the terrifying retinue of grand princess dahye of south korea
hshqtask028 : staff
many years ago, when dianna was on the cusp of adulthood and merely getting into the swing of getting under her parents’ skin; the emperor and empress had a clear vision of who their eldest daughter should surround herself with. they knew the crowd she roamed in, the interesting people she had so adamantly connected herself with had been more associated with loose morals and notorious upbringing. they did try with attaching good, noble girls to dianna ones with sweet dispositions and impeccable breeding. maybe they will rub off on her? unfortunately, dianna was nothing if not determined. half of her retinue tendered their resignation after being so terrorised by her, the latter half tried holding off but ultimately could not handle her too-sharp words. so the emperor and empress gave up, and let dianna do as she please; which led to her dedicated group of minions.
dianna met jessie at columbia, a social climber that was working on a law degree. at first dianna wasn’t impressed by her - she was hardly interesting enough for her to do so - but after a few years of being within the same circles, she slowly realised that the new-jersey native had clawed her way into new york high society by the skin of her teeth! that certainly caught her attention. they became closer, and soon jessie was within her inner circle - someone smart, beautiful, and most importantly; loyal. dianna had made jessie jumped through hoops before officially employing her, and now there was no one more suitable to keep the social schedule of the society queen of south korea. jessie could’ve gone to any upscale law firm and easily climbed up the corporate ladder, but she prefer being paid the same wage and lounge by the pool instead.
lady joo aeri, marchioness of south chungcheong / lady-in-waiting. second cousin, once removed of the duke of gyeonggi; dianna’s husband ( jo boah )
aeri was chosen as a sign of good faith to dianna’s husband’s family, and she only survived the first purge because she remained quiet, and quietly kept the peace between the big personalities within the group. she was one of the empress’ picks, someone that was supposed to influence dianna to be a better person unfortunately, she has always been far too soft-spoken and aware of her status to disagree with dianna. she has two children with the marquis of south chungcheong, her husband, and has them with her in the program.
lady jung minah of busan / lady-in-waiting ( yoon bora ) daughter of the count of busan
busan, along with seven other special districts, are ruled by special counts -- who are considered higher ranked than marquises but lower than dukes, because of the sheer population within their area of control. minah is the fiery daughter of the count of busan, a notorious society darling from the south. she always has a quip ready to deliver with her sharp gyeongsang accent, no one ever knows if she’s laughing with you or at you.
lady park “cindy” seyoung, dowager countess of incheon / lady-in-waiting ( lee sungkyung )
dianna met cindy at le rosey, proof that money can buy connections to the very highest of places, and the park family had been prominent chaebols for generations. cindy certainly could give dianna a run for her money when it came to shopping. cindy, a terrifying little schemer of her own, had always joked that one day she’ll use her daddy’s money to buy her a title impressive enough to be in dianna’s official retinue. instead, she did one better: she seduced her way into the bed of the young and impressionable future count of incheon, and managed to get a ring on her finger within a few short months! the wedding was a society event, just a few years after dianna’s own grand affair ( she had the good sense of making her wedding just a tiny bit less grand than her friend’s ). a son came soon after all according to her plan, according to cindy before her husband suffered an accident that had left him comatose. ruthless cindy pull the plug on her husband after an appropriate window of ‘thinking about the agonising decision’, something that wasn’t “on the plan, but not strictly unwelcome”. now she has her husband’s family acting as the official guardian for her son for political matters, and she was off travelling with dianna with a suitable title. strangely for cindy, everything always goes her way.
lady nam jaekyung of jeonju / lady-in-waiting ( park soonyoung / joy ) great-niece of the duke of jeolla and granddaughter to the baron of jeonju.
another one that survived the purge, the only snake in dianna’s garden. jaekyung is related to the duke of jeolla, husband to dianna’s half-aunt; the daughter of the previous emperor and empress. because of their attempt in reclaiming the throne to their line of the family, the duke considered it prudent to keep tabs on all of the members of the family. so jaekyung will stay in dianna’s retinue no matter what, no matter how many times she became the receiving end of catty taunts and passive-aggressive quips, she would always keep her head down and relay the information to her grandfather. all of the girls know not to talk about anything sensitive in front of her, they all know that she’s not above selling stories to dispatch.
lady choi naeun, baroness of goyang ( kim ahyeon / yura )
bombshell naeun was a beauty queen that could’ve taken korea all the way to the miss universe finals. if only she didn’t get pregnant. it was fortunate that she managed to convince the baron of goyang the richest of all of her lovers that the child was his and they were married within a fortnight. no one really spoke about babies that bought entry to high society, but naeun’s pregnancy was one that got her a ticket to all the fabulous parties; she became rich and titled in one swoop, and learnt the intricacies of seoul high society quickly. but it was when she found herself accidentally wrapped up in a scheme did she made the choice to prove loyalty to dianna, naeun soon became a fixture within dianna’s inner circle.
lithuania hasn’t been home for her for a while. there was a conscious decision for dalia to remain a london-based actress. los angeles is great, of course, if you can make it -- and she refused to relocate completely to america because when you fail after moving across the ocean it becomes embarrassing to face the people you leave behind. dalia used her entire wages from one season of ‘british horror tale: bedlam’ for the downpayment in a 1 bedroom 1 bath flat in marylebone, and took forever furnishing it. she prefers to buy pieces from flea markets, far too cautious in spending her money for anything too ostentatiously expensive. even after her mild success in ‘tender is the night’ dalia still refused to move, she basically still think that her place is a constant work-in-progress. she loves her neighbourhood, and was on a first-name basis with the butcher across the road and the barista next door -- they probably read about her ‘ascension’ online and stopped wondering if she finally moved to los angeles for work.
