I will do my best to update with new information as the story progresses, but I may make a mistake now and then by including information from subsequent unreleased chapters…So be warned that the character index isn't spoiler free!
*Note: Chinese names start with the family name followed by the given name. Conventions surrounding childhood names, adult names, and courtesy names were just too complicated to keep track of, so what you see is what you get…
In Order of Appearance:
Zhao Ling Xian 趙灵先 Seventh Prince of Tiansheng
His name means 'clever/bright' and 'first'.
Titles: Prince of Qin – Formal title that is rarely used.
Nicknames/Alternate: Iron Spear Prince, God of War, A'Xian, Xian'er
Age 26. Height 193 cm. (Men in Tiansheng are pretty tall, but the Zhao men are giants)
Appearance: In terms of looks, think of the Archduke Alexandro from the manhwa Beatrice, Aroku from the manga Demon of Lustful Hell, Prince Yu from the manhua I Don't Want to Be Like This Too, and the Demon Lord, Nan Jingxuan from the manhua Song of the Long Night. In short, A'Xian is really intense, and darkly handsome... with 100% 'light your house on fire' sex appeal. He has a thin knife scar under his left eye. His eyes are slightly slanted and are very dark, almost coal black. He has very thick eyelashes and mostly wears his hair in a high ponytail with a jewelled hair coronet. If he wears it down, it may be partially pulled back or completely unbound with only a single braid down one side. His favourite colour is navy blue or black and he wears a lot of that. He occasionally wears a single tassel earring.
Besides being a Prince, he is the commander of the Pacifying West(安西) or An Xi Army, but because he possesses the tiger tally, he is also considered a grand Marshal that can mobilise all three armies of the kingdom (North, West, South). His preferred weapon is a metal spear that he only takes out for battle. He normally wears and uses a sword.
Bai Zhi Yi, 白智一
His name means 'one wisdom' apparently his parents were a little weird with their naming as his name also sounds like 'one son'.
Title: An Xi General (Pacifying West General)
Nickname/Alternate: Lao Bai (literally 'Old White'). Bai Zhi. General Bai.
Age 48. Height: 187 cm.
Appearance: He has grey streaked hair and warm, friendly brown eyes. His build is a little burly.
He is the senior most general of the An Xi and a loyal subordinate of the Seventh Prince. He gets laughed at a little because his parents put Bai and Zhi together and that sounds like blank/stupid...but it's because his family were illiterate peasants and he worked his way up to become a famous general. The common foot soldiers do (affectionately) call him Bai Zhi behind his back...
Yang Wan Yu, 楊萬魚
Nicknames/Alternate: Xiao Yu/ 小魚, A'Yu, Yu'er
Her name means "many fish or abundance".
Age 15. Height: 167cm
Appearance: Dark haired and dark eyed with a heart shaped face, milk colour skin, and red lips. She often wears her hair tied up in two buns on either side of her head tied with ribbons. When she reaches the capital, she always wears her mother's pearl hair stick. She likes to wear the colour purple.
Only daughter of Yang Ming Xi, she is Cui Xi's best friend. Her father calls her A'Yu. She herself is a skilled medical practitioner and can actually use silver needles as a weapon.
Yang Ming Xi 楊明希
The Xi in his name is different from Cui Xi's and his name means 'wise hope'.
Title: Former Imperial Doctor, Former head of the Imperial College of Physicians.
Nicknames/Alternate: Old Man, Miracle Doctor. Yang Daifu, Yang Taiyi
Age: 58 Height: 182 cm
Appearance: Grey haired and bearded, he normally wears all his hair tied in a neat top knot. He prefers to wear cool colours.
A person with a hidden identity, he currently works as a revered miracle doctor who lives like a hermit in the mountains, but who was once the head of the imperial college of physicians. Yang Wan Yu is his only daughter.
