AH

The way the narrative is set up, the issue of the crown prince is an extremely difficult one to manage. Particularly on screen.

The person who controlled every aspect of the ML’s life after he transmigrated into the story, poisoned him, and emotionally abused him (including by punishing anyone who could become his friend whenever he had headaches that were not only out of his control, but actually caused by the poison inflicted on him) also had him drugged and raped in order to produce another heir that she (the Dowager Empress) could control and use as a puppet - making the ML expendable.

To the ML, the crown prince (although an innocent child himself) was a living reminder of the rape that the ML suffered, of his helplessness since he arrived in this historical world as a child himself, and of the Dowager Empress’ power and manipulation. In order for the ML to spend any time with the crown prince (if the Empress Dowager would even allow that, which is itself a pretty big “if”), he would have to face that horrific trauma every time. That’s a difficult ask of someone whose traumas were piling up higher and higher and who was already constantly questioning their own sanity and grip on reality, especially given that one of them was a real person and the other was a fictional character. Sometimes a drowning person will end up killing the person who attempts to rescue them, if that person isn’t properly equipped for that kind of rescue - resulting in two deaths instead of one. Would it be worth it if the real person (the ML) tipped over the edge into madness while attempting to help a fictional character (the crown prince)? What if that led to a scenario where the crown prince witnessed the ML’s complete breakdown, which ended up traumatizing the crown prince instead of helping him - making things worse for both of them instead of better?

And, more importantly, if the Empress Dowager did permit the ML to spend time with the crown prince, the ML was able to spend time with the crown prince without going mad, and the ML had formed any emotional attachment to him, it’s very clear that the Empress Dowager would have used that emotional attachment against the ML by threatening the crown prince (e.g., like how the Empress Dowager forced the ML to go to the mosaleum site by threatening Yu Wan Yin and using the ML’s emotional attachment to her against him).

But by distancing himself from the crown prince in order to both protect the crown prince from being threatened and used that way and to protect himself, the ML could not influence the crown prince and therefore the Empress Dowager was able to fill the crown prince’s head with her own words unchallenged. So the crown prince (who was too young to see through the Empress Dowager’s selfish intentions) believed that the Empress Dowager doted on him and was a good person, and also believed that his distant father was the mad tyrant that everyone said he was. Which led to the scenario where the crown prince chose to throw the poison-trigger-powder at the ML (and Yu Wan Yin) in order to protect the Empress Dowager from them.

With the Empress Dowager out of the way, the ML and FL could attempt to de-program the crown prince from all the lies that were fed to him, but the two of them probably wouldn’t be the right people to handle it initially (given how the crown prince had been programmed to perceive them as threats) and the process would be very difficult, tedious, messy, and dark. IMO, it would not be the kind of thing that would make for good drama screen time in this kind of drama.

Even if it leaves a loose end that isn’t perfectly tied off, I totally get why the writers would choose not to address this issue in the foreground of the story.

Since it wasn’t addressed directly, we can imagine (for our own peace of mind) that the leads handled it slowly and properly in the background.

For example, we can imagine that, after the Empress Dowager was taken care of, they found a trustworthy person to act as a tutor and mentor for the crown prince, so that he could have someone to trust and feel safe with. And that person slowly helped the crown prince understand how the Empress Dowager had used both him and the ML. And eventually they took the step of making apologies and establishing a proper relationship between the crown prince and the leads.

That would be a much better outcome for the crown prince than what he had in the web novel.

You're welcome!

Thank you for sharing the link 👍

Since I’ve answered this in the comments a few times, I created a discussion topic with an explanation: https://kisskh.at/discussions/778182-this-is-ridiculous/148402-funny-names-explained-wang-cuihua-and-zhang-san?pid=3473118&page=1#p3473118

Interesting. Just hearing about it, I feel like I wouldn’t like that bc it would undermine all the good / selfless intentions behind his actions. I liked that he apologized in the drama as soon as she found him out, but not sooner. Idk if I’ll watch the donghua but I’ll reserve judgement on that bit until I actually watch it. It is nice to have multiple versions of the story to enjoy 😊

The ML was living in the novel world for 16 years and 8 months before he wrote the letter that the FL received in episode 27 (the FL said she'd known the ML for just over 6 months in episode 29, so the ML was probably in the novel for 16 years and a little less than 2 months when the FL transmigrated into the story). The ML spent less time than that in the real world before he transmigrated into the novel (probably 14 or 15 years in the real world if he was in 9th grade in China) in 2016. So he was between 30 and 32 (at least by mental age) when the FL transmigrated into the novel.

