WHAT I LIKED:

- The main romance. How they met and made a promise and it led them to become a couple years later and nothing and nobody would come between them. Cliché but cute.
- The love triangle: Not too annoying. SML was nice because he could have forced a final twist...
- The story and narrative arc of the Third ML. It was clearly the most interesting part with everything enjoyable: sad fate, duty, destiny, revenge, swordfights, romance, forbidden love...
- The "Who is who?" game in the first part of the story. The mystery was well made.
- The young gisaeng
- Jang Tae Hwa: His action are bad and he justifies them with his obsession and need for revenge. He was a proper bad guy.
- The pace of the story was good. No draggy part.
- OST was ok.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- ML characterization was a bit erratic and ultimately disappointing. He first appears to be a soldier then he leads a rebellion he did not instigate and in the end, he goes live an idle nobleman life. Too bad because he had nothing less than the other guy to become King. He just renounced his duty and responsibilities in the name of Love. It undermined his character for me.
- SML: not an interesting character for me. Not a charismatic leader. He won the race because his opponent quit. In the end the royals lied to the people.
- The King : grotesque character until the very end. Should have been more evil and less crazy.


OVERALL: The story is interesting with each one of the leads having their own trajectory that combines well with the others. 8.5/10. A good historical kdrama to watch.