Really looked forward to watching this for the nostalgia of well-written older series and was initially hooked within the first few episodes. Particularly because I've always had a soft spot for series where the emperor hangs outside of the palace in plainclothes as well. Everything about the show was straight-forward (which was a nice breath of fresh air from more modern series) including the plot, the characters, and the relationships + a nice dosage of humorous moments throughout.

The main star of the show is the emperor. An emperor who can hold his ground, keep his cool and wit, who can actually fight, and is both reasonable and charming. Unlike many other historical series where the doom and gloom of politics is overly intense at times, his workarounds really highlights his emotional intelligence and thoughtfulness.

As for the "bratty" princess, I was really rooting for her initially even despite her being characterized as being too idealistic. And with a background of privilege, it was also completely acceptable that she would be immature about her wants without understanding consequences. After all, there's a reason for the series to be titled the bratty princess. However after 18 episodes, it was becoming nauseating. Again and again, she took advantage of her privilege to selfishly do what she wanted and continuously getting bailed out. She emotionally manipulates those around her by hanging her hat on "doing what's right" and completely disregards the seriousness of who she was impacting. She whines when she thinks people are using her, yet she uses everyone around her in the worst way. All of this would have been acceptable to a degree if she showed any inkling of character growth after so many incidents and episodes... but there was none. She also didn't show any degree of understanding of the kingdom despite having been raised in such a household and showed zero thoughtfulness or intellect. Truly just a bratty princess.

Even is she were to show any character growth in the latter episodes, it definitely wouldn't make up for all the incidents so far. For someone who portrays herself as caring of the less privileged, she sure takes advantage of everything she can get away with, where others would have been put to death multiple times. It's definitely a shame because if it weren't for this aspect, the series would have been much more enjoyable and the higher scoring is for the rest of the characters.