Casey Leung/Liang/Yang/Wu Cui Xi 梁/楊/吳翠西
Her name means Western Emerald. Cui is also the same character used for kingfisher.
Nicknames/Alternate: A'Xi, Xi'er, XiXi, Xiao Xi, Mistress
Titles: Miss Wu, Lady Wu, Cosmetics Goddess
Age 17 (Actual age: 38) Height: 170 cm
Her birthday is July 7. Although, Qixi is not exactly on the July 7th as it follows the lunar calendar, it just so happens to line up the first year that she arrives in the capital of Tiansheng.
Appearance: She is 38 when she leaves her own world, but her body returns to a deluxe version of her 17 year-old self. She is 170 cm with long raven black hair that reaches past her waist. Her skin is lighter with a golden tinge and she has eyes the colour of dark amber honey. Her features are not entirely from the Central plains suggesting mixed blood. Under the outer corner of her right eye, just at the top of her cheek, is a tiny mole.
Rescued by the Yangs at the side of a river after a boat ride goes wrong and discovers that she has arrived in a strange kingdom called Tiansheng.
Gao Wei, 高威
His name means 'High Prestige'
Age 20 Height: 187 cm
Appearance: He is dressed in a green robe, a jade hair coronet and is always seen with a fan.
The spoilt eldest son of the Gao City Lord. He is a nasty playboy.
Murong Yan 慕容焱
Yan meaning flames
Titles: Vice-General of the AnXi army
Nicknames/Alternate: A'Yan, Yan'er
Age 27 Height: 192cm
Appearance: Generally wears his hair in a long loose braid with headband or braided leather thong with a single bead worn across his forehead. He is dark haired and dark eyed, his skin tone is light tan.
The eldest son of the Murong General, he is not the official heir of the house (his mother was the First Wife but was demoted posthumously in favour of the Emperor's sister), but was raised by the manor's current Madam (his mother was the Madam's sister).
He is a vice general of the Anxi Army and a loyal subordinate and friend of the Seventh Prince. He is an expert at the Murong family's archery and is the only one (aside from his father) able to bend the hereditary bow of the family, thus he is allowed to inherit it although his father would have preferred that his official heir had done that. Rather straightforward, he can be super awkward with girls. His weapon is the Black Snake Bow.
Murong Bo 慕容波
Bo meaning wave
Nicknames: A'Bo
Age 23 Height: 184 cm
Appearance: Dark haired and dark eyed. He is thin and quite agile looking.
Young, sullen, and petulant, but fiercely loyal, A'Bo is a young aide of the Seventh Prince, but more correctly a subordinate of Murong Yan. He is not blood related, but was given the Murong name as he is a fosterling of the Murong General's household. He is actually indebted to the Seventh Prince who picked him up as an orphan and had him raised in the Murong manor. He is extremely fast with his sword and has excellent qinggong.
Murong Shi 慕容詩
Given name means ‘Poem’
Title: Young Master, Official Heir of the Murong General’s house
Nickname/Alternate: Xiao Hei 小黑 ( Little Black), A’Shi, Shi’er
Age: 19 Height: 189 cm (he gets taller during this story)
Appearance: Slender and still boyish looking. He is light skinned, dark haired and dark eyed with wide eyes that are slightly tilted. He dresses in black and wears his hair either in a bun with a simple wood hair pin or in a pony tail.
Shi’s mother was the emperor’s youngest sister which makes him a cousin of all the princes. As the son of Murong Duan and Murong Yan’s younger brother, he is actually the heir designate of the Murong house and has been living in exile in the Northwest. Highly trained in martial arts, he wields the family’s great sabre, the Nine Suns Sabre, but is ambushed on his way to the capital when he first meets XiXi and Xiao Yu. His mother, the Emperor’s sister died when he was four. Besides Murong Yan, Xiao Hei has two older sisters.
Lin Shu 林叔
Literally ‘Uncle Lin’
Xiao Hei's older care taker, whom he calls Uncle.
