Aramintai

He did it to save her and also because he likes her. Don't exclude one from the other. And as a married woman she'd have ML's family protection. A woman on her own has little influence.
And that did save her - can't have her dead if you agreed to marry her off, so immediately no guards and everyone's allowed in. And she can get out of that mansion to live with ML's family.

The emperor knows something, but doesn't have any proof, so he chooses to believe the official version. For example, the main bad said that the emperor knows who really sent the troops to the mansion.
In the end it looks like the emperor will allow FL to investigate further.

Then he would be the emperor, lol.

Am I the only one here thinking consort Shu is a good person who was like a mother to FL?...Even in the last episode she was pestering the emperor non-stop to help FL. You people are just looking for a grey cardinal behind a grey cardinal.

Ok, now they definitely need to update genre tags with romance ❤️

Go to sleep, you're drunk.

Unless it will be shown explicitly that he did that, I strongly disagree he'd have done anything of the sort to a child.

Poisons that make you forget for a long time don't exist irl, at least not without any harmful side effects. And this drama makes a point of debunking magical bs. It's just good old childhood trauma.

Or, what's more likely, since all magical bs is being debunked here, she simply forgot because of shock. Suppressed memories. Happens often, no drugs required.

You really want her character to be the villain :D

Yea, there's no bs in cases and the leads are very smart. Some cases start off small and then blow up into a big case. Some cases lead to a completely different direction from the initial one as the investigation goes on. In some cases the leads learn of a crime too late and investigate somebody else's justice revenge.
The most interesting thing about the cases here are the sad stories behind them, they often leave a room for thought.
And the main plot case about FL's family massacre is being investigated in parallel. It ramps up in the later part of the drama as FL gathers all her memories and new clues. The culprit is somebody unknown atm, he's rarely shown and wasn't active until FL started to dig too close to the truth. Viewers know who it is only if they've read the novel.

Sure, starting from her mentor and ML's father. The main bad also covered his tracks well and a lot of time has passed.

I've no idea. But statistically, the victims would have been women anyway, even if this drama wasn't following a theme. They're weaker physically and had little to no laws defending them in that era, so they're always more likely to become a victim of a crime. General view on them was that they were men's property. And in the palace all women were the emperor's property. Any of their attempts to make something of themselves other than man's pleasure mat were met with ridicule and contempt.

It's rather unclear. The emperor calls FL's father his elder brother. But Chinese call everybody elder/younger brothers even if they're not related. The emperor may have been calling him brother because they were around the same age. On the other hand, they care a lot about social status and who's above whom. So calling him uncle would be more proper, if FL's father was late emperor's younger brother.
Maybe FL's father was the emperor cousin, that way he can call him elder brother without reservations.

I'm not sure sending her to that dilapidated mansion guarded by few guards where nobody else is allowed is safer than her Bureau with her colleagues. Perhaps the emperor's guards will protect her, perhaps the emperor simply sent her there to punish her and dare her to find clues there. But the main bad quickly got wind of it and ordered another assassination attempt. Killing her at the palace grounds surrounded by warriors likely isn't as easy.
As for female clothes, I'm thinking it's like when a policeman is forced to give up the badge and is forbidden from wearing a uniform when she's been suspended. She can now only wear what is proper for a lady, not for an investigator, also a part of punishment.

Depends on where you at. The main plot starts ramping up after around episode 22.

Wdym? FL's gonna find out who's the mastermind behind her family's murder and get revenge. It's been very clear since the first episodes, she's been dead set on doing that for 15 years, even if it kills her. And the main bad's gonna get served as seen in BTS.
The cases she's investigating are side quests, so to speak, with a chance to find clues for the main case.

Have you seen Kingdom kdrama as well? It's not a case by case drama, but it's a great historical mystery thriller. One of the best kdramas out there actually.

The masked assassin is his hireling. FL and co already found out that the masked assassin is a provincial general. The right chancellor was shown talking to the masked assassin when he got his eye injury. And in the latest episode, it was the right chancellor who danced with the masked troupe.

It's not a rom-com with doll faced idols, so immediately -0.5 points at the very least. Typical bias on this site.