This started out as being promising, but quickly went downhill. The pacing was way off and the characters were very flat. It felt like the main character was stripped of any personality for the convenience of the plot and as a weak attempt to tug on readers heartstrings. In the first chapter we got to see bits of her actual personality and I liked what I saw. A refined, educated girl who knew how to be herself in a place and time where noble women are seen more as property and status symbols than people. But after that it's like someone popped the balloon that was her personality and she was reduced to nothing more than a plot device with sad eyes. And the so-called 'villain' of the story swung so much between honorable prince and possessive Asshole that it gave me whiplash. In the beginning it's established that the 9th Prince and Yun Qie have a friendly relationship despite status differences. He's also shown to be quite fair and level headed, so his sudden switch to Asshole mode completely came out of nowhere. I was expecting there to some issues with jealousy and even a love triangle, but the author butchered their own story and characters so much that it just became a jumbled mess. In an attempt to create drama, the characters and plot were sacrificed to lazy writing. Even the happy ending was rushed and felt insincere. All in all, it was a good idea but poorly executed. There are much better manga with similar setups out there, I'd suggest reading one of those instead.
This started out as being promising, but quickly went downhill. The pacing was way off and the characters were very flat. It felt like the main character was stripped of any personality for the convenience of the plot and as a weak attempt to tug on readers heartstrings. In the first chapter we got to see bits of her actual personality and I liked what I saw. A refined, educated girl who knew how to be herself in a place and time where noble women are seen more as property and status symbols than people. But after that it's like someone popped the balloon that was her personality and she was reduced to nothing more than a plot device with sad eyes. And the so-called 'villain' of the story swung so much between honorable prince and possessive Asshole that it gave me whiplash. In the beginning it's established that the 9th Prince and Yun Qie have a friendly relationship despite status differences. He's also shown to be quite fair and level headed, so his sudden switch to Asshole mode completely came out of nowhere. I was expecting there to some issues with jealousy and even a love triangle, but the author butchered their own story and characters so much that it just became a jumbled mess. In an attempt to create drama, the characters and plot were sacrificed to lazy writing. Even the happy ending was rushed and felt insincere. All in all, it was a good idea but poorly executed. There are much better manga with similar setups out there, I'd suggest reading one of those instead.