Shirayuki

Shirayuki is the protagonist of the Akagami no Shirayuki-hime manga and anime series. She was born in the kingdom of Tanbarun but fled to the neighboring kingdom of Clarines as a young adult to escape from the crown prince Raji, who decided to force her to become his concubine after hearing about her beautiful rare hair colour and pleasing appearance. She is currently a Court Herbalist within the Kingdom of Clarines, initially working inside the Palace before being tasked with representing the Royal Pharmacy at the Pharmacy Institute in the famous Scholar's District in Lilias while furthering her studies. Shirayuki is in a romantic relationship with Prince Zen Wistaria of Clarines, who she met while trying to escape Prince Raji. Zen's title was influential in getting Raji to stop pursuing her, since Raji's attempt to have her drugged and brought before him ended up poisoning Zen. Fearing reprisals should the fact that he poisoned the prince of another kingdom become public knowledge, and with his own limited guard at the time outmanoeuvred and held at sword point by Zen's aides. Raji backed off in exchange for silence on the part of those who knew what he had done. Shirayuki is proud of Zen and unashamed of their relationship despite its controversial nature due to their differing statuses. She believes their paths in life will keep them together in the end, but her desire and goals as a pharmacist and botanist have led her to live and work far from him. Her intent with their relationship is that even apart she hopes that eventually her work will align so that she can support and be beside Zen along with Mitsuhide Rouen, Kiki Seiran and Obi as Zen carries out his duties to the crown, though she will not leave her own goals by the wayside just to be with him. Unbeknownst to Shirayuki her current goal and work towards becoming one of the premier royal pharmacists of Wirant, thus becoming one of the pharmacists of Wilant Castle, has put her on a path that will put her in the same place of residence as Zen once more. Zen's recent appointment as the governor of the Wirant district means he will be having to move to Wilant Castle very soon as his mother, Dowager Queen Haruto Wistaria, moves on to her own lands following the completion of her regency over her deceased husband's kingdom with the start of Izana's reign as king. Shirayuki's rare apple-red hair colour attracts a lot of unwanted attention. At the beginning of the story, her long hair was typically tied in a ponytail that ran halfway down her back, but as an act of defiance against the self-absorbed Prince of Tanbarun, she cut it shorter so that it reached her chin. Shirayuki is of average height at 5' 4 (162 cm). She has clear emerald-green eyes which serve to complement the natural beauty of her hair colour. Shortly after Shirayuki became a fully-fledged Royal Pharmacist her boss Garak gave her a double-breasted white uniform, which is styled to double as a lab coat and can be worn over her civilian attire. Prior to her first trip to Lilias, she was also given a navy blue cloak styled to indicate her ties to Wistal, and it has two loose panels in the front with the linked concave sided diamonds seen on the uniform of the Wistal Palace Guard and as a repeated decorative element on the Palace itself. Since she is not of royal blood and is a commoner by birth she had to gain access to the castle through her employment rather than family status and now has an identification tag which she wears on a necklace. On becoming an official court pharmacist Shirayuki is given a uniform by the Chief Pharmacist Garak, which she wears while on duty. Whenever she is called to formally meet a member of royalty, she changes into more formal and respectable apparel. Shirayuki doesn't do so when she is called to see Zen. When she is out in an unfamiliar town, Shirayuki always wears a hood so that her hair won't attract any unwanted attention. Shirayuki has a very strong-willed and bright personality. She is optimistic, resourceful, determined, yet she can be kind and compassionate. She tends to be reasonably independent but will accept the help of others when necessary. Sometimes, her determination to be independent ends up working against her, and she has been known to overwork herself to the point of making herself sick. Shirayuki tends to put less consideration into her own needs and ends up putting the people around her at a higher priority, meaning she places anyone precious to her ahead of herself and takes action when the situation requires attention. She's a strong-willed woman that is willing to take any risks for the fact to be adequately proven. Shirayuki is very knowledgeable in herbalism and medicine. She likes to do things the "right way", often leading to dangerous encounters. As also seen in the manga (Lilias arc), she doesn't like hiding information and would like to face the truth in order to protect her precious 'stuff' properly. She has a high level of determination but gets easily flustered when Zen tries to flirt or romance her. She knows that she loves him but doesn't know how to approach telling him so at first. She is very patient and diligent when it comes to the Palace's work - meaning that she likes doing things by herself and doesn't like using 'other people' like Zen to raise her social status.