Zhao Ling Ye, 趙灵夜,the Eldest Prince, Prince of Yan
His name means ‘clever night’.
His alias, Zheng, comes from guzheng - the stringed instrument
Nickname/Alternate: Master Zheng 箏公子,Shifu, the Moon Prince of Yin or the Silver Prince
Age: 29 Height 193 cm
Appearance: silver-haired and light eyed. In terms of looks, he looks a bit like Gu Changqing from Song of the Long Night. He is quite masculine with the mature sexiness of a man almost in his thirties. He prefers bright tones and tends to wear flashy elegant robes that reveal his chest. He always carries a white jade flute and wears a stag and cherry blossom hair piece on one side and his red pearl earring on the other. He’s probably the handsomest man in Tiansheng and isn’t ashamed to show it.
At the age of thirteen, he was poisoned by then Imperial Consort Guang, now Empress. The poison is incurable and can only be supressed by a combination of herbs and a particular flower grown in the south that is controlled by the Empress’s family. It caused terrible damage to his meridians and heart. Until that time, he was a martial arts prodigy. His mother, the former empress died of illness (but more likely was murdered). Having built a trade empire after he lost the position of Crown Prince to his younger brother, he is the richest Prince in the kingdom. He is the owner of the Chrysanthemum Tower, a high class brothel, and he runs the Eight Treasure boutiques which supply luxury goods to the nobility. Famous for his money and his talent for the arts, he decides to take XiXi on as an apprentice.
Zhao Yu 趙餘
His name means "abundance" or "surplus"
Title: Lord Zhao
Age: 17, Height 189cm
Appearance: Elegant fine featured young man with dark slanting phoenix eyes. Fair skinned and dark haired. He prefers light colours.
One of the Five Talents of Tiansheng, he is the younger twin of the Changping Shizi, Zhao Lu...his father thought it was a good joke, to name him ‘Yu’. He the second of the three children of the Marquis of Changping and Zhao Ling Xian’s older half-sister, Princess Zhao Ling Yao, making Zhao Ling Xian his uncle.
Yao Ning Xiao 姚宁簫
His name means ‘peaceful flute’
Age 17, Height 187cm
Appearance: A serious young man with dark brown hair with gentle grey eyes. He prefers muted colours.
One of the Five Talents of Tiansheng, he is the younger brother of Yao Shen Yi, the Minister of Justice. He is the best friend of Zhao Yu. He has a kind and caring personality. He is easily embarrassed about his crush on Feng Xing, the youngest daughter of the Right Prime Minister’s house and Feng Biao’s youngest sister.
Feng Biao 風標
His name means ‘beacon’
Age 20, Height 189cm
Appearance: Slender bodied, cheerful young man with dark hair and eyes.
One of the Five Talents of Tiansheng, he is the second son of the Right Prime Minister, and younger brother of the Fifth Princess Consort Feng Ming Yen. He is also the older brother of Feng Xing, the youngest daughter of the Feng family. In the Feng family there are five children: Feng Ting (elder) and Feng Shen (younger) are the other sons in that family.
Zhang Ying 張英
His name means ‘hero’
Age 26, Height 190cm
Appearance: Tall, broad chested, and every inch a military official. He is usually in uniform and thus wears a lot of red.
One of the Five Talents and a military official, he is the Eldest son of the Zhang family. He is married with a pregnant wife and is the oldest of Zhao Yu’s friends. He is a cousin of both Zhao Ling Xian and Zhao Ling Zhi. Both Imperial Consort Zhang and Shu come from the Zhang family.
Luo Yi Tian 羅一天
His name means sky
Age 23, Height 187cm
Nickname/Alternate: Yi Tian
Appearance: tends to overdress because of an inferiority complex. He is heavy browed but has handsome features. He is dark haired with grey eyes.
