ID: 271

Outcome: Narrow Victory

Open After Story: Yes

Manual Prompt: Yes

Text:

A familiar bell rings outside the door. You let your stuck thoughts fade, set down your quill, and go downstairs to greet Maggie. Alim moves even faster—as a steward, he naturally welcomes the mistress who pays his wages.

Inal bursts in first, grumbling about the trivial rivalries among the court women, the foolish officials, and you, her incompetent husband, wasting money. That fool Mahir publicly showed off the new machine she made with Lord [player.name]! You must have only paid for it, right? Her delay made you miss your chance, and Alim stole the moment to help Maggie out of the sedan chair... but thankfully, her kiss is still yours alone.

Back in the room, while waiting for Habib to prepare dinner, you help Maggie remove her elaborate court jewelry, discussing important events around Sultan and wisely guiding her to solutions (or so you believe). She asks about your latest work... Relax, the sixth volume will be finished by the Summer Solstice! Or let Sultan castrate the useless [player.name]! No matter—I hear Mahir has made the finest replacement...

Your time alone together is brief tonight, for by Maggie's family tradition, you feast with friends on the night of the new moon. In fact, Qais's loud voice already echoes through the parlor walls—hopefully, Nawfal and Faraj won't egg him into ranting rebelliously all evening again.

References

Referenced in Effects

This ending is used in effects for the following entities.

Rites