AKH

Aah thank you, this actually makes a lot of sense now- I was wondering how she could possibly "betray" him worse than the things he's accepted and I was so worried it would feel like a plot hole but you're right - nothing she's done is as bad as abandoning him / leaving him behind like his mother. In that case I can understand his trauma response... still hope that their tumultuous period isn't too angsty , they've both been through so much heart break!

I'm really curious after *all* of these ups-and-downs where Xi xiao's love for her and trust in her has prevailed despite it being clear to him that she was "using" him -- and now knowing what she's been through in her life and how alone she is -- what possible misunderstanding could force them apart? To the extent that he would be mean to her when they meet in the future? Even as a teen (at his most immature and short sighted) he can't hold a grudge with her long enough to keep the silent treatment going and then when he's 30 with all the forsight and maturity to look back on their dire childhoods he's going to hold a grudge with her? I hope it's not what it seems... I hope we get Sang Yan level "bullying" at *most*....

Really enjoying it so far! Some people are sceptical of the pacing for the romance but honestly sometimes dramaland tries to drag out two grown adults getting feelings for eachother like they're clueless children -- I find it refreshing that they're two attractive people who are hot for eachother, it seems perfectly natural they'd be hitting on eachother at this stage? It really can be that simple. Plus the early relationship ups and downs can be so fun-- nothing worse than a drama where the characters get together in the last 2 episodes when there's no plot left!

Okaaaay interesting- it's not often a historical cdrama really "suprises" me but the FLs hallucinations definitely did and feel intriguing. I don't know that I've ever seen a drama FL have this sort of mental ilness or ptsd symptom- especially not from the start of a drama (as opposed to a temporary thing later in the story arc).

I wasn't sure based on the synopsis but I've been completely drawn in!

The writers / directors didn't do a good job making it feel justified. Any woman watching immediately recognises his behaviour - the fact he immediately jumps to violence and intimidation against her whenever he feels strong emotions, pulled a weapon on her out of uncontrolled anger multiple times, whipped her once- he plain as day uses physical abuse tactics despite claiming to love the FL. It's very hard to find him a sympathetic pursuer of her having seen all of this.

I kind of love that while she's generally at odds with her brother and sister in law, they're not cartoon villain family members and actually help out when its needed sometimes.

Sometimes in a historical chinese drama I find the female characters often have a kind of "cold" greif reaction when characters die. While it makes sense that many would act that way out of shock I really liked that they had our FL burst with anger and try kill her awful father. Felt very in character for who we know her to be.

They've hands down made him one of the most unlikable SML's that I've seen in a cdrama in recent history and I'm bummed out the last two episodes we saw so much more of her interactions with him than the ML. I'm trying to be patient but I thought we wouldn't even be entertaining him at all as a SML since he lashed out in anger and HIT HER WITH A WHIP.

Is the plot point where she sets him up on a bind date with a friend in the webtoon too? I can't help but think it's really unkind to do that to a friend and then date the man yourself even if it wasn't intentional.

Okay just binged the first 3 episodes and this show is so entertaining so far. Everything I want out of a popcorn k-romcom. Unique leads, loveable wider cast, silly shennanigans every episode.

I'm glad we can see them actually "liking" eachother already. So many dramas set up a fake antagonistic relationship in the first half with contract marriage stories having a whole "don't even think about falling in love with me! 6 months in we get divorced!" clause as the main plot obstacle of the whole drama. Here they've set up a situation where two rich hot smart ambitious but LONELY individuals are in a contract relationship- it feels natural that our FL who hasn't met a man on her level yet would find excuses to hang out in his office while he works (without realising herself that she's doing that) because she actually enjoys his company. Meanwhile he seems utterly charmed by how upfront and weird she is and can't help but lowkey flirt through their conversations. Her getting a kick out of "playing the wife" feels so on brand too.

So far this has been the perfect "de-stress" drama for me, the only downside is I have gotten pretty used to cdrama schedules so 2 eps a week might feel excruciating.

The best friend pair are kind of the most engaging part of the drama to me! Found the episodes in the middle were really dragging with the main pair but I kept watching to see how the second couple would progress.

Can't tell why this feels like a slog when I'm personally quite happy watching s tropey romcom and wasn't looking for anything astonishing out of a drama like this. I think I cannot feel... at all... why the ML and FL actually like eachother.

Yeah while I really liked the setup for this drama, and the first half of the episodes- overall I'd say I don't really like how we untangled everything in the finale episode, don't really love how the plot arcs unfolded. The whole- he lies to her for 10 episodes, she finds out and tells him to go away, then stumbles across information where she learns about his motivations and suddenly she feels like he's absolved and she wants him back. Very easy , rushed and tropey. Wish they spent way less time on the false relationship and way more time watching them actually healthily rebuild a relationship despite their complex past and her own grief.

Aside from that, a tiny gripe- feels kind hard for me to buy that the Dr ladytook such an attitude with Chan in past episodes considering she had been *actively cheating with Haran's boyfriend AND it turns out knew the whole time that that cheating boyfriend actually asked Chan to talk to Haran on his behalf while away on a romantic trip with her*. And then years later with all the hindsight of a grown woman she not only lashes out at him when he has questions for her but actively lies that he caused an explosion that caused a man's death...? Huh? Even in the flash backs she acts like an actual normal person, saying they're the guilty ones and hyeokchan needs to come clean to his girlfriend.

My one small issue with this drama is I feel like i don't care at all about the second couple- I mean the FLs friend is nice and all but there's absolute no chemistry (or even plot) surrounding them as a second couple i basically zone out for the few minutes they have of screentime per episode

I'm actually annoyed that they're only leaving two episodes to sort out all the lies because I'm really doubting they will be able to give it the same justice they would if she had found out many episodes ago. I think it's much more interesting to see Haran overcoming her grief while developing a real relationship with someone she actually knows is tied up in that event (how complicated that would be but slowly and steadily they would heal together). We essentially watched an entire drama of the ML building a relationship with her under completely false pretenses.

I honestly think it would have made a much more interesting arc to see them to develop their relationship / deepen their relationship after the big reveal of who he is to her, and wish more of the drama time was dedicated to that. I don't see any point in watching them be happy right now when it's built on deception on the MLs side and we're just going to see Haran experience yet another traumatic / devestating thing in her life. The setback she will experience finding out the one person she finally opened her heart to after closing it off due to deep seated trauma was lying to her seems like it would be huge so I hope the drama dedicates enough space to them rebuilding after that... I wish the whole reveal would have happened sooner to be honest because I think it would be more satisfactory to see her truly healing (rather than just being built up for another fall).

I don't know how I missed this drama last year- enjoying it as a nice feel-good binge watch alongside waiting for the much more dramatic pursuit of jade. I liked watching the relationship between these two scheming main characters develop.

They're so warm and sweet with eachother-- I really want to fast forward to their happy ending without our FL being hurt when she finds out the truth about his past!

Seperately to that though, I'm struggling to understand why our ML hasn't revealed himself to her + tried to keep her with him and under protection of his soldiers. She's basically being hunted by his enemies for being the Marquis' wife, she should at least know that herself. Also him leaving that town with no protection didn't seem like the smartest move considering he knows both of those evil brothers know her.