AH

I'm sure there are others, but it does seem to be less common for the FL to initiate the first kiss than for the ML to initiate it, or for the first kiss to be mutually or accidentally initiated.

Good to know. Thank you!

Some airing dramas have scheduled end dates (Snowy Night Timeless Love and The Judge from Hell have scheduled end dates, for example). Some airing dramas do not have scheduled end dates (like this drama, the Rise of Ning, and What Comes After Love).

Thank you for those details. Sounds like the last episode is forecasted to be available to VIP subscribers on October 28th, and there haven't been any rumours about possible special releases of more episodes earlier for subscribers that pay more?

I see there isn't an official end date for this drama. Is there any information we can go off of to figure out roughly when all of the episodes will be out?

Hmmm. It's sort of the opposite of the King's Affection scenario (minus the drunkenness). The FL kisses the ML on the cheek and then he kisses her on the lips.

The concoctions that the nine-tailed fox forced young XY to eat caused most of her spiritual power to seep into her blood, where she could no longer access it.

XY never regains the ability to access and use the level of spiritual power that she was able to access and use as a child before she was captured by the nine-tailed fox.

However, she continues to develop her poison and medical abilities and she gains other skills (e.g., archery).

Edit: I feel like I should add that this was a choice that XY made.

This conversation occurs in chapter 13 of the novel:

The Royal Mother grabbed Xiao Liu’s arm and examined her body. She let go and said coolly, “If you stay in Jade Mountain, I might be able to help you regain your lost powers. My remaining life span is at most one to two hundred years. If you want, you can be the next Royal Mother and control Jade Mountain.”

Perhaps controlling Jade Mountain was the greatest dream of many people in the vast wilderness, but Xiao Liu knew exactly what being chained to this mountain was like. She didn’t hesitate and said, “I would rather remain this way. Knowing what tomorrow will bring but not knowing what next year will bring. Not too exciting, not too boring.”

The Royal Mother merely nodded her head but her expression never changed, as if nothing in the world or time could ever affect her.

-

Episode 18 of the drama includes a similar conversation.

Two episodes in, I've found Yamato's character and Kentaro's performance to be quite enjoyable. Whereas with Kakeru's character... although it was refreshing that (slight spoiler ahead) he wasn't completely oblivious and realized that Yamato might have feelings for him relatively early on, I've found his character to be so over-the-top sometimes that it becomes very uncomfortable and hard to watch. I'm hoping that aspect of his character will get toned down as the story develops.

Your theory was right!

LOL! Well thank you. I blame some of the length on the sheer number of secrets the ML kept from the FL. The second paragraph could've been a lot shorter if he only kept one or two secrets.

I'm glad we have the spoiler tag so people don't have to wade through the whole long comment every time they scroll through this comment section. ^^

That hypothesis makes a lot of sense. Will be interesting to see if that proves to be the case in the last two episodes!

Thank you! ^^

Yes, with just two episodes left and the FL discovering some of the biggest secrets (e.g., that the ML was her mother's last foster child) at the end of the last episode, hopefully the last of the secrets will be addressed soon. And hopefully the ML will take the initiative to tell the FL about some of the last remaining secrets (e.g., about visiting her mother in her care home) instead of waiting for them to be discovered or revealed by someone else. And hopefully there won't be any more secrets after that.

Lol, yes isn't it interesting how different viewers can see the same drama and have such different takes? Definitely makes for interesting discussions in the comments. ^^

And agreed, I do enjoy a FL who will stick up for herself and her loved ones and not take bad treatment lying down!

I agree that sometimes the FL doesn't manage her anger in an ideal way (and the writers seem to like hamming up her reactions in an attempt at comic relief), but I feel like most of the time when the FL has an "outburst" the underlying demand she's making or the boundary she's trying to set is reasonable (like demanding that moocher ex-boyfriend contribute to the cost of all the house supplies he had used) and the outburst comes after some kind of breaking point... whereas if the ML didn't drag and drag and drag the secrets out and spoke to the FL about them sooner he'd have a much better chance of having a calm and reasonable conversation with the FL.

