ASASSN-14ko timing permits constant orbital decay if emission delays vary by at least seven days under stated error bounds

We test whether flare timing alone excludes steady orbital decay in ASASSN-14ko. We use 23 optical rise and Swift UV timing estimates from a prior SCI study. A linear program fits the epoch, initial period and marker offset while it minimizes the range of a common emission delay. At a fixed period derivative of -0.0026, the minimum range is 7.007 days for intervals of plus or minus twice the reported error with a one-day floor in quadrature. A contrast of three optical rise times cancels epoch and period and proves the same lower bound. A feasible delay history attains it. Adding 21 published peak estimates raises the bound to 9.692 days under a shared-delay assumption. A three-day error floor reduces the primary bound to zero. Fixed-delay forecast failures therefore need not exclude constant orbital decay. We give conditional future rise-time envelopes for specified delay caps. This is a method and a reanalysis of existing timing products, not new photometry or a physical model of delay. The bounds depend on marker stability and the assumed error intervals.