The three of them crossed the corridor, passed through the courtyard, and arrived at Lappland's room.
Pushing the door open, Lappland went inside and sat down in the chair by the window.
Texas remained standing at the doorway, watching her.
"Come in. Close the door."
Texas shut the door behind her and walked over to sit across from her.
Su An floated between them, looking conflicted. "Lappland, think this through one more time, will you? If word gets out that I'm here, that's not something to take lightly..."
"Su An."
"What?"
"Shut up."
Su An shut up.
Lappland looked at Texas, fell silent for a few seconds, then spoke.
"What I'm about to tell you... you probably won't believe."
"Tell me."
"There's something by my side."
Texas's brow twitched slightly.
"A transparent thing. Floating. Something only I... can see."
Lappland paused. She remembered Su An saying earlier that he had gone to catch up with someone... Was it really true that only she could see him? She would have to ask him about that later.
"His name is Su An. He's a ghost—or maybe something else. Even he can't really explain what he is."
"He appeared six years ago, around my tenth birthday."
"He calls himself a god born from my wish."
"And from then on, he's been following me."
Texas said nothing.
At the side, Su An floated there curiously, wondering what kind of reaction Texas would have.
The silence dragged on for a long time.
Then Texas finally spoke.
"The thing you mentioned—"
"I'm not a thing!" Su An protested.
"—is it here right now?"
Lappland nodded.
Texas swept her gaze across the room, and at last it landed where Lappland's eyes had rested. That spot was empty. There was nothing there.
"What does he look like?"
"A transparent human shape. He looks alright, but you can only make out the outline of his body."
"What's he doing right now?"
"Right now?" Lappland looked at Su An. "He's waving at you."
Texas was silent for a few seconds.
Then she asked a question that almost made Su An fall out of the air.
"Can he touch things?"
Lappland hesitated for a moment. "...No."
"Then how does he eat?"
"He doesn't eat."
"How does he sleep?"
"He doesn't sleep."
"How does he use the bathroom?"
"...He doesn't."
Texas nodded, as though confirming something.
Then she said:
"Then keeping him around must save you quite a bit of money."
The room went abruptly quiet, while Su An practically exploded.
"Hah?! I'm not a pet?!"
Then Lappland laughed.
"Hahahaha—"
Texas looked at her, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly as well.
Su An hovered in midair, completely dumbstruck.
"No, wait, just like that? You're accepting it just like that? Shouldn't you be a little suspicious? Shouldn't you think she's gone crazy? Shouldn't you—"
Of course, Texas couldn't hear a word he was saying.
She only watched Lappland, who was laughing so hard she could barely sit upright, and then asked:
"Does he talk a lot?"
Lappland was nearly laughing hard enough to cry. "A lot. Very much so."
"More than your father?"
"Mo—more than him by far."
Texas nodded. "Then I think I can imagine it."
Su An floated between the two of them, looking utterly defeated, forced to sit there and listen as Lappland slandered him to Texas without being able to do anything about it.
"So you two are teaming up to bully me now..."
After the two of them had chatted to their hearts' content, Texas finally left, and the room quickly fell quiet again.
Lappland sat with her head lowered by the window. Moonlight streamed in from outside and fell across her face.
Floating beside her, Su An sensed at once that something in her mood had changed. Unusually, he did not speak to disturb her.
Only after a long while did Lappland finally open her mouth.
"Su An."
"Yeah?"
"Do you think he sees me as his daughter, or as a tool?"
"Who? Your dad?"
Lappland said nothing, which was answer enough.
Su An thought for a moment, then floated down to sit cross-legged in midair across from her, level with her gaze.
"That's... kind of a difficult question."
"Aren't you supposed to know everything?"
"When did I ever say I know everything?" Su An spread his hands. "What I said was that as long as you make a wish, I can do anything."
"Do you want to make a wish? A wish for me—or for you—to know the answer?"
Lappland didn't speak. She only looked at him.
Su An scratched his head. "Alright, alright. I'll analyze it for you."
He floated back up and began pacing in front of her, even pushing up a pair of nonexistent glasses.
"First, we need to define what counts as a daughter, and what counts as a tool."
"A daughter is someone you scold when she makes a mistake, but after scolding her, you cook for her. Someone you worry about when she gets hurt, and after worrying, you teach her how not to get hurt the next time."
"A tool is something you repair when it breaks. If it can't be repaired, you replace it. If it can still be used, you use it. If it can't, you throw it away."
Lappland listened without making a sound.
Su An continued, "So which one do you think your father treats you as?"
"...I don't know."
"Then let me ask it another way." Su An stopped pacing and looked at her. "If you picked up a knife right now and tried to ambush him in the middle of the night, how would he react?"
"...Can you stop always thinking about things like that?"
But even as she said that, Lappland still thought it over for a while.
"He'd wake up. Then he'd fight back."
"And then?"
"Then I'd be beaten to the ground."
"And then?"
Lappland was silent for a while, her brows gradually knitting together.
Su An answered for her.
"He'd look down at you lying on the floor, nod, say Not bad—you've improved, and then tell you to go back to bed and continue training tomorrow."
Something in Lappland's gaze shifted.
Su An floated closer, his expression unusually serious.
"Lappland, think about it. If it were someone else—say, just any assassin working under him—if they tried to ambush him in the middle of the night with a knife, what would happen?"
Lappland said nothing, but she knew the answer.
They would die.
Their corpse would be disposed of just like the carcass of some useless ripper-beast. There would be no extra words, and certainly no Not bad—you've improved.
Su An looked at her and said softly, "He taught you swordsmanship, gave you resources, put you in front of people, and let you stand on your own. When he does those things, he really is raising an heir."
Then Su An changed direction.
"But raising an heir and raising a tool aren't mutually exclusive."
Lappland frowned even more deeply.
"Ordinary tools don't get that many chances to make mistakes in front of him. One or two chances at most, and they'd probably be dealt with. Think about the resources he's given you. Think about the missions you've failed."
"Why didn't he kill you?"
Lappland was silent for a very long time.
"Then does he see me as his daughter, or as a tool?"
Su An spun around once on the spot.
"Mm... I'm not totally sure either, but I think it's both."
"Both?"
"Yeah. Both." Su An floated to her side and looked out at the moon with her. "In his eyes, you are both his daughter and his tool."
"For him, those two things probably don't conflict at all."
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