The morning sun over Northcastle was pale and thin. It filtered through the blinds of Eric Maddox’s new apartment, a clean but sparsely furnished space provided by the club for its coaching staff. It was a far cry from the luxury he had once known, but it was quiet. It was a place where he could think.

Maddox sat at his small kitchen table with a tablet and a cup of black coffee. He was reviewing the defensive positioning of the Silvergate Youth Sailors. If he was going to buy Noah Perring, he wanted to know exactly what kind of tactical mess the boy was escaping.

The screen was filled with red and blue circles, showing a disjointed backline that leaked goals like a sieve.

His phone vibrated on the wooden surface. The caller ID didn’t show a name, but he recognized the number. It was Alina.

He let it ring twice before picking up. He took a slow breath, steadying his mind. In his previous life, he had navigated high-stakes contract negotiations and hostile takeovers.

Dealing with a failing marriage shouldn’t feel this heavy, but the biology of his twenty-five-year-old body brought a sting of emotion that his seventy-year-old soul had to suppress.

"Hello, Alina," he said.

"Eric."

Her voice was different. Usually, there was a tremor of doubt or a flicker of the warmth they had once shared. Today, it was flat. It was the sound of a stone falling into a deep well. It was cold, detached, and utterly professional.

"I’m calling to let you know that the SFC Noble Separation proceedings have been officially filed," she said. "Rosana’s legal team handled the paperwork this morning. You should receive the physical copies by courier within forty-eight hours. Sign the papers, including the one I gave you personally."

Maddox leaned back, his eyes tracking a dust mote in a shaft of light. "The Marrowgate Family finally got their way, then."

"It isn’t about them, Eric. It’s about reality," Alina replied. There was no anger in her tone, which was far worse. Anger meant she still cared enough to fight. This was the voice of someone who had been thoroughly convinced of a new truth. "We were a mistake. My aunt was right from the beginning. A Tier 3 Noble House cannot be tied to... someone like you. It’s better this way. For your career and mine."

Maddox stayed silent. He could almost see Rosana standing behind her, whispering into her ear, pouring that venomous logic into her head until it felt like her own.

Rosana Marrowgate had always viewed their marriage as a stain on the family’s social standing. To the Marrowgates, football was a spectacle to be owned, not a profession to be respected, and a youth coach was nothing more than a servant in a track suit.

"You have thirty days to respond through your legal representative," Alina continued. "Rosana wanted this to be a big matter, but I suggested we keep this quiet to avoid a scandal for the house. If you agree to the terms, it can be over quickly."

"And what are the terms, Alina?" Maddox asked quietly, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Are you talking about the bulk of my ’multi-Terra’ savings? The luxurious houses I ’own’ in the cities? Or probably, the multiple billion-Terra corporations I own."

"The legal team will provide the details," she said, cutting him off. "I have to go. Good luck with your league, Eric. I heard you’ve been doing better lately—"

Maddox cut the call and line went dead.

He slowly lowered the phone. He didn’t throw it away or shout in frustration. He simply sat there, the silence of the apartment pressing in on him. He remembered the day they married. It had been a small ceremony, almost a secret.

The Marrowgate family had only became aware weeks later. They had sent a letter instead, threatening to disown her. Back then, Alina had held his hand and told him that she didn’t care about the title or the Tier 3 status. She had chosen him.

Now, she had chosen them. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He stood up and poured a glass of water, watching the bubbles rise to the surface. He wasn’t in regret. He knew that the man he was now, the man with the System and the soul of a legend, was not the man she had married. But he was disappointed.

He was disappointed by how easily a person’s heart could be reconstructed by the people around them. She was a lost cause, a casualty of the very class system that made this world so different from his old one.

He drank the water in one go and set the glass down with a firm click. He had thirty days. In the world of football, thirty days was a lifetime.

---

The weekend brought a brief respite from the tactical planning. The players were on a mandatory rest day, and the training ground was empty.

Maddox spent the Saturday afternoon walking through the local park, watching amateur games and clearing his head.

On Sunday evening, his phone buzzed again. This time, it was a message from his new girlfriend, Elira.

"Check your secure mail," it read. "We need to talk."

Maddox opened his laptop and logged into the encrypted server Elira had set up for their communications. There was a brief report waiting for him.

He called her immediately. She picked up on the first ring.

"You’ve been busy, Eric," Elira said. Her voice was a sharp contrast to Alina’s. It was vibrant, analytical, and carried a hint of that electric playfulness that always seemed to hum between them.

"So I’ve heard," Maddox replied. "What’s this about Rosana’s people?"

"My sources in the city tell me that Rosana Marrowgate has hired a private investigation firm," Elira said. "They’ve been making discreet inquiries about our relationship. They’re looking for ’moral grounds’ to use against you in the separation. If they can prove you’re involved with me, they can argue that you were the one who broke the marriage vows first. It would give them leverage to strip your remaining assets and possibly get you blacklisted from the higher-tier clubs."

Maddox frowned. "They’re reaching. That shouldn’t be possible, Elira. Our relationship wasn’t the reason for me and Alina breaking up."