One of the Five Talents, he is a moneylender and the youngest son in the Luo family. His temperament is vastly different from what it was before his travels in Xiyu. His older brother Luo Jun died in an accident. He has a nebulous relationship with Ashinal Atil. He is engaged to Chu Lan Ying, a girl from a moderately prosperous side branch of the Guangs hence she is related to the Empress. Luo Yi Tian despises her and he is only engaged to her as her father once saved Luo Yi Tian’s father from drowning…same incident that killed the older brother.
Tao韜
His name means “Bow case” “scabbard or sheath”
Age 20, Height: 187cm
Appearance: Prefers to wear jewel tones like his flamboyant master, but he wears it more quietly. He has coal black hair, warm brown eyes, and like XiXi, he is slightly golden skinned. He tends to wear his hair half-up, secured with a silver clip.
The personal body servant of Master. He has a steady, caring personality, but it is only reserved for his Master. On the outside he appears quite strict and cold. He is occasionally deeply tormented by the vagaries of his flamboyant master.
Jian & Dun 劍 and 盾
Their names mean “Sword” and “Shield”.
Cui Xi’s two men servants that help out with the household chores. They are freed slaves that are indebted to Cui Xi, forming part of the original set of six servants her Master gifted to her.
Su Qing & Su Rou 甦清 & 甦弱
Su is the word for ‘awakening or regaining consciousness’ while ‘Qing’ is ‘bright, clear’ and Rou is ‘weak, faint’.
Age 20 and 21, Height 179cm and 168cm
Appearance: Su Qing is slender like a willow, but strong. She tends to wear tunics and trousers tucked into boots with her sleeves tightly cross-bound to allow maximum movement. She prefers dark colours and likes wearing her hair in a high ponytail. She is dark haired and dark eyed. Su Rou is tiny and delicate. She prefers to wear light colour dresses that set off her dark brown hair and brown eyes. She likes to wear her hair in a practical bun.
They are Cui Xi’s personal maids. Su Qing is highly skilled in martial arts and can handle a few different weapons, but carries prefers the short sword. Su Rou is not as good at martial arts, but is very skilled in other areas and has a photographic memory.
Yue Xia & Xiao Mei 月下 & 小梅
Their names mean ‘Moon Glow’ and ‘Little Plum’
Age 25 and 19, Height 180cm and 167cm
Appearance: Yue Xia is elegant and serene. She is tall and likes to wear light colours. She is pretty with delicate features. Her hair is light brown and she has light colour eyes. Little Plum is short, cheerful, and plump. She has an unremarkable face, but a kind and playful personality. She is dark haired and dark eyed.
They are the shop girls that help Cui Xi run her cosmetics business.
Zhao Ling Zhi 趙灵志, Ninth Prince of Tiansheng
His name means ‘clever will or ambition’.
Title: He hasn’t succeeded to a title as he’s not of age. However the Emperor eventually bestows him with the title Prince of Zhao
Nickname/Alternate: Flower Prince of Jin, the Golden Prince, A’Zhi, Zhi’er, A’Zhu
Age 15. Height 177cm.
Appearance: He has light brown hair but is very dark eyed like Zhao Ling Xian.
Inquisitive and mischievous, he is the youngest and most beloved (read spoilt) of the Princes. His brothers occasionally call him, A’Zhu (pearl/pig) because they like to tease him. For the most part he gets along with all of his older brothers. As he is not yet of age, he has not been bestowed a manor outside of the palace and still lives with his mother, Consort Shu. Imperial Consort Shu is one of the three remaining consorts, other than A’Xian’s mother Imperial Consort Zhang and Noble Consort Guang. Imperial Consort Shu is a daughter of the Shu family who come from the North.
Zhao Ling Feng, 趙灵風 ,Third Prince and Crown Prince of Tiansheng,
His name means ‘clever wind’.
Title: Crown Prince (Taizi), Prince of Yu
Nickname/Alternate: the Jade Prince, Yu Wang, Laosan, Feng’er
Age 27, Height: 190cm.
