That morning, Rubi wakes with a light heart, her smile bursting like a summer sun.
She hums in the bathroom, hair still tangled from sleep, then dashes barefoot through the vast hallways of the manor, her laughter splashing against the walls. Upon reaching the kitchen, she snatches a warm loaf and a banana, giggling as she plants a quick kiss on the wrinkled cheek of the old chef, who continues preparing dinner with a fond twinkle in his eye. Then, out in the courtyard, she grabs the hand of the gardener slowly sweeping the ground and pulls him into an improvised waltz under the amused gaze of the servants.
Finally, rounding a corridor, she runs straight into Idris.
— "Well well, isn't this the man of my life? Yelo!" she exclaims playfully.
— "Good morning, Rubi. It's Idris, actually", he replies with a crooked smile.
— "Oops… mixing them up again. I still wonder how my sister manages to tell you apart, she sighs, placing a hand on her temple."
— "She married two different souls", Idris murmurs to her.
— "You, on the other hand, only see two flawless bodies", he adds.
Yes... aye.
Those words hit Rubi like a cold gust of wind. She opens her mouth, then closes it. What could she possibly say? How to deny what she herself knows deep inside?
I could stop the tale right here and sketch you a portrait of this world...
The one I never bothered to draw before.
Imagine a modern woman, forged by years of training — strong, muscular, fast. That's what women are like here: bodies built for battle, hair often braided or cut short so it never hinders their momentum.
You can picture the form, right? Like a young adult from the U.S. or France... the kind who hits the gym.
Now imagine if all women looked more or less like that.
And the men?
Their silhouettes tell a different story.
Denied combat, raised on a low-protein diet, their bodies trained into postures of elegance — they have the grace of lilies. Long, slender muscles, not a trace of body hair, not even a visible Adam's apple, worn away by centuries of conditioning.
It's like a transgender person growing more effeminate by the day, but who's never undergone bottom surgery.
You might say it's ridiculous, but their beauty is strange, almost unreal — neither fully masculine, nor entirely feminine.
A new balance, a mystery.
Idris and Yelo, among them, are unmatched jewels.
And Rubi, poor Rubi, how could she not waver before such brilliance — even if they are her sister's husbands?
She lowers her eyes, murmuring in a soft, almost sorrowful voice:
— "I'd like to see Diamond. I have so much to tell her."
A silence. Then Idris replies, with a barely perceptible weight:
— "She's in her office."
A shiver runs through Rubi. Something's wrong — she can feel it, like a shadow slipping under the door.
But for now, she chooses to keep smiling, walking lightly toward whatever awaits her.
Rubi opens the office door, her heart still full of excitement. But the moment she sets foot in the room, her smile fades.
The office is drowning in a sea of papers.
Mountains of documents, ledgers, maps marked with anxious scrawls.
In the midst of the chaos, Yelo, his expression tense, tries to help Diamond — but his face says it all.
This is serious.
Rubi frowned, tense.
— "Hey! What are you doing? Since when do we work after the harvest? she asked, half amused, half worried."
Diamond looked up. She sighed deeply, then replied in a weary voice:
— "…We're in financial trouble."
An invisible dagger to the chest.
— "What?! The marquisate? No but… with all due respect, Diamond, despite our squabbles with the neighbors, our lands have always been enough to feed everyone!"
Rubi flailed, stunned.
Diamond gave a bitter smile.
— "That's what I thought too. I believed that with peace restored, our economy would flourish..."
— "And then she took in the immigrants from Phype", added Yelo, flipping through a ledger with a grim expression.
— "WHAT?!"
Rubi exploded.
— "Are you serious?! Those people were our enemies! You don't even know if some of them are spies!"
— "Don't worry. They're closely monitored by the guard", Diamond replied, unfazed.
— "Maybe so, but we're already dealing with resource problems! Rubi shouted, joined by Yelo who nodded vigorously."
Diamond stood up, slamming her hand flat on the desk, scattering a few papers.
— "That's enough! I made that decision because I thought it was within my power. I was wrong. I admit it. But right now... I need help more than lectures."
Silence fell hard over the room.
Yelo sighed, breaking the tension.
— "…We'd better take a break."
Without another word, he and Rubi left the room, leaving Diamond alone, drowning in her calculations, her doubts, her despair.
Outside, the air was heavier than an anvil. Yelo still tried to calm Rubi down.
— "Listen… even though I was against it from the start, I'm not saying Diamond was completely wrong. The marquisate is in its prime, so I thought, why not… Diamond has her hero complex, that's for sure. But me, I see hands. Manpower. A hope for development."
Rubi clenched her fists.
— "Then what's the problem?"
Yelo paused, his expression dark.
— "…Strangely, the lands are producing less and less. No matter the spells, the harvests get weaker every season."
Rubi paled.
— "The lands… they're becoming barren…"
She murmured, thoughtful, almost to herself:
— "We'll have to fix this… and prepare for war."
Yelo didn't fully understand. He watched Rubi walk away, fear twisting in his gut.
Something had just cracked in their world. And he was powerless to stop it.
All this time, little Eli was getting up from her bed. The aches from the day before were causing her excruciating pain in her tiny legs. But what really hurt was the defeat she had taken head-on.
She knew Anna still had more than one trick up her sleeve and that the Silent Dragon's Fury wouldn't bring her down in a single blow — but she was convinced she was ready enough to beat her. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite ready for that kind of disappointment.
The worst part?
As she stepped out of her room, Eli was greeted by Anna's smile. First, Anna greeted her.
— "Oh, good morning, elder sister."
Then, she asked how she was.
— "Don't worry, it's nothing."
And finally, she congratulated her on her gold medal.
A cold silence fell after that.
Then Eli finally spoke up:
— "A gold medal, so what? I lost even though I've mastered the Silent Dragon's Fury. Are you mocking me, Anna?..."
— "Eli, I don't understand. I..."
— "Leave me alone. I hate you, big sister."
She said, then ran off — who knows where — but she was gone, and Anna didn't stop her.
Rubi, who had just left her mother's office, was surprised by the scene.
— "Huh? What's going on with Eli?"
— "Aunt Rubi."
Anna first hugged her aunt, then added:
— "I don't know. But strangely... I feel guilty."
— "I see, Rubi said simply, convinced it was just a tantrum."
After all, she had a far more serious problem to deal with.
But what Rubi didn't know was that Anna was a very perceptive child. She immediately sensed that something was wrong.
— "Something seems to be bothering you, Aunt Rubi. Are you getting married?"
— "What? Of course not. But, …"
Then she looked into the child's eyes.
She could very well lie, but Anna looked too clever not to see through it.
So she told the truth — using metaphor, of course.
— "A wicked demon has cursed our land, my darling. This demon is very strong. But Auntie Rubi is going to teach it a lesson, don't worry."
— "Yaaay! My aunt is the best in the world!"
— "Of course! What did you expect? I am Rubi Fort De Rush the First, after all."
She said that, all puffed up with pride.
She couldn't help but be a little narcissistic. But that's what she did best — ease people's hearts. And her own heart found peace seeing the joy of her family.