Her lack of foresight of the dangers of traveling in a small group or instructing to gain knowledge of the political situation in the South which led anti-imperialists to ambush her also made me doubt the validity of her "keen intellect". as she had ample time to understand that her personal knowledge clashed with reality (from the market arch), would make sense for her to get reports on such agendas. Which of course she couldn't since she's didn't or couldn't tell her guards to get that information for her which would undermine her reputation in front of her own subordinates which led her to depend on the ML for such info, and her severely lacking information-gathering network. She was written to be shocked and ashamed for her lack of knowledge and understanding of the turmoil in the South and kept quiet from such discussions to hide her embarrassment.

The ML is literally her only gateway to realistic information which is ridiculous. The market situation where her own guards can't understand what a proper undercover tour is like is also absolutely ridiculous. Do they not have anyone at all that does undercover missions? are all her guards' nobles who haven't seen the world? NO. Her head guard was said to have worked from the bottom, but this "bottom" may not be that low on the social hierarchy after all if he didn't realize anything wrong. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that his minor insubordination of following the FL's orders were because he wanted the half-disguise to prevent others from even attempting to bother the FL, and also due to his insufficient rank /closeness to bring up the fact that her clothes were too lavish.

No spies at all? Fine, but despite how much she values information, it's s*upid that she doesn't form a spy team. Heck, she even knows that her mom uses spies, but she can't think of it? Really? Either she's s*upid or the author wants us to attribute this to her ignorant character trait. These two plot arcs honestly pissed me off, and I had absolutely zero sympathy for the FL when she felt helpless. She drove herself to that situation, and the lack of her understanding why bothers me immensely. Then, when she realized (after getting ML's subordinate to check) a loooong time after she returned to the capital that her servant and nanny were threatened by her mother, what did she do? She went begging for her half-brother to help her. and barely stopped her mom from continuing to threaten her by agreeing to an engagement.... My respect for her dwindled.

The start of Book 3 went on with her being jealous of a desert girl, and the ML jealous of her fiance, and I was just waiting and waiting for her to finally patch up her lack of a spy network, and I'm still reading in agony

The MC is truly the definition of a frog in a well. The well, being, of course, her mother and the lifestyle and treatment that she is used to as a princess. She turns a blind eye on her suspicions because she likes what she views as a "nice life". Her prophetic dreams are hugely based on the deep, deep regrets that her other future self held. She's a mature person, wise yet ignorant. She has almost zero social skills and friends and yet, you can tell that she cares about her country and upholding her duties a lot. She uses her glimpses into the future to try and make herself a better person which is something you don't really see often because of many people's will to survive. She doesn't actually hold contempt for her brother but was instead too foolish and naive and literally says in a POV that she was influenced by the people around her to dislike him. She wants to learn about the world and she wants to become someone that deserves the respect that she owns but since she is a princess, and most people close to her just want to manipulate her, she can't easily see the blemishes of the world around her.

The ML is obviously the person who falls first. Even though there is sort of a "love at first sight", it isn't love at first sight but more of respect and interest for each other. They both teach each other something albeit small, but important for them to realize that they can (kind of) help (??) each other. The ML is torn between helping the prince that he very much trusts and guiding our MC into the light that she so desperately needs. He is the MC's connection to the "outside world" and teaches her about the world and helps her grow, which is a lot for some MLs. He loves her for herself and wholeheartedly believes that she's a good person and respects her, despite the people around him that say otherwise.