Seven Red Flags Proposed. I Brought a Dragon.

The dead Emperor's blood runs in a mercenary's veins. Seven royals have come to claim it. The law lets her fight.

Plot

The dead Emperor's blood runs in a mercenary's veins. Seven royals have come to claim it. The law lets her fight.Romantasy M17 7 suitors, 7 duels A dragon of your own 3 romance routes Real dice 7 endings, 1 hiddenYou fight for a living. This spring a debt collector's man cut your arm in a toll-hall, and your blood fell on the old black stone by the hearth. It lit up gold. So did every stone like it in the Empire, at the same moment. And up in the passes, something woke and roared.Your grandfather was the Emperor, ten years dead, and whoever marries you is crowned beside you. Six men and a woman mean to try. The law says you can turn each one down, if you beat them first. Three people on your side are not among the seven, and any of them might still ask.You are a mercenary with a crown nobody asked you about.You tame the dragon your blood woke. Then, one suitor a month, you win his contest on his own ground and meet him alone in the duel, on foot or on the wing. Or you prove what he did and void his suit before he draws.You risk a wedding. Lose one duel and you are betrothed to the winner, the wedding at the next full moon.◆ Three ways inPick one when you start. The first is the gentlest way in; the third drops you into a fight already under way.◆ The one ruleEvery crown in the Empire signed the Charter in your ancestor's blood. While you live, the Stones burn, and an oath sworn on a lit Stone brands the hand of whoever breaks it. That brings back the Right of Suit:The contest. His game, on his ground: a joust, a siege, a masked ball, a maze where time runs wrong. Three stages; win two, with one friend as your second. Whoever wins picks the ground and the weapons for the duel, and whether you fight on foot or on the wing.The duel, called the Crossing. One against one, no seconds, until someone yields. Win, and his suit is void for good: he pays you a forfeit in gold and swears one oath of your choosing on the Stone.Lose, and you are betrothed. The wedding is at the next full moon, and only proof of his crime can stop it.Or skip the fight. Every red flag is a crime under the Charter, and nobody at court will name it to your face. Find it, lay the proof before a lit Stone, and his suit dies before he draws.The crown. No Stone crowns you while a suit still stands. Beat every one of them, or say yes to someone.◆ Your dragonWhen the Stones lit, a young dragon woke in the passes above Scarrow Ford: black scales veined with gold, like the Stones themselves. It answers your blood. It has never been ridden. Episode one is the hunt, and the Gilded Prince is already up there with gold chains and a sea-wyvern, meaning to take it first.You name it. It grows as you win banners, from a half-wild thing that hates horses to something that brings the Council to its feet.Every royal rides a beast. A gold-plated sea-wyvern, an old one-eyed fire-drake, an ancient sphinx, a black kelpie from the lake, a crimson manticore with a scorpion's tail. Win his contest and you can take the duel into the air: the same dice, but the blows land on the beasts, and each beast has a move and a tell of its own.◆ Pick your heiressSeven women, seven ways to fight, one relic apiece. Most have met a suitor before. It went badly.Vessa. Forty-one bouts in the Salt Coast's pits, forty-one won. The Gilded Prince once sent her roses. She sold them. Her sword and dagger glow like the moon.Maud Tarran. Tore up a contract rather than help chain a village for its debts. Still owes eleven people their wages, and every one of them knows where she lives. Hit her shield and the sun on it flares.Hild Brakke. Kept the Ash King's scouts out of a mountain pass for three days. He sent her a gift. She hasn't opened it. Her axe freezes what it cuts.Isra Vane. Paid by the head, mostly for wyrms. Reads animals better than people, and says so. Her spear comes back when she throws it, lightning and all.Cass Ferrow. A licensed fire-caller, one of the last the old Emperor signed. That puts her on the Candle Saint's list before he has ever seen her face.Zola Marr. Dives the dead cities for relics, and is the only one who ever came back from the Sunken Nave with anything. Her revolvers load curses, and nobody alive can make another. A prince once paid her double to forget what she didn't find.Suyin Crane. Grew up on the river junks. The blood in her is old enough to remember a dragon, and when she lets it, she becomes one: black, fast, a red streak down the spine. The Crimson Bride once tried to buy a vial of her blood.