Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

Embroidery Lady → Lady Hai (Shu'fujin) → First Class Female Attendant Hai → Noble Lady Hai → Imperial Concubine Yu → Consort Yu → Noble Consort Yu (posthumous)
Hailan was initially an embroidery lady in Qianlong's residence, until Ruyi helped her gain the title of Mistress. Gentle yet determined, she is a loyal friend and confidante of Ruyi. The mother of Yongqi, the Emperor's favorite son, Hailan is an exceptionally influential consort in the harem; which she made use of to deal with the consorts who stand in Ruyi's way.

Di'fujin → Empress
Elegant and dignified, Langhua was a respected and virtuous Empress who served her role well. However despite this, she envied Ruyi and her intimate relationship with the Emperor. Under the manipulations of Jin Yuyan, she became embroiled in the inner palace conflicts and collaborated with Gao Xiyue to harm Ruyi.
Her misguided actions eventually caused her relationship with the Emperor to deteriorate, and she died a grievanced woman.

Lady Jin (Shu'fujin) → Noble Lady Jia → Imperial Concubine Jia → Consort Jia → Noble Consort Jia → Noble Lady Jia → Imperial Concubine Jia → Second Class Female Attendant Jin → Noble Consort Jia → Commoner → Imperial Noble Consort Shujia (posthumous)
An orphan that was taken in by a Joseon minister, Yuyan's main goal in life is to earn the Emperor's favor and bring honor to her tribe and to assist her real love, the "young master" who became the King of Joseon. Manipulative, cunning and shrewd, she is skilled in instigating conflicts between the concubines and is the main culprit behind many of the concubines’ deaths.
Her evil deeds were eventually revealed, and Qianlong granted her the posthumous title of Imperial Noble Consort Shujia (homophone of loser).

Lady Gao (Ce'fujin) → Noble Consort Hui → Imperial Noble Consort
Due to her father's position as a highly-ranked officer, Xiyue is arrogant and defiant. She hated Ruyi and chose to submit to the more powerful Empress Fuca, collaborating with her to plot against Ruyi. Due to her naivety, she was often goaded by the Empress' attendant, Sulian to commit many evil deeds in place of the Empress.
Xiyue was discarded by Langhua after she lost the Emperor’s favour, and then discovered that the Empress was the one who caused her to be infertile. On her death bed, she exposed Langhua's evil deeds to Qianlong.

Palace maid → Second Class Female Attendant Wei → First Class Female Attendant Wei → Noble Lady Ling → Imperial Concubine Ling → Consort Ling → Second Class Female Attendant Wei → Noble Consort Ling → Imperial Noble Consort → Empress (posthumous)
Yanwan was born a noble lady of the Yellow Banner, but was reduced to being a palace maid after her father was tried for treason. Her first love was Ling Yunche, but she abandoned him after Qianlong took notice of her (due to her close resemblance with Ruyi). Ambitious, cruel and treacherous, she sees Ruyi as her biggest foe, and would resort to all kinds of underhanded methods to climb up the ranks. Yanwan is responsible for the death of many imperial consorts, children, and Ruyi’s ultimate demise.
Eventually, her evil deeds and past relationship with Ling Yunche were exposed to Qianlong, and she was poisoned to death.

Lady Su (Shu'fujin) → Imperial Concubine Chun → Consort Chun → Noble Consort Chun → Imperial Noble Consort
A naive woman who treated everyone with kindness, and was manipulated often. She loved her son dearly, and would do anything for him. She has a good relationship with Ruyi and Hailan since their days in Prince Bao Manor.
Lüyun lost Qianlong’s favour when he found out she wanted to take the position of Empress for herself. She later died of illness.

Musician of South Manor → Second Class Female Attendant Mei → First Class Female Attendant Mei → Noble Lady Mei → Imperial Concubine Mei
A yueqin/pipa player hailing from Suzhou, Ruiji was the first woman to be taken into inner palace after Qianlong's ascension. She was actually sent in by Zhenhuan to spy on Qianlong.
After Ruiji lost her child, her health gradually weakened and she eventually lost the Emperor's favor. She was manipulated into thinking her child was killed by Empress Fuca, and was used as a chesspiece by Jin Yuyan to cause the Empress' death.
When her identity was revealed, Ruiji was used as a scapegoat by Qianlong to weaken the Empress Dowager's control of the Harem. She died a grievanced death after realizing she took revenge on the wrong person.

