Aramintai

If you mean the servant, who was like a brother to her - I think he was brainwashed, just like that shaman lady. Probably that suspicious peony incense was to blame, hence their hair turned white as a side effect.

I think the queen hates her uncle and she hates that he forced her to marry the king. And I think that her son is not the king's but that Song guy's who clearly was framed for the "uprising".

I'm thinking the guard is from that sacked village, but he also seems genuinely grateful to CP for bringing him in. But he also works for the secret Song organization that sends those arrows to another guy with the wife and does all that shady stuff in the city. That "old" master with bad make-up is probably Song himself. What they're doing is unclear so far with that mysterious mumbo-jumbo. Do they aim to depose the royal family, or want to expose the real villains? Who knows. Main thing is, it's a separate organization from the main bad - the minister. Maybe the queen is in coohots with them.

As for FL seeing the guard at her house - likely it was him, but I don't think he's the one who killed her family. There's something else, today it was revealed they all went to the mountain shrine that suffered a landslide just prior that supper - maybe they ingested something there.

Alternatively, the guard could have a twin brother. But that would be very lame, I doubt it.

There are multiple, actually. The really evil one is not whom you'd think though.

But it was a whole month for characters. It's like ML is a player character in a video game - while he's offline the rest of the npcs are not doing anything, all quests have stopped, everyone's waiting for pc to return and solve their problems.

Some people are so triggered here like it’s a personal offence to them that other people have differing opinions. Pay them no mind, you can voice your opinion here just like anybody else. I’m still finishing watching part 2, but I’m definitely gonna “thrash” it when I do. It’s not perfect and there are things to criticize.

It’s a very bad translation and it’s a synopsis to live action and not to the novel? Anyway, I wrote my opinion above in the spoiler.

ML clearly has feelings for FL, the romance is inevitable. She will stay by his side like she wants, but not as an eunuch. This drama has too many cliches in it’s regurgitated plot to sway away from them at the end. Will he become king? Honestly I don’t really care, he can go live high life somewhere else and be more productive with helping people along with FL. Kings in saeguks always end up being politically impotent. The other brother can become the king to make the prophecy come true, since he most likely is Song.

If you can stomach zombies, try Kingdom. The best saeguk with a twist, hands down. Definitely more entertaining than this 20 episodes snoozefest.
Or, if you like fantasy genre as well, try Alchemy of Souls - simply da best.

"His Highness has been confined in the Eastern Palace for a month"...the plot is not moving 😴

There was no romance between the leads in the novel and the prince wasn't even the main character. This drama differs from it a lot, the ending can go either way. But it strongly gives the vibe of a cliche, good ending.

Why can't I? He's a surgeon and is a boy age wise compared to FL, not to mention her actress.

Still shouldn't count as bullying someone. The other side still sounds like bullies themselves.

I recall in part 1 he said he was so smart he skipped grades. So he's younger than her, but was her senior at college? Also, didn't she start college a bit later in life?

Please stop making offensive remarks, or I'm gonna report you. I've the right to voice my opinion as well. And it seems that unlike you I'm able to separate fictional drama from real live events. This is not a documentary about real bullying cases, it's a fictional drama inspired by them. Yes, they can bring into light whatever problematic topic they focus on, but fictional dramas' main purpose is to be entertaining with its plot, even by embellishing irl events that insipired them, if need be.
In my opinion, the romance plot was not entertaining to watch, period. There were more interesting options to have here and they were hinted at in part 1. Feel free to disagree, but in a civilized, constructive manner, the only one acting childishly here is you.

So? Why did the kids mothers sent her bribe gifts?

Was it really like that? I don't recall seeing anything about that in the drama, just some messages from the main bitch. Were we to assume it happened behind the scenes or something?

Yes, it could have been that sort of plot, why not.

That depends on how damaged said person is. Personally, at times, especially in the early episodes, FL really had a psycho vibe about her. And I've seen a video where this drama's real life inspirations were discussed. One victim was so fixated on revenge, he, like FL, went to get a specifically chosen education to be able to make a hombrew bomb to kill all of his bullies at a school reunion party. So don't speak as if "you" know the feelings of bullied victims, how messed up they may come out in adult life and how much are they willing to do to get suitably painful revenge on their bullies.
The plot of this drama could have been made way darker and it would have been more realistic than FL dealing with all her bullies cleanly, without any dirt on her hands.

You're not wrong, but feelings are not logical, the plot could have easily been written differently with those two characters in mind. Or it could have been a classic, ruinous relationship where FL gets in bed with her rival's husband on purpose - it could have been a plot where she steals her rival's family (like she actually told the main bitch she'll do in part 1).
But all in all, because it was noticable that they simply had better chemistry together, however mild it was. Main bitch's husband was even shown to have a keen, if ambiguous interest in FL. After part 1 I personally really thought there may be something coming.
FL and surgeon boy had zero chemistry compared.