In the novel compared with the drama (and real life):
- San is 6 years older than Deok Im in the novel (in the beginning of the novel he is 24 while Deok Im is 18) while in the drama + in history, San (b. 28 October 1752) and Deok Im (b. August 6, 1753) were just 8 months apart.
- No childhood encounter with San and Deok Im like the drama did in episode 1.
- The neck choking scene occurs in chapter 1 of the novel with San suspecting that Deok Im is a spy and is trying to intimidate her; in the drama, the neck choking scene occurred in episode 7/8 and was due to San’s jealously but he was also trying to intimidate her too like he did in the novel.
- Deok Im is transcribing books for the Queen instead through the head court lady Jo; Deok Im does get books to transcribe to from the head court lady’s library though.
- Deok Im finds out San’s true identity much faster in the novel while the drama developed their relationship more before she found out that he was the crown prince + in the novel he wasn’t pretending to be Deok Ro.
- No tiger arc hunting.
- Instead of an old library (like in the drama), Deok Im initially works in a messy storage room.
- The crown princess (Queen Hyoui) is mentioned more explicitly in the novel like how her and San are not close despite being married.
- In the novel, Deok Im has three brothers instead of the drama where she only had one.
- Deok Im is directly ordered to work for San as his handmaid by himself personally.
[this post will be added on to]