Aristia la Monique

Aristia Pioneer la Monique (아리스티아 라 모니크) is the protagonist of The Abandoned Empress. She is the daughter of Keirean la Monique and Jeremia la Monique.

Although trained from childhood to become Empress, Aristia married into the royal family as a queen where she is eventually executed for treason against her husband before she comes back to the past as a young girl and attempts to rewrite her tangled fate.

Appearance
Aristia is depicted as a beautiful pale-skinned girl with wavy butt-length silver-white hair (which she inherited from her father Keirean la Monique) that has bangs covering her forehead (her bangs are sometimes seen swept to either side) and golden-yellow eyes (which she inherited from her mother Jeremia la Monique).

Outfits

 * Aristia mostly wears elegant dresses with intricate details.
 * During her training, Aristia's hair is tied up in a high ponytail. She wears a long-sleeved white collared shirt with a purple vest. With this, she adorns a pair of black shorts, white socks and purple low boots.
 * When Aristia is a gentleman's apprentice, she wears a red jacket with symbols and white pants with black boots.
 * After being knighted, Aristia wears her House uniform and symbol, proving to be a gentleman and the future heiress of Casa Monique.

Previous Life
In Aristia's childhood, Aristia was taught to suppress emotions, portraying an outward aloof and cold composure. She suppressed her pain, anger and desperation within herself that she didn't show any signs of sorrow even at the death of her unborn baby. She held an unrequited love for her fiance, Ruvellis Kamaludin Shana Castina, despite his cold behavior towards her.

History
In Aristia's previous life, everyone believed that she was the prophesied child who would become the prince's partner since she was born soon after the prophecy in House Monique - a House which had sworn loyalty to the royal family. Hence, she was trained to become the Empress from the day she learned to walk, but was never acknowledged by anyone and was unloved. She became the Empress at the age of 16, but she was hated by the nobles and had no one to support her. Soon, a girl named Jieun appeared from another world in the palace's lake and everyone in the Church declared that Jieun is the girl mentioned in the prophesy and Aristia was mistaken to be the future Empress due to it's misinterpretation. Therefore, she was given the title of lower Queen whereas Jieun became the Empress.

Even then, she loved Ruvellis Kamaludin Shana Castina so much even though her love was unrequited from the beginning. When she conceived a child before Jieun, Ruvellis firmly said that she meant nothing to him and he will never choose a heir from her children no matter how intelligent or powerful they become. Aristia was deeply saddened to hear this since she hoped that he would finally love her if she bore him children. She then gets dizzy and slips the moment she hears this. But he catches her, and before she could stand on her own, Jieun enters the room and she is shocked to see Ruvellis holding her with his arms. He immediately lets go of Aristia and runs behind Jieun to clear the misunderstanding after she runs away from the room in anger, but Aristia falls and starts bleeding heavily after he accidentally dashes against her while running. Thus, Aristia loses her child and the doctor comes clean after a bit of hesitation that it is not possible for her to conceive another child since she has a weak body since childhood, which led to Aristia falling in deep despair and losing all of her hopes. After that, she suffers from insomnia for many days. Then on the night she hears the news that the Empress is with child, Keirean la Monique comes to her for the first time after leaving her in the palace when she was 16 years old saying that he would take her home after settling some matters in the border.

But 4 days later, Jieun was ambushed by masked men while she took a walk in the palace garden and lost her child in the process. The next morning, she heard the news that her father was arrested for treason for being the mastermind behind that attack and she pleaded with the Emperor to release her father, but her pleas fell on deaf ears and he ridiculed her by making her kneel before him with her head on the floor and made her lick his shoe on the promise that he would release her father, but after she does so, he taunts her saying that she was too naive since he wouldn't let anyone live who has tried to kill the Empress and killed his child and that her father was already executed in the morning. Aristia is enraged after hearing this and immediately stabs him saying that he killed both her child and her father. Thus, she was executed for treason and for trying to harm a royal. Before her head is chopped by the axe, she vows that she would never love him if she has a second life.

After the execution, she goes 7 years back in time and becomes her 10-year-old self. She is shocked as well as deeply disturbed due to her horrible past. She then goes to the temple of Vita to know what was really happening and to find some sort of proof for the prophesy being misinterpreted, and suddenly hears the voice of God Vita. Then Vita explains everything to her saying that it is not a dream and both her lives were reality. He gave her a second life because of her horrible and miserable past, and says that the thin thread of her fate somehow got tangled with that of Ruvellis whereas the prophesied child Jieun was accidentally born in another world. Hence, Aristia was made as the temporary fill-in till Jieun came back. This enraged Aristia that she expresses her pain and misery she had to undergo because of this and rejects Vita. Vita says that it is fine by him and granted her the power to carve her own fate. Thus, he gave her the name 'Pioneer'.

