The digital sound of "Victory" still echoed in Luna's head as she stretched like a satisfied cat after yet another crushing League of Legends match, now officially Diamond 1.
She blinked slowly as the butler approached discreetly.
"Lady Luna, your guests have arrived. They have been waiting in the tea room upstairs for a few minutes."
"Thank you," she murmured, her voice calm and her gaze still focused on the monitor.
On screen, the enemy Nexus exploded into a sea of celestial particles.
She turned off the headset with a soft click, sighed, and stood up like royalty leaving the throne.
With a lazily refined gait, he walked towards the room where the real "social game" was about to begin.
Pushing open the double doors, Luna was greeted by the perfect scene from an expensive tea commercial:
Three divine women, each resembling the embodiment of a season or a luxury brand, sat in Italian velvet armchairs, surrounded by gleaming silverware and trays of macarons imported from France, fruit tarts with crystallized flowers, and hand-drawn porcelain mugs.
"Well, if it isn't my dear gods in the form of women," said Luna, smiling lightly.
She walked up to each of them and gently placed a light kiss on their foreheads. "Have you been here long?"
"Early," Lumine replied, smoothing her long, inky black hair. "Same as you, but we were... beating the jet lag."
"Sleeping like princesses buried in feather pillows," Nikoly added, with a fake, theatrical yawn.
"Or hidden from the idiot fiancé," Victoria muttered, rolling her eyes and stirring her tea with dramatic force.
Luna sank down onto the custom-made solo sofa and let out a short laugh.
"Funny. I didn't need any sleep. No trace of jetlag."
Lumine snorted with amused envy.
Nikoly leaned forward with a glint in her slanted eyes. "Actually… that reminds me. My family elders, the Hoshinami, want to use the Gala to officially infiltrate the North American market. They're trying to establish connections with influential politicians."
She made air quotes with her fingers as she said "getting contacts," and the girls laughed.
"Good luck with that," Luna said. "The American market is closed like a bunker. They only open up space when they get something in return or are forced to."
"That's exactly why my grandparents sent my older brother to the Gala," Lumine sighed, crossing her legs elegantly. "The Edelweisses want to form... 'strategic alliances.' They even used that disgusting term. I almost threw up."
"And your idiot fiancé, Victoria? Has he paid you any attention yet, or is he still busy entertaining useless counts and senile shareholders?" Luna asked, her irony sharp as a titanium blade.
Victoria huffed loudly, as if expelling the frustration from her lungs. "Since I arrived, he's seen me twice. Once was to tell me that his new tuxedo had been complimented by an Arab duke. The second was to tell me that he was having an 'exclusive evening with diplomats.'"
She made quotation marks with her fingers, imitating Nikoly, but with pure hatred.
Luna wrinkled her nose as if she'd smelled something rotten. "A man who trades time with you for diplomatic flattery should lose his nobleman's card."
Nikoly and Lumine nodded immediately.
Victoria just shrugged, her eyes more tired than they usually were.
"I swear, if it weren't for my father threatening to cut me off from the line if I called off this marriage... I would have disappeared from Europe."
Luna took a sip of tea, crossed her legs, and stared at the ceiling as if she were analyzing Victoria's ancestral karma.
"Do you want me to buy your father's company and remove him from the family council? I can do it in three clicks."
The girls laughed, but Victoria remained thoughtful for two seconds longer than she should have. "You're kidding... right?"
"Of course I am… maybe," Luna replied, giving a mischievous wink.
The atmosphere relaxed.
The four of them were together again.
After a morning filled with tea, confessions, and talking about idiotic men, the four decided the best way to vent their emotions was a combination of compulsive shopping and an iconic photo shoot on New York's most expensive streets.
Luna was the first to get up from the couch. "Let's dress to humiliate. The world deserves to see our beauty in the spotlight."
"Finally something sensible today," Lumine said, already pulling out her cell phone to alert her security team.
Dressed like true urban empresses: Luna in a white jumpsuit with a side slit and heels, Victória in a black Chanel blazer open over a violet lace top, Lumine in an amber satin dress with a side slit, and Nikoly in a Dior ensemble designed in an Asian imperial style.
They arrived in front of the Louis Vuitton flagship.
The line of tourists turned into a sea of astonishment.
"How many photos did they take of us just at the entrance?" asked Victoria, looking at herself in a portable mirror.
"About… thirty-nine," Nikoly replied, after checking TikTok and Threads in real time.
Luna didn't say anything, just smiled as a store security guard opened the door with a bow.
Inside, it was a financial massacre.
Luna bought an entire collection of limited edition handbags, including a pastel pink crocodile skin one with platinum accents for $210,000, simply because it "matched the sparkle in her eyes under the sunset."
Victoria tried on a collection of Swiss watches and chose a women's model studded with baguette diamonds, priced at $330,000, "to look classy even when punching her fiancé."
Nikoly purchased four pairs of Dior boots and a bespoke platinum and jade jewelry set for $750,000, claiming it was "a cultural purchase."
Lumine, not satisfied, asked to customize a leather jacket inspired by the Edelweiss uniform with family symbols embroidered in gold.
As they left, they were greeted by flashes of paparazzi and influencers trying to understand who these goddesses were who seemed to have come out of a Paris fashion show teleported to Manhattan.
