Jianyu Doran

Jianyu Doran was the father of Lilah Wilkes and Meirong Doran. He was the head of the Doran Clan and responsible for the entire Saburo's family deaths, although he only directly killed Rina Saburo.

Appearance
In his younger years, Jianyu had black hair that he kept in a topknot with a traditional clan hairpin. The hairpin he wore is reserved for the Crown Prince or Princess, as we see Meirong wearing the same hairpin. Jianyu wore the traditional red and black Longpao that all royal Doran men besides the emperor would wear. The Longpao had dragons, waves, and flowers on it.

In his adult years living on the Doran Estate, Jianyu would typically wear a yellow dragon Longpao and the Emperor's hairpin. On his wedding day, he wore a much larger headdress and a red, black, and gold hanfu. During both of these times he had a long goatee. When he left the Doran Estate to live in Estines, he had side parted hair and wore a black vest, white button up shirt, slacks, dress shoes, and a flat cap. He still had a goatee, but it was much shorter.

Personality
As a child, he was outgoing and excitable, enjoying his training and frequently telling his mother how excited he was to be the new emperor, believing he would make the clan glorious again, as it had been steadily declining after Yusheng's reign.

In his adult years, Jianyu seemed much sterner and more intense, rarely smiling and spending most of his time working and trying to avoid his family. He would yell at Xiurong and Meirong for doing anything even slightly incorrectly, or simply just not doing it his way.

With Beatrice, Jianyu was different. It's unclear whether this was a façade in order to get closer to the Saburos or his true personality. Either way, with Beatrice, he was much kinder, showing her frequent love and affection and never yelling. Although he left early in Lilah's childhood, Lilah recalled him as a great father who never got angry, recalling when she broke his vase and he gave her a light scolding but showed her great affection after. Meirong was surprised at that, as Jianyu was quite cold with her, never seeming proud or impressed with her accomplishments, viewing them as the bare minimum. Overall, he was cold and distant and didn't acknowledge her unless she failed. Whenever Meirong did mess up, Jianyu would get enraged, screaming at her until she cried, not showing any remorse afterwards.

History
Jianyu was born to Jianying and Donghai Doran. His birth angered many members of the clan, not because anything he did, but rather the age of the emperor when he was born. Donghai was only thirty years old, which the elders criticized as being far too young for an emperor to have their heir. At the youngest, emperors aren't meant to have their heir until they are forty. His early birth caused the already divided clan to divide even further, with many members of the Mengyao faction gaining power.

When he was twenty years old, Harold Saburo led the largest attack to date against the Doran Clan, wiping out multiple forts and strongholds. King Zacharias, unlike every other king before him, was unwilling to work with the Doran Clan and made it his goal to wipe them out before his death. Although he failed, Harold's strike was so powerful it wiped out nearly half of the clan and set them back 'five hundred years.' Only adding fuel to the fire, King Zacharias hailed Harold as a hero and gave him the Pendragon Medal of Honor, the highest medal of honor that can only be given out once per king's reign.

This caused Jianyu to spend his entire time as a prince plotting revenge against Harold and the Estinian government. About six years after the attack, Harold retired from the military. Jianyu ordered he be spied on, and during this time, the spies quickly realized he was a Level One, which enraged Jianyu even more.

When King Andrew formally apologized to the clan and offered them money, Jianyu fully moved his attention away from the government and onto Harold. Harold and Allard frequently moved around together, and Jianyu knew full well this would make an attack difficult.

When Jianyu was thirty-five, Emperor Donghai died and Jianyu became the next Emperor. He spent two years focusing on domestic matters until King Andrew asked him to investigate a radical Doran movement called the Liberators of Dongyans, who he feared were planning to overthrow him.

Jianyu initially intended on sending in someone as opposed to investigating himself until his spies informed him that Harold Saburo's sister-in-law, a woman named Beatrice Pendragon, was apart of the movement.

Upon hearing this, Jianyu chose to join it himself in order to woo Beatrice. She fell in love with him, and the two got married and had Lilah Wilkes.

Lilah remembered Jianyu as a kind father who cared for his daughter and wife deeply. It's unclear whether he genuinely loved them or was only using them for the purpose of getting closer to Harold.