I

Florence di Cosimo de' Florentine, a member of the Cardinal Court in the Holy Cardinal Nation of Japheth, the youngest cardinal in history, the current Duchess of the Florentine family, chairman of the Florentine Banking Group, and honorary dean of "Spring" at the Bellefontaine Academy of Arts.
This string of titles is only part of the honors and responsibilities she has inherited.
Nineteen years ago, amidst joyous prayers, Florence was born. As the sun rose over the horizon, her father lifted her up towards the window. When she opened her eyes for the first time, she saw the most beautiful scenery in the world—Bellefontaine.
According to the ancient and solemn rituals of Japhetic Ethics, little Florence was baptized in the presence of seven elders. She was enviable, for she was to become the heir to one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Japh and the world—the Florentines.

II

(Bellefontaine Report, March 14) Recently, both the market and the public have been closely watching the developments in Japh.
During his lifetime, Cosimo kept his family away from the media, so little information about his daughter Florence was publicly available. Since Cosimo's death on February 10, Florence has not made any public appearances for over a month.
However, this low profile may soon end, as March 15 is the third Wednesday of March, the most important traditional festival in Japh—the Oath Festival. Traditionally, the Duke of Florence should appear at the Oath Festival celebration.
As part of the necessary education for the Duke's heir, she was sent to the "Spring" Academy, an artistic sanctuary established by the Florentine family, where she received rigorous vocal training. Photos of the six-year-old Florence can be found in the Academy's annual new student group photos. However, her absence in the graduation photos over the years has never been officially addressed by either the Duke's office or the Academy.
An anonymous individual who attended the Academy with Florence revealed to this newspaper (confirmed through investigation that this person indeed appears in the freshman group photo with Florence) that Florence was very diligent during her time at the Academy, receiving much praise from her teachers. Only once was she severely reprimanded—on that day, the teacher discovered Florence had copied a bizarre piece of music onto her sheet music. The melody was extremely jarring, dissonant, and even terrifying, conjuring thoughts of wailing, blood, and broken bones. The teacher, furious, described it as "straight from hell" and demanded to know where Florence had copied it from. At that moment, the Florentine family housekeeper, who was supposed to wait outside, entered the room, politely apologized to the teacher, and took Florence away.
The anonymous source stated that this was the last time they saw Florence in a music class at the academy.
This newspaper contacted Florentine Bank to inquire whether Duchess Florence would attend the Oath Festival celebration, but Florentine Bank refused to comment on non-business matters.

III

Upon assuming the title of Duchess of Florentine, Florence also inherited many of her father's wishes, one of which is now known to the world as the Grand Basilica of Flowers.
However, the Grand Basilica of Flowers was not built by Florence's father; its design originated from a previous Duke of Florentine generations ago. Over the years, the Basilica has remained unfinished. Since its inception, the Cardinal Court has resisted the project, mainly on the grounds that it "disrespects Japhetic Ethics." By the time of Florence's father, the Court's opposition had nearly turned hostile. To ease tensions between the Florentine family and the Court, construction of the Basilica had to be halted multiple times. The frequent stoppages led the public to question what was really happening between the Cardinals and the Duke.
Perhaps as compensation for the long delays, successive Florentine dukes added their own ideas to the design during the downtime. However, this only made each subsequent construction phase longer.
After taking over as Duke, Florence decided to take the design of the Grand Basilica of Flowers out of the Florentine mansion's study and publicly exhibit it in Bellefontaine. She invited artists and architects from all over Japh to contribute more beautiful designs, which led to a new peak in criticism from the Cardinal Court. Many described Florence's actions as blasphemy against Japhetic Ethics, but Florence responded: "This is a beautiful gift from Bellefontaine to Japhetic Ethics, and I hope it will be completed by the hands of Bellefontaine's people."

IV

Florence regularly wears a ring engraved with the Florentine family crest. According to Japhian etiquette, the ring signifies the Duke's status and should be worn on the left pinky finger. However, Florence prefers to wear it on her index finger for reasons unknown. Observant individuals might notice that even on her index finger, the ring seems slightly loose, indicating that it was not originally made for her slender hands.
The Florentine family operates its own intelligence network, an open secret in Japh. Although the Cardinal Court might not openly acknowledge it, even the Cardinals sometimes rely on the Florentines' well-informed network. According to legend, the most classified information in this intelligence system is sealed with the Duke's signet ring, following ancient secrecy rules: written only on paper, sealed in a locked box, and delivered by trusted hands. This practice gave rise to the Japhian saying "sealed with the Florentine ring", implying a foolproof secret.
The outer side of the Florentine signet ring is engraved with the maxim: "Japhetic Ethics is the most beautiful, and the most beautiful is Japhetic Ethics." According to tradition, the Duke of Florence, when making the most solemn promises, would clasp their hands and kiss the ring on their index finger, symbolizing a vow made with the credibility of the Florentine name, personal honor, and the Duke's status, pledging before Japhetic Ethics with no chance of reneging. Thus, each Duke's crest ring has witnessed their coronation and wedding ceremonies.
Florence has removed this ring in front of only a few people, so few are aware of the inscription inside. No one knows what feelings led her to engrave those words herself.