Isamar27

You are correct. It's not said per say, but it's heavily hinted at.
In the first life, there was a point were the emperor started to notice The FL and made a comment to Shen Jie.
Shen Jie was worried that he would do something to JXN and he confided in XW. After that, the emperor died suddenly and everyone thought that it was of illness but we get the sense that he was poisoned by XW and SJ.
There was also another time when they were at a hunting event and JZN wanted to catch a bird alive not dead, and everyone was saying how could that be as it would be very difficult. It was XW who then shot the bird in a way to minimally injure it just for her.

I read the novel, they have actually added more scenes of XW and ZZ with the heroine in the first half. They did not erase any ZZ scenes, it's quite the opposite. He wasn't really involved in the novel other than the treason arc in the palace and the prison part. We only get little snippets of him throughout the novel about the first life.

With my calculations it shouldn't be more than 2-3 ep more

There is actually a chapter from XW's point of view from the first life. When she went to look for him and asked for help, he had taken drugs (the ones that they just introduced in ep 18) , that drug can cause hallucinations, that's why he thought she was an evil spirit and drew on her neck to vanquish her.
In the first life she didn't like XW because he reminded her of her humble upbringing as he met her when she had just found out she was the legitimate daughter and at the time she had no manners or education.
He did have a soft spot for her. There were multiple instances were it was apparent.

He hasn't really tried to hide his interest in her. It's just that with his reputation as a "saint" and she being scared of him, it's difficult for her to notice it.
Probably after a couple more eps she will realize his feelings.
And yes, XW character is so fleshed out. I like ZZ's charachter but not for the FL. They are incompatible.

There is going to be a 3 year time skip. After that, they spend a lot of time together, working for the same cause (don't want to spoil it too much). They interact more and he will pursue her hard, even becoming her personal chef lol It is not mentioned in the drama but in the novel she's a very picky eater and he later makes sure to cook for her as much as posdible because she adores his cooking.

The beginning of the novel were his deeds are recounted don't go into much details. We get them piece by piece throughout the novel. It is said that he killed the royal family but we are not told the specifics. I also don't think that he knew the FL was being raped. He probably guessed that he may be bothering her but probably didn't know the extent. If yoy read tge extra chapters from his point of view, when she went to ask for his help and was rejected, we find out that he was drugged and thought that he was hallucinating. The next day when he realized that she had really visited, he actually went looking for her and heard her saying to FY how she needed to use LY to survive.
Yes, he was unfeeling but I just never felt that he was evil, if that were the case, I wouldn't have read such a long novel while disliking one of its major character.

That is also true. However, with how greedy and ambitious he is, it was very convenient for him to have the prince who is his nephew survive and be emperor and thus be indebted to him. As you probably read throughout the novel, he got away with a lot of things because he's the uncle of the emperor.

Not really. He just found it more important to save the future king and thus score points and gain more power.

The only major difference I saw in the drama was the banquet as well. However, the feeling of most characters are very similar to the novel. Regarding the king and XW hate towards the royal and Xue family, you really don't get the sense of his hatred towards them till the end. I was personally shocked by the way he killed them, didn't see it coming.
The first inkling that I had of his really dark side was when he killed the senior from the sect at his house. Otherwise, he was very good at hiding his dark side for the most part.

You are point on. I read the novel, and although he was very violent it was never towards the main girl. Regarding ZZ, I actually feel that they have made him more likeable in the drama. He was always good even in the novel but I still remember when he first made his appearance there. It was when they were accusing the FL for treason. There was a point were the servant got caught and was being interrogated, the FL said something along the lines of "who's servant are you, that you are so incompetent" or something like that. At that moment ZZ thought to himself how he always disliked her domineering self.
Since then I always felt that he was not right for her as he inherently disliked certain parts of her personality.

If I remember correctly from the novel, she didn't know. When XW rebelled in the first life, he didn't do it under his original name. However, I believe ZZ figured it out but not sure.

In the novel it is explained that it is taboo for a nobleman to be in the kitchen and cook. If people were to find out that he's been cooking it would be scandalous. In his eyes, he is doing something like that for her and she had the nerve to share it lol

That's why I never had SL syndrome when I read the novel. It was obvious even in the second life, that ZZ was not comfortable with some of the things she did while XW accepted all of her always.

Yes, he is. It's a miracle that the FL didn't notice his feelimgs sooner considering how jelous he would often get. He was never hiding it either.

Yes they have. They have made some minor changes but as a whole it is very similar.

It helped having the ML being crazy about her lol After she had the clean break with the SML, she just gradually fell in love with the ML. It didn't happen overnight. However, because of that, it was so satisfying. Btw, if the ML is anythimg like the novel, he will be a very jelous man, like EXTREMELY.

In the novel she was considered the most beautiful, her face was described 10/10 and she could make her face even more beautiful because she was very adept at make up. The concubine that raised her taught her well.

His character has already been made more softer for the drama. I guess they were afraid to scare viewers lol

She loved him in both timelines. The author of the novel described it as love at first sight for both of them. It just could't be because she was already queen.