True, but having something to talk about and speculate/try to predict while we wait for the next update is fun, isn´t not?
It might be, if it was born out of something that actually happened.
Instead of some fantasy about Lyriel being an S&M sex slave coming from your misinterpretation of the servant route to mean sadist/masochistic tendencies, which have never been introduced, or even hinted at.
If it's not substantiated by, or is contradictory to, the game's content, then it's just fantasy, or nonsense.
1- When a developer mentions a "route", as opposed to "story", it is LOGIC that dictates that another route exists or is planned. Your decision to declare one of the reasonales for my confusion a "expectation" had nothing to do with the point in question. Hence, a non sequitur;
No. It does not. Logic dictates nothing of the sort.
A route is the term for a character's passage, from point A to point B, in the story. Nothing more.
They are also sometimes referred to as "a path". It means the same thing.
Look up the definition of "route". Please.
You will learn that it is not dependant upon any other route existing, whatsoever.
So when a dev mentions a "route", it means exactly what the word does, unless the dev specifies otherwise.
A path from the start to the destination.
Not "one of many" paths. It may be one of many, but it does not need to be to qualify as a "route".
If there is only one way to travel to a place, then there is only one route.
The reason why you mistakenly conflated "sex slave" and "servant" was because of your own incorrect expectation that they would be the same thing.
Seriously, did the 2 instances with the book about the master & the maid that she was getting turned on by, plus her coming to clean up your room, not give you a clue what type of sub "servant" the route was? She's already doing the dishes and the bathroom cleaning.
The reason you do not understand what's happening with her path, is for the same reason.
Your misinterpretation of what the servant route is, is what led you to incorrectly expect that abusive behaviour was coming, when it did not.
But you were not given any real reason to expect it to.
You also expected there to be an alternative route, which there currently is not.
Hence not a "non-sequitur". Your own expectations are what led you to each of these positions.
So, now that you know you had a misinterpretation of what "servant" means, as well as what "route" means, perhaps you will understand why you expecting to see some S&M ("exacerbate her issues, breaking her pride and make her believe that she was good for nothing except a sex slave.") abuse on the "servant route" was incorrect.
Hence me advising, in my very first response, that: "the only thing that seems to be a misinterpretation is your expectation."