Amazing drama, engaging plot and great characters

Characters are constantly evolving and circumstances that befall them are shown to have an organic impact on their worldviews. Both characters are written with clear flaws and shows convincing growth throughout the drama. The drama allows the two main leads to develop from enemies to friends to lovers, instead of prematurely planting in 'romantic' scenes right after they were forced together by a series of coincidences. The narrative is not afraid to truly challenge the characters, and it is rewarding to see them persevere even as the odds are stacked against them.

Side characters such as the Emperor and the main character's servant are also written to be realistic human beings instead of caricatures, and the narrative ensures that no character is left with just the bare minimum.

On the diversity front, the drama does well in showing a variety of female characters who excels in various traditionally masculine roles.

Plot is pretty enjoyable. Not sure whether it's really realistic on the historical front, but in my opinion there's no significant plot holes that destroys the viewing experience. Interpersonal conflicts are motivated by real differences in perspectives or unfortunate circumstances forcing people's hand, instead of people being idiots. The main villain is nothing too special but he's executed rather well.

I feel like the drama kind of stalls near the end. The main leads developed the habit of long conversations into the night, which gets boring quick but unfortunately contains vital information. Some of the development becomes...contrived. But it's not too bad, and by this time everything that's good about the drama has more than convinced me to watch to the end.

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A cliched and irritating mess

Right off the bat, a stark age gap between the two leads. Keyi could well be the general's daughter. This isn't helped by how childish and naive she is. She doesn't know shit about the world, which, fair enough given her background and everything, but leads to some very iffy dynamic with her much older lover. Sometimes I feel like he's mentoring her, being a father figure she never had. Which is wholesome until you realised THEIR ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP.

Because of the shit imposed on them by the schemes of various villains, there's some very uncomfortable stuff. Like the male lead treating her like absolute shit at the beginning, or trapping her in her room at some point to prevent her from running off. There's legitimate circumstantial reasons for this, but I'm not a fan of how controlling he is. (It only worsens the age dynamic.)

Seriously, if every romantic drama director wants to get their hands on the trendy jaded brooding man x bright optimistic woman troupe. They need to understand that optimistic =/= naive and quit it with the age gap.

Unlike most female leads who are at least shown to be clever and...uh..feisty, I guess, but not this time. Keyi doesn't blame her husband at all and never fights back. This is both baffling and annoying, as it makes her suffering essentially pointless. Writers, can you make your female lead an actual human being and not just a vessel for our frustration and catharsis?

Like...the premise is that Keyi is tasked (under threat) to steal her husband's token. So she needs to get close to him. A whole lot of episodes is just Keyi sucking up to the guy while he treats her like shit, including making her kneel in the rain until it stopped for no good reason. What. The. Fuck.

There is also a female spy character who is there All. The. Time. She screws up every mission she's given. (It's not really an issue with her, it's just that the male lead is all powerful until the plot needs him to get hurt, so if he's your target, you're gonna fail everytime.) Problem is, she is arrogant as hell and completely confident in herself. Loud, boastful, talkative, rude, even when she has to date accomplished nothing than kill a few civilians that she isn't even after.

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