Snehal Jadhao

Because it was a secluded place no one goes there the reason why there were no lights in the first place ....MLs father walking over there was just a coincidence, he was lost in thoughts and just happened to be there

Exactly, all these people you have mentioned have only showed their love by protecting her which is great no doubt. But what needs the most is someone openly loving her not just to protect her but to give her happiness and cherish her and which only jiwoon is capable of.

Ikr, i had read a spoiler article even before the show started that there was one more reason he keeps himself away from palace and lives as a nomad other than the fact that his father killed an innocent girl...dont know if they are gonna actually use it though because we are already down 14 episodes now.

A bit spoiler but his character in manhwa became the king at last (it was his way to protect hwi)
And i think they might go through same route. Because as we all know she is gonna get caught and the shows synopsis have already said that "What if there was a female king who after getting caught would be totally erased from the history??" ..even the manhwa's theme is that.
Now they have to put someone on the throne right and if they are really not gonna make lord sangheon die at the end then he might need a new puppet king and who is the best candidate other than Hyun who is always ready to sacrifice his life for Hwi.

Yes, hwi as a character is more complex and interesting but i think jiun is interesting in a different way and it is always noticed when we get his interaction with his family(hope they show us more of it)
Jiun hides his pain by being happy and always smiling that is why it is more hard for audiences to read him while everything that hwi is going through is laid bare in
front of our eyes and also her way of dealing with her pain is through anger which makes it more noticeable and we feel more connected to her.

I think he might become the king at the end.

Again this drama's one of the theme is "Secret Palace Romance" for the people asking how can they kiss in the palace

Dami already said that the place she goes around for walk is secluded, no one goes there and it was a coincidence that Jiun's father went there as he was in thoughts.

And stop blaming Jiun alone for the kiss. Dami is as much responsible for it. She could have denied and he would have stopped, but she didnt. So we can conclude that the kiss was mutual.

Also there is no comparison between Hyun and Jiwoon both have diiferent way to show their love. Yup, Hyun is a very nice guy protecting her and all, but he is not what she needs,and moreover she doesnt love him and sees him as her brother. She needs someone like Jiwoon in her life who knows how to openly show love through his gestures, words
because that is what she lacked all her life.
Her mother loved her but she couldnt openly show it to her, her father loved her but same he couldnt show to protect her. And same is the case with Hyun too. Sometimes, we do not need people at our front and back to protect us but only to be beside us and love us.

Lastly, the kiss scene was necesaary for the plot to progress even in manhwa they were caught while kissing.

Well, the tagline has it "SECRET PALACE ROMANCE" so ya the romance is gonna be inside the palace and somehow the secret is gonna get revealed, otherwise howcome the story will proceed further. Even in manhwa they are caught kissing by prince jaeul.

I think you missed what CP said that the place is secluded and no one goes over there and thats why she likes to take a walk over there. It was a coincidence that jiun's father came over there as he was in his thoughts.
Hyun warned him and he did take notice of that but it was hwi who asked him to stay longer and again she could have said no but she didnt

The male lead is total diff character his name is Jung Misu and he is the CP's bodyguard

Okay , but that kiss was mutual. He didnt force her. She could have said no. Wanna blame..then blame both of them.

Okay, but no beheading is not done and it is certainly not jiwoon's fault infact no jiwoon exist in the book

Most of the people come with prejudices that idol actors cant act and that makes them scrutinize them meticulously so its okay if some people are criticizing him it will only make him better in his next projects. He is improving and given his handful of experience in acting he is doing far better imo in this drama. Also most of the criticism also comes if they dont like the character and some people just want to shade male lead and the actor performing it for they have got second lead syndrome.

PEB is a great actress no doubt about that. And one of the reason is her experience in this field. She has been in it for 20 years now with prior experience in saeguk while rowoon has been in acting just for 4 years if we compare with her and it is his first time in a saeguk. So there is no comparison between them. Also imo he is far better than other actors i know. Also it depends on the role/character. PEB's character is a alpha male type
with all the angst given to her while Rowoon's is a beta male . Lastly, I think both are doing great in their particular roles PEB with all the angst and Rowoon with all the comedy scenes.

