====Warning: this may contain spoiler===
I just finished re-watching this series. If there are things that I am going to change, then I would like the Mishil arc to end faster and let us see Deokman being a proper Queen that the real QSD was - too bad they dragged the Mishil arc for too long, so there weren't much time for them to show QSD's reign and how they "slowly" changed - it was so shocking to see them smiling and sweet and then suddenly, they changed so much.
As for the romance, at first I thought that there will be a love triangle for YushinxCheonmyeongxDeokman. The start of YushinxCheonmyeong story was so good, I actually like them together. When Bidam came in, I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that there will be a love triangle with YushinxDeokmanxBidam, since Yushin and Deokman confessed their love, then I thought Bidam will be the poor second lead guy who may or may not end with Deokman. However, that started to change after Yushin got married; I thought "they wouldn't show QSD being in love or being in a relationship with someone who's already married, right?" - so I think that moment the YushinxDeokman romance has ended. From episode 40, I thought it was pretty obvious that Deokman was starting to feel something for Bidam.
The problem was again with the "rush ending" they started to do after Mishil's demise. Deokman and Bidam were having this certain relationship where Deokman trust him so much but then suddenly she was acting cold towards him and everyone, then suddenly again she's confessing. Honestly speaking, it wasn't as unbelievable as what most people says because Deokman and Bidam have a history together, the problem was with the way it was executed, they were rushing everything after dragging Mishil's arc.
I do believe that, Yushin won the Queen's heart but it was no longer that romantic love but more into subordinatexleader relationship - even Bidam himself said it, that Yushin is still the one she trusted the most. While Bidam on the other hand, won Deokman's heart - her as a woman.
I think Deokman has a thing for being "chosen" - knowing that she wasn't chosen by her parents - they choose her sister over her, they choose to protect the throne instead of her and they choose Silla over her.
That's why she fell for Yushin, after Yushin told her that he "choose" her over anything else. Too bad, Yushin stopped choosing her; I think there was a part of her who thought that Yushin will serve as with love (so he will always be on her side/choose her no matter what)
Bidam on the other hand, never stopped choosing her. He dared fell for her back when he was still "nameless Bidam" - a love that is obviously impossible, knowing he doesn't belong to any powerful clan and that his mother is her worst enemy, but it didn't stopped him from falling for her and when he fell for her, she became his everything. Everything that he's been doing, is all because he wanted to have her. And he never stopped choosing her even after she became a princess and a later on a Queen; as what she said, Bidam choose her, I think that's when she completely fell for him but because she's a queen, she had to stop it. Eventually, Bidam prove her time and time again that Silla and the throne means nothing to him, compared to how much she means to him. He will abandon everything in order to be with her.
I do believe she started to feel something for Bidam during episode 40 - where she was distress, Yushin gave her an advice on how a ruler should act, but it wasn't what she needed to her that time, it may her feel so alone. Bidam was the one who got through her and like what she said, he "comforted" him - she eventually put Yushin as someone she can lean on for "advice" and Bidam for "comfort" - that moment, she professional relationship with Yushin was settled, and she started to see Bidam as a woman, as a person and not as his ruler.
She may felt betrayed over Bidam's rebellion but in the end, Bidam's last words made her realize that Bidam didn't betrayed her love, he choose to betray Silla in order to be with her.
Some say that the romance part wasn't supposed to end that way, which is something I couldn't be sure off because there has been a lot of hints for the romance between Bidam and Deokman and the writers never said there wouldn't be any romance for them at all. I am guessing that it wasn't supposed to be how it was shown but nevertheless, the romance part was still there, probably just a bit different from what we saw , which is why Bidam's rebellion was originally supposed to be over his jealousy of Yushin. But Yushin was already married and with a child even before she became a Queen. Still it was a story that was written by their writers and it's not new for a writer to change their story from what they originally planned. I just wished there was enough time, if there was, it wouldn't be seem so rushed.
I actually like the ending even though it was very tragic, but, if I could write another ending, then I would love Bidam and Deokman to be able to live together - far away from the political life, since they both deserve to live happily with the person whom they loved and love them back.
