Imadethisaccountforjicha

1) The FL wants to be more than rich. She's competitive. She wants to be the successor to her family's company. Her dad, the owner of the company wants her imcompetent brother to be the successor. Why? Her brother married into nobility. The brother is now officially an elite among elites and his network is top-tier. If you ever have been job hunting, you'll know that youre network matters more than your talent. The FL's father knows at the end of the day, the brother can just hire someone to run the business for him, but his ties to the Noble class are a permanent gurantee for endless business opprotunities. The FL on the other hand is not only a commoner... she is illegitimate. She has a bad reputation among the wealthy and the nobles. She's a BOSS, not stay at home wife material. Her chances of finding a noble husband willing to marry an illigitimate commoner with a bad reputation who does what she wants is almost ZERO. So she has two options, find this unicorn of a noble husband before her father arranges a marriage for her OR a fake marriage with a noble/royal. She's only on good terms with 2 men who could be fake marriage prospects. The ML and the 2ML (the prime minister). She is actually friends with the 2ML, respects him, and based on his personality.... he is not a good first choice. So that leaves the Grand Prince who she knows is an oddball, has flirted with her, and has done her a big favor in the past.

2) Traditionally, koreans live at home with their family until they are married. Same for royals. The Grand Prince is unmarried so he still lives in the main royal palace where the King and Queen Dowager live. Part of the rationale for him being Regent is him still officially living in the palace. He can take care of all official matters right at home and can directly groom the current king for when he takes over power. The Grand Prince is techinically the head of the royal houshold, until the king grows up ORRRR until he gets married and has his own offical household. Once he gets married, what happens in the royal palace is techinically no longer his business. But we know the ML is a rule breaker, so if he marries just anyone, we know he will still stick his nose into palace business when he wants. So the queen dowager wants to pick his wife to have someone on her side who can reign him in and keep him out of the palace.

2.5)The Queen Dowager is not a royal by blood so she would not be first in the running to be regent. Regents are usually in the line of succession and/or the most powerful politician besides the king. So the prime minister would take over for the Grand Prince bc he is literally the PRIME minister and is probably a high ranking noble who is high up in the line of succession.

3) Royals can marry whoever they want. They can give their spouse official status if they dont have it. Plus its still 2025/2026 in the drama... its just taboo. People can complain and comment on it, and try to block it as if its inapropriate but there is no set rule. She's not even a noble to begin with so what does her illigitimacy really even matter.

Thrones are passed down from parent to child. It doesnt matter how young the child is, once the king has a son, no matter the age... if that king dies, the son becomes king.

In the drama we have seen 3 kings so far.
- ML's father (died)
- ML's brother (died)
- ML's nephew, the current king.

So even though the nephew is a child... his father (the ML's brother) was king. The nephew takes the crown.

I do. In the show we see that so many ppl recognize that he is suited for the role. The whole nation realizes it. It seems like his father and brother knew too. Potential spoilers***

My theory is that he is destined to be king. As a child, he always was the better pick to be the future king. I'd go as far as to say he may have even been crown prince at some point (that would explain his name change as a child). But his older brother, who doesnt even want it, gets the role...we assume the older brother was born to be the crown prince as the oldest but that might have not been true.

If so, my sub-theory is that the ML was originally betrothed to the current Queen Dowager or maybe as kids they were childhood sweethearts, but she chose power over the ML and picked the older brother instead. Problem for her was that the older brother wasnt suited for the crown, but the guy she dumped is. And now that its too late, she realizes he is destined for it, but as someone who was groomed to be perfect and never make the wrong choices, her ego wont let him be great. This sub theory is a stretch but them being exes or something explains why she keeps inappropriately calling him by his name.

But yea, it seems like he spent his life trying NOT to be the center of attention but thats just naturally who he is. So bc of that he's a threat to everyone who has or wants the crown. And those people just so happen to be his family. He values those ties over power so every time he had an opprotunity to be king, he stepped out of the way for whoever was in line. But everyone knows, he only needs to want it for it to happen.

