So good

You don't like...green flag ml? This is my first time seeing someone say that...

What are you talking about? Why would you not like a green flag ml?

It's a personal preference. I don't like when the ml is too perfect like they can never hurt you or you are the only one in their eyes (specially the puppy mls) too good to be true, it's a false hope and gives me positive perspective in men which is in reality, there's no such thing

Too good to be true, green flags makes me cringe

I like your perspective of that. I usually don't like Gary Stu male leads for exactly that reason. They are flatly good, but never three dimensional... I guess? We need good male leads that through their flaws compromises and makes his efforts to build a relationship with the female lead.

Well, its fiction. The fl literally exorcises ghosts. Also he’s not exactly perfect either. He gets jealous and possessive. Literally pointed a sword at her ex bf. And the fl herself is kind of a red flag. Why is she meeting with her ex and letting him touch her? Then she doesn’t apologize about it and makes him feel guilty for getting upset.
So if anything, their relationship would be a mess if both of them were red flags.

Tbf this green flag ml isn't perfect either. I don't think there are green flag mls that are perfect (from what I've read, and I've read hundreds of stories). There are irl men who actually exist with traits like those ngl

I do agree that there are times when the ML is simply just written as a ML who does nothing but provide love for the MC and comes off boring, but the male lead in this isn’t a 100% perfect. He gets jealous and possessive really easily. I read the novel and there’s a scene where his jealousy causes a fight between him and the FL which results in them not talking to each other for weeks. He broke her heart and has to work on getting her trust back. I liked that even though he’s supposed to be a powerful and wise emperor he’s stupid when it comes to love.

Except, it is not actually her ex. She doesn't have any relations with the guy because he is basically a stranger to her. I think her intention was to figure out if he knew something about the og Hailey, especially about the contents of the diary. Though she can't fully explain her situation to the ML, we can't fully say she is a red flag. There are many things that she does that may come off as wrong like hiding her identity, but how is she supposed to explain to people in a strange world about "I'm not Hailey."? What if they ask her where the true Hailey is? She's trying to figure that out herself. We know ML is willing to accept her to the point he is investigating her for her well-being, but Yijae doesn't know that.

That's why I'm falling for him, he's cute too

I understand that but it’s a fact that she took over her body. So everyone still perceives Lawrence as her former lover. She does deserve to be a bit selfish every once in a while but she confessed her feelings to the king. It’s a fact that she went behind his back and met with og Hailey’s ex. She didn’t think about how that could effect her current lover and still never apologized for it even after learning he was hurt by her actions. She continues to lie and lie and lie but never considers the feelings of the people around her.

girl i feel the exact same way. it just feels shallow and boring when there is nothing wrong with them and everything is smooth sailing. i like when characters are flawed. makes them more realistic which invokes more emotions in me whether its anger or sadness.