I liked the story although the romance was a bit restrained. The leading lady is only 17 years old afterall. I watched sungkyunkwan scandal and somehow I always refer to that for comparison. Nevertheless, We don't get a lot of gender bender series so each series should be appreciated for itself.l It's a story about an 18 year old girl who has been dressing up as a man all her life. She gets sold to the royal palace to become a eunuch and somehow narrowly escapes detection during the selection process. She unknowingly became friends with the crown prince. She thought he was just another noble who grew up with a silver spoon. The crown prince doesn't know she's a woman but can't help getting attracted to her (dressed up as a man). For several years, the kingdom was secretly being ruled by the prime minister. The king has been having anxiety attacks for almost 10 years which make him edgy and not sleep well. His officials take advantage and rule the kingdom in his behalf. The crowned prince is left to determine who their enemies are and how to uncover the treachery within the palace. My review: The heroine wasn't really trying to be "manly" when disguised as a man. Dressing up is different from trying to blend in the crowd as a man. She could have been easily mistaken for a woman on several instances. She was too feminine so it wasn't really convincing for me. There was nothing tomboyish about her or anything that would indicate she was one of the boys. For the prince, His acting was good. Although I wish there were more scenes that allowed him to show his acting skills. I wish there were more flashbacks on the prince and his friends. That was sorely lacking. They were childhood friends and yet there were only a handful of flashbacks about their time together. What was it like when they were still boys up to growing up. They could have developed a better back story about the friendship. What strained their friendship. How the prince and his other friend parted before he went to Qin kingdom. Then there's also the anxiety issue with the king. I was thinking they were putting something on his food but it was intrinsic in nature. Wouldn't his royal physicians be able to help him with it? What were they doing to alleviate the symptoms? Then, whatever happened to Hong Ra On's parents? They simply disappeared and never came back. Did they just leave their daughter behind? What happened to hong raon's relationship with her father? What happened to the white cloud society? Where did all the activists go? Also, there wasn't any sense of danger around the palace at all really. They talked in their normal voices. Not worrying who would overhear. There wasn't a sense of secrecy going around. Even the villains were plotting their evil plans in broad daylight. I'm starting to feel the story was not well developed. There were great actors: The prince, the prince's friend, the child princess, the grandfather physician.... But without the storyline to support and promote their acting skills, it all feels a bit bland.