Appearance: He has lighter brown hair and light brown eyes.
After the Eldest Prince was deposed from his position as Crown Prince, Zhao Ling Feng was named to the position. He is sometimes called Laosan by his brothers. Although he is the Crown Prince, he has never held military power, and is not known for martial prowess. He has a standing engagement with the Princess of Xiyu, Ashina Yesil. People tend to regard him as a bookworm. His mother is the current Empress and his family (the Guangs) are very wealthy and control much of the South. He tends to wear elegant, but muted colours to go along with his rather scholarly appearance. He is an extremely skilled calligrapher.
Ashina Atil 阿史那阿得 Crown Prince of Xiyu (the Western Region)
Atil is the Turkic name for the Volga river, but also just means ‘large river’.
Title: Crown Prince
Nickname/Alternate: A’Ying (meaning ‘Eagle’, but with different intonation meaning ‘Shadow’)
Age 27. Height 191 cm.
Appearance: He has Eurasian features with warm sandy coloured skin. His eyes are green and his hair is wavy and a sand brown colour. He wears his hair long, with small braids interspersed here and there that are clipped with gold. He normally wears a head band or sometimes he covers his hair with a shawl or headcloth. He prefers green and black, but occasionally wears bright colours like scarlet. He often goes about with his shirt open with fine gold chains either criss-crossing his chest or across his belly. He wears a single black leather thong around his neck with an large uncut green emerald on it.
Atil has a deep hatred of Tiansheng and particularly Zhao Ling Xian. If they see each other on the field they will search each other out. He is arrogant and demanding sadist and has very little care for the feelings of others. He comes across as deadly and bit crazy. He has a complicated relationship with the High Priestess of the Sky Temple and Luo Yi Tian.
The Priestess - High Priestess of the Sky Temple of the Mother Goddess
Her name is never spoken aloud.
Titles: High Priestess
Nickname/Alternate: Mother, Witch
Age Unknown Height: 169 cm
Appearance: Very slender woman with a boyish almost bony figure. She wears her hair partially shaven with a braided sidelock that is so long it brushes the ground. Her forehead is tattooed with blue swirls and symbols and she often paints the area from the middle of her forehead down to the top of her cheek bones in black paint. Her lips and fingertips are stained crimson. She also wears a bone, feather, and shell headdress over her head and prefers to wear a long tunic over a skirt with a leather beaded belt. She has warm tan skin and brown eyes.
As the Mother Goddess incarnate and High Priestess of the Sky Temple, she has a complicated relationship with Ashina Atil. She has the gift of foresight, but it can only be activated by human sacrifice, by consuming the blood of a Royal, or through conjugal relations with a Royal. Ashina Atil is currently taking advantage of her gift and uses her as an advisor, even though she clearly despises him.
Feng Ming Yen, 風明燕
Her name means ‘Bright Swallow’
Titles: Fifth Princess Consort
Alternate/Nicknames: Yen’er
Age: 23 Height: 160cm.
Appearance: She is very fair with black hair and dark brown eyes. She is also very petite.
The Fifth Princess Consort is mischievous and has a wicked sense of humour. She becomes fast friends with XiXi. She is also childhood friends with Zhao Ling Xian, and is madly in love with her husband Zhao Ling Fei. Feng Biao is her younger brother. It’s an ongoing joke in her family that she can’t dance.
Chen Xiang 陈香
Name means ‘perfume’ or ‘fragrance’
Age: 16
Wife of Cang Ru Shan and a customer of XiXi’s.
Cang Ru Shan 康入山
Name means ‘Enters the Mountain’
Title: The imperial armourer
Age 40
A talented smith, he only makes weapons for the imperial/noble houses of the capital. He does work for Cui Xi because she does him a favour via his wife, Chen Xiang.
The Empress Dowager of Tiansheng
Not the birth mother of the current Emperor, she is the former Empress with a mysterious background. She is in direct opposition to the current Empress as she fostered the Fifth Prince when his mother died and wants him to become the Emperor.
