"..."

Had about forty minutes passed, give or take? Daisy emerged through the iron door.

Daisy's face soured the moment she saw the two of us.

Can you blame her? A grown man and woman were sitting right there on the floor, staring up at her with eager, expectant eyes. And to make matters worse, those two happened to be her so-called father and teacher... It was enough to make anyone question the meaning of life.

"What are the two of you doing?"

Daisy's entire body was drenched in blood. Beneath the coppery stench of gore, a faint trace of rosemary lingered — she must have burned through quite a few potions during the surgery. But none of that mattered. The problem was her face.

"Haaah..."

Jeremy and I sighed in unison. Daisy wore her usual blank expression. Not a flicker of emotion. The two of us shook our heads.

"Not even a trace of sorrow or anger after crushing her own brother's heart..."

"This teacher is profoundly disappointed. How can someone be this devoid of adorable reactions?"

"Couldn't you at least show a hint of despair so we'd have the energy to get through the day? They say raising children is all for nothing, and you're living proof."

"This is all Your Majesty's fault. You've ground the girl down so hard she's developed a complete immunity. Honestly, you have zero talent for education."

The more we kept chatting, the colder Daisy's gaze became. Not the look you'd give garbage — no, the look you'd give the maggots writhing in that garbage.

That wasn't going to work, Daisy. Sorry, but whether it was Jeremy or me, we were a far filthier breed than maggots. Her glare didn't faze us in the slightest. Besides, aren't you one of us maggots now? No need to fight — let's just get along.

"Fine. What was I expecting from a blockhead like you?"

I stood up and grabbed Daisy's wrist. Then we headed into the operating room. Daisy followed without resistance, which surprised me. She felt less like a person and more like a straw — weightless. The surgery must have drained a tremendous amount of her stamina.

"Hmm?"

Luke lay unconscious in the center of the operating room. He'd barely managed to cover his lower half with a towel, yet his entire body was spotless — as though no surgery had been performed at all. I snickered.

"She leaves herself soaked in blood, yet handles her brother with kid gloves."

"..."

"Well, fine. Repeat after me."

First. Luke shall not harm Dantalion.

Second. Luke shall not harm those dear to Dantalion, and shall never turn a blind eye when Dantalion or they find themselves in danger.

Third. Luke shall obey Dantalion's commands.

Fourth. Luke shall prioritize Dantalion's life over his own.

These were the commands I had once issued to Daisy.

I added one more clause: "Between Daisy's commands and my commands, mine shall take priority." Daisy recited my words in a flat, emotionless tone. Now Luke had become mine and Daisy's shared slave.

"'Status Window.'"

I whispered it inwardly while gazing at Luke. That damn sound effect chimed, and a blue-hued Status Window materialized.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Name: Luke

Race: Human Master: Daisy

Alignment: Good (55)

Level: 21 Renown: 1788

Class: Adventurer (C), Swordsman (A+)

Command: 43/100 Force: 107/140 Intellect: 27/125

Politics: 29/95 Charm: 84/100 Skill: 19/81

Affinity: 50

*Titles: 1. Legendary Adventurer 2. Legendary Mercenary 3. Dungeon Breaker (-)

*Abilities: Tactics (C), Swordsmanship (A), Strategy (C), Persuasion (E), Horsemanship (A), Elemental Magic (-)

*Skills: Mercenary, Thousand-Mile Journey (-), Fatal Blow Immunity (-)

Current Mental State: [Unconscious]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I let out a wry smile. The stats were still absurd.

Even though the level was displayed as only in the low twenties, the combat stats were ridiculously high. It was all thanks to the titles' effects. <Legendary Adventurer> and <Legendary Mercenary> — when both titles activated together, every level gained boosted combat by a whopping twelve points.

The situation could have been even worse. Had the <Legendary Adventurer> title awakened earlier, combat would have already hit the cap of 140 ages ago.

What this translated to in practice was — overwhelming talent.

If someone demonstrated a sword technique, I could replicate it after seeing it just once, master it completely within half a month, and after a month, wield and adapt it as freely as a movement I'd been drilling since childhood.

There was no word for it but genius. The time required to learn something was simply too short. Everyone who had ever taught Luke and Daisy before had raved about the siblings, calling them talents seen once in an era.

For instance, Luke had high combat stats but lacked in intellect. Daisy, on the other way around, had exceptional intellect. Despite being only fifteen, she had already learned eleven languages and spent her leisure time devouring geometry texts and philosophical works in Ancient Imperial script.

……Must be nice.

I had plenty I wanted to say to them. But it was fine. It wasn't as though I had adopted Daisy as my daughter and taken Luke as my disciple for no reason. The two of them would never know the real reason — not for the rest of their lives.

"Daisy. I order you as well. You must never command Luke to take any action that would harm me or those I hold dear. The sole exception is when you have my explicit permission."

"Understood."

