The Doll and The Prince - v2 Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Hiiro (8)
Seeing Sai touch his right ear, I realized something.

"Do all people from the Empire wear earrings? Only on the left side? Did Naruhito wear one?”

"At birth, everyone is given an earring by the country on the left ear. When you get married, you wear an earring given by your partner on the right ear. Combat Dolls, if they are from the Empire, should have an earring on the left ear as well."

I peeked at the bed, but Naruhito didn’t have an earring on his left ear. There was a small hole, almost closed, with scars around it.

"Ah, it must have gotten loose and fall off at some point."

Gently, I reached out to the sleeping Naruhito’s left earlobe. If there's a hole, maybe I'll buy him an earring.

… An earring given by the country?

"Are earrings supplied by the country, and everyone wears them?"

"Yes, that's right. Originally, it was a custom for parents to give earrings to their children, wishing for happiness. But at some point, it became supplied by the country."

Or perhaps... it's a receiver. The earring is a receiver for the orders.

After being stunned for a while, Sai trembled as he took off the earring.

"... Indeed, yes, that's right. Ahh, we were being manipulated with such a simple mechanism... damn it."

"Let us examine it. You don’t mind, do you?"

"Please, by all means.”

“Let's also have all the prisoners remove them. If only we had noticed a bit earlier, we wouldn't have had to turn the Capital into ashes. I'm sorry."

"... No, even if you noticed, it would be impossible to have all citizens remove their earrings. Prisoners might not willingly remove them, either. These earrings are proof of being a citizen of the Empire. No matter how people of the Kingdom explain to them, they..."

Sai, having been terrified of being manipulated, quickly took it off, but removing it was an act of abandoning the identity of being a citizen of the Empire.
If we use the fact that we are the victorious nation and order them to be removed, we'll need a follow-up plan.

It's probably a good thing that it got removed from Naruhito’s ear earlier.
Gently touching his earlobe, I could only pray for him to wake up soon.

Next: https://www.patreon.com/posts/92855096