Up till now I always thought that electric/magnetic fields are mathematical construct to aid our understanding. What was a 1 step process of particle A exerting force on particle B is replaced by a 2 step process of particle A creating a field and particle B entering it and experiencing the force.

But I just read a chapter on electromagnetic waves. From what I understand if a charged particle A moves, the electromagnetic field induced by it also changes which can be modelled by a wave equation. This wave equation would then determine the force experienced by a particle B when it enter the field at a particular (r,t).

My confusion starts when I see that these varying EM fields (or EM waves) produced an actual physical quantity called light. So if EM Fields were imaginary, then these EM waves should also be imaginary, but expirement and expirence shows that they are very real. Hence the only possible reason is that EM fields are a real thing?
Can someone confirm this for me.

P.S. In case my question in not clear,let me know in the comment section.