Noble Lady Shu → Imperial Concubine Shu → Consort Shu
A talented lady of noble birth, Yihuan was recommended into the palace by the Empress Dowager. Despite being one of Zhenhuan's chess piece, she fell in love with first sight at Qianlong during one of his outings and is extremely dedicated to him. Straightforward and good-natured, Yihuan keeps herself out of the palace inner conflicts and is good friends with Ruyi.
Unbeknownst to her, Qianlong personally gave her medicine that would prevent her from bearing healthy children due to her affiliation with Zhenhuan. She became mentally unstable after her son died in infancy, and committed suicide soon after knowing Qianlong's true intention.

Palace maid of Ruyi → Imperial palace maid → First Class Female Attendant Shen → Noble Lady Shen → Imperial Concubine Shen → Commoner
Originally a personal maid that entered Qianlong's residence as part of Ruyi’s dowry, she secretly sided with the Empress and Gao Xiyue in an effort to climb up the ranks. Arrogant, superficial and sharp-tongued, she appeared to be favored by Qianlong but was actually used by him as a charade partner.
A'ruo was eventually sent to the cold palace and committed suicide there.

Shu'fujin → Second Class Female Attendant Wan → First Class Female Attendant Wan → Noble Lady Wan → Imperial Concubine Wan → Consort Wan → Noble Consort Wan (posthumous)
A timid lady who never formed cliques, and always kept to herself. She was not favoured, and chose to express her love for the Emperor through drawings. She has a good relationship with Ruyi. She unknowingly played a part in Qianlong and Ruyi’s separation due to Wei Yanwan’s manipulations.

Imperial Concubine Ying → Consort Ying → Noble Consort Ying
A spirited young lady who is of royal mongol descent, and is described as the “Southern beauty” by Qianlong. She despised Wei Yanwan and Jin Yuyan, and ended up becoming good friends with Ruyi.

Noble Lady Ke → Imperial Concubine Ke
A descendant of Mongolian royalty. She is close to Barin Meiruo and disliked Wei Yanwan.

Noble Lady Rong → Imperial Concubine Rong → Consort Rong
A beautiful woman who was taken into the palace by General Zhaohui after her tribe was conquered by the Qing Dynasty. Xiangjian’s only goal was to assassinate Qianlong in order to take revenge for her lover. She is on good terms with Ruyi, whom she is grateful toward.

First Class Female Attendant Qing → Noble Lady Qing → Imperial Concubine Qing → Noble Lady Qing → Imperial Concubine Qing → Consort Qing → Noble Consort Qing → Imperial Noble Consort Qinggong (posthumous)
A daughter of the Deputy Minister from the Court of Sacrificial Worship, she was sent in by the Empress Dowager and acts as her spy.
She was set-up by the Emperor, causing her to lose the ability to bear a child. After falling out of favor, she chose to submit to Wei Yanwan.

Personal maid of Langhua → Shu'fujin → Noble Lady Yi → Imperial Concubine Yi (posthumous)
Originally a maid under Langhua, she was promoted to the position of Mistress after Qianlong took advantage of her.
Langhua and Xiyue despised Qiying for stealing the Emperor’s affections, and caused her to miscarry. She was manipulated into believing that Ruyi was the culprit, and attempted to assassinate the latter when they were living in the same quarters.

Imperial Concubine Yu → Consort Yu
A descendant of Mongolian royalty, and an early favourite of Qianlong. However later to earn the Emperor's favor, she started coming up with lies, including framing Ruyi of having an affair with Ling Yunche.
She was sent to the torture chambers after she was found to have lied about Ruyi and Ling Yunche’s affair.

Palace maid → First Class Female Attendant Dun → Noble Lady Dun → Imperial Concubine Dun → Consort Dun
Originally a maid that worked in the palace garden, she entered the palace after Qianlong took notice of her while taking a walk. She is favored due to her resemblance with Ruyi and Wei Yanwan.

First Class Female Attendant Gong → Noble Lady Gong
A lady of Mongol descent. She is close to Barin Meiruo, and hates Wei Yanwan.

Imperial guard of the cold palace → Imperial guard of Kun'ning Palace → Royal Lanling Imperial guard → Royal Imperial guard of 3rd rank → Slave → Royal imperial guard of 2nd rank → Royal imperial guard of 1st rank → Eunuch of Yikun Palace
Wei Yanwan's first love, Miaoqing's husband.
A loyal and empathetic man who helped Ruyi while she was banished to the cold palace. He gradually becomes attracted to Ruyi, and helped her through her most difficult times in the palace. He is later accused of having an affair with Ruyi, castrated and subsequently ordered to serve in Ruyi’s palace as a form of humiliation. He was killed by Hailan when the latter realized he would pose a threat to Ruyi's position as the Empress.