She was groomed to be a queen and queen dowager. Yet her husband and her son who are the ones she needs to keep this position arent suited to be royals. But the person who is suited for it is the Grand Prince... who if he wanted to, could easily take the crown from his nephew. And it seems like the queen dowager is a bit too comfortable with calling the Grand Prince by his first name. Its giving she chose the wrong brother...

I actually think he would definitely suit a noona romance. The noona in question would just be a younger noona. And I think that would be a little refreshing rather than always portraying this dynamic with a woman in her late 30s or 40s and a man in their late 20s. Something similar to my dearest nemesis.

Well for main roles, he's only been in like 4 dramas and 2 movies as an adult actor after being an idol. Most of what hes been in has been pretty successful. Even the stuff that wasnt popular was at least rated well. Love song for illusion was the only "flop". So I think you just dont like his stuff and thats ok.

But its also bc of his looks. He has a specific look, so ppl are only casting him for a certain type of role. And those roles arent often the ML. And he is an ML actor. So he has slim pickings. Hopefully his popularity inspires more writers to make more drams with characters more suitable for him to play.

I havent watched that show in YEARS and back then I did not have an interest in history the way I do now... but I loved that drama. You just connected so many dots for me just now...

And what do you look like? Are you prettier than her to be judging or are you just chatting....? Like in a country plagued with lookism she's a 20 year veteran leading actress. Say what you want but what she does is working.

What did he do that you're calling him toxic? And why do you assume she's relying on him? She's arguably the more successful spouse...

That's not that old lol. A lot of women can pass for their late teens/early 20s until they are about 30.

Its heavily hinted that she will be a problem later on. For now, she is a chaotic neutral. Her and the ML just started beefing in the end of the most recent episode bc he realizes how scary she is.

Its not illogical. The whole reason his family even sent him there is to potentially ease the rivalry between the He and Rong family. If the Rongs treat the heir of the He badly and embarrass their family over something that isnt life or death, they risk offending their biggest rival. As important as the crops are, the Rongs have dozens of other tea plantations. Its better not to constantly be the source of the He family's embarrassment. After all, it was that same embarrassment and inferiority complex that drove the He guy to do what he did. If the heir is like that, what do you think the rest of his family is like? The Rongs are trying to avoid anymore of that animosity.

LMAO

Maybe its bc some ppl are young, but lets put on our thinking caps before complaining. This drama is set in the 1970s. I will say it again, THE 1970s! Many of yall are critiquing things that are just simply due to the setting.

Many BLs are made with women in mind bc its primarily women who consume BL content.

Also, episode 1 really only shows the main character. Only 3 other reoccurring characters appear in episode 1, each for only 1-2 short scenes. One of them is a woman who is very important to the story. We don't even see the 2ML, the second most important character in the show, until episode 2. The entirety of ep 3 is narrated by a woman who is the focus of that episode aside from the ML and 2ML.

This isnt a traditional kdrama. So the storytelling isnt the same. WHEN a character is introduced doesnt match with HOW IMPORTANT they are to the story or how long they stick around. I think you should watch more without quick judgement. Or, if you know you like stories that center women... a 1970s political/organized crime action drama probably isnt it bc thats not a setting with many women.

The drama is focused on the KCIA agents, politicians and Police/prosecutors in the 70s. You are not going to see many women in this setting. The type of women who would be there, they did made characters for... and that really just consists of women related to men who are more heavily involved than themselves or Gisaengs like Cho Yeo Jung's character.

She's someone whose been living in the slums her whole life with 1 morally grey brother and the other with no morals at all. She's extremely desensitized and used to relying on the brother that has no morals and always gets what he wants done.

It takes place in the 70s. In a country where a lot of ppl still smoke today. Everyone smoked everywhere all the time.

Its fiction. And they are similar ages in this fictional drama.

Is it so hard for yall to compliment someone without insulting another?