joei

Joei is the younger sister of the former queen of Kei, Jokaku, and a daughter of the Jou family. Unlike her sister, Joei exudes confidence and firmly believes she is suited to be a monarch. This belief fuels her resentment over Jokaku being chosen as queen instead of her. As Jokaku grew more isolated, Joei exploited her sister's affection for her, encouraging this withdrawal to gain influence within the court. Upon Jokaku's death, Joei sought to seize control of Kei as its new monarch while Keiki vanished to find the next king of Kei. Since she was not chosen by Keiki, Joei cannot truly claim rulership of Kei and is barred from entering the royal palace at Gyouten. She is thus forced to reside in the palace of the governor of Sei Province. Her claim to the throne is bolstered by the schemes of the king of Kou, who orchestrates for his kirin, Kourin, to capture and enchant Keiki, rendering him mute. This convinces the people of Kei that Joei is their new ruler. Holding Keiki captive is enough to win over any remaining provincial governors who doubted her legitimacy, except for Koukan, the governor of Baku Province. With aid from the king of En, the true ruler of Kei, Youko Nakajima, manages to overthrow the false queen, and Joei is expelled from Kei.