inquire about Alice’s whereabouts, Paen doesn’t know. Even if she does know, she really couldn’t say, besides it wouldn’t make sense that the princess would be staying here. Alan starts to give her the benefit of the doubt, but they hear a noise from upstairs and he pursues it.

Desperate to flee, Dawin figures they would escape down the window. As he goes down first, they could hear Alan closing in on them. Dawin signals for Alice to jump mid flight, and she does, landing promptly against his chest. His eyes widen as he could feel her curve against him. SQUEE.

Alan hears someone in the shower and barges in, only it’s Muat Hin, barely able to wrap a towel around his body. Whew. Alan orders Muat Paen to come back and take care of him, but Paen replies that she could only abide by her boss’ orders. Alan will speak to the general to make it happen, but before she could get any ideas that he thinks she’s capable, he merely wants her back to show her that she can’t run away from him. Mmkay. We think they’re safe for another day, but Alan spots the royal hairdressing and is suspicious again.

Dawin and Alice run away on foot, and it’s super cute that he gave up his shoes (yet again) to the princess. The kind gesture isn’t lost on Alice. Dawin suggests she get some rest and apologize for the mishap earlier, it’s their team’s fault for not being more careful. Alice pauses as she enters the house, taking one quick look back at the commander with a smile.

Muat Hin tells Muat Paen that it’s a good thing the commander manages to escape with Alice unnoticed, but it seems like he has forgotten something. Lol, it’s poor Jasee who’s still in the closet, fast asleep.

Alan attempts to phone his mother but she doesn’t answer, so he got Kate on the line instead. He tells her that he has a feeling that Alice is still alive and hiding out in Thailand. Alan wants EVERYONE to believe that he doesn’t care one bit where Alice is at, he’s only trying to find out because his mother ordered him to. Kate says that she would be the one to tell Mona and their dad when things settle down at Hrysos, she suggests he take it easy and stop his investigation, and that if his mom asks, to say that he’s on it. Alan adds that if she wants to find out if Alice is indeed in Thailand, then she ought to make her way here, like we don’t have enough Hrysos royalty here.

As they prepare the dinner table, Alice takes the opportunity to thank him for taking good care of her, better than she expected. Er, thank you? She appreciates his help on the island (Dawin is still nodding his head, not sure what to make of her sweet admissions) and even for today. Dawin says that it’s his duty, to which Alice laments that she’s thankful anyway. Dawin watches her set the table with a smile. She finally concedes that from now on she’ll focus on becoming a commoner for her own safety and for her nation. Dawin gives her a smile but then her words remind him of Jasee’s comments earlier, that she’s a princess and someone he probably shouldn’t be smiling this much to, lol.

The general reassigns Muat Paen back to royal-sitting Prince Alan and reminds her that she can’t make him suspicious of her again. Alan tells Will that he saw the royal hairdressing and thinks Alice is in Thailand. He further believes that she’s hiding here due to an attempt on her life. This surprises Will but Alan goes on to say that he doesn’t really care (yeah we got it). Will, apparently the smartest villain in this show, thinks that if Alice is staying in Thailand, she would have to be guarded by the military. Will suggests that Alan focus on the gold trade while he handles Alice.

Meanwhile Alice surveys her current home and thinks back to the commander cleaning the house while she sits back and watches. She starts rolling up her sleeves and get to work – adding potted plants to the deck and fixing the picnic table – all things that she never got to do as a Princess.

Dawin is handed a file regarding the potential perpetrators that can be used as evidence to help King Henry. When he returns home that night, he notices the small changes to the house that made it a homey feel. We can hear Muat Hin’s voiceover reporting Alice’s day and a tidbit that being a princess, Alice’s life is filled with rules and people telling her that she couldn’t do things. Dawin gets a text from Alice requesting help in accomplishing one more thing that she always wanted to do.

Alan thinks back on how grandpa is always proud of Alice and that he wants Alan to be capable as well. This makes Alan worry whether what he’s doing is right or wrong and that maybe he should run it by grandpa first. Will advises that he should be a big boy and see it through, the project isn’t a big one and he needs to prove it to grandpa that he can do it.

Alice’s request is to grocery shop and to learn how to cook Thai food, especially green curry, she’s throwing ingredients in the shopping cart like hot cakes. At the checkout, it costs way more than a simple green curry and Dawin’s face is priceless. As she waits for Dawin to pay for the goods, Alice overhears a couple of fangirls indicating that a royal prince is in the mall doing some personal shopping. She realizes that that prince is her very own trusted “bro” Prince Will. She squeezes in line to get his attention, meanwhile Dawin goes looking for her (like stop disappearing Princess!) and blocks her in time before the Prince could see her face. The funny part is when Will says that he didn’t know that he has female and male fans hahaha. Nadech gives him an awkward smile.