Before the FL transmigrated into the novel in 2025, she had graduated from university and had spent multiple years in the workforce in the real world. Average university graduation age in China is 22, so she was probably 24+ when she transmigrated into the novel. So they had an age gap of 8 years at the very most.

When they returned to the real world after living together in the novel for many years, the ML returned to his teen schoolboy body in 2016 and had to wait 9 or 10 years to reconnect with the FL at the end of 2025 after she transmigrated into the novel and returned from it. So he was probably physically between 23 and 25 when he reconnected with the FL in the real world (although since they had already both spent many years living in the novel they were arguably both mentally much older).

LOL! Yeah I'd be very upset, too. Idk how long it would take me to cool down and consider the possibility that it was all an act with an acceptable hidden reason behind it. Maybe never?

Probably not as fast as the FL. And it was only because of her quickness that she was able to see the truth (or at least the immediate aftermath of it) with her own eyes.

Fair enough.

I know some fans weren't sure of all the details (like if he had actually killed the guards or not) and were more okay with how he acted after being assured that he hadn't killed them. But it sounds like you're just saying even if you confirmed it was all an act and knew all the reasons, you still wouldn't be okay with it if you were in Yu Wan Yin's shoes. And yeah, fair enough.

The way I interpreted it, the FL realized that the ML behaving that way towards her (behaviour that seemed to be unforgiveable) was extremely out of character for him, and that there must be a hidden reason why he behaved that way because he would never behave like that towards her otherwise. Normally he only behaves like that when he is putting on an act / playing the tyrant role in front of others. That's why she ran to him - to confirm that it was an act with a hidden reason behind it and to find out what that hidden reason was.

When she arrived at the ML's chambers, she confirmed that there *was* a hidden reason. The Empress Dowager's poison had wreaked havoc upon the ML and not only caused another debilitating headache, but drove him so out of control that he had to be tied to his bed. The FL realized that the ML's behaviour earlier was all an act (he didn't really have the secret guards killed) that he put on mainly because he did not want her to see him when he was in such agony and so out of control (and also presumably to try to convince her never put herself in grave danger again). He probably had to put up a great effort not to collapse or spin out of control when the FL returned to the palace until after he and the FL were completely out of each other's sight.

We (along with the FL) also find out later that the ML's health situation is terminal: he has been told that he does not have long to live. Which means that the ML's actions at that point (including ordering Eunuch An to place the FL under house arrest until the day the ML dies) might've also been his attempt to finally push the FL away before his final decline and demise to spare her from even deeper heartbreak - so she wouldn't have to see his final days filled with agony and out-of-control fits, and when he died she would think of him as a ruthless tyrant who died instead of her beloved person who died. But when she came to him that night, she overcame his resolve and he wasn't able to keep pushing her away for her own sake any longer.

You're welcome!

Yes, the leads eventually confirm that they are the only two people who are "real" / not 2D characters because they are the only two who have transmigrated into the historical novel world from the real world, where Beijing exists.

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

Yes, being a "2D character" means the character is fictional and only ever existed in one or more fictional novel worlds and never existed in the real world (where Beijing exists).

For most of the 2D characters, they only ever existed in the fictional historical novel (the "novel-within-a-novel"). In the case of the 2D protagonist of the transmigration novel, which covers two fictional worlds (a modern one AND the world of the historical novel), she transmigrates from one fictional world into another fictional world.

There were lots of implications that Shanyi and the ML had a twisted fate, so you probably are not the only one who thought that maybe Shanyi was the crown prince's bio mother.

But we found out the truth later. She was not controlled by the Empress Dowager, she did not have enough time in Great Xia to get pregnant and give birth to a son, and she came to Great Xia too late to be the birth mother of a kid the crown prince's age. Instead, her twisted fate was that she was controlled by the Emperor of Yan State and was forced to sacrifice herself in a doomed assassination attempt against the ML (which resulted in her immediate death) in order to save the man she loved back in Yan State.

I don't think it's all that useful to overthink the "why" of who transmigrated. But we can speculate if you like.

In the case of the FL, she explicitly made a birthday wish to transmigrate into the story and then she transmigrated the moment the clock turned to the next day and it became the actual date of her birthday. So you could chalk her transmigrating up to birthday wish magic I guess.

From what I remember, the ML received a notification about the transmigration novel while he was in math class and read the synopsis. Maybe he had a thought along the lines of he wished he could be in an interesting story / world like that instead of being stuck in a boring math class, and that triggered his transmigration into the story?

