Chapter 456: DANTALIAN (9) |
I examine the status screen carefully.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Name: Vuffoet Ranierika Race: Vampire (Doll) Main Body: Ivar Lodbrok Attribute: Evil (-20)
Level: 34 Fame: 4,522 Job: Merchant (A)
Leadership: 30/30 Might: 42/42 Intelligence: 71/71 Politics: 59/59 Charm: 76/76 Technique: 10/10
Affection: 100
*Title: 1. Keuncuska Executive Candidate *Abilities: Trade A, Accounting B, Arithmetic B *Skills: –
Current thought: “Lapis Lazuli looks displeased. That fellow must be holding a grudge against me. It is surely because I once saw her naked, and she is still sulking about it even now. Ugh, how narrow-minded…….” ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Her name field clearly states Vuffoet.
The attributes also differed greatly from Ivar’s original body. Only the most important part—the Affection—matched exactly at 100, just like Ivar’s. What this meant was obvious. Using dolls or similar tricks to deceive me was outright impossible for Daisy.
“Just as I thought.”
“Your Highness?”
“Nothing. I was merely thinking aloud. You have done well, Ivar.”
Ivar bowed her head.
The “Daisy Doll Theory” had been riddled with holes from the beginning. Even if Daisy had set up a doll or something similar as a substitute, how would she have done such a thing? Daisy was no puppeteer. It was a hypothesis as close to impossible as it could get…….
Once again, I was certain. The Affection system was an impregnable fortress. No matter how strange or clever a scheme one might devise, it could not be breached.
There was absolutely no chance I had misjudged. Any scenario in which Daisy had genuinely liked me all along and everything she had done was an act was fundamentally impossible.
But.
“…….”
I glanced toward Lapis. She had been bowing her head this entire time. If I gave up here, Lapis would certainly never ask me to reconsider again. In her mind, she most likely believes she’s already asked far too much of me.
Let me think again.
I reviewed the possibilities once more.
Daisy is a Hero. In other words, a child destined to be the protagonist of this world. Is there a chance that Daisy alone is treated as an exception in the Affection system? ……No. If that were true, then why does Luke’s Affection display properly? If something were wrong with Daisy, the same should apply to Luke.
Think.
‘I am the master of all demons, Rank 72 Demon Lord Andromalius.’
‘O Great Being, there is something I must inform Your Highness.’
I replayed every memory involving Daisy from beginning to end. Was there any point at which something seemed strange? Any evidence, or even the slightest indication, that might support Lapis’ hypothesis?
‘There is a need for it to be eternally remembered that I was the piece of trash who caused her own brother to die.’
When we first met, Daisy had been full of spirit.
Her voice was confident, and her expression showed her self-assurance with ease. But the surgery—the operation where the slave crest was carved into her heart—changed everything. Her entire demeanor shifted. She grew more curt, colder, and heavier.
If Daisy had ever held affection for me, it would have been before the surgery. At that time, she did not openly hate me, but after the pain of torn flesh, the agony of a heart being branded, and the fury toward the unforgivable act that bound her as a slave forever…….
‘As I thought, I cannot.’
And then the attempted assassination.
The incident where she tried to drive a dagger into my neck, taking advantage of the moment when I was asleep.
‘It seems you have a death wish.’
‘No. I swore to kill you.’
‘So? Were you able to kill me? Ha, this is unfortunate.’
Actually, there was something strange about that incident. There was exactly one part of Daisy’s action back then that I couldn’t understand.
‘Confess. When did you wake up?’
‘When the sun rose today.’
It was the timing.
The moment I sensed Daisy’s killing intent and woke up was during the night. But Daisy had risen far earlier than I had. Until I regained consciousness, Daisy had all the time she needed to attempt an assassination in secret—and then pretend she had done nothing.
There was absolutely no reason for her to wait until I woke, just to make sure I would clearly know she had tried to kill me.
Yet Daisy deliberately said aloud, ‘As I thought, I cannot.’ She prompted me to wake up. She provoked and aggravated me. As though she were advertising that she was capable of doing something so dangerous without hesitation.
‘Who is Jack?’
What if that wasn’t the reason?
‘Do you always have nightmares? You mutter people’s names endlessly. There are names that you repeat. Jack, Hawk, Aland, Riff…….’
What if it were the exact opposite?
‘And mother.’
What if she attempted to kill me, but for some reason could not get up afterward?
‘It is surprising to know that existences like you also have mothers.’
If something so shocking had occurred while I lay asleep, something capable of holding Daisy utterly still—
That…….
That would mean…….
There’s…… no way.
My mind went completely blank.
“…….”
My right hand trembled slightly.
It was absurd. Such a thing could not possibly be true. Yet if there existed even the tiniest chance, I could not deny it outright. That means I have to verify it. I have no choice but to test it thoroughly.
I pressed my fingers together tightly with both hands to suppress the shaking.
“Ivar. I have one more request. Will you manage it?”
“If it is Your Highness’s command, I shall gladly carry it out a thousand times or ten thousand times.”
“When the unaffiliated Demon Lords attempted their rebellion.”
My voice would always come out colder and heavier than usual whenever my emotions wavered. It was proof that I was struggling to maintain control. For me, bluntness and chill always meant I was acting.
“At that time, did you not make several dolls shaped exactly like me?”
“Yes. To deceive the unaffiliated Demon Lords, I crafted three dolls resembling Your Highness.”
“One of them was destroyed, so two must still remain.”
Ivar nodded, looking somewhat puzzled.
“I kept them in case they might be useful as decoys against assassination. One is hidden in the Demon Lord Castle, and the other in the Imperial Palace.”
