Ryma is Balna’s paternal aunt and one of the quiet architects of a betrayal that shaped an entire family line. Years earlier, she intervened in the engagement between Hile’s father and Mahana, ending the union before it could become permanent. The decision was not made in anger or haste. It was calculated, deliberate, and justified, at least in Ryma’s own mind, as necessary.
Raised in a world where alliances mattered more than affection, Ryma learned early that stability often required sacrifice. She believed she was protecting her family from a future she considered dangerous or unsuitable. What she failed to account for was the long reach of consequence. The broken engagement did not simply alter one relationship. It fractured trust, redirected loyalties, and set emotional fault lines that would surface years later in unexpected ways.
Ryma is not cruel, nor is she careless. She is precise. She measures outcomes, weighs risks, and accepts responsibility in theory, though not always in practice. When the cost of her interference becomes clear, she does not apologize easily. Instead, she doubles down on the belief that endurance matters more than comfort.
In The Weight of Small Betrayals, Ryma represents the quiet decisions that reshape lives without public notice. In Broken Path, Unbroken Will, her legacy lingers in the choices others are forced to make when old wounds refuse to stay buried. Ryma does not see herself as a villain. She sees herself as someone who chose survival over sentiment, and who now must live with what that choice demanded.