Character Index
Zhao Household
Kayla
A young woman stuck in a minimum wage job who gets transmigrated into the body of Zhao Wenyuan.
Chujiao
Housekeeper Wang
The housekeeper of the Grand Duke's household (manages the Outer and Inner Quarters) and the Grand Duke's most loyal and reliable servant.
Matron Li
A high-ranking female servant who manages the Inner Quarters of the Grand Duke's household.
Qu Boyong
A young guard who is assigned to Wenyuan.
Imperial Family
The current Emperor, Wenyuan's maternal uncle. His name means "successor of the forefathers",
Empress Dowager
The mother of the current Emperor and the late Imperial Princess, and the previous Emperor's most favored wife. She was instrumental in the coronation of her son, and dotes on her only maternal grandson Wenyuan.
The main character of the novel Kayla transmigrated into and the man who killed Wenyuan in the original timeline. His name means "to show pureness and honesty".
Xianchun's main political rival, the Emperor's most favored son. His name means "to correct or rectify".
The fifth prince, the characters of his name mean "sunlight" and "luckiness", stemming from the good weather on the day of his birth.
The mother of Yunqi, the Fifth Prince. She is in poor health after experiencing a tragic life event, after her father was executed and her family banished from the capital. Her family was a politically powerful clan, though their influence had declined with the rise of Grand Duke Zhao.
The mother of Kuang, the Third Prince. She hails from an illustrious clan of generals.
Consort Chen
The mother of Xianchun, the Seventh Prince. She was a commoner and died in Xianchun's childhood.
Consort Liang
One of Xianchun's love interests in the original timeline, is married to the current Emperor. She is from the illustrious Liang clan and is known for her beauty and kindness.
Consort Zhao
Wenyuan's aunt and the Grand Duke's niece. She is one of the Emperor's concubines.
Consort Liu
Liu Hongyu's daughter and one of the Emperor's concubines. She had a daughter who did not survive infancy.
Emperor Gaozong
The grandfather of Zhou Yin, the current Emperor. Great-grandfather of Kuang, Yunqi, Xianchun, and Wenyuan. He rose to power after his older brother, who was the Crown Prince, was deposed.
Sir Zheng
A eunuch who issued the Imperial Decree for Kayla, important in the original timeline but has yet to do anything significant.
The wife of the Third Prince Zhou Kuang and mother of his son. She hails from the Cao family, a clan of scholars and doctors that has relatively few high-ranking officials in court
Former First Prince
Son of the former Empress, and the heir apparent due to both age and the rank of his mother until he was demoted to the rank of commoner and exiled from the capital. His wife and children were also exiled with him and his in-laws were also removed from positions of political influence. He is no longer allowed to use the surname Zhou.
Former Second Prince
Second son of the former Empress, demoted to the rank of commoner and exiled from the capital along with his older brother. Like the former First Prince's family, his in-laws and his wife suffered similar fates.
An upright young man who was completely unsuited for politics, he died of illness after being adopted out from the Imperial Family (aka removed from the family tree) to the family of Archduke Qi. His name Zhen has several meanings, but is often used to describe someone as "pure/upright/honest".
Sixth Prince of the Imperial Family, passed away after a horseriding accident. His name "Shu" means "light of the rising sun" and can also signify the arrival of good things or the transition to harmonious and fortuitous circumstances.
Younger half-brother of the current Emperor Zhou Yin, he served as a teacher to the Princes before being forced to leave the capital.
The former Empress who was deposed after constant conflicts between the Emperor and her family, the Gongsun clan. She committed suicide soon after being deposed.
Retainers of the Imperial Family (Excluding members of the Three Departments and Six Ministries)
Yu Bianfu
A female general who served in the Imperial Guards at the Empress Dowager's side, Xianchun's childhood friend and arm in the military.
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Liu Boyue
Xianchun's childhood friend and right-hand man, his primary strategist and confidant.
Qiu Jinwei
Yunqi's strategist, a brilliant man with his fair share of eccentricities.
Li Que
A member of the Imperial Investigator Bureau, he is a high-ranking investigator who answers directly to the Emperor.
Tabuyir
A member of the Imperial Investigator Bureau, a high-ranking investigator who answers directly to the Emperor. He comes from a steppe tribe in the Northwest.
Lord Liang
Head of the Liang clan and originally a scholar in the Hanlin Academy. He sides with Xianchun, and was appointed as the new Minister of Justice following Xie Yunan's removal.
Chen Jian
A young Imperial Investigator who is mentored by Li Que.
An Haoyang
A young Imperial Investigator who has loyalties outside of the Bureau.