Alice explains her relationship to Will, that he’s the most trusted friend aside from her grandpa and she believes that he could help her. His country has a strong army and she could ask them to help find the traitor. Dawin says he cannot allow her to reveal herself, his job is to keep her safe, since it’s the person closest to her that is putting her in danger. Alice reassures him that she’s SURE Will is a not the bad guy. Dawin relents that under the circumstances, they can’t trust anyone, besides, she had promised to not cause trouble. Alice huffs in anger.

Once they’re back at the house, she storms into her room (slamming the door) and when Dawin asks if she wants to start cooking, she tells him it’s his job to cook for her. Oh Dawin, I feel your pain. Royal-sitting these entitled prince and princesses got to be a pain in the ass. Seriously, her promise to act like a commoner lasted maybe 10 mins. Petra fills her in regarding the situation at Hrysos, the king is still waiting for Kate’s answer (on whether she will act as the interim heiress).

Alan requests a private meeting room from Muat Paen but doesn’t share what it’s about – which sends the dream team and team at Hrysos into investigation mode. Alice inquires whether Dawin knows what the meeting is about – to which he answers no as he’s scooping the finished green curry that she requested – Alice rips into him that he needs to get on it. She thinks that he’s too busy to find answers for her so she warns him to stay out of her hair so that she could find answers on her own. And of course he just got done making that darn green curry, which is left untouched. Dawin retorts that Alice doesn’t listen to him anyway.

Kate agrees to take on the role of the interim heiress. Grandpa instructs her to pick the country she wants to do her first campaign in. Kate selects Thailand of course and she shares this with her dad and stepmom, relenting that she really doesn’t want to assume this role but she’s doing it for her grandpa and dad. Mona made sure to make Kate feel insignificant, that she’s merely a pawn in this game between grandpa and dad. Andre doesn’t say anything to back Kate up or shut his wife down. Mona tells Kate to find out about Alice’s whereabout, Kate smartly says she’ll send updates once she finds out anything.

Alice learns that Kate is coming to Thailand, she wishes that she could be of some help to grandpa. The King relents that he is in the process of taking care of people who have betrayed them.

Dawin notices the untouched food he made and is about to take it up to the princess, but decides he shouldn’t care whether she eats or not. She approaches him all intense and angry, declaring that she will see Prince Will. She reminds him that he gave her his word that he would help her, but Dawin says he cannot on this one because it would be against their mission. Alice retorts that his words aren’t honorable and storms into her room. Dawin dumps out the food he cooked. It’s ok Dawin, I will eat it!!!

Like the smart commander that he is, Dawin starts looking to this “trusted” Prince Will. They learn that Will has an interest in business, unlike other princes, and that lately he has been spending a lot of time with Prince Alan. Alice inquires about the status of Alan’s meeting, whether Dawin knows anything more. Dawin replies that come tomorrow, he’ll know as much as Alice, which isn’t the answer she was hoping for, so she goes into a tirade about how it’s taking him forever to get any info. When she spins around to face him, he’s gone. HAHAHA. I’m sorry, she has so much petulance right now even I’d get the hell out of there.

The ministry hands over a list of suspects to the king. Petra reports that Alan has requested gold from the ministry to be exported to Thailand, the king instructs her to keep an eye on that request.

Meanwhile Alice is stewing in impatience since she’s not able to do anything, hear anything, nor be part of anything. That ineptitude must be killing her, and she spots Dawin just cleaning his shoes, lol. Dude you’re getting mad at the wrong guy, Princess!

At the security house Alice finds out from Petra that Alan has pushed his weight around to get the gold sent to him, despite the ministry declining it at first. The dream team also finds out that the meeting is involved with the gold trade committee of Thailand. The two teams put two and two together and figure out that Alan is trying to openly trade gold with Thailand. Progress made! See what happens when you work together instead of shouting at each other?!

They monitor the meeting from the security room and Alice says that she’s glad Prince Will is there, it will show “someone” that the prince is capable. Insert eyeroll. I don’t think Dawin ever said he wasn’t capable… at any rate, they watch Alan get all huffy when the committee says they must go through the legal and ethical route by having the bank of Thailand review the legitimacy of the gold first. Will injects whenever Alan tries to throw a fit, but at the end of the day, if Hrysos doesn’t want to go through the process, then Thailand can’t proceed with the trade. This doesn’t seem to surprise Will, but Alan sees it as a failure. Back at the hotel, Will says that there are other ways to sell that gold, which from his expression, it doesn’t mean the legal route.

Back in Hrysos, Andre and Mona confronts the king as to why he fired all of the loyal Hrysos ministers. King Henry says they all needed to be terminated for believing rumors and acting on their own accord. Mona questions why the king wouldn’t just reveal Alice’s whereabouts or have her return to prove that she’s alive and face the music (so to speak). The king chastises that he does not need to abide by her command and turns it on them that “some people” (referring to Andre and Mona) are the ones who brought trouble to the ministers.

