I started this series with high hopes because the opening scene with Qi Yan and his eunuch adopted father choosing his new emperor's robes was very fascinating, their outwardly smiley expressions and the weird tension in the air was honestly very well done.

But the FL made me drop it. Her characterization makes no sense - grew up in the palace but doesn't know the bare minimum of palace etiquette. She is literally RUDE but somehow the king just lets her get away with it because ??reason?? even very early on and when they're barely acquainted. She's supposed to be the best candidate for king's bodyguard position but has no brains for it at all and also physically doesn't carry herself like one. They could've just cut her role and have the FL be the 2nd FL who is clever and cunning and have her go head to head with the king.

Acting wise I think they were all pretty good, but no matter how good Zhang Yuxi is her acting cannot change characterization. Cheng Yi, as usual shows emotions very well, but he cannot make his character's interaction with the FL make sense.

Overall I still gave the show a 5/10 because I can see a lot of potential in there, but sacrificing logic to make romance happen in a drama is one of my top peeves and I cannot continue watching.