Courage in Cowardice:

Prince Ian's brother, the late king,  may have looked like a coward to the queen, but admitting that he is not fit to rule is an act of bravery that should be commended. It takes a lot of courage to acknowledge that this role is not good for me, or that I am not able to handle a certain amount of responsibilities. Prince Ian's brother, the late king, knows that his brother is more than capable for the throne and his son, the Crown Prince, is still too young to sit on the throne, and that is why he wanted to abdicate the throne to him. As a mother, the Queen Mother (Daebi Mama) failed to see not only the heavy burden that rests on her son but also the political instability of the Crown.

And abolishing the monarchy was necessary for the people bound to something heavy that made them turn into people that they themselves don't recognize.

A child should be a child:

I was honestly shocked to see how young the king was and immediately felt pity for him. Within the context of the drama, I thought that in modern times, the legal age or the standard age for ascending the throne would have been up to date with the times. The king is only 8 years and an 8-year-old should not be allowed to carry such heavy duties and responsibilities of running a nation or emotional burdens, no matter how smart the child is. It deeply affects their mental development. It was sad seeing how much he wanted a normal childhood.

Bad PR is still PR:

One thing that is clear as day to see is how every time Seong Hui Ju goes out for public events, she never ceases to use that opportunity to gain publicity and draw attention to her company and get sales. It went as far as writing articles when she came out of the hospital after being poisoned and the scandal. Tenacity is something every businessperson must emulate. As the face of Castle Beauty, she leveraged on every publicity she had to drive sales to her company, and that is something you have got to admire about her.

Modernized Culture:

Just imagine if Africa had never been colonized. If we were made to develop on our own. If the unfortunate Trans-Atlantic slave trade had never happened. If the Yorubas were still practicing their culture and traditions into the modern era, or the Igbos or the Benin kingdom, how wonderful would the present day be? I've always had this thought, and this drama just gave me a visual insight into what the modernization of our culture would have been like. Korea, in modern times, with the continuation of the monarchy system, though constitutional and with its own set of problems, looked so wonderful. Africa would have been more beautiful and prosperous in modern times, but it is impossible to realize.

Rating📺:

I would rate this 8/10. This drama definitely delivered on the visuals, and the plot was okay for me. Byeon Woo Seok is just getting more handsome, and his outfits in this drama were so stunning🥹. But yeah, it was a good drama that needed to be a 16-episode drama.