Hyou Ruka

Hyou‎ Ruka (縹 瑠花 Hyō‎ Ruka) is the former de facto Head of the Hyou Clan.

Appearance
Ruka projects an apparition of a young woman. She has white skin and long pale purple hair. She is often seen dressed in formal Priestess attire. In the novel, her hair is jet black instead of pale purple.

Personality & Characteristics
Ruka originally was a very kind-hearted and forgiving girl at her youth. In spite of all her sufferings because of her father she never complained and still was prepared to throw her life away for him. Eventually, the corruption of the Hyou clan and sufferings of her siblings at the hand of her father caused her to rebel. Since then, gradually she became ruthless and sardonic although her heart to help the weak never changed. At the final moments of her life, her true forgiving nature finally resurfaced because of Uu Uu, Hyou Shusui and Kou Shuurei.

Plot
While Ruka's brother had no real authority and lazily ignored his duties, Ruka was the real power behind the Hyou Clan, and she is revered by the rest of the family, who followed her orders without question. She wields an enormous magical power which is unusual even for the Hyou. She despised her father for mistreating both her and Riou and believed that her father had led the family down a corrupt path. She therefore overthrew her father and conducted a purge of the Hyou clan to bring it back on the right path, earning her the nickname "Empress of Blood." She was acknowledged by the "Priestess with the Red Umbrella" (presumably Sou Youki's spirit) as a High Priestess second only to the first generation of her clan. Though perceived as ruthless, Ruka is actually a kind woman as seen when she sheltered Kou Shuurei during the time when her life was in danger. She also protected her sister-in-law, Ou Hien who married her brother whom she deeply cherished.

Unlike her brother, her body is not ageless, but she has survived far longer than most priestesses normally do by transferring her consciousness into host bodies in which she can then use her powers and use up that body's life force instead of her own, allowing her own body to age normally. She is also able to project her spirit image to communicate with others, which appears as a young woman, despite her age. Her son Ren is the real mastermind of Jyasenkyō, which started the problems in Sa province during Shuurei and Eigetsu's time as co-governors.

Despite initially appearing as an antagonist, Ruka has worked day and night for the sake of the country and her clan. Over time, her efforts began to exhaust her and she looked towards finding a successor to her duties. As such, she raised Hyou Eiki, one of the daughters of the Hyou clan as her successor, believing that she has the potential to lead the Hyou clan to a greater height. However, she was extremely disappointed as she abandoned her and the clan for an 'outsider'. As more members of the clan began to leave for self-serving ambitions, Ruka was left alone to continue in her work, assisted only by Uu Uu, who had grown old and would someday die.

Eventually, a daughter of the Hyou clan who was an assassin doll in the past due to being born powerless returned to the clan to face Ruka and help her. That daughter was revealed to be Hyou Shusui, now a priestess with the power of the Hyou clan. Though Shusui had betrayed her in the past, Ruka had finally found someone to stay by her side. She gave up the imperial throne of the High Priestess and enthroned her daughter Shusui as the next High Priestess of the Hyou Clan, leaving all the responsibilities to her. Shortly afterwards, Ruka was assassinated by kyonshi-Sakujun on Ryou Anju's orders.

Hyou Riou Sr.
Ruka is as obsessed with Hyou Riou Sr, her brother, as he is with the Bara-hime, to the point where she is even willing to possess Kou Shuurei, the Bara-hime's daughter, just so her brother will finally look at her.

Etymology

 * Hyou means "light blue" (縹).
 * Ruka means "precious stone, gem, lapis lazuli" (瑠) (ru) and "flower, blossom" (花) (ka).