The revenge plot was really well done and overall pacing of the story was great. Watching all the machinations in the imperial palace/harem, secrets slowly coming to light, and plotting of our cunning Male Lead really made this an enjoyable series. We also had a very smart Female Lead who was able to take care of herself no matter where she ended up. She was never a damsel in distress and despite not being physically powerful, she used her smarts, wits, confidence and strong personality to get herelf out of sticky situations. Also, this is one of the few cdramas where the Emperor actually has common sense and isn't immediately influenced by rumors or accusations. Honestly you probably wouldn't think this should matter since the Emperor is not a character we would care about unless they are the main lead, but it does matter when the story revolves around the palace. So I had much less frustrations watching this drama because everybody that mattered in the plot line was actually smart and did their jobs as you would expect them to. This overall made the drama more enjoyable compared to other palace themed dramas. There was just one character death I didn't like, it was so unecessary to the story aside from wanting to make viewers sad, so I didn't appreciate that at all.

In terms of romance, even though they I liked the pairing, I found the romance lacking a bit from the main couple imo. I personally felt more romance between the FL, Second Male Lead and even Third Male Lead because we got more healthy moments of affection/love shown between them. We only got to see more romance with the main leads towards the end, but even then it was more of a domineering type of love that could make you feel uncomfortable to watch. So I wish we also got to see more sweet moments between the main couple; or at the very least I would have liked to see FL be more expressive of her love with the ML like she was with TML. Granted the FL and ML's personalities and story lines don't really give off sweet vibes so it also makes sense that their love was more on the intense/obssessive/toxic side.

In addition to having a smart Emperor, other unique things I liked that weren't necessarily present 100% of the time but we did get to see were:
1) Bestest boy ever Second Male Lead who only wants the best for his crush and isn't possessive of her; 2) Non-competitive sibling relationship between the FL and her sister; 3) Healthy friendships between FL and other women; and 4) Parents apologizing to children.

Overall very satisfied with the revenge plot but would have liked to have more romance from the main couple. Bailu acted really well, crying scenes were so emotional. ML needs to work on his expressions but overall great job from him too and the rest of the cast.