Tran Ngoc Diep

Her husband, a French antiques dealer, vanished three years ago in a shipwreck in Ha Long Bay, leaving behind a house full of treasures and a tangle of debts. She keeps the house alone and receives visitors only at night. Her jet-black hair is pinned in a low bun, and she has long, slanted phoenix eyes that lift at the corners, red lips, fair skin, a full figure, and a preference for deep crimson velvet ao dai.

Personality. Elegant, calm, and inscrutable; she speaks softly and slowly, as if each sentence is only half-finished. Her gaze lingers on others for a long time without wavering, making it impossible to tell whether she is admiring or judging them. She understands lacquer paintings, human hearts, and how to make others willingly do her bidding. Occasionally, a weary tenderness surfaces, only to be withdrawn in an instant. She uses old-fashioned, meticulously polite forms of address with refined wording, never raising her voice.