Don't go reading this to get into something deep, refreshing or new presentation of gender bender, historical stories. Personally, it's not much in terms of character or plot development, it's full of cliche and things I have read and seen in popular historical dramas before.
But the things that don't get me bored are that the story doesn't drag (if you read titles like I Became the Duke's Maid - that's pretty much nonsensical drag) and the characters stay in lines i.e. don't sway or divert or do something or have some other characters where you don't root for the main couple or having different ships (this main ship is pretty strong up to this point). This one does it well.
I also give props to a pretty brazen male-love storyline too. I hope that this can go to the main couple too since the female lead is in male disguised. It would be interesting if the male lead also falls for her male counterpart.
So, in recap: this is about a girl whose family was broken. To save her father from being killed for infiltrating the imperial palace to get medicine for her sick stepmother, she traded her life in his stead in a bargain with the emperor who she knew prior (but both haven't recognised each other). They became master and subordinate, she received special training in (some place like) hell and became an imperial general. Because of certain string of fate, the emperor met and healed her in woman form and in critical condition. And somehow, against his cold nature, he felt in love with her at first sight - they both felt in love. But she left the next morning. So began their convoluting hide-and-seek love journey.
Satisfying love scenes, not smutty. With consents (props). Pretty tender and sweet stuff.
Tbh, the "love at first sight" is pretty irrational for me. Says a lot about love of facade. (She is so beauti-fool and I don't know why I feel this way - goodness I cringe!) It's pretty superficial lol. Imagine if commercial manufacturing of a pop product that includes the ordinaries with a thin storyline and developments as this, who'd read? Consumerism is still at great, it's annoying.
But anyway, it's an okay read. They also have mission arcs and stuff, but not too long and straight to the point. Try it to see for yourself.
Edit: This comment reflects my reading progress at chapter 48 English and 88 Korean raw.