I don't understand why most comments are saying that FL is naive? Have you even read the manga? She's one of the strongest female leads I've seen and I only read mangas with strong FLs. She may not be the strongest at the beginning but that's how ppl are? they grow? also every character here is extremely well-written. The plot is quite interesting, and the master-servant dynamic is a chef's kiss. I don't know about y'all, but this is a great manga! 10/10 would recommend.

The FL is too naive for my tastes, which might be realistic for someone in her position. But personally, I couldn't continue reading it. It did not help that I hated the ML with a burning passion. The ML doesn't respect boundaries and is annoying af.

And cheesy. And unnecessarily melodramatic. And I kind of hate the main characters.

The story is set up so that it seems like the main character is supposed to be strong and intelligent... but she's actually pretty dumb and whiny. I find it totally annoying that the side characters keep referring to her age and how she is so mature for a 14,15,16-yr-old... in a historical setting where women get married by 15 (her mother did) and are probably considered adults by then. Especially since she is actually SUPER immature for her age, even by today's standards.

She also doesn't seem to understand palace politics or the world around her at all--it doesn't seem like she understands them and is just too cool for that stuff, it's more like she just doesn't get it. Like OF COURSE the other queen might try to poison her or her mom. It's like she has zero street smarts. Or palace smarts, or whatever you want to call that type of intelligence. She's got none of it.

The male lead character is also super undeveloped. Basically, his character traits consist of (1) being a shunned blond foreigner and (2) being obsessed with the main female lead. Just those two things. There is literally nothing else interesting about him. His existence is one of the most important parts of the story, and yet aside from existing he doesn't actually DO much to add to the plot, except for randomly getting rapey here and there. That doesn't make me like him more, but I at least wouldn't mind that in a fictional character if he was at least somewhat interesting.

It feels like the author is trying too hard to add drama to the story. Honestly, given the setting, it shouldn't be hard to make the story super dramatic through plot, but instead the main way the author adds drama is through really cheesy, melodramatic narrations and characters' inner monologues. Having some of that can be great, but here it's just so excessive and it really doesn't flow well.

But even when the drama is through events/dialogue, it's often still pretty dumb. To illustrate with an example (from early on in the story, so it's not much of a spoiler):

I almost dropped it at that point but decided to give it a chance in case there would be character development after that and the story would get more interesting... but no, it doesn't really get better.

All in all, this story is poorly executed. Giving it an extra point because some of the art is cute.

... Last updated on July 16th, 2018, 12:05am

I am not sure if those who have given the manga 5 or less rating have read the entire manga. Since it has been released in my country and I had a chance to read it in full, I can say that in its entirety, this is one of the best historical shoujo mangas out there!!!! Yes she (inadvertently) leads Hakusei around and yes it was a bit boring reading how she looks up to this older guy who basically loved her mother! -_-
BUT despite that, the mangaka definitely portrayed a great female character, her equally wonderful friend- the loyal Hak and a host of other great side characters.
Was the story a bit cheesy? Maybe. But the manga had many moments of sweet romance, intelligent conversations, good action and best of all - an AMAZING ending!



I won't spoil the ending for those who have yet to read it, but suffice to say, this was NOT the ending I expected. Yet it was one that was realistic - a bittersweet HEA!

... Last updated on July 8th, 2018, 1:26pm

its cringe cheesy and quite predictable. the art is nice but not nice enough to make me suspend belief and logic to stomach this.

the villains and characters against Aki don't feel realistic or convincing to me. it feels as if their only purpose in the story is to antagonize Aki and provide a means to get the plot rolling. the melodrama was also too much.

i checked this manga out because it was recommended under Chang Ge Xing. it's similar to Chang Ge Xing (female in a male dominated dynasty, politics, military strategizing, etc.) but CGX is better executed, jaw-dropping beautiful art and wonderfully better developed characters.

... Last updated on August 1st, 2018, 2:34pm

The melodrama is huge. All those melancholic narrations (cheesy)... everywhere. I can't live if you hate me.. I don't need anything else as long as I have you.., lolwut.
The arts is also so so. Tbh, I ended up skipping the middle part and went straight reading the end.
I read this because the description above saying it won an award. Must be a good manga. WRONG.
I'm sorry to say this is not my thing u.u

The story is like real life. People die, abandoned and hurt. Everyone is unpredictable and they follow their own rules. I like it when the characters suddenly show a side that no one would have ever expected coming. It keeps the story exciting and interesting. I would read this manga if your not afraid of death of the good characters and a slow budding romance between the two leads.

... Last updated on May 26th, 2017, 11:00pm

It's a good manga and worth your time if you like political intrigue. I especially like how we see Aki experience and overcome difficulties despite being talented at what she does. Her ability doesn't come out of nowhere either, and it's established that she's worked hard to get to where she is. It drives me up the wall when characters are talented to the point where they're basically perfect and never make mistakes, and this manga doesn't fall into that trap.

There's just one thing that really bothers me.

This is not a good romance in my opinion anymore. I liked it in the beginning, The idea behind this story is one that has been done by many other manga and novels. However, it sets itself apart early on and became a really cute and heartfelt story... until we find out in fact the princess was just leading the blonde guy on (eventually they will probably somehow be together in some way...) but after she showed such an adverse reaction to him, yet seems to have fallen for the man who loved her mother, it became irritating. Extremely irritating. I dislike love triangles so it became one that I couldn't like. It is written well and the plot is deep and intricate. I don't think others will dislike it if you are into that sort of thing. The art is also good.

... Last updated on January 22nd, 2016, 2:07am

I must say, looking at the older works of this mangaka, she's definitely grown a lot. I remember picking up the one about two brothers love triangle with their younger sister...it was so bad to the point it was maddening. Her female characters have gone a long way since then. This heroine is so much stronger and intelligent. The portrayal of male characters have gotten so much better and looking at one of the comments below, I can definitely tell you, the cheesiness was 100x worse in her older works.

So I would say. Go for this one, but if you're expecting the same level of character portrayals and plotline developments in her older works...don't touch them, not even with a ten foot pole.