Like in the last side story we can see them being reincarnated again and meeting each other. This lead us to a rather open ending where we do not know if they will end up together or not

The story was kinda long but certainly worth it, all the characters were pretty interesting especially the Empress Dowager and Concubine Mei who I personally loved. For male characters I loved the Emperor he certainly tried his best to be a great father and ruler given the era he was born into. The sickly Fourth Prince was amazing as well, I personally liked the relationship with his guard at the end. There really was a lot of interesting characters I cannot name all of them. I personally felt that each character had their own uses and importance.

Now let me talk about the female lead. She was certainly the most interesting one of them all. I loved the way she handled things it's the first time I've ever saw a concubine let the emperor know of every schemes angst her. She was proud and cold yet kind and caring. Her achievement were her own and only and I personally love that after becoming the Empress Dowager she decided to travel the world and write a book. She stayed true to her belief to the very end. And unlike in the TJOAIC, I feel like that I got to know the FL for who she really was like the emperor did as well. He knew that she didn't love him exactly but that every single of her statements were a mix of truths and lies. And like he said he first loved her beauty then her character and finally how earnest yet deceitful she was. In the end I was surprised with how much I loved the Emperor. I cried so much when he died and in his extra chapter story