Upon arriving in SoHo, the bodyguards discreetly blocked off an artsy alley.
A fashion photographer named Jean-Paul was already waiting, along with a production team that Luna had summoned with a tap on her watch.
The scenario?
Vibrant graffiti, old brick buildings, LED panels, luxury cars parked like extras in a movie.
The photos started with an editorial style:
Luna on the hood of a Rolls-Royce with a feline look.
Victoria with the wind blowing her blazer as she crossed the street with the posture of a demonic CEO.
Nikoly on top of a fire escape, holding a fan, as if she were an exiled princess.
Lumine with a fake coffee cup, sunglasses and a blasé expression, sitting on a chair like a throne.
Jean-Paul cried in French, emotional. "Magnificent! Sublime! Too powerful! Stop, I'm going to cry!"
Free translation: "For the love of Dior, I'm crying with such perfection."
The photos were posted on the girls' stories and in less than 15 minutes, the names "Luna Tycoon", "Victória Lancaster", "Nikoly Hoshinami" and "Lumine Edelweiss" were among the global trending topics on X (formerly Twitter).
"Have we already spent the GDP of a small country?" asked Victória, adjusting her sunglasses.
"I think so. But we're not done yet," Luna replied, with a wickedly rich smile.
At the temple of the consumer elite, Bergdorf Goodman, they closed a private session.
Gala dresses, designer shoes, exclusive lingerie from brands that weren't even on Google, perfumes created by personal perfumers, and jewelry that came with magical certificates of hypnosis due to their shine—everything was explored, tried on, and purchased.
Luna chose a handmade, amethyst-colored evening gown studded with black diamonds for $2.3 million.
The girls ended the day in a private penthouse at the top of the Four Seasons, sipping French champagne and relaxing in armchairs that cost the price of a luxury car.
"We deserve this world," Nikoly said, his eyes closed.
"This world is ours," Lumine added, laughing.
Luna watched the sunset reflecting off the Manhattan skyscrapers and murmured, "If the world were a board game… we'd be the golden pieces."
The others toasted her.
Hours later...
Dinner was served under the New York sky, on the private terrace of Luna's newly acquired mansion.
A long table was covered with elegant candelabras and platters of food so sophisticated that even the rice had a French name.
Luna was slowly chewing a piece of salmon seared in truffle oil when she blurted out, "Have you guys ever thought about starting our own company?"
The others stopped chewing as if they had heard Matthew was going to turn gay.
"What do you mean? Like, wow?" Nikoly asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Yes. None of those family businesses with ancient Ancestral Councils. I mean a company made by the four of us. Just us. Modern. Giant. That dominates all profitable sectors."
"You just gave me a little capitalist erection," Victoria joked, taking a sip of her wine.
Lumine put down her fork. "That's brilliant. We already have the influence, the capital, the appearance... all that's missing is this: an empire."
Luna gave a half smile and rested her chin on her hand. "Then let's found it. Today. Now."
"What will the name be?" Nikoly asked, already taking out his cell phone as if he were going to register on the stock exchange website.
"'Diamond Tycoon Group,'" Luna said with a twinkle in her eye. "Because diamonds are forever. And tycoons? Well… that's us."
They all clinked glasses together and laughed, the sense of power in the air stronger than the scent of jasmine coming from the hanging garden next door.
They didn't even need lawyers to draft the structure: each would own 25% of the company.
Nikoly would take care of the technology and innovation sectors.
Lumine would bring the family experience to global entertainment and media.
Victoria would take over the luxury real estate and hospitality side.
And Luna, well, Luna would be the center. The face. The name. The unpredictable soul who turned anything into a legend.
"The main headquarters will be in the Phoenix Empire, but with global branches," said Victoria, activating a mini-hologram on her iPhone and already making logistical projections.
"We'll get into anything that makes a profit: fashion, real estate, streaming, AI, drama production, jewelry, vertical farming, art, cosmetics, space rockets if need be," Luna said, raising her glass of bubbly with a wild smile.
Nikoly laughed. "If you want to sell clouds in bottles, I'll invest."
Just as everyone toasted the creation of the Diamante Tycoon Group, a blue-gold hologram discreetly appeared over Luna's right shoulder.
[TYCOON SYSTEM – FRAME EVENT UNLOCKED!]
Congratulations, Tycoon! You've created your first officially registered corporation in your world.
Global Business Mode Unlocked!
Rewards L...]
Luna looked at the hologram, blinked once, and... "Close."
The system vanished into thin air.
"You know what?... Right now I'm busy thinking about a hot actor," Luna said, taking out her phone and opening the drama app. "Guys, have you seen the new actor from that drama 'Between Heaven and the Multinational'? Those eyes... the wet hair... the ripped tuxedo... for the love of my life."
Nikoly laughed. "What's his name?"
"Kang Tae-jun. I almost choked on sushi watching him become CEO and save the protagonist while crying on the piano. How is that possible?"
Victória scrolled through his photos online. "This man isn't real. He was rendered by some needy writer's AI."
Lumine laughed. "He looks like the kind of guy who'd pull you out of a car in the rain and carry you to a castle on horseback."
Luna sighed, almost dreamily. "But no drama will give me the romantic heartbreak of dealing with Matthew."
They all laughed.