Imperial Court
Secretariat Director Liu Hongyu
Chancellery Director He Shirang
Minister Jun Shao
Minister Dong Shiqing
Minister Liu Xiu
Minister Zhao Wei
Minister Xie Yunan
Minister Hu Weizhi
Ge Renqian
Jia Fu
A lower-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice and Wenyuan's "assistant", acts as the Grand Duke's eyes and ears in the Ministry of Justice.
Director Ke
Director Jiang
The new Right Secretariat of Justice, Kuang's subordinate.
Eastern Turkish Khaganate
Chuluo Khagan
Current ruler/Khagan of the Eastern Turkish Khaganate. He was the youngest son of the previous Khagan and named as the successor, but his older brother rebelled against him. Chuluo was forced to seek aid from the Wu Dynasty, receiving military support from Emperor Gaozong. Unwilling to act as a puppet ruler, relations soured between the two kingdoms after Chuluo's reinstatement as ruler, eventually resulting in an uneasy peace.
Other Characters
Yue Wuxuan
Governor of Anling county, he was executed for treasonous statements after being framed by the Grand Duke's faction. He had attempted to uncover evidence of the Grand Duke's corruption.
Lady Yue
Yue Wuxuan's wife, a descendant of the Great General Liang Anguo, who was wrongfully executed after being framed. She and her daughter were spared from death when her husband was executed and welcomed to the capital as members of the Liang clan.
Liang Anguo
Great General of the West, a deceased general who was framed and executed. He is the grandfather of Lord Liang and Lady Yue.
Chen Caichun
The younger sister of Imperial Investigator Chen Jian, she is a brilliant young woman who worked as a scribe until becoming a Ministerial Case Reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review, serving as an eighth-rank official.
Glossary
Government Structures
Three Departments/Six Ministries
: A governance system used in several dynasties where the Imperial Court is governed under a hierarchy with the Emperor at the top, the Three Departments under him, and the Six Ministries beneath, with further divisions within departments and localities.
: Primary executive institution of the court and one of the Three Departments. The Department of State Affairs is the highest-ranked of the Three Departments.
: Policy formulating agency of the court, one of the Three Departments, ranked below the Department of State Affairs.
: Advisory and review agency for the Emperor and the Secretariat Department, one of the Three Departments, but also the least important one.
: Equivalent of the Human Resources department of the Imperial Court as well as officials throughout the country, one of the Six Ministries.
: Responsible for government revenue, population census, land census, and collection of taxes. One of the Six Ministries.
: Responsible for religious ceremonies and ritual offerings of the Imperial court, registration and supervision of priests within China, management of the Imperial Examinations, and foreign relations. One of the Six Ministries.
: Controlled the appointments/demotions of military officials, maintenance of military material, and administrated the courier network (the last part varied by dynasty, but applies for this setting). One of the Six Ministries.
: In charge of judicial, investigative, and penal processes. Also in charge of arresting criminals. One of the Six Ministries.
: In charge of public infrastructure, the management of public and private farming land, maintenance of city walls, irrigation and flood prevention, etc. One of the Six Ministries.
: An advisory, academic, and administrative institution that functioned similarly to a think tank, university, or research institute. Composed of elite scholars who completed secretarial or literary tasks for the court, one of their primary duties was the interpretation of the Chinese classics/canonical texts, which was what aspiring officials were tested on in the Imperial Examination. Also drafted secret edicts for the Emperor/served as personal secretaries for the Emperor.
Imperial Investigation Bureau
: The institution for oversight, judicial investigation, and review of judicial cases in Ancient China. This often operated in conjunction (and sometimes in competition) with the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate (corresponds to the Imperial Investigation Bureau but with less tree-jumping and cool masks). Approximately corresponds to the highest court/Supreme Court today, has existed since the Qin dynasty in various forms and was sometimes dissembled but mostly retained its original form and function until the Republic of China era.
Government Officials
Note: There are way too many, so I will only add the ones that become relevant as we go. Same for the Government Structures, I'm leaving out many institutions/agencies that aren't relevant yet.
: The head of the Department of State Affairs, a very powerful and prestigious position to the point that it was often left empty during the Tang Dynasty due to fear of putting so much power in someone's hands, currently filled by the Grand Duke.
: The head of the Secretariat Department, often worked closely with the Emperor.
: Head of the Chancellery.
: Head of one of the Six Ministries.
: Basically the two Vice-Ministers of each Ministry.
: The heads of the bureaus under each Ministry.
: They're called Imperial Guards, but they're basically the personal army of the Emperor that answers directly to him, responsible for protecting the Emperor and Imperial family's safety.