Daisy gazed at me with unwavering eyes.

"It is done now."

"Hm? What is done?"

"The first promise between Father and myself. It has been fulfilled."

I furrowed my brow. I had no idea what she meant.

Then, an answer flashed through my mind.

"...You."

"If Luke swore true obedience to Father, then Father promised that under 'no circumstances' would he kill Luke. Luke has been bound to Father. The bet is over now."

Ah.

Ahhh?

My face crumpled completely.

The bet I had placed with Daisy was as follows: if Luke were bound by a magical slave contract that surrendered his body and soul entirely, I would acknowledge Daisy's victory. And just as Daisy had said, Luke had indeed entered into a slave contract.

Daisy had won.

Up to this point, it was fine. Even if Daisy won the bet, there was absolutely nothing to be gained against me. Naturally, I had cast the slave contract with that very understanding.

The problem was Daisy's true objective.

"You... don't tell me you did this to protect Luke?"

Until now, I had assumed Daisy simply wanted to erase Luke from the candidate list by making him her slave. But here she was, insisting on the fact that she had won the bet.

Which meant it was all a lie.

Her threat to delete Luke from my candidate list was a lie. The grand claim that the only person who would kill you was herself—all of it was a lie.

Her sole purpose had been to protect her precious brother from my clutches.

Daisy spoke.

"The moment I realized Father considered Luke one of his candidates, my blood ran cold. No matter how I looked at it, Luke was no match for Father. If Father had groomed Luke as planned, Luke almost certainly would have died at Father's hands."

"..."

"There was a need to eliminate the danger at its source."

Little by little, rage surged through my body.

I let out a low growl, as though I might lunge at Daisy and tear her apart at any moment.

"So everything you swore—to kill me—was all a lie?"

"No, it wasn't a lie. That was sincere as well. But..."

Daisy's lips curled upward.

"I have no reason to make such a vow for your sake. Am I wrong?"

I reflexively backhanded Daisy across the cheek.

Daisy crumpled to the ground without resistance. But she didn't even scream. Lying on the cold stone floor, Daisy looked up at me. A mocking sneer hung at the corner of her lips.

"You're angry because I put Luke above you. How amusing. You're the one who monopolizes everyone's love. Getting furious simply because you couldn't monopolize one person's heart—what a pathetic sight..."

I didn't let her finish. I drove my foot into her abdomen. Only then did Daisy let out a slight groan. Still unsatisfied, I stomped on her again and again.

It took a long while before I caught my breath. Rage-heated air seeped from my lungs and escaped through my throat. Daisy watched me through narrowed eyes. She had let out perhaps five or six pained groans, but she didn't seem particularly bothered.

If anything—triumph.

Pride at having won this exchange gleamed in Daisy's eyes. I could read it clearly. Daisy coughed up a hacking breath and smiled.

"Father. Do you wish to possess me completely?"

"..."

"If you want me to look only at you, then you should look only at me. I keep nothing but you in my eyes, yet you keep turning your gaze here and there... hardly fair, wouldn't you say?"

Daisy laughed. Her insides must have been damaged, because mid-laugh she coughed up blood-tinged spittle.

"No one tells you the truth. So I will. You never loved the Demon Lord Paimon. Not even a little."

"How dare you, you loose-lipped—!"

I drove my toe into Daisy's abdomen. Yet the smile never left her lips. That made me even angrier.

"The Demon Lord Paimon has become a doll that prioritizes only you. What does it matter? If you too prioritize only the Demon Lord Paimon, there'd be no problem at all. In the end, you—hngh!"

I ground the sole of my shoe into Daisy's chest. This time it seemed to have an effect—even Daisy couldn't keep talking. But after about thirty seconds, as if she'd grown accustomed to the pain, Daisy muttered again.

"In the end, Father… you don't truly love the other person…."

"……."

"And yet you want me to look only at you, to devote everything to killing you… There are limits to how unfair and absurd things can be. Did I really look like that kind of obedient child…?"

Daisy smiled faintly.

"If you wish to have me entirely, then first you must look only at me. That is the bare minimum condition. You gaze at Consul Elizabeth, you gaze at Demon Lord Barbatos, and now you want to monopolize even my attention… It's beyond absurd."

"A brat who can't do a damn thing on her own, and yet—"

I gritted my teeth.

She was truly exasperating. From the moment we first met until now, this girl hadn't changed one bit. Still sharpening those fangs of hers to a razor's edge. That was what she was saying to me. Devote your life to me.

Only then would she devote her life in return.

"Go ahead and try if you think you can. But remember this—I'm not so cheap that I'd hand over everything I have to the likes of you! No matter how much value you think you have, you can't compare to four hundred thousand lives!"

"Then Father won't be able to monopolize me either."

I landed one final kick on Daisy, then strode out of the operating room.

The faint sound of Daisy's laughter trailing from behind me grated on my ears all the way to the end.