◆ Seven red flagsGood-looking, dangerous and right about something, all seven of them. Each brings a gift in the blood, a beast to ride, a contest, three duel moves and a crime. The court only whispers. The rest you dig up yourself.Moves: attack control defence trick help beastLearns every servant's name in your hall by the second day, and tips in gold. The best-loved man in the Empire, by any crowd's count.THEY WHISPER  His servants never say their own names.Gilded Coil The Offer Gold Chains Plate and ChainWalks a lame horse home rather than ride it. Laughs a great deal. Cannot light a fire, only command one, so the brazier on his back never goes out.THEY WHISPER  His soldiers paint their faces with ash, a stripe for every city.Kindling Gatebreaker The Count Brazier BreathHeals the poor with his own hands and weeps when they thank him.THEY WHISPER  He has not said his sister's name in two years.Litany Sunward Last Rites Noon GlassCured the Grey Fever. Looks thirty and is a hundred and forty.THEY WHISPER  Everyone in his household has a young face and grey hair.Borrowed Second Rewind Hour of Dust The RiddleWrites you a letter every day and never asks for an answer. The court is very sorry for him.THEY WHISPER  Two fiancées, two funerals, both on the water.Serenade Everlasting Undertow Drag UnderSues for your hand in open court and flirts back when insulted. The only woman among the seven.THEY WHISPER  Married twice. Both spouses are alive, and neither has spoken since.Bloodletting Crimson Mirror The Needle The StingPoured the old Emperor's wine, and still carries the cup. Runs the Council for the Regent. Never raises his voice.THEY WHISPER  He files last.Cold Hand Winter Court The Toast Silent Frost◆ On your sideThe Council's knight, sent to guard you. Held a bridge alone for a night; says it was narrow. Mended your gate in a week. Cannot lie. Rides a farm horse with opinions about barley.Hold the Bridge Second's HelpAn elf princess with a healer's licence and a price on her head from her own half-brother. Lives in the catacombs by choice. Has already told you what is wrong with your boots.Mend Wings Second's HelpPrincess of the White March. Came to marry you, stood up in open Council and withdrew. Said she'd rather fight beside you. Asked them to put it in the minutes.Shield of Nine Names Thunderclap Second's Help◆ Three routes, all optionalRomance here is slow and kind, and it fades to black. Once you choose someone, the others step back. Late on, the one you love may lay a sword on the Stone for you, and saying yes ends every other suit. The suitors are never routes, and every refusal holds.Jory. He asks for nothing. The Council sent him, and he does not know why.Idonie. Friends first, for a long time. She will not leave anyone behind, which is a problem.Ylva. She asks once, plainly, and takes the answer.◆ The world and the yearNew moon: the Council's herald draws a suitor by lot, and his court turns up within the week.Full moon: the Proving. The contest on the first day, the duel on the second.Midwinter: the Crowning. If a suit still stands by then, the Council picks your consort from whoever is left.Banners change how they treat you. You win a crown's banner when you void its suit or win its heir to your side. At none, the court treats you as furniture. At three, envoys bow. At five, the Council stands when you come in. Your dragon grows at three and at six.Dragons nest in the northern passes, wyverns ride the sea winds, kelpies drown riders in the Stillwaters, and worse sleeps under the mountains. Every toll-hall posts bounties, and a sellsword hunts monsters as often as men. Between suitors, the coin is good.◆ How a duel worksOne roll decides each exchange. Beat his number and you land; miss by a little and you both do; miss by a lot and he does. Read his tell and answer with the counter, and you roll two dice and keep the better. Win his contest first and you choose where the duel is fought, which can take his best move away. Techniques cost Grit, which comes back when you sleep. A duel lasts three to five exchanges, and at half his strength every suitor changes how he fights. On the wing, a rider whose beast goes down has lost. Your dragon has one move of its own: black fire veined with gold.