The transmigration novel Transmigration: Devil's Beloved Consort was not written in 2025. It was written and published much earlier (back when maglev trains did not exist / before the ML got a notification about the synopsis of the novel on his phone in 2016). The FL's company acquired the rights to turn that book into a TV drama series in 2025, and the FL was assigned the task of putting together editing proposals and a presentation on the drama adaptation within one day (and she happened to receive that assignment the day before her birthday), which is why she had to rush to read / skim the novel so quickly.

The novel that the ML and FL transmigrated into was already a transmigration novel. In that novel, a fictional character from a fictional version of the modern world read a historical story before she transmigrated into it and took over one of the characters. In the original historical story, Xie Yong Er was just a cannon fodder character. After she transmigrated into the historical story, the protagonist of the transmigration novel turned Xie Yong Er into the main character.

When the ML and FL transmigrate into the historical story, they are at the beginning of events and can change them again (e.g., this time Xie Yong Er can become the SFL instead of a canon fodder character or the main character) but the stage is the same. All the characters from the transmigration novel (i.e., the transmigrated protagonist) are there and all the characters from the original historical novel (a historical novel that only exists inside the transmigration novel - hence the term "a novel-within-a-novel") are there.

No. Shanyi (the dancer from Yan State) is not the biological mother of the crown prince.

A few short years ago, Shanyi was sent to Great Xia and forced by the Emperor of Yan State to attempt to kill the Emperor of Great Xia (the ML) in order to spark continued war between the two countries after her attempt failed and she was killed by Great Xia. The Emperor of Yan State orchestrated it this way because it meant that Great Xia was responsible for killing Shanyi (the woman his nephew and heir, Prince Tu'Er, loved) and sparking continued war, Prince Tu'Er was motivated to continue the war (even though it wasn't in his country's interest) because the person he loved was killed, and the Emperor of Yan State's hands seemed clean (no one could blame him for the continued war). Shanyi knew that her attempt to assassinate the Emperor of Great Xia was always doomed to fail (as she was not a trained assassin), but she went through with attempting it anyway because the Emperor of Yan State threatened the man she loved (Prince Tu'Er).

A different woman (a character so minor that her identity is basically irrelevant) was forced by the Dowager Empress to rape the Emperor of Great Xia (the ML) 10+ years ago to produce an heir. The crown prince was born 10+ years ago, so his mother could not be Shanyi.

City A is a fictional city in a fictional country inside the fictional version of the modern world that the protagonist of the transmigration novel (the girl who transmigrates into a historical story and takes over the role of Xie Yong Er) is from.

She is not from the real world that the leads are from, where they live in Beijing, China.

Yes, the ML transmigrated into the story when he was was younger than 16.

Yes, the actor who plays the young, past version of the current Emperor (who was just a prince when the ML transmigrated into the story many years ago) is the same actor who plays the biological son of the Emperor, who is the current crown prince.

The crown prince's mother is an irrelevant, unnamed character. On the Dowager Empress' orders, the ML was drugged and raped by that unnamed character in order to produce an heir. That character (the biological mother of the crown prince) does not feature in the story beyond that and was probably killed by the Dowager Empress after she gave birth to the crown prince, if she didn't die naturally in childbirth.

Some very quick info about the names "Zhang San" and "Wang Cui Hua" (copied from my comment here yesterday) because AI doesn't quite give the full picture.

Zhang San is like the equivalent of "John Smith" (the go-to example of a very basic, ubiquitous, ordinary name) or "John Doe" (a placeholder name for any person).

Wang Cuihua is also a very basic / common / ordinary name that strings together some nice (in a basic sense) concepts (royalty, jade or emerald green, and flowers or spleandor), but also associated with country girls and an older generation (the FL's third great uncle gave her this rustic, old-fashioned name).

And there was a 90s song called "Northeasterners are all Living Lei Fengs" (东北人都是活雷锋) that got very popular in the early 2000s that had a line ("Cui Hua, serve pickled cabbage!") at the very end that became a common funny line for someone to imply that a lady is a bit rustic in a light-hearted, familiar, teasing way. Now there is even a brand of pickled cabbage called "Cui Hua Pickled Cabbage" (翠花酸菜 - https://p7.itc.cn/images01/20230202/698b4ea3eaea41c7b2babf19ca966017.png) with a country girl image as a kind of mascot.

Xiahou Dan used that line ("Cuihua, serve the pickled cabbage!") when he was laughing at the name. In a way, it's almost like an early meme that's old enough for him to have known about it before he transmigrated into the historical story.