"What do you mean, important misunderstanding? There's almost nothing I don't know about Daisy."
"...Miss Daisy is Dantalion's eternal witness."
Lapis spoke.
"That was the design you envisioned, Master Dantalion. Miss Daisy tried her hardest to embody that design. Learning every language she could, devoting herself to both scholarship and martial arts — all of it was her struggling with everything she had to stand on equal footing with you."
I gave a somewhat grudging nod.
"Well, sure. It's admirable, I'll give her that. I do acknowledge her, after all."
"But Miss Daisy did not arrive at understanding your intentions on her own, Master."
"Hm?"
Lapis fell silent. A brief pause followed.
"Originally, Miss Daisy didn't truly understand why she had become your nemesis. The idea that she was hostile toward you — that much she never even imagined. I believe what Miss Daisy wanted was to become your faithful companion and walk beside you."
"What are you..."
"A while ago, Miss Daisy came to me for advice. She said she couldn't understand why you never took her body."
Silence again.
For once, my mind couldn't keep up with the flow of the conversation. Every part of my brain revved at maximum output trying to parse what Lapis had said, but it felt like a motor spinning uselessly in empty air.
After a long moment, I finally let a word slip out.
"What kind of cryptic nonsense is that supposed to mean?"
"It is exactly as I said. Miss Daisy still hadn't grasped your true intentions with any precision. That is why I gave her my counsel — that what you needed wasn't a lover, but an understanding companion."
"..."
"That must have been the turning point for Miss Daisy."
I still didn't understand what he was talking about. The only thing I was sure of was that Lapis looked more serious than necessary. Even if Daisy had received help from Lapis in becoming aware of her role, would that really change anything?
Daisy was just a bit stupider than I thought. That's all it came down to. Nothing would change.
Lapis stared straight at my face. The shadow under her eyes grew a shade deeper. My heart grew more and more constricted. Whenever Lapis's expression shifted, I was seized by a sensation of my heart tightening.
"Lord Dantalion. That's not it. The important point isn't that. What's important is that Miss Daisy harbors Affection, or even romantic feelings, towards Lord Dantalion."
"Romantic feelings?"
"Yes. The driving force that leads Miss Daisy is not hatred for Lord Dantalion. It's the exact opposite. Rather..."
I waved my right hand dismissively and let out a small laugh. I was sorry to interrupt Lapis mid-sentence, but this was something I couldn't just let slide. It was a point that needed to be firmly established.
"No, that's impossible. Absolutely not. She has Affection for me? Daisy? It would be more believable if you said Vassago was in love with me."
"......"
"No wonder your expression was so serious – you were under a tremendous misunderstanding. Lapis. Even if I can't tell you the reason, Daisy has not one iota of Affection for me."
That's right. The Affinity system was absolute.
From some point on, I had become slightly hesitant to check Affinity. Because it gave the impression that this world wasn't real, but a counterfeit garden created by some means.
It didn't matter if this world was a counterfeit garden. For me, this was reality. Just like reality, people here breathe. They think. They move. They suffer and agonize, they endure sorrow to move forward, they endlessly waver between baseness and nobility.——If this wasn't reality, then what on earth was?
That was why, long ago, I chose to become Dantalion instead of the me who died in a traffic accident before this. I accepted this world. I accepted the name Dantalion. Therefore, I am a murderer and a massacre. There was no room for excuse here.
And yet, the Affinity system was an ironclad wall.
What I once considered a blessing was now nothing but a cursed binding. Personally, I thought of this as karmic retribution. Having toyed with people's hearts so well until now, I was just paying the price a step late, nothing more and nothing less...
"Lord Dantalion. How do you suppose Miss Daisy was able to defy an order?"
Lapis countered without backing down an inch.
"A person bound by the Slave Brand can never refuse their master's command. Yet, Miss Daisy openly defied Lord Dantalion's instructions right in front of him. Originally, that is impossible. There is a clear reason for this."
"She must have exploited contradictions between the orders."
I answered immediately.
It was a matter I had agonized over and over again. A few days ago, I had even ordered Ivar to procure a slave for me. I had deliberately issued contradictory commands to the slave. The slave, unable to cope, fell into a panic.
"The Slave Brand receives commands purely subjectively. The moment the slave perceives the orders as contradictory, that is precisely when the slave gains a degree of freedom to act. Daisy exploited that gap."
"That is correct."
Lapis's blue eyes stared straight at me.
"But that is not the entirety of it. Isn't that right, Lord Dantalion?"
"......"
"A slave can only make choices that benefit their master. Even in a situation where commands are contradictory, it is impossible for a slave to take an action that would cause harm to their master."
She was right.
For instance, let us say two commands were issued through the Slave Brand.
There is a command that says 'Protect your master at all costs,' and another that says 'Never die under any circumstances.' If these commands were both in place and the master faced a situation where death was imminent — and saving the master required sacrificing one's own life?
One must not let the master die. Yet one must not throw away one's own life, either. It is a deadlock. A conflict arises between the commands...
In such cases, the slave is compelled to choose the direction that benefits the master. In most cases, the slave would sacrifice their own life without hesitation to save the master. That was precisely what Lapis was pointing out now.
