ID: 211

Outcome: Narrow Victory

Open After Story: Yes

Manual Prompt: Yes

Text:

You brandished a single Conquest Card as proof of your legitimacy. When you held it aloft, their faces twisted with doubt and scorn.



Even if it was the last Sultan's own writ of supreme authority, but how could you use his power to justify overthrowing him? You remained a usurper, a monkey upon the throne, a traitor without rightful claim!



The crowd before you seethed with outrage. The blood at their feet had not yet dried, yet in their hearts, the last Sultan had already transformed from tyrant to sacred sovereign of pure lineage. Such is the nature of these fools: the moment the yoke lifts from their shoulders, the first they turn against is the one who removed it. "By what right do you take what I've borne for centuries?"



You couldn't help but laugh. They took it as mockery, perhaps it was, and their fury burned hotter. The alleys buzzed with crude rumors of your treachery. The nobles withheld their oaths, waiting to see if another would topple you. Peasants and peddlers knew only that a new face sat the throne, and every Sultan exists to oppress, so why not stick with the old devil they'd already fed? Thus, they too opposed you.



To keep your crown, you spent each day setting one man against another, diverting hatred here, dodging sycophants there, scrambling to soothe tempers you hadn't even sparked. You achieved a precarious balance. By the standards of history's usurpers, your reign lasted long. But only you and a handful of confidants knew the true cost of that equilibrium...



In the Sultan's Game, you once fought daily to survive. Now, as a Conqueror, you are trapped in a cage called "Ruler".

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