PReid

The actor was AMAZING. This character was so villainous and yet somehow I felt sad when he died. I do not understand myself, but that's the power of an exceptional performance.

When a person is kidnapped and their child is also held prisoner in order to get that person to "submit" and "comply," any sexual act that kidnapped person engages in will be against their will (i.e. without their freely given consent) and is therefore r*pe.
Did she want to have sex with him? No. She didn't even want to be in the same room with him. She asked for death multiple times.
Thus, your question is very confusing to me.

However, that being said, you can't be the only one who didn't consider a kidnapped person being coerced to have sex qualifying as r*pe, otherwise why would so many people call these two "the second couple."?
The second couple was the princess and the scholar.
These two were not a couple. From my perspective, they were a r*pist and the woman he held against her will who did everything in her power to escape him.
Yes, he was tragic and toxic and also very handsome. But, in my opinion, when a woman would prefer to die rather than be in a same room as a man, any touch from that man is non-consensual and sexual intercourse in these circumstances is therefore r*pe.
Perhaps you think differently. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes. She was there against her will. Sex without consent is r*pe.

I fast forwarded all their scenes after episode 20. I didn't understand the glorification of a r*pist; why show so many "intimate" scenes between a psycho and the woman he's r*ping? That seems really awful.

I love it so much!! I'm greedy, so I do wish it had been 60 episodes or 2 seasons.

What is everyone watching now? I FEEL SO LOST.

I stopped in the middle of episode 38. I DON'T WANT IT TO END!!!!!! *sobs*

Prisoner of Beauty is also excellent!!

Excellent suggestions.

The audacity.

Episode 37: Wei Yan is actually growing on me in this episode. I'm not spoiled at all and I didn't read the novel, but I feel like there's more to Wei Yan than we know and he's not the big mastermind behind everything.

Episode 37: It's so funny to me when I see comments that the ML has been "sidelined" or "isn't shown being a powerful fighter" or "there's no on-screen action to justify how tough everyone says he is." The dude literally kills 20+ palace guards while heavily drugged in episode 37.
Earlier on in the series, he kills 20+ highly trained assassins while suffering from internal injuries, a broken leg, and while protecting Ning.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT? Ridiculous.

Beginning of episode 36, I felt so seen: "Quiet down! All we want is a good show about a hero and a beauty." <--- THIS IS ME IN EVERY COMMENT SECTION.
(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)

AGREE. I wanted to see that.

It needed 2 seasons. It's so good and there's so much story, they definitely could have done it in 80 episodes without having to drag anything out.

I love how Xie Zheng keeps referring to himself as Changyu's husband and Changyu as his wife. That made me so happy.

HAHA! Qi Min played capture the flag and stole them all.

I still don't understand people who say our ML isn't overpowered.
When he was sick, he killed like 20 assassins on his own while also coughing up blood with internal injuries and a fractured leg. If anyone is overpowered, it's Xie Zheng (and he has been from the very beginning).

Catching up on 34 and 35 today, thoughts as I watch:
EPISODE 34
1. Wei Yan (the uncle) is so freaking handsome. Why are all the villains in the show damn hot?
2. I actually feel sorry for the emperor. Clearly, he just wants to live a peaceful life and get away from all the court politics.
3. Tutor Li and Wei Yan both growling at the emperor at the same time when he tried to proposition Changyu was HILARIOUS.
4. Oh jeez, that hug was so lovely, how he just appeared before her. I love how proud and protective he is of her. Over and over again, Xie Zheng out here proving he's THE BEST MMC of all time. He doesn't need to be flashy or showy when he's this capable and confident in his own badassery. And then that almost kiss before he backed off, looked at her to confirm she wouldn't hit him if he kissed her, and then the kiss... AW! I LOVE HIM!
5. The emperor and his eunuch... oh boy. °՞(≧ᗜ≦)՞°

EPISODE 35
1. I'm so glad that Xie Qi general was there to help save Ning and the Zhaos! But OH NOES! Yu Qian Qian is back with that hot psycho :-( That part of the country is FR going to suffer from a physician shortage... oh wait! He didn't kill them. He's such a good listener, and yet still a psycho.
2. I like the princess's relationship with Changyu. And Changyu looked so pretty in her new dress.
3. ACK! THAT DUMMY SONG! Blech
4. OMG! Changyu and then Jin, AND THEN Xie Zheng! I was laughing so hard. And ZLH's side-eye was so epic! This was one of the best scenes. Xie Wu is also one of my favorites.
5. The emperor is so unserious.
6. I wanted more sweet scenes between Changyu and Xie Zheng :-\

But the previews, I'm so excited for Xie Zheng and Wei Yan to interact!! That should be exciting.

It should have been 60 episodes instead of 40, it goes by so fast.