Yeah yeah... ML and MC really loved each other but had to part because of the cruelty of fate and circumstance blahblahblah but to ME it just feels like excessive melodrama for the sake of melodrama (Wow!! Shocker!! Drama in the drama genre). The MC's unyielding attempts to self-depreciate and punish herself for what she did to ML seemed really s*upid and honestly pointless cos if you think about it, everyone would be happier if her dumb ass just let the past go and be with him. It would've been better if she never loved him at all cos then her desperate attempts to keep him from loving her would seem less brain-dead and more well-intentioned.

The ML also pissed me off cos of his actions towards his favorite concubine, Lady Bo. Honestly, Lady Bo was the most pitiful in all of this. There's literally nothing wrong with her. She was faithful, loved him, and had the sense to apologize to the MC when she realized her jealous actions were uncalled for. When he liked her, he would think of her tenderly and bring her everywhere with him, including battles. Her ignorance would be fondly thought of as charming and befitting of a "true woman". When he liked someone else, the past affection and doting will perish into smoke. He would break his promise to never leave her behind and then forget about her completely during a crisis. He became angry when he saw that it was her who survived and returned to him despite being delirious with joy mere moments prior—all because he thought he saw someone else.

I hate that the author had to use someone else (props for not demonizing her though. Some authors act as if making a love rival b*tchy will justify her man changing his heart and abandoning her) as a foil to highlight how much he loved the MC and how little his other beloveds meant in comparison. It's degrading and disgusting. I'm very disappointed that this is a happy ending. It would've been better to go down the Eastern Palace route and kill MC off given this premise.