Luna looked thoughtful for a moment before saying quietly.

"And you know what's the strangest part of this whole ordeal?"

Luca turned to her, brow raised. "What exactly is that?"

Luna smirked like it was the funniest joke and sarcastically said,

"It's the fact that, for some reason, my mother—the same woman who distanced herself from everyone else, even her own mother and sister, the people she loved most—did not distance herself from her husband. Even when she shut out the entire village, she stayed close to him."

Luca frowned. "That doesn't sound like her at all."

"It doesn't at all." Luna nodded slightly, her tone sad. "And what's worse is that even when we were born...it was the same."

"Apparently, when we were born, both Lulu and I fell terribly ill. It was a strange disease—painful, mysterious. Grandmother said we cried for days, and there was nothing anyone could do. It wasn't fatal, but it caused unbearable pain, spreading through the village that year."

"Many of the villagers were struck by it, but most recovered. We did too...eventually. But what hurt most wasn't the sickness."

Her voice faltered slightly, and Luca noticed the faint tremor in her tone.

"It was that...Mother didn't seem to care."

Luna continued, her words slow and heavy.

"While we were suffering, she handed us over to Auntie Nyx and Grandmother. She didn't even come to check on us. Grandmother told us how we'd cry and scream in pain, and yet Mother would sit elsewhere spending time with Father. She didn't seem to mind at all."

"Auntie said the same thing." Lulu, who was usually so bright and cheerful, lowered her gaze, her tone quiet. "That Mother barely came to see us. That she'd spend her days away with Father instead."

Luca's brows drew together in disbelief.

"Wait a second." He said slowly, his tone almost disbelieving. "So she just...ignored you? Her own children? Even while you were suffering?"

Both sisters nodded, though Luna's expression was somber rather than resentful.

"That's how it was." She said. "And no one understood why. Not Grandma, not Auntie Nyx. They all thought something was wrong with her. The same woman who once cried for wounded animals and took care of every villager suddenly didn't even care about her own newborns."

Luca's frown deepened. "That's...I don't even know what to say about something as horrid as that."

He looked at Leona again, at her calm, regal posture, and shook his head slightly.

It was one thing to withdraw from friends or family—but to turn away from your own children?

It made her seem almost heartless.

Worse then a demon.

'But that can't be it.' He thought. 'There was something else...something he wasn't seeing.'

'She did care about her daughters now, that much was clear in her actions, she just refused to show it. But why?'

Luna's voice brought him back.

"That was when everything started to change publicly, too." She said. "Mother stopped spending time with anyone except Father. She was always beside him, always listening, always following him wherever he went."

"The female elves in the village couldn't understand it. They thought it was strange, unnatural even. But the males…" She exhaled, shaking her head. "The males celebrated it. They called it proof that Father had completely won her heart—that he had 'tamed' her."

Her tone dripped with disgust at the word.

"Rumors spread through the whole village." She continued bitterly. "Everyone said the great Matriarch was so in love with her husband that she couldn't leave his side. That she didn't care for her own children because she only wanted to be with him. They made it sound romantic, even enviable."

"So wait..." Luca's eyes narrowed, his tone incredulous. "You're saying the entire village thought your mother was madly in love with your father that even abandoned her children to flirt with him?"

"That's what everyone believed at first." Luna shook her in exasperation.

Luca frowned, before glancing toward Leona, who still stood across the clearing—calm, composed, that faintly polite smile still on her lips as she spoke with Julius.

There was no warmth in her eyes. None.

"Really?" Luca muttered under his breath. "Because I don't see even a hint of love in that woman's eyes right now."

Luna sighed.

"You're not wrong. It wasn't like that, not really. Auntie Nyx saw things up close—she told us the truth. In the beginning, yes, they seemed happy. Mother and Father looked like the perfect couple. They smiled, they talked, they laughed together."

"But after the ascension ceremony, after everything changed...so did their relationship."

Her tone darkened. "Auntie said that, before, they used to walk side by side—equal partners. But after that day, my father started taking the lead. He'd speak, and she'd simply nod. He'd move forward, and she'd follow behind quietly. It was subtle at first, but with time, it became clear that my mother was no longer acting as his equal."

"She became...passive. Submissive. Like she'd lost her voice."

Lulu frowned, crossing her arms. "It wasn't like she lost interest in him. It was more like...she lost herself while being with my father."

"Exactly." Luna bit her lips in frustration. "She also started to change not just as a person, but as a leader. And it didn't take long for the village to feel it."

Luca tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"When she first became Matriarch, everyone—especially the females believed it was a new dawn. They thought things would finally change, that they'd get equality after centuries of subservience. Even Mother wanted that. She spoke openly about bringing fairness to both sides."

Her hands curled into small fists.

"But then...after everything changed, she began reinforcing the old traditions instead. The exact ones she had promised to break."

"Wait, what?" Luca asked not expecting this.

"She started supporting male hierarchy again." Luna said bitterly. "Rules that once oppressed women were reinstated under her orders. She told the females to stay quiet, to obey their husbands, to focus on service and duty. It was as if she'd become the mouthpiece of the old order overnight."

Luca's eyes widened in disbelief. "That makes no sense. You're telling me the same woman who wanted to bring equality just suddenly switched sides and went back to the old ways?"