Andre blames his wife for her failed plans. Petra reports to the king that Alan attempted to negotiate a gold trade deal with Thailand but failed. The king merely shakes his head because it’s like your grandkid is trying to be an adult. He surmises that his mother probably put him up to it. The king instructs for Alice to leave it alone, Alan will send back the gold since the negotiation failed and he’s sure Alan wouldn’t use the gold for his own benefit. If he’s wrong about this, he’ll be the one to take the responsibility. The king spins a coin between his fingers and all of a sudden, he collapses to the ground. Oh no, not grandpa!

Alice gets another nightmare, but this time Dawin comes to her room and she throws her arms around him, afraid.

That morning he takes her to the beach to relax, noticing that she’s been too stressed out lately. She reminisces the first time they met, she really thought he was a bad guy. She wonders why he didn’t believe her when she told him that she was a princess. (I must have missed a part where she told him? Wracking my brain but still nothing.) Dawin says that no one would believe it under the circumstance. She tells him that she likes that he’s honest.

Grandpa is alive! Yay! At his bedside, Petra says the coin has been meddled with, although the intention is to make someone unconscious. The head of security questions who they think is responsible for this and Petra chimes in that Andre and Mona had been in the room prior. But the king doesn’t believe that his son would dare harm him.

Alice lies on the sand next to Dawin, but the commander tells her that she’s going to get dirty, not that she cares. Alice says that she hasn’t felt this good for a long time, it takes her back to when she was a child, with nothing to worry about. She immediately wonders how Alan is doing, but thinks that he’s in good hands because he’s with Prince Will. Dawin doesn’t tell her what he’s learned about Will though, that he’s encountering some financial troubles.

But Alice does overhear Muat Ling reporting to the commander that Dom is a sketchy person. He has been involved in several black market exchanges. We see that Dom advises Prince Alan to sell the gold instead and bring profit to Hrysos instead of sending the gold back empty handed. Alan isn’t aware that the trade this time around isn’t actually legal. What’s worrying is that if Dom betrays him, Alan will lose money and his reputation. Will encourages this exchange, and even though Alan doesn’t have a good feeling about this, he listens to his bro. Dawin sends the update to his boss and will wait for his direction.

Petra tells the general regarding the king’s condition and asks him not to tell the princess since the culprit is someone in the palace for sure, and if the princess finds out, she’d hightail back to Hrysos. Secondly, Princess Kate is arriving in Thailand and they’ll need additional bodyguard to oversee her safety.

Kate meets Will who’s playing the attentive and supportive bro. They discuss Alice’s whereabouts and Kate believes that the royal hairdressing belongs to Jasee, since she hasn’t seen the girl for awhile now, and it wouldn’t surprise her if Jasee is in Thailand with Alice.

Alice orders her bodyguard to provide her with Alan’s address in Bangkok, then she asks Dawin to get her medicine for her pretend stomachache. But Dawin seems to catch her drift and leaves a car key along with some documents on his desk. She takes the bait and texts him that she’s all better now (because that’s not suspicious).

She’s falling into Dawin’s plan as he has the Dream Team on standby. Dawin thinks back on Alice’s statement that there’s no way Will would harm her. I wonder if he’s going to make her see for herself?

And that’s exactly his intentions. But they didn’t see Alice following Will – haha a twist! Alice actually is on Alan’s floor, sliding the envelope under his door. But Alan arrives to his floor in time and almost catches her, as she flees, Dawin pulls her close and they hide. He rescues her again, carrying her in a princess carry down the flights of stairs. Wow, Nadech and his arms of steel.

And oh no! Kate sees Jasee!

COMMENTS

Where is the badass princess from episode 1? I miss her. Alice has been a little inconsistent lately, she’s blowing hot and cold so fast I can’t keep up – and neither can Commander Dawin. When she’s sweet, she’s so sweet, but when she’s angry, she seems like a spoiled child who didn’t get her way. What’s funny is that she claims that she’s a grownup and can take care of herself, but at the end of the day, Dawin always comes to her rescue. I wish that Alice was a little smarter – though the twist in the end was interesting, because she’s only meaning to let Alan know he’s being duped, and she’s not intending to go see Will – at least she’s smarter than that.

I don’t think it’s so much as Yaya portraying a petulant princess, it’s more of the inconsistent writing. For example, Alice seems to conveniently forget that Dawin and company’s job is to keep her safe at all cost. Their job is not to investigate and find the culprit – heck, Dawin is digging deep because that’s just who he is – so if she has a bone to pick in terms of why he can’t get the info to her fast enough, she ought to take it up with grandpa! It’s his job to find the culprit. I know she’s frustrated with the inability to do anything, feeling like her hands are tied, but taking it out on poor Dawin isn’t fair. I thought she’s a more considerate princess than that – again, that’s the writing. I was hoping for them to grow to respect and fall in love before we get into the angst and anger, but it seems they take one step forward and then two steps back. Alan’s incompetence is astounding, he’s gonna pay a big price just to learn a lesson. Here’s to hoping everyone gets a little smarter, and maybe more consistent writing.

But Nadech, he’s still my hero.