Thus, she decides not to get involved with the prince, but she is often tested by the Emperor and she ends up receiving praise throughout the empire for being an intelligent and graceful child who is fit to become the Empress. Moreover, only the Royal family, Duke Arkint de Rass, Duke Ruth de Verita and Marquess Keirean knew that she was a child to whom God Vita himself has given a name, which meant that she has a right to the throne and she can't be married off to other nobles and other foreigners since she would be a threat and potential rival to the crown prince. Hence, to avoid political strives, the Royal family decides that it is better for her to become the Queen, which shocks her since she feels that her past is going to repeat again. This pushes her to immediately look for other ways from becoming the Empress, and she finally comes across an appropriate solution. Since she is the only heir of House Monique as her father wasn't willing to remarry, she decides to use the vow of loyalty to the Royal family to which her family is bound to as her only way of escaping her horrible fate. So she learns sword fighting in order to become a knight and to help her gain a fit body since she has a frail and weak body since childhood.

Later, when there were signs of drought, many knights and administration officers were needed to monitor the borders and other areas to make sure that everyone followed the initiatives put forth by the Emperor. So her father was away to monitor in the borders and left her in the Monique estate since she wanted to stay away from the Emperor and Ruvellis. And since Allendis de Verita too was away as he too had responsibilities as the Castina empire's chancellor's son, she becomes lonely since there is no one to guide her in her training. That's the time she meets Carsein de Rass in the market place while shopping. After he becomes her mentor, she resumes her training again and befriends him in the absence of Allendis. She even gets 2 royal knights to guard her by royal decree of which one knight's name is Seymour. She gradually picks up and improves her skills after learning from Carsien and Sir Seymour. After a lot of training, she becomes a squire to Duke Arkint after passing the test.

When she attends a party in the palace at the age of 13, she eavesdrops the conversation between the daughters of aristocrats and hears them insulting her by spreading the false rumors that she and Carsien are lovers. Her blood starts boiling, and she decides to organize a social group of her own and starts inviting suitable girls from noble families whom she can use to get a profitable place for herself in the social circle and gatherings. Although she was worried that it may seem like manipulation to Allendis and Carsien, her father comforts her saying they would understand her if they were her true friends. Moreover, she influenced the noble girls in such a way that it benefited them too.

Keirean la Monique
Keirean is Aristia's father. In her previous life, she has little to no contact with him, thinking he only cares about work, but she still cared about him deeply. When Ruvellis Kamaludin Shana Castina reveals of his death, Aristia is overcome with rage and grief. Immediately after travelling back in time, Keirean is the first person she seeks after. Over the series, they grow closer and developed a strong father-daughter bond.

Aristia inherited her father's silver-white hair color.

Jeremia la Monique
Jeremia is Aristia's late mother who has few memories of or information about her due to having Jeremia passed away when Aristia was young.

Aristia inherited her mother's golden-yellow eye color.

Ruvellis Kamaludin Shana Castina
Ruvellis is Aristia's main love interest. In her previous life, Aristia was one of his wives who loved him dearly, although this was unrequited. She carries the trauma from her past life with her, and whenever she encounters him, Aristia becomes extremely shaken, often going still, unable to speak in his presence. However, as months pass by, she grows to become less scared of him.

Allendis de Verita
Allendis is one of Aristia's most trusted allies, confidante and her first friend. By befriending him, she learns the happiness friendship brings.

Carsein de Rass
Carsein is one of Aristia's most trusted allies and friends. Their initial encounter was somewhat rocky, but they quickly grow close.

Jieun
In the past, Jieun was the Empress of the Castina Empire who greatly favored by Ruvellis Kamaludin Shana Castina. Jieun's lack of understanding over the importance of and her negligence towards being Empress greatly annoyed and angered Aristia, who had trained for the position since childhood.

Etymology

 * The name Aristia means "ear of corn" in Latin.
 * Aristia is the name of a star, also known as Spica, in the constellation Virgo
 * Aristia's middle name Pioneer means "the one who carves one's own fate".

Trivia

 * Aristia holds a great resemblance to Jeremia la Monique (Aristia's late mother).
 * Aristia likes winter.
 * She likes things which are soft, warm and white like snow.
 * Aristia prefers wearing dark clothing.
 * In the novels, at the end of the series, Aristia and Ruvellis Kamaludin Shana Castina have three children:
 * Diana
 * Fraternal twins named Adrian and Elina