Suzuran

Lady Suzuran (鈴蘭の君 Suzuran no Kimi) is Shi Seien's mother and was one of Emperor Shi Senka's concubines.

Appearance
Suzuran was a very beautiful and sophisticated woman. Her beauty even surprised Senka for a split second. She earned the epithet of "Lily of the Valley" due to her innocent beauty but poisonous nature. Due to all that, all other consorts of Senka were extremely jealous of her.

Personality & Characteristics
Suzuran was emotionally frail. She felt so extremely insecure about Senka abandoning her that she would cower away in fear from her own son Seien. It was her personality that created the distance between her and her son. Though she didn't love Seien, she pitied him for having a mother like her.

She seemed to feel a motherly love for the first time when she met Shi Ryuuki when he was a child. Before her exile, she requested that Senka take care of Ryuuki, which shocked him because she had expressed love for another consort's child rather than her own. Despite her emotional fragility, she possessed a cunning mind when a situation called for it. It was Suzuran who managed to outwit Senka and the Censorate chief, Ou Ki, by removing Seien from the Imperial Court without leaving any evidence until the last moment.

Plot
Suzuran entered the Inner Palace when she was a young girl. On her first night in the palace, Senka visited her and had a relationship with her. However, the emperor stopped visiting her after she became pregnant with Seien. Feeling insecure that the Emperor no longer paid attention to her, Suzuran felt it was the fault of her child and became even more miserable after Seien was born. Though Seien always visited her and brought her flowers and gifts, she would cower away from her son and refuse to let him touch her. Though Seien was hailed as an accomplished prince and became Senka's favourite, Suzuran still felt unhappy.

Suzuran gradually realized that Seien's continuous existence would soon give rise to a succession struggle that would hinder Senka's reign, while removing Seien from court would allow the political situation to remain steady for a longer time. She began scheming her son's downfall while attracting Senka's attention. As part of her plot, she attempted to kill Seien with a death curse disguised as a bean bag supplied by the Hyou clan; the plot failed when Senka switched the bags and accepted the curse himself. Aware that the other princes and concubines, as well as Ou Ki and Hyou Ruka were also plotting to get rid of Seien, she attempted another scheme to remove Seien before them. Thus, she indirectly arranged the death of the Sixth Consort by sabotaging her cosmetics. The sixth consort, who had entered the Imperial Harem solely based on her beauty, was horribly disfigured and thus, impulsively committed suicide. Predicting her scheme, Ou Ki attempted to gather evidence but failed, much to Senka's surprise. However, Suzuran was unable to successfully frame Seien for the death of the sixth consort.

Suzuran decided to use her ambitious father in her final scheme to remove Seien. When her father conspired to assassinate the emperor, he was arrested for treason - an act punishable by death. As Suzuran and Seien were apparently ignorant of the plot, they were spared and exiled to Sa Province. Before leaving for Sa province, she was kept in a prison, where the emperor came to visit her for the first time after her pregnancy. He was extremely impressed at her cunning which utterly defeated both him and Ou Ki. His compliment made her happy.

In response, Suzuran threatened to kill him with the curse from the Hyou clan and asked him to choose to give her his heart or his life. Senka remarked he should have made her his retainer instead of making her a wife and she became happy at the thought. But Senka congratulated her and offered her his life to her great shock. Before falling into a slump again, she accused him for being the worst husband which Senka himself admitted and left. The next day on her way to the Sa province, Suzuran was killed by the assassins sent after them by the other consorts.

Shi Senka
She was one of Senka's 6 wives and deeply loved him. However, he never returned her feelings.

Shi Seien
Seien was her son with Senka. She couldn't bring herself to love him and believed her abandonment was his fault. She believed that Seien only cared for her out of duty and didn't sincerely love her as a mother. However, she pitied him for having a mother like herself.

Shi Ryuuki
She developed a fondness for Ryuuki when he came to visit her one day with flowers. When she heard his mother's story, she realized he loved her mother despite all the tortures he was put through. She then regretted killing the 6th wife thinking that she has a very lovely son. In her final moment before dying, she wondered if Ryuuki would cry for her.

Trivia

 * Suzuran's name means Lily of the valley.