Character	Ruzi
Appearance	The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling
Media	Otome Game
Type	Yandere (Minor)
Love Interest	Naala/ Protagonist

Ruzi is a doctor who is very well-liked due to his gentle demeanor and beautiful appearance. Despite growing up in Nasla, Ruzi’s roots traces back to Rus.

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

* Note: This story features love between cousins.

Ruzi first met Naala when her friend Salanna fell ill and he went to treat her. But it was only after Naala married Touya under an agreement that they really got to know each other. Naala and Touya were married on paper, but the two agreed that the marriage was only to protect Naala and make working together more convenient.

While Naala was pondering over the issue with the Rot, she met Ruzi in the garden. Due to Ruzi’s gentle demeanor, she found it easy to talk with him. Ruzi was also quick to open up to her, sharing with her his insecurities and past troubles.

With their trust quickly deepening, and both wanting to work towards a cure for the Rot, the two of them began spending more time together. Soon, Ruzi began to harbor romantic feelings for Naala. Things were the same for Naala, but since she was officially Touya’s wife, her feelings were complicated.

On one night, after they had a drinking party with their friends, the two stayed later and had a chance to talk more about themselves. Ruzi revealed that similar to Naala, his mother was kidnapped and brought to Nasla to tackle the shortage of women in the country. They found out that their hometown was the same, and their grandfather had the same name. It was then they realized that they were blood-related cousins.

Despite this, the feelings they had for each other only continued to grow. While Ruzi faced his feelings head-on, Naala felt very conflicted. Eventually, Ruzi offered to elope with Naala to a place where no one can find them, so that they can live together peacefully with each other.

In the bad ending, Naala refused and remained as Touya’s wife. She even became pregnant with his baby, despite still harboring feelings for Ruzi. Upon hearing Naala’s pregnancy, Ruzi was furious and paid Naala a visit unbeknownst to Touya, stating that he had came to “leave his mark” on her again.

In the good end, Naala ended up eloping with Ruzi with Touya’s consent. Still, Ruzi was fiercely possessive of her. In the epilogue, when their friends came to visit them, Ruzi was overwhelmed with jealousy, thinking that Naala might want to go back to her friends. Feeling terrible, he confessed to Naala that he sometimes wished that Naala would only remember him so that she would not think of anyone else. As a doctor and skilled in medicine, he even had on hand a drug that can cause gradual memory lost. Luckily, he did not use it and was honest with Naala about his monstrous feelings. Hence, Naala was able to comfort and assure him that she will always be by his side. The two was able to sort things out, and they resumed their happily ever after.

Given Ruzi’s calm and gentle demeanor, I was the most excited to try out his route, since he will probably have the greatest yandere 180° flip if he did, given his personality. He did flipped, but honestly, it was quite underwhelming given how mild everything was.

Although Ruzi had obvious latent yandere tendencies and shrewdness, these aspects were hardly emphasized throughout his route. So it was a rather tame route to me. It was only in the bad end and the epilogue did the yandere-ness came out, and even then it was too short to scratch the itch. Sadly, I felt that Ruzi’s yandere potential was seriously wasted.