By now, the show has repeatedly emphasised the connection between red flowers in bloom and Shin sori. The flowers represent her vivacious nature: the way she stands out in a crowd, bright, beautiful, alluring, dazzling, a unique existence all on her own.
But out of season plum blossoms blooming in the "midst of midwinter snow", presents a slightly different meaning: it's one of resiliance and defiance, the courage to bloom in the midst of adversity. It's that courage and relisiance that Cha se-gye so admires about her. The way she defies all rules, be it courtly or heaven mandated, and continues to shine and thrive in her own little corner of the world: persistent, stubborn, like plum blossoms that unlike most flowers, survive against all odds in the winter landscape.
Much like the plum blossoms, Shin sori is used to adversity. Her life has been one long stretch of winter, where survival depends entirely on your tenacity. Prince Cheongheon, and now Cha se-gye, are the only source of light in her bleak life. The first to provide her with any measure of warmth, and the first to offer her their trust and companionship.
Like plum blossoms in midsummer, she finds it unsettling in its rarity. It's pitiful because it's rare, like clinging to an illusion of warmth and something beautiful. Pitiful because she knows happiness and luck, this rare can't possibly last. So she can't help but stare her fill of it. Like a mental souvenir of the good times, collecting these memories like plum blossoms preserved in the pages of a favourite story.
If she could, she would bottle up every moment with cha se-gye. But hopefully, just as he taught her to enjoy the rainy days and let it cleanse away the sorrow, he can show her that flowers can bloom in all seasons. And that happy moments don't always have to be fleeting.