If it is tough for you to watch Rowoon's acting, here, watch him sing a song
https://youtu.be/Tb3bIvz-j8A

I dont think jiwoon wanted the CP to reciprocate his feelings he just wanted them to be accepted by CP. He obviously had said that he will accept it if they said no and he might have accepted it too after she said no to him immediately after his confession. It was the CP who went on next day to his house and wanted to spend time with him and gave him hope that yes they also have some feelings for him too and directly handed over an promotion letter to them at the end of the day. Ofcourse he would be shocked and conflicted at that instant. He took his time to understand the stakes and atlast he resigned from his post and i think that tells that he very much understands his responsibilities and the CPs too and didnt want them burdened by his feelings. And that was a wise decision imo.
I would have understand what you have said if the cp actually had said no to him and sent the letter of promotion to jiun from some guard or servant. But CP themselves going to jiun mislead him somehow.
About Hyun, yes he is great. But the thing that his love started from sympathy for the CP always puts me off. I like how he is always silently protecting her but i dont think i can pass him as the male lead for the CP. And one of the reason is because he thought he might regret if he confessed his feelings for the CP while jiun went head on with his feelings and confessed when he knew the feelings were mutual and that is the one thing CP needs "a push" in their life if they want to live freely as you can see they have always kept their feelings restrained to themselves.

She wanted to but couldnt because of the situation??

Exactly how i feel but certainly not other people who just want one mere chance to nitpick on

About jiwoon's assumption about the woman in the forest i too dont think he fell in love with her or something i would most probably call it a "lust" for that moment, who wouldnt when such a beautiful human is right in front of them. Whatever i have read in my above comment are just theories of why he didnt recognize her when he saw her in a woman hanbook as the woman from forest in the latest episode which many people are pointing at now and calling him dumb for.
I also agree with whatever you have said that he didnt mind much about the woman in the forest that can be the case too.
I hope they actually address this issue though so that people can actually stop calling him dumb and also then the story could get a proper closure.

This is a "FUSION HISTORICAL DRAMA" NOT A "TRADITIONAL HISTORICAL DRAMA" and moreover a "YOUTH ROMANCE SAEGUK" with a "SECRET PALACE ROMANCE " , "TRAGIC LOVE STORY" as their main theme even the tagline speaks romance, the cast introduce it as a romance drama, i do not understand what part of this is not understandable when people are complaining about it that why there is not much of a politics part in it. Also i believe that they wanted to focus more on "HUMAN EMOTIONS"part than the "POLITICS" part and i think they have nailed what they had visioned for.
Most importantly the SCRIPT of this drama has WON the second place in the script contest of "Ministry of Culture and Sports" of South Korea do you guys think they would have let it pass if the genre of the drama was "traditional saeguk" and not "fusion saeguk" ..so this nitpicking atp is kinda imo useless because it aint gonna follow the traditional saeguk route.
Secondly, the casting for the female lead was perfect imo. I have known kings with short height and small frame in reality. Also her having feminine features is a part of the story for people to suspect that she has a womanly aura but not enough for fully to believe that she is a woman. Also why the hell a man cannot have feminine features and be small in frame compared to the average man figure?? You guys can watch "THE tale of nokdu" the male lead in it can easily pass as a female.
Lastly, i donot understand why people are calling male lead dumb because he wasnt able to recognize that she is a woman. Hwi is the crown prince of the joseon who in their right mind would think that the cp is a female in that period, the stakes are quite high on his life. And that second episode where he saw her in her woman persona he himself predicted that she is woman (not that he is wrong) she neither denied it nor said that she is a woman and she was fully clothed when he saw her and half the time they were chased do you guys really think he would recognize her after so long and even if he did he know believes that the woman he found in forest is actually a man and the crown prince.