Saiunkoku Monogatari

Synopsis

Saiunkoku is a world of eight provinces or houses, each named after a different colour. The new Emperor, Shi Ryuuki, has gained for a reputation for being uninterested in courtly matters and for flaunting his love for men. Shuurei, although born of the important Kou family, has difficulty making ends meet. She easily accepts an invitation to be the Emperor's concubine in order to turn him into a good ruler. The mysterious Seiran, a young man who was adopted by her father, goes with her as Ryuuki's bodyguard. Entering the imperial palace revives Shuurei's dream of being a court official, and, together with the many companions she meets along the way, continues moving bravely forward while trying to fend off the Emperor's advances.

Shuurei Kou (紅 秀麗)

Shuurei Kou is the daughter and only child of Shouka Kou of the Kou clan, one of the two most powerful clans in Saiunkoku. She is sixteen years old when the story begins. As a descendant of the direct line, she has the title hime, which means 'princess' or 'lady'. Despite the high social status of her family, Shuurei grew up in relatively impoverished circumstances. Her father's job brought little income, and much of the wealth of their family home was given to the needy during the devastating fight for the imperial succession eight years ago. There are no servants at the Kou residence, so Shuurei has grown adept at household chores such as needlework, cooking and cleaning, traits unusual in a lady of high social standing. She has also held a number of odd jobs to earn money, acting as a professional erhu player, working as an accountant at Kochou's brothel in the Red Light District, and serving as a teacher at the local temple.

In the English version, her name is Shurei Hong since Kou is another family name in the series. Kou has two kanji symbols in Japanese, one red the other Yellow, which explains why two families have the same romanised name. To avoid confusion, 'Hong' was given unto Shurei's family, the same as the Mandarin Chinese reading.

Kouyuu Li (李 絳攸)

Kouyuu Li holds the rank of Vice-Secretary of the Civil Affairs department, serving beneath Reishin Kou. Kouyuu was an orphan living in the streets before he was adopted by Reishin thirteen years ago; he survived by selling tickets to a street lottery of his own design in which the prizes included branches of plum blossoms and bags of salt. Kouyuu became the youngest person ever to pass the official examinations at the age of 16, taking the top ranked "Jougen" spot. As the series begins, Kouyuu has been assigned directly to the Emperor, a position that infuriates him because the wandering Emperor never carries out his duties and can rarely even be found. After Ryuuki agrees to be tutored by Kouyuu, however, and begins taking an active role in government, Ryuuki offers Kouyuu an iris flower as sign of trust. Kouyuu openly accepts the flower as a token of his loyalty and his belief that Ryuuki is a worthy Emperor. Kouyuu often works closely with the Emperor and revises the work that Ryuuki does, such as written proposals.

Despite his reputation as a genius, Kouyuu is notorious for having no sense of direction. He gets lost in the palace within 30 steps and it sometimes takes him two hours to get to a destination that only takes 15 minutes for another person. (Though, he does seem to find his way when there's trouble.) He has a close relationship with Shuuei Ran, though he loudly denies being the latter's friend. He's easily annoyed and gets nervous speaking in public. He frequently states that women are nothing but trouble and refused all offers of marriage after he passed the official exam, despite receiving many proposals from families eager to tie themselves to an up-and-coming star. He frequently tutors Shuurei, however, and appears to regard her as a friend.

Shuuei Ran (藍 楸瑛)

The General of the Shaorin army. Part of the Ran family, one of the two greatest clans. The fourth oldest of five brothers. A very skilled swordsman and is usually calm, but likes to tease others. He was supposed to be guarding the Emperor with Kouyuu, but since Ryuuki was nowhere to be found, he and Kouyuu were left in the library for a month being bored.

He claims to be Kouyuu's best friend, though Kouyuu keeps denying it. Shuuei is usually the one that gets Kouyuu all riled up by mentioning things like his lack of direction and his woman-hating ideals. Unlike Kouyuu, Shuuei is a womanizer. He often mentions how nice it is to spend time with women and was seen surrounded by a horde of women after winning the fighting tournament. He's also a regular at the Red Light District and usually spends time with the number one woman in the number one brothel.

Seiran Shi (茈 静蘭)

He started as a low-ranking army officer and is the sole remaining retainer in the Hong household. Seiran was taken in thirteen years ago by Shoka Hong, and he has made a vow to spend his life repaying that kindness, helping the Hongs by protecting them, performing repairs, and taking small guard jobs to earn money. He is a very skilled fighter and swordsman, and despite his amiable disposition, he could be quite ruthless to those who put his loved ones in danger and conforms to the idealism of "the end justifies the means". He often puts others' well-being before his own and preferring to support others by watching and helping from the shadows. He has known Shurei ever since the latter was little, thus is very protective of her, usually following her in order to guard her, even when she does not know it. The two are often mistaken for a couple due to the amount of time they spend together, but neither of them show romantic feelings for the other.

Seiran is later revealed to be the previously exiled second elder brother of Ryuki, Seien, whom was the only one to ever treat Ryuki nicely. He was known as the "flower" of the royal princes due to his handsome looks, kind heart, and also his physical and intellectual superiority over his brothers. Because of this, his brothers grew jealous, and after his mother, who hated his existence, and grandfather conspired to make him Emperor, he, along with his mother, was exiled. The other royal families sent assassins to kill him, and though he did away with them, his mother was killed in the process. Sometime later, he is brought into the Satsujinzoku, a murderous band of thieves in Sa Province (Brown Province) where he was nicknamed "The Little Whirlwind". Ensei Ro joined the group as well, and the two destroyed the band themselves. After leaving Sa, the Hong Family comes across him and takes him in, with Shokun giving him the name 'Seiran', meaning 'Silent Orchid', as well as him receiving the surname, 'Shi' (pronounced the same as the Emperor's family name, but has different kanji). He decided to wholly devote himself into being 'Seiran', and does not let anyone get near his past, though some characters throughout the series discovers his true identity. Though he claims to be 21 years old, he is 26 years old at the start of the series.