"Yes." Luna said. "And that's exactly what the female elves thought too. No one understood why. They were angry. Confused. Until eventually...some of them started putting the pieces together."

Lulu spoke up this time, her tone lower than usual.

"They found out that the one giving those orders—the one actually making the decisions—wasn't Mother at all. It was Father."

Luna agreed. "Yes. He was the one telling her what to do. What to say. And she obeyed him completely, even though she was the Matriarch—even though he should have been the one standing behind her."

Luca's expression darkened as he looked toward Julius, who was now laughing at something Leona had said.

"So she followed his orders." Luca muttered. "Even when it hurt her people. Even when it went against everything she once stood for."

"And that's when everyone began to realize the truth." Luna's voice grew colder. "The kind and fair Grand Healer wasn't as good as he appeared."

"Once he gained power through my mother, he began shaping the village in his own image. Bringing back the old hierarchies. Rebuilding the structure where males stood above all others."

Her words trembled with barely suppressed anger.

"He fooled everyone. Pretended to be gentle and kind, when really, he was ambitious. And the saddest part of all…" She said, her voice softening. "…is that my mother let him do it. She didn't fight back. She didn't argue. She just...followed."

Luca groaned loudly, running both hands down his face.

"So basically." He said with exasperation. "Your mother, who was supposed to be the beacon of change, the symbol of hope for all female elves, suddenly turned into the most obedient, cold, distant person alive—completely devoted to her husband's will."

"And your father, who everyone thought was a saint, was secretly the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, bringing back the old male-dominated system?"

Both sisters nodded in unison.

"That's the gist of it." Luna said flatly.

Luca looked up at the sky, hands on his hips, and let out a long, defeated sigh.

"I thought hearing the backstory would help me understand what's going on." He muttered, shaking his head. "But now I'm even more confused."

Lulu groaned as well like completely understood what she felt.

"It's not just you who's confused, Luca. The entire village is. Especially Auntie Nyx. She's been trying for years to figure out what's wrong with Mother, what exactly happened back then, and why she started following Father so blindly.

"But no matter how much she begged, pleaded, or tried to get her to talk, Mother never gave her a single answer. Not once. She'd just sit there, completely silent, as if the question itself didn't exist."

"And just like that, years went by." Luna said while having a face that screamed frustration. "Everyone eventually stopped asking, because it was like talking to a wall. But then, about ten years ago, everything changed again when the mana vanished from the world."

"Ah, right. The mana collapse."

"Yes." Luna said. "It was supposed to be a catastrophe for the elves, since they depended on nature's mana for protection and combat. But strangely enough, it became a blessing in disguise."

"Before that, the males held more power because they were stronger in magic. The females had to rely on them for combat, protection, even rituals. But once the mana disappeared, everyone was equal. No more magic meant no more hierarchy built on power."

Lulu chimed in. "That's when things really started changing. Without magic, the males couldn't boss us around anymore, and the females didn't have to wait for the Matriarch to speak for them."

"They started standing up for themselves—enforcing real equality. Equal rights, equal freedom, and no more of that 'males first' nonsense."

Luna continued. "And the males...they couldn't handle it. They were terrified of a world where they weren't superior anymore. They didn't want to live in a society where females could speak and act freely."

"So what did they do?" Luca asked.

Luna's expression darkened.

"Five years ago, the males decided to leave. They said they wanted to form their own clan, separate from the females. Some of the female elves thought that was fine—if they couldn't accept equality, let them go. It wasn't ideal, but it would've kept the peace."

"But then." Lulu interjected grimly. "They said something no one could accept. They wanted to join the human race."

"They said it was for 'peace and prosperity'. That they'd form alliances, trade, and rebuild harmony. But everyone knew it was a lie."

Luna rolled her eyes before going on to say,

"The humans had been our enemies for generations. No one trusted them. So naturally, every single female elf objected."

Lulu frowned, her voice rising slightly. "We begged Mother to stop them. Everyone said she'd forbid it. That she'd never let them betray us like that."

"But she didn't, did she?" Luca said softly, already guessing the answer.

Luna shook her head. "No. To everyone's shock...she agreed."

Lulu sighed, anger flashing across her face. "She actually listened to Father again. He was the one leading the males, and she gave him permission to leave. Just like that."

Luna's voice turned tight, her hands curling into fists.

"I was there that day. So were Grandmother and Auntie Nyx. We all tried to stop her—begged her, pleaded with her—but she refused to listen. She let them go. She let him go."

For a moment, silence filled the air. The weight of those words lingered heavily.

Luna finally continued, her tone somber.

"And even after that, things didn't improve. The males left to live with the humans, but they didn't leave us alone. They started coming back, again and again under the excuse of 'peaceful negotiation.'"

"They'd try to persuade us to join the human alliance. They'd visit the village, wander around, spreading their influence. And all Mother had to do was forbid them from entering—she's the Matriarch, after all."

"But she never did. She let them come and go freely, just like now."

Luca stared at her for a moment, before feeling like his head was going to explode thinking about Leona.

She seemed to care about her duaghters but she pushed them away.

She wanted her clan to be safe but she let the traitors.

Luca was genuinely starting to wonder if she had some split-personality or something that always contracticted one another.

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