I started watching this drama because the trailer seemed intriguing. While not a huge fan of the “girl boss” trope, I do like a heroine with intelligence. Unfortunately, this is not the case as the bad writing basically has any gains the FL makes (other than snagging her concubine position) a result of things just being dropped in her lap. Her entire attitude is no different than any other submissive little court lady, despite what we are led to believe is the survival of the decimation of her clan and infiltration as a slave in order to save what remains of her people. It’s like the writers want to make her strong but don’t know how to escape from the more typically written female characters in this genre.

For example, after our FL becomes the emperor’s concubine, he visits her expecting to spend the night together. Her internal monologue states that this was the ultimate plan - to use her body and beauty to save her clan. Then she gets cold feet. Like what?!? Your family was almost wiped out, your country doesn’t exist anymore, your one surviving family member is waiting to be saved and you will risk dying to save them but not sex, even though (according to her) that was her whole plan to begin with? And no, I’m not some sort of perv - it just isn’t logical. The next second has her making some vague statement to get out of it and the emperor saying there are better ways to use her presence, and that’s all well and good but that should have been HER line. She should have said something like “yeah, I can sleep with you but so can a dozen other women here - wouldn’t I be of more worth by helping you with X, Y, Z…” Like look him in the eye when you say it too - show some determination instead of presenting as this delicate flower that constantly needs to be rescued. Because if I was that emperor, I’d have zero expectations that you could help me, especially as I’ve had to save you twice now in three episodes. Ugh! That would have made more sense. Nothing she does seems intentional or clever. It’s just happenstance, leaving her weak and just a placeholder for the strategy of more driven and intelligent characters. She’s not “sword,” as her character states in the trailer. She’s a ornamental goblet waiting to be filled by others.