Zhang Yan Yan 張艳艳
Her name means ‘gorgeous’
Title: Imperial Consort
One of the three living consorts in the imperial harem, she is A’Xian’s mother. She is actually from a branch of the Zhang family, making Zhao Ling Xian and Zhang Ying related. While she presents elegantly and serenely, it actually hides her mischievous nature. How she ended up in the Imperial Harem selection is not a story for this book…but it’s a pretty good story!
Zhao Ru Yi 趙如意
Her name means “everything goes your way”
Age 14
The younger sister of Zhao Yu and Zhao Lu
Song Qi 宋屺
Name means “treeless mountain”
Age 22. Height: 193cm
Song Qi is an Imperial doctor. His Master is Chen Li who was a disciple of Yang Ming Xi, making him a grand disciple. He is brown haired and brown-eyed. Extremely tall and awkward looking, Song Qi is very talented, but his very pronounced shaggy eyebrows remind everyone of a large brown caterpillar.
The Abbot, Duan Mo 段墨
His name means ink
An information broker and abbot of the temple that XiXi patronizes in the outer quarter of the city, Duan Mo is a former martial arts master who wandered jianghu and after too much death decided to become a Buddhist monk…He is formerly the Seventh Prince’s martial arts master.
Xiao Chuan 小船 (Little Boat) and Tong Tong 湯湯 (Soup)
Xiao Chuan is the head messenger urchin belonging to XiXi. Tong Tong is a young orphan who lives as a young monk in the temple. In the extra, they take on their adult names Bai Yin Chuan 白銀船 (White Silver Boat) and Tong Guang 同光 (Bright Togetherness/Harmony)
Gu Jia Er 顧嘉儿
Her name means beautiful child
The Second Lady of the Chrysanthemum Pavilion – one of the pleasure house’s most famous beauties, a former lover of the Eldest Prince.
A’Cheng 誠
His name means ‘honesty’.
Age: late fifties.
The elderly steward of the Seventh Prince’s manor. He once belonged to Imperial Consort Zhang’s household, and was a servant in her palace. When Zhao Ling Xian was old enough to have his own manor, she instructed him to manage the household.
Zhao Ling Shaung , 趙灵霜,
His name means ‘clever frost’. Tiansheng means Heavenly Ascent. 天升
Titles: Emperor of Tiansheng.
Age: fifties.
Emperor of the kingdom and Father to all the Princes, Zhao Ling Shaung’s motivations aren’t clear to see. Sometimes perceived as a frivolous pervert, he actually hides a cunning personality.
The Empress of Tiansheng,
She is never referred to by her own personal name, but she is from the Guang (鄺) family.
Age 44.
She is the mother of Crown Prince Zhao Ling Feng. Her brother is the Left Prime Minister of Tiansheng, and her niece, Noble Consort Guang, is an eighteen-year-old imperial consort in the harem. She hates the other Princes and their mothers.
An He, 安河, AKA An Gong Gong
His name means ‘Peaceful River”.
Age 37.
The Emperor’s personal eunuch.
He has very narrow eyes and has slight bags making him look a little serious, but he is kind- hearted and cares deeply about the Emperor.
Gao, The City Lord
Gao Wei's father, a greedy man cooperating with Ashinal Atil.
Zhong
A loyal guard of Zhao Ling Ye.
Zhao Ling Fei, 趙灵飛, The Fifth Prince
His name means ‘clever’ & ‘flight’.
Age 26 Height 192 cm
Titles: Prince of Chu. Commander of the Southern Imperial Army
Nickname/Alternates: A’Wu, Fei’er. He’s a little too scary to give a descriptive title so people don’t bother
Appearance: He has dark hair and light brown eyes.