In the case where the truth about the ML's father came out, the FL had a very calm, understanding, and sympathetic reaction despite the fact that the ML continuously hid the truth from her and she only found out because of the CEO. When the FL had that reaction, told the ML that she was there for him as his partner, and asked that there be no more secrets between them, the ML should have taken that golden opportunity to come clean. The fact that he still didn't have an honest conversation with the FL at that point made all the continued secret keeping that much more problematic.

Lol, okay that all sounds very critical. I'm still enjoying the drama. This just happens to be the aspect of the ML's behaviour that frustrates me the most.

How ironic was it that the FL punished the CEO by having everyone eat a delicious and nutritious Korean breakfast in front of him while he was forced to eat an "American" breakfast that was just super processed and sugary dessert snacks... and then when she sent the ML and SFL away before they could finish that nice Korean breakfast the ML and SFL ended up going to Subway to eat processed American fast food and then the script had them awkwardly talk about how that food was good and tasted delicious?

(1) As far as the FL knows, the CEO is the kind of person who would write the kind of hate comments that were harsh enough for someone as forgiving as Ja Yeon to file a lawsuit against him. She doesn't know that he wasn't actually the person who wrote the most hurtful comment (the comment that was actually written by Ja Jun, which unwittingly hit too close to the truth about Ja Yeon's father) and the FL hasn't seen first hand how much the CEO regrets the comments he did write and the fact that he paid Ha Jun to write the rest. The FL also knows that the CEO is the kind of person who would fire an employee and demote his wife from a leadership position because that employee turned out to be his father's child out of wedlock (something that is obviously not the employee or his wife's fault) without even trying to talk to either of them about it first.

(2) Ja Yeon probably had to deal with many people, including boyfriends or potential boyfriends, being awful to her after finding out that she was a foster child and her father is a murderer. And that was before her father was released on parole. If someone was going to defy the odds and stick by Ja Yeon after finding out about her family history, how likely would it be that that someone would be Mr. super-sensitive CEO who seems to become close with an employee one minute and then ruthlessly fires the same employee the next minute simply because of who the employee's father is? The FL asked the CEO if he could stick with Ja Yeon through anything. Clearly she thought that he would be like everyone else who let Ja Yeon down and abandoned her in the past. Whereas the FL believes that she is the only one who will definitely stick by Ja Yeon through everything, no matter what. And that seems quite believable, since the FL has clearly stuck by Ja Yeon for many years and hasn't put any of the blame for her father's death on Ja Yeon.

I felt very differently. I kept getting annoyed with the ML deciding, over and over again, to hide critically important information from the FL until she inevitably found out in the worst possible way, leaving her feeling hurt and like he doesn't trust her and like he can't be trusted himself, instead of getting ahead of it by giving her the proper warning and explanation she deserves and then figuring out how to handle things WITH her.

The ML knew who the FL and her foster sisters were from the beginning, but pretended that he didn't. He didn't tell the FL that he was her mother's last foster child. Even when they got married and he greeted her mother at the wedding, the ML still didn't tell the FL that he already knew her mother. After the wedding, he ghosted the FL (disappearing off the face of the earth and ignoring all the FL's calls for three months), secretly visited the FL's mother, and didn't tell the FL anything about it, even after he came back. He bought his wedding ring instead of returning it, but lied to the FL about it and said that he had only rented it. She had to find out the truth from someone else. When he was forced to join the FL's company, he gave the FL zero warning about it even though there was a huge risk that a misstep would impact her career. She only found out when he showed up in front of her - forcing her to have to scramble and fumble while she was at work. When he moved into the FL's house, he hid the reason why he knew that the rooftop room didn't have a bathroom and once again failed to take the opportunity to tell the FL about his history with her mother and the fact that he had lived in her childhood home after she moved out. When he figured out that he was the chairman's son, he had so many opportunities to tell the FL about it but chose not to even though, again, it was information that could have a serious impact on her career. And it *did* end up having a serious impact on her career - it caused the CEO to demote her from the leadership position that she had only just managed to earn thanks to her hard work (and had already nearly lost due to him showing up at the company without warning the FL or giving her a chance to come up with a good plan to deal with it). And when the CEO gave the ML an ultimatum about leaving the country, the ML didn't say anything about it to the FL. He could have treated her like a partner and told her and then talked with her about how to deal with it. But instead he kept her in the dark so that she ended up finding out about it in a terrible way (triggering her abandonment complex) from someone else.