"Miss Daisy judged that stopping the execution was the choice most beneficial to Lord Dantalion. That is precisely why she was able to act. In other words, hatred alone cannot lead to such a choice, Lord Dantalion. Only an emotion diametrically opposite to hatred could have driven Miss Daisy."
"She must have employed some other trick."
I shook my head.
"What manner of trick are you referring to?"
"That, I do not know. She must have employed a method so cunning and intricate that we failed to detect it. But I refuse to believe that Daisy has developed an Affinity for me."
Indeed.
It was a deceptively simple matter of choice.
First, I accept Lapis's claim. In that case, I must conclude that the Affinity system is faulty.
Second, I accept my own speculation. In that case, I must conclude that Daisy employed a scheme so refined that even I failed to notice it.
Which is more plausible when you think about it rationally? Obviously the second. Rather than believing the Affinity system had collapsed, it was far more reasonable to believe in Daisy's stratagem. Lapis simply had no knowledge of Affinity or anything of the sort, so she was taking the first possibility seriously.
In short, it was a misunderstanding born from a difference in information.
"Lapis. What Daisy did this time has absolutely nothing to do with you."
I gripped Lapis's right hand firmly. The sensation was cool and pleasant. My hands tended to run warm, so touching Lapis was always enjoyable.
"Even if you gave her some advice, Daisy's hatred is entirely an emotion she created herself. If we're assigning blame for that, it falls squarely on me—not on you."
I looked at Lapis with a gentle gaze.
"There is no reason whatsoever for you to bear responsibility. I mean it."
Lapis was probably feeling like the entire situation was her fault right now. That Daisy had caused such a catastrophe, that I had been forced to sever my left leg because of it—all of it, she was blaming herself, convinced it had resulted from her hasty advice.
Lapis was the type who never let her emotions show on the surface. No matter how much she suffered, she wouldn't let it show. I was the only one who truly understood Lapis's expressionless face in the deepest sense...
I subtly spread my arms, intending to embrace Lapis. But she caught my wrist. Lapis fixed me with a gaze that held an even fiercer resolve than before.
I was taken aback. It was exceedingly rare for Lapis to express emotion with such intensity.
"Lapis...?"
"Please trust me."
My face froze on the spot.
"Dantalion... please, this once... trust me."
Lapis's words came out haltingly, as though each one was wrung from her with difficulty. No—she truly was suffering. Though her expression was infinitely closer to blankness compared to anyone else, Lapis was unmistakably in pain right now.
"..."
I immediately changed my mind.
――I revise my assumptions.
Lapis had asked me to trust her. Lapis, who had never once made such a request of me before, had looked at me with a face racked by pain and begged me to put my faith in her.
If that was the case, then my own line of thinking should be reversed without hesitation. No matter how sound my judgment might be, if Lapis sincerely asked me to reconsider, I naturally had to take that seriously. Lapis's request carried that much weight and value.
I walked over to the chair and sat down. Lapis kept her head bowed and said nothing. In the utterly silent office, I submerged myself into a sea of thoughts.
"......"
How?
Let's assume, as Lapis said, that Daisy harbored feelings of affection for me. But that would mean flat-out ignoring the Affinity display shown in the Status Window. How on earth could Affinity be displayed incorrectly?
Was such a thing truly possible? Even if there was the slightest chance—one in ten million—what method could possibly achieve it?
"Lapis. Let me just confirm one thing. The feelings Daisy holds toward me—are they genuinely positive emotions like friendship or affection?"
"Yes, Master Dantalion."
"......No, that won't do. There's not enough information."
I tapped the floor lightly with my cane. I gazed diagonally into the empty air with an utterly serious expression on my face.
"Daisy always paid close attention to you, Master Dantalion."
"That much is obvious. But was there anything particularly unusual or strange about it?"
"I don't know if this will be helpful, but she was especially curious about what you did in the past. What kind of life you led before meeting her. What sort of era you lived through. She gathered information to find out everything without missing a single detail."
That wasn't exactly unusual either...
Suddenly, a possibility flashed through my mind.
What if Daisy had used a doll, just like Ivar?
Daisy could have used some means to craft a doll that looked exactly like herself. Daisy herself may have harbored affection for me, but the doll, being separate from the original, might not share those same feelings... Wouldn't such a scenario be possible?
"Hmm."
It was a scenario riddled with holes, but it wasn't entirely without merit worth verifying.
I picked up the hand bell and gave it a shake. A cheerful metallic ring sounded, and moments later, Ivar entered the office. She still looked tense.
"Did you summon me, Your Majesty?"
"Ivar. This is an urgent order. Can you bring any one of the dolls you have on hand right now—immediately?"
Ivar blinked.
"Yes, of course. I have twelve dolls hidden right here in the imperial palace."
"Would it be all right to transfer your consciousness into one and come back here? There's something I need to verify in a hurry."
"If that is what you wish. Please wait just a moment."
Ivar gathered the hem of her skirt with both hands and bowed respectfully. I could feel her relief—she must have been terrified that Lapis would reprimand her.
About three minutes passed before a young man with a familiar face entered the office. Buppha. It was the doll Ivar had been using when I first met her. I smiled wryly.
"It's been quite a while since I've seen that face."
"I thought this form might provide Your Majesty with a bit of amusement, so I chose it."
The young man smiled gently and bowed.
'Status Window.'
I said inwardly.
A blue-hued Status Window appeared before my eyes.