The Tea Ceremony That Decides the Realm

By Kuroneko_Rin

To Lord Oribe of Akamine, Lord Takenaka of Mikage, and the envoy of Kurogane
We humbly ask that you come to Shirahagi Castle for the seven days the bush clover is in full bloom.
Each day, the princess shall prepare tea for you all at the Hagi Hermitage.
At the tea gathering on the seventh night, the house for which the princess prepares thick tea
shall be the house with which Shirahagi joins hands.

This invitation, bearing the signature seal of Shirahagi Munemitsu, head of the Shirahagi house, reached three great powers on the same day. Three houses want the princess of this small realm, which holds the road along the lake, as the seal of an alliance.

On the seventh night, prepare thick tea for the one you believe can protect Shirahagi.

The tea gathering lasts seven days. The Kurogane house in the west is already massing troops at the border. Whom you prepare it for, or whether you prepare it for no one at all, is yours to decide.

🍵 Shirahagi, the Little Realm on the Lake

Shirahagi is a small realm wrapped around Lake Kagami. In autumn, white bush clover blooms all along the shore, and Shirahagi Castle, with its white keep, stands on a cape jutting into the lake. The only way up to the capital runs along this lake, so every great power around it has coveted Shirahagi. With any house that has shared thick tea in the Hagi Hermitage, the tearoom deep in the garden of the main bailey, Shirahagi has never once gone to war.

⚔ The Three Who Came to the Tea Gathering

Oribe Subaru / Age 24, Head of the Akamine Realm
A young lord whose power has grown fast on Nanban ships and matchlock guns. He laughs the old customs off and drinks from the tea bowl after turning it only once. And yet, when someone is hesitating, he holds out a single konpeito candy and waits in silence.

Takenaka Shizuma / Age 26, Strategist of the Mikage House
A strategist sent as envoy from the great power in the north. He is always giving a small cough and looks frail, yet partway through a conversation you realize he has read three moves ahead of you. At night he plays the flute alone.

Tobisawa Hayate / Age 23, Envoy of the Kurogane House (Chief of Shinobi)
The envoy of the great power in the west, who showed up at the tea gathering still in his shinobi garb. His message was a single line: "Kurogane is taking the princess." Curt, and impossible to read. And yet, whenever you notice, he is always on the roof behind you.

🌕 How to Play

A single-chapter story, running from the morning the three envoys arrive at Shirahagi Castle to the tea gathering on the seventh night. Whom you drink tea with each day, whom you take out in a boat on the lake, and whom you confide in about what you have heard is yours to decide, every time. There are no dice. There are no affection numbers either. Who starts calling you by your name instead of "Princess" is your answer.

✍ Good Things to Put in Your Persona

Your tie to the Shirahagi house (true daughter, body double, adopted daughter, and so on)
How well you know the way of tea
What you are good at (horses, boats, herbs, calligraphy, poetry, and so on)
How you feel about being married off, and whether there is anything else you want
Whom in the castle you trust, and whom you are wary of

Even without writing one, you can start by choosing from three: the first princess of Shirahagi, the first princess's body double, or the adopted daughter brought in from a convent. Not only what you can do, but how you carry yourself at the tea gathering affects how the three of them treat you.