A direct competitor of the Crown Prince, his mother was poisoned by the current Empress, and thus he was brought up by the Empress Dowager and is very close with her. He is the general and commander of the Southern Imperial Army, and is talented and shrewd, but has maintained a low profile until now. His Princess Consort is Feng Ming Yen, whom he adores.
Luo Jin Hai 羅金海(Luo Bing)
His name means Golden Sea. His former name means third as he was the third son.
Title: Luo Yi Tian’s father.
An obsequious and petty moneylender, he was from a landowning farming family, but his two older brother’s stole his portion, forcing him to flee to the capital where he started his business by shady means. He travels to Xiyu in an effort to establish relations with the merchants who trade along the routes connecting Tiansheng and Xiyu, but he is poisoned at a banquet arranged by Ashina Atil.
Erhan
A Turkhic name meaning ‘soldier king’
Purporting to be a business man, Erhan is actually a thug who runs a bodyguard business, offering protection to those travelling the trade routes between Xiyu and Tiansheng. An arrogant and unscrupulous man, he reaps the benefits of his unsavoury dealings at the hands of Ashina Atil. He has one daughter, Rukia, whom Atil seduces to achieve his means.
Rukia
Erhan’s daughter who eventually becomes Ashina Atil’s consort.
Murong Duan 慕容断
His name means “decisive/break”
Age 55
Titles: Murong General
The father of Xiao Hei and Murong Yan, Murong Duan is a general of the Northern (Changping Beifang) Army. Murong Duan despises the Emperor due to his heavy suppression of the North and the insistence that he put aside his beloved wife to marry an imperial Princess (Xiao Hei’s mother). Of all his wives and concubines A’Yan’s mother was his beloved childhood sweetheart.
The Murong family is an old noble family made of generations of military men in the north/northeast. They share responsibility for protecting the northern border with the Marquis of Changping. The family was originally founded by a set of martial twins who were known for pioneering two great martial techniques. This is unusual as sects normally develop one main technique. However, of the founding twins, one was adept at the bow and the other the sabre.
The two great weapons of the family are: the Black Snake Bow and the Nine Suns Sabre. The nine suns is a reference to Houyi.
Currently Murong Duan’s political leanings are a little murky, but he prefers Zhao Ling Fei, the Fifth Prince over the current Crown Prince.
Zhao Lu 趙禄
his name means ‘fortune granted by the king’
Age 17. Height 189cm
Title: Changping Shizi
Appearance: looks exactly like Zhao Yu.
Much to his younger twin brother’s annoyance, Zhao Lu, the legal heir of the Chanping house, is an irresponsible hedonist who is deeply in love with his servant Jin. In order to allow Zhao Lu to keep his lover, his mother arranges a political marriage and commandeers Zhao Yu to ensure that there are offspring to continue the line.
Jin/Edward
A blond and blue eyed, twenty-year old Englishman who was sold as a slave at the age of thirteen. He is the personal servant of Zhao Lu and his lover. In the extras, he develops a friendship with Cui Xi that drives some people (Zhao Ling Ye and Zhao Ling Xian) crazy…
Zhao Ling Yao, 趙灵珧,
Yao means ‘Mother of Pearl”
Age 32, Height: 157 cm
Titles: Eldest Princess. Marchioness of Changping
Nicknames: Yao Yao
Appearance: Light brown hair and light eyes.
The only daughter of the Emperor, Zhao Ling Yao was born of a concubine of a rank lower than consort, but because she is the only Princess, her father adores her, and bestowed a first rank title.
She is very happily married to the Marquis (Houye) of Changping (long peace 長平) Zhao Xiong (who is a cousin of the emperor). He is essentially the march lord of the Northern border (defending against the hordes) So Yao Yao doesn’t normally live at the capital. However, both her twin sons and daughter live in the capital…possibly to keep their father in check…Zhao Yu and Ruyi are good friends of Cui Xi.
Yao Shen Yi
Minister of Justice. Yao Ning Xiao’s older brother.