“Can you bring one here now?”
“Of course.”
“……I appreciate it. And Ivar, you may return in your original body as well.”
Ivar left the office.
A time that felt like an eternity passed. I stared down at the floor, thinking of nothing. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say I could not think. Time stretched out like taffy.
“Your Highness. I have returned.”
Ivar returned with a doll in tow. I could not guess how long had truly passed—perhaps only five or ten minutes. But to me it had felt far longer. I spoke.
“I will transfer my consciousness to the doll for a moment. Assist me.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please forgive the discourtesy I am about to commit.”
I had done this once before with Ivar’s help—briefly, when Belephor and the unaffiliated Demon Lords made their move. I allowed myself to be killed as a doll, then returned to my original body as though nothing had happened.
“You will feel a slight wave of nausea.”
Ivar lightly placed her palm against my forehead. Her hand was cool. I closed my eyes.
A moment later, a sickening heave rose in my throat. It felt as though my arms and legs had shrunk endlessly, collapsing into the confines of my skull. The sense of distance—how far my hands extended from my body—vanished entirely.
“It is done, Your Highness.”
I opened my eyes slowly.
The familiar view of the office entered my sight. Nothing seemed different from before. Only my original body—left leg fitted with a prosthetic—sat quietly in the chair. This was my second time transferring my consciousness into a doll. It was not a pleasant experience.
“…….”
My heart thudded ominously.
I will now begin my experiment.
If Lapis’ hypothesis was correct, then this was the final possibility. Aside from this, there was no remaining method by which Daisy could have deceived me. Even if I betrayed Lapis’ expectations, even if I brought her sorrow, I would deny her belief with cold certainty.
I turned to face Ivar directly.
And in my mind, I uttered a single command.
‘Status window.’
……A stillness so complete it felt suffocating.
No sound reached my ears. No light, no window, no text rose into the air. I forced myself to remain composed and waited. Then I murmured again, in the quiet of my mind:
‘Status window.’
But nothing appeared. Even when I calmly whispered the same words again, even when I repeated them several more times with stubborn patience, nothing formed in the air. Only Ivar, meeting my gaze directly, let her cheeks bloom a shy pink.
“U-Um… Your Highness. If you stare at me like that, this girl will become embarrassed.”
“…….”
“Your Highness?”
My hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
I turned my head and looked at Lapis next. She was still bowing her head. I spoke to her in a small voice:
“Status window.”
Nothing.
Nothing changed.
“……Ah.”
It was a faint sound, yet it was also a feeble cry. Impossible. This can’t be. Fragmented, dark thoughts flooded my mind.
A doll cannot discern another person’s affection.
The status window itself doesn’t appear.
In other words, the affection system only works for Demon Lord ‘Dantalian’. Once my consciousness moves into a doll, I cannot read a demon’s emotions or exert authority. Naturally so…… reading emotions and wielding command are privileges granted only to Demon Lords.
Even if Ivar and Lapis loved me with all their hearts—
Now that I have left Dantalian’s body for that of a doll, I can no longer see the values of their affection.
For the one they loved is Dantalian the Demon Lord, and no one else.
―If so.
If someone—
‘Miss Daisy was always attentive to you, Lord Dantalian.’
‘She seemed especially curious about your past. About what kind of life you lived before meeting her, what kind of days you had. She tried to gather every bit of information she could.’
If someone is able to realize that single truth—
‘It is surprising to know that existences like you also have mothers.’
The fact that I’m not actually Dantalian.
If they were to realize that I am not actually Dantalian, that I am not a Demon Lord born naturally of magic, parentless and alone, but a human who once had a mother.
‘What is your name? You claimed to be Andromalius when we first met. After that, you claimed to be Dantalian. And now you are Jean Bole.’
Therefore, if they realize Dantalian’s body is nothing more than a vessel.
Dantalian’s name is nothing more than a borrowed alias.
And I have been nothing more than an actor on a stage, performing a role in this world.
If someone were to realize that there was once another self behind the mask.
And if that person were to feel affection not for Dantalian, but for me―
‘What should I refer to you as?’
A thin breath slipped from my lips.
Only now did I understand.
At last, I grasped the full meaning of the final words Daisy had left me at the public execution ground.
‘Father. Accept that ‘I’ do not truly exist in this world.’ ‘Admit that your villainy is nothing more than a precarious act of acrobatics. Of course, I know this choice is impossible for you. If it were, you would have fled long ago.’
Daisy—
the girl who should have become the hero,
my only heir and adopted daughter—
‘If you are to become the world’s devil—then I shall be a devil that belongs to you alone.’
―She had known all along that I was not Dantalian.
That was why she dug relentlessly into my past.
Daisy must have discovered it before long—the fact that, starting from a certain point in the year 1505 of the Continental Calendar, Demon Lord Dantalian’s forces suddenly surged out of nowhere. She must have taken my sleep‑talk, those stray mutterings about a mother, as the final proof she needed.
She’s the only one in this world who truly knows me.
“Ah…… ah, ah…….”
Daisy had not been the one wearing a mask.
It was the opposite. I was the one who had been living behind the mask named Dantalian.
Affection directed not toward Demon Lord Dantalian, but toward me—that was why it couldn’t be seen.
***
TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It’s 2026, work is still stabbing my brain. It’s really hard trying to get my schedule in order. I really hate that I keep delaying chapters and then blanking out.
Ughh… Just excuses at this point, but yeah. I need to get back in line to how I used to be. I’ll try my best this year!!! It surely can’t be worse than last year.