◆ How it endsThe Empress Alone The Empress and the Knight The Empress and the Princess The Unmade Charter The Road The Gilded Cage ? HiddenOne ending is hidden. You have to earn it, and you have to be the one who asks.◆ What you get3 starts 7 heiresses, a relic each 10 characters, 10 expressions each 9 royal beasts 12 places 49 Codex entries 9 achievements Dungeon Mind v2 Visual novel readyTwo tips. Watch for his tell, and his beast's, and answer it: that is two dice instead of one. And if you lose, you have until the wedding to prove his crime and void the suit.◆ Difficulty and costDIFFICULTYGetting started■■■■■Pick an heiress and a start. Episode one is the dragon; the first suitor comes at the next new moon.Contests■■■■■His game on his ground. Three stages, win two, and every stage has more than one way through.Duels■■■■■Real dice, three to five exchanges. Miss his tell and he takes you apart. Lose, and you are engaged.On the wing■■■■■Your dragon takes the blows. Every beast has its own tell: an old drake tires, a sphinx asks riddles.Monsters■■■■■Bounties on wyverns and manticores. Good coin between suitors, and no engagement if you lose.Proof■■■■■Finding his crime takes legwork; keeping the witness alive until the Stone hears it takes more.Bookkeeping■■■■■The game keeps track of every suit, every red flag, your banners, your dragon and your heart.MODELFOR EXAMPLEARCANE A REPLYHOW IT PLAYSFreeThe free DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731, Qwen and ERNIE models0Fine for a first contest. Remembers about 20 exchanges, and runs no dice: the narrator settles duels in prose.Low★ MiMo-V2.5, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Tencent Hy30.1 to 1about 5 to 15 a suitorWhat the game is built around. Can lose track of a tell or a secret.Standard ★Gemini 3 Flash Preview, MiMo-V2.5-Pro, MiniMax M2.70.5 to 2.3about 15 to 70 a suitorRecommended. Keeps seven suitors, their tells and their secrets straight.HigherGrok 4.3, Grok 4.202 to 5about 60 to 150 a suitorA step up from Standard, at two to four times the price.PremiumClaude Sonnet 4.65 to 13about 150 to 390 a suitorTop of the range, at the top price.Prices on 30 September 2026: the low end is a long session, the high end a cold start. A suitor's month (his arrival, his contest and the duel) is about 30 replies. The gold ★ marks the best value (MiMo-V2.5) and the tier we recommend (Standard). The paid models named here are the ones the platform marks ready for the Dungeon Mind (the dice, your sheet and the ledgers); keep it on. New chats start on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash; in our own play its replies cost 0.1 to 0.3, and up to 1 for a chat's first reply.M17. Duels, monster fights and death; slavery, burned cities, religious pyres, murder and blood magic, told plainly. Romance is optional, slow and kind, and it fades to black. No suitor's pursuit is ever sexual, and every refusal holds. Every character is an adult.

Opening scene

The toll-hall at Scarrow Ford smells of wet dogs and spilled cider, and your blood is on the floor. Not much of it. The Salt Coast collector's man opened your forearm before he went through the table, and three drops fell on the old black slab set into the flagstones by the hearth, the one everybody walks around out of habit. It is glowing. Gold, from inside, along veins nobody knew were there. The light climbs the walls. The collector's second man lowers his cudgel. The reeve drops his tally sticks. Down the valley a bell starts. Then another, farther off. Then something in the passes above the ford answers them, a roar long enough to rattle every shutter in the hall. One by one the room goes to its knees: the drovers, the reeve, the man on the table. Only the old soldier by the door stays standing, on a crutch, one sleeve pinned where an arm used to be. He wore imperial red once. The dye has nearly gone. He looks at the Stone a long time. Then at the sword on your hip, and the sun stamped into its pommel. "Who was your father?"

Characters

Tags: FemPOV Fantasy Romance Royalty Noble Palace HiddenIdentity Bloodline PoliticalIntrigue Combat Growth DefyingFate Adventure ArrangedMarriage GL SlowBurn Tense Climactic WarmBlooded Bittersweet Knight Prince Villain Healer Swordsman Mercenary OC Princess Taming Dragon

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By: pixel_core432

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