I want to start off by saying this drama was able to capture my attention from the first episode. It is very well done
within the cinematography. The scenery is beautiful and I love that they allowed for a more natural undertone within the musical composition. The instances where you were just hearing the bustle of the market or the vibe in the palace really allows for you to fully immerse yourself. Really well done.

Now, for the bad, or perhaps more accurately: the infuriating.

This drama is by no standard within the realm of which characters are inherently only good or only bad. They are very much all grey and we see this immediately from the start when it came to the ML. His decision to pretend to be the husband of what he knew to be his enemy's mistress was diabolical. I didn't agree with the lies he conjured up to take advantage of her amnesia. (I am not a fan of amnesia plotlines at all. I find them a scapegoat for plotline.)

But I continue my rant to say, the ML was not an issue for me. He was doing what was necessary for the good of the people and city he was in charge of. His enemy is a bandit, known for a lot of terrible things and honestly, this mistress would have ended up also being charged and sentenced alongside of him for his crimes. So to me his decision to start his deceit didn't make me upset as much initially once I learned of what was going on within the first three episodes. It was kind of like how police do a sting operation and pretend to be a criminal to get into the mob or something. You have to do the unthinkable a lot of times to achieve.

Plus he was actually thinking of giving her an out in a way by letting her go to a temple or something. He did find this woman half dead from an attempted murder. He sympathized with her the best that he could given what he knew of her and her correlation to the person he was after.

Now fast forward this to him being unable to catch the 'enemy' he wants because the emperor pardons all of them from their crime when he finally goes to arrest them. So he is left with this mistress and this fake life and is unable to break it off because he is falling for her.

I can understand despite being unable to rationalize his reasons for why he continued his ploy.
But does that mean he is the worse character I have ever seen as a main lead?

No.

He never took advantage of her or crossed boundaries. He knew his feelings and that he was wrong, he consistently spoke about his guilt for what he did. And even when it came to a point he realized she regained her memories and was playing in the role still, he lamented he would take her wrath and the punishment that came from his wrongs.

This man is not perfect, but he is not a bad person. He made a stupid decision.

I segue now into focusing on the FL.

I'll be 100% honest, it was clear from the very first scene she was the enemy. The buildup to the reveal of her remembering and him realizing fell short. Even if you are not an experienced drama watcher, it was not difficult or hidden well to not realize this fact.

The issue is, like i mentioned ML lied for a greater good, fell in love and kept lying to not lose her. FL remembered and wanted revenge. The revenge in question for his TERRIBLE action is to kill him. Mind you she is an actual criminal who was smuggling goods that started a war and lead to so many deaths and was the reason for a good majority of the corruption going on within the capital.

ML's entire plotline was to capture this bandit that was doing this and put an end to it. Funny enough he only knew about the stealing and the murders but had respect for the criminal at large because he saw through all of the ploys how smart and tactful this person was. But then he found out that they were not just doing petty shit but was smuggling resources which were affecting the nation. AND KNEW ABOUT IT WITH NO ISSUES. Like it wasn't as if FL lead agreed to a job not knowing the reason behind it. SHE KNEW EVERY SINGLE THING AND HELPED PLAN IT OUT. She consistently was talking to enemy nation and even after regaining her memories and understanding why ML started his lie, had no damn remorse.

She felt justified somehow in her actions. Even more confounding was how after stabbing ML for revenge she decided to go right back into selling to the enemy countries? Like why? She goes on this crazy revenge scheme against this other Prince who worked with her in the smuggling but then killed her side to hide everything.

I am not sorry to say I couldn't resonate or sympathize with her because I understand your people had the rug pulled from under you, but everyone knew the risks of this business and nothing that you were doing was righteous and was instead harming those around you.

So tell me why or how I'm suppose to be feeling all this emotional hrumph everytime she mentions avenging her brothers?

I feel this FL was meant to be strong and amazing in everyway to match up to the strengths of the ML. And while I can see that in a lot of instances, I do not think she is at all a good person. She does not reflect on anything she does nor cares if it is not for her benefit. She wants to live out this bandit fantasy life among her uncle, and it seems whenever their endeavors catches up to them , in her head its unthinkable for them to be met with any penalty.

Cause after all they are simply living young and free in their actions.

I say all this to say, it was very difficult to engage in this drama seeing all of this going down. Then currently being in the era of the ML pining over her and trying to get back this woman and her thwarting him every step of the way.

Because she hates him and can't forgive him for his lies. Like please be so for real woman. Your entire character is a lie in itself, you go around pretending to be actual workers but then murder, steal and all of the likes. Why do you feel as if you are so deserving and better than this prince who simply wanted to stop all the bad shit you and your brothers have been committing?

I think this was ten times harder to stomach because it was on viki. This was the first show I had to turn off the comments because they were excusing her every step of the way. None of the characters are perfect, but the FL gets off in everything she does, learns she is doing, and continues to do. I further hate that her and her loonies actions in their gang were exempted and essentially allowed them not to face any penalties for what they had been doing for the past several years.

It was crazy seeing people literally say her actions amount to nothing in comparison to the ML's lies. I simply seem to although being a woman myself, can not excuse all the things she did and continued to do. This woman does not deserve an excuse for any of the wrongs she committed.

And I hate that she was never given an instance like the ML had to and was called out on multiple scenes to realize that what you think is correct is not the way to do things. I did not feel growth from her character nor any semblance of my definition of a strong woman. She is simply a character who is intuitive and cunning but missing the qualities of a strong woman by integrity definition.

She did not have to be perfect. Honestly, if she realized her actions were not good and admitted her part in the inner turmoil going on within the court and still decided to avenge her brothers. I would respect her. But she fucked off instead on some wild revenge plot and immersed herself back into the lifestyle that started the ML on his lies.

I want to give her a zero, but that's not possible so instead I give her a 1.