Royal Betrothal

Will her path to revenge only lead to more destruction?

Royal Betrothal follows the story of Meng Ting Hui (Wu Jin Yan of The Double) and the Emperor Ying Gua (Chen Zhe Yuan of Fated Hearts) as they plot revenge against a savage gang and try to weed out corruption in the court. Royal Betrothal is packed with intrigue, action, and romance as Meng Ting Hui follows a righteous path of revenge against the vicious gangs that traffic children (including herself) and suppress the people with the backing of major players in the court. As she teams up with He Du to tackle them, they form a bond of “mutual exploitation.” After she passes the Triple Threat and becomes the top scholar in the country, he uses her to tackle corruption in the court through the Censorship office. Men Ting Hui faces countless personal attacks, both physically and from the other members of the court as she roots evil out. Meng Ting Hui has a few friends that are her “found family,” a trope I love and that cdramas handle very well. They become her rocks and her sounding boards when things go wrong, especially Yan Fu Zhi who’s been her only supporter since they were children. She’s one of the few people Meng Ting Hui will willingly risk her revenge for in order to guarantee her safety. The two girls form an immense bond that’s unbreakable. As she and the Emperor work together, their group forms tight unbreakable bonds that serves them well. The relationship between Meng Ting Hui and the Emperor is extremely slow burn to the point where it seems like she’s not interested, but my theory was that she always loved him, but was so used to tragedy befalling anyone she loved that she was pretending indifference to protect him and her own heart. They have good chemistry, match each other emotionally and physically, and work almost in sync together. The cinematography was top tier and the action great. The plot dragged on a bit and some issues got resolved almost too quickly by cdrama standards, but all in all a very enjoyable and emotional drama that’s also beautiful to look at. My main complaints are that there was too much going on too fast and the ending felt anticlimactic and open ended, but it was a “happy ending” by cdrama standards. Over all, I still highly recommend this drama, especially if you like revenge driven plots.