I wish they delved in more deeper into the real reason why the emperor placed the MC as the crown prince in the first place. I mean the plot twist with the emperor using him as a shield to protect the real intended crown prince who was the emperor’s son possibly birthed by himself is really interesting. It kind of reminded me of the novel the Crown Prince.

It made so much sense. The MC isn’t actually the greatest of person. He’s actually quite cruel and ruthless. He isn’t a person without heart though as seen with how he cares for his younger brother and arranged medicine to be sent to his sick servant. He also cared deeply for his mother and was extremely upset when a minister had taken advantage of the emperor’s grief to have his late concubine’s tablet placed in the palace where his late mother the empress once resided in. But still the guy is cruel, narcissistic and downright arrogant little brat. He does have a brain and is shown to be considerably intelligent that is until he got knocked up by the ML. He wasn’t exactly popular and his reputation was one of the worst. Public opinion was totally against him.

So he wasn’t exactly Crown Prince material.
Not that any of the other candidates were any better. Which initially gives you the idea that either the emperor was simply a bad judge of character or had no one better to choose.

But in truth, the emperor didn’t have any intention of letting the MC become the next emperor. He merely placed him in the position to act as a scapegoat to protect his real heir and later stepping stone to the new emperor’s rise in power. It was sad to know that the MC was groomed and cultivated all with this in mind which was why he turned into the person he was.

The emperor felt somewhat guilty for him and that was why he acted very affectionately towards this son to the point that the MC truly felt they had a close father and son bond. So it was heart wrenching for him to know that everything the emperor did for him was merely out of guilt and pity for his doomed fate.

However they only mention this part in a couple of chapters towards the end and that was it.

Another thing I didn’t like was the sudden pregnancy... It happened way too early in my opinion. I really wanted to see more of the clash between the ML and MC as political enemies and possible love rivals. There was also some indications of the strange affinity they had for each other despite being complete opposites of each other and standing on opposing sides. In rare moments of peace they seemed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company. If times had been different and they met under different circumstances they probably could have become friends. So I was actually looking forward to their progress from enemies to lovers.

But then suddenly the pregnancy came and literally screwed everything especially for the MC. As a result, everything kind of seemed forced between them. The relationship kind of became unnatural and unrealistic. I also didn’t like the IQ drop and damsel in distress situation. As for the MC turning listless well considering his circumstances it was totally understandable. He literally had his entire world crash into pieces it’s a miracle he didn’t end up becoming insane from it all.

The servant’s betrayal was a real shocker. I really didn’t expect it. I thought he was just your classic clumsy dumb kid. There were some foreshadows of it after looking back on it all but really he caught everyone by surprise. It made me realize just how little we know what goes on in a person’s mind.

Overall I give this novel a 3 out of 5.

For the translator I give a 5 stars for their amazing work!