I was honestly annoyed that the FL didn't confront the ML about hiding the fact that he was the chairman's son from her and the fact that that was why he was forced to join her company. In different circumstances, his parentage would be information that he could morally keep to himself until he felt ready to share it. But in the given circumstances there was a very obvious risk that the information could lead to a situation where the FL's career and reputation would be in danger. The ML was even warned by Mr. Jung that he should think about protecting the FL. But the ML still kept the FL totally in the dark and completely failed to warn her or to protect her properly. It was so frustrating.

The ML generally seems like a sweet person, but he has a horrible habit of keeping secrets from the FL and completely failing to learn his lesson each time a secret implodes and ends up hurting the FL again.

This felt like a levelled-up version of Hello Monster and Come and Hug Me.

I haven't watched the drama yet (I'm waiting), so this is all speculation that's completely in the dark... but did she study abroad before working abroad? If so, she probably had major debts to pay off for both student loans for international tuition rates (unless she got a full ride for her entire study abroad) and her cost of living while she was a student (food, housing, transportation, medical care, visas, etc.). Even if she had major scholarships and was very frugal with her food, housing, and transportation choices (to the extent possible)... one major medical incident in the US could easily wipe out her savings and put her into debt.

She also might have initially held positions at that company or other companies that were poorly compensated (e.g., unpaid internships or low-paid starting or temp contract positions) before working her way up to a better compensated position... while still dealing with a very high cost of living in the Bay Area or similar metropolitan areas.

I normally stick to dramas I've watched with my lists. But thanks for letting me know. ^^

In chapter 23 of the novel, XY says: “我在想，如果你从死斗场里逃出来时，是我救了你该多好！如果那样的话，我就会让你只做防风邶！真恨不得能早出生几百年，我一定会去死斗场里找你……"

Which roughly translates to: "I was thinking: if, when you escaped from within the death match arena, it was me who saved you, how wonderful that would have been! If that were the case, I would have made you only take the role of Fang Feng Bei! I really wish I could have been born a few hundred years earlier; I would definitely have gone to the death match arena to find/search for you…"

It sort of sounds like XY was saying that she wished she (and not Gong Gong) had saved XL when he was injured and nearly killed (by the whirlpool) after he escaped from the slave death match arena... and even more than that, she would have gone to the slave death match arena directly to look for him (and maybe to try and help him escape sooner and more safely). And then once he had escaped, she would have had him only live a life like FFB's carefree life (with no ties to a general and an army that was determined to fight to the death for a lost cause / that was her family's enemy).

Basically she would make her wish that he would always be FFB (the version of XL that was unburdened and able to be with her) come true.

For context, before the 37 years of healing, XL told XY that he had been a slave in the death match arena back when he was FFB and had not yet revealed that FFB and XL were the same person. It also seems to have been common knowledge that Gong Gong saved XL's life at one point and that XL later returned to Gong Gong when Gong Gong was abandoned by the world in order to repay that life debt. Whereas XY only found out about Gong Gong saving XL from the whirlpool (specifically) during the 37 years of healing when she was supposed to not be able to hear what XL was saying to her. Thanks to chapter 26, we know that XY was aware that XL did not want XY to know the things he said and did during the 37 years of healing (in chapter 22) and that she decided to pretend that she had not heard anything (including the merpeople's mating song) during that time. So it makes sense that she wouldn't mention the whirlpool in this scene.