My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Father Hides His Strength
Chapter 109
It’s Father.
It really is Father.
My legs gave way beneath me, and I collapsed to the ground.
Everyone held their breath.
Father’s Black War Horse crested the ridge of Divine Beast corpses and came to a halt.
His eyes, now close enough to see, were fixed entirely on me.
“Father….”
He dismounted slowly, moving toward me one uncertain step at a time.
“Uncle!”
Leon threw down his sword and cried out, rushing toward Father first.
Father smiled weakly, placing a hand on Leon’s head. “…You did well. You’ve worked hard.”
“…You did well. You’ve worked hard.”
“Yes… Uncle….”
Then, with faltering steps, he came before me and knelt down.
“Lilis….”
“Father! I—I—wahhhhh!”
I managed to stand, and threw myself into his waiting arms.
The arms holding me trembled. Thump, thump. Even the wild pounding of his heart….
“…It’s all right now.”
His hand, stroking my back, shook even more than I did.
“Sniff… Father… Father….”
“It’s all right. It’s all right, my daughter.”
Afraid that something might have happened to me.
Terrified we might never see each other again.
“Lilis….”
He was frightened.
My father, who I thought feared nothing….
In this moment, more than anyone.
“Father’s here now…. You’re safe, Lilis….”
“Yes… yes, I….”
Even as he trembled, Father held me close and soothed my tears for a long while.
* * *
At that very moment.
In Jedo, Enoch Rubinstein’s strategist Joseph tried to calm his anxious mind as he thought.
‘Lilis will be fine. She’ll be fine. Nordic is there, and the Duke as well…. I’ll find a way to save the child. I just need to do what I can do here.’
Octava-level ability users had been conscripted.
The Emperor, clearly, intended to exploit this sudden Divine Beast crisis to strike at Enoch’s only weakness—his daughter.
‘He must have grown impatient because of the Divine Revelation. Now that cracks are showing in his Absolute Power, Continental Unification must feel all the more urgent to him.’
If Continental Unification were completed, the Emperor’s position would be unshakeable.
But without Enoch, it was impossible.
‘He grew desperate and tried to seize the Duke’s leash, but he moved too hastily.’
Joseph began to devise how he might turn this situation to his advantage.
Though he had issued deployment orders even to Octava-level conscripts without military service obligations, in a time of war when Jedo itself was threatened, such measures were unavoidable.
But.
That he had ordered all active personnel to deploy, thereby weakening Jedo’s defenses—this alone was a glaring strategic blunder by the Emperor.
‘As Supreme Commander, it was a fatal miscalculation.’
For all his claims to be the apex predator of Absolute Power, there were grounds aplenty to hold against him.
If he stirred the mood in Jedo using this crisis….
“Kyaaahhh!”
“Ahhhhh!”
But then.
Something wholly unexpected occurred.
Divine Beasts suddenly flooded the entrance to Jedo.
At that moment, the Emperor—
—dashed into the street barefoot.
And without a single casualty, he defended Jedo and annihilated the Divine Beasts.
“Fear not, my people! My loyal subjects of the realm! You shall be safe!”
Joseph watched him with a hollow expression.
Divine Beasts threatening even Jedo itself.
‘What on earth is this?’
Those who remained in Jedo wouldn’t have known much about the situation unfolding outside, but now they felt the true gravity of the Divine Beast crisis.
The Emperor’s decision to deploy all military forces to the south, where the Divine Beasts first appeared.
It meant his judgment could no longer be dismissed as a blunder.
“Though I committed all our forces to contain the Divine Beast crisis, you need not fear even with Jedo emptied—for I stand with you! The almighty Primera protects you all.”
The omnipotent Primera’s protection.
“I shall safeguard each of you, even if it costs me my very life!”
Those remaining in Jedo found reassurance.
‘Clever indeed.’
If the Emperor performed such a display at this precise moment….
‘So he won’t submit meekly after all?’
Joseph watched Divine Beasts fall helplessly before the Emperor’s power, his lips pressed thin.
It was gratifying that those in Jedo were safe….
‘What is this—do these Divine Beasts possess intelligence? Why does it seem like they’re playing into the Emperor’s hand?’
Joseph’s frustration deepened.
Yet simultaneously, his mind raced with calculation.
‘Then it’s Plan B.’
Joseph clicked his tongue and turned away.
‘I won’t squander such a convenient Divine Beast crisis.’
Joseph Lütman.
He never gambled on a game without possibility.
And once he did, he had never failed.
* * *
Enoch swiftly brought the situation in Wurgen under control.
He’d expected new waves of Divine Beasts to emerge on thirty-minute intervals, but….
“Papa, I think the monsters aren’t coming anymore. Can’t you send the children home quickly?”
Lilis said as much.
The child seemed to know something.
“Why do you think they won’t come?”
“Well, um….”
The child hesitated, searching for words. Then she whispered softly.
“B-because Your Majesty the Emperor is a bad person…. Maybe… maybe the Emperor called the monsters….”
At those words, Enoch went numb.
And soon, he could dimly piece together the chain of events.
A monster bearing Divine Power.
Primera must be….
Capable of controlling not just humans, but Divine Beasts as well.
Lilis had been trying to tell him exactly that.
And.
The reason the child was certain no more Divine Beasts would emerge.
‘The Emperor… has obtained everything he wanted according to plan.’
The Emperor must have deliberately orchestrated this crisis by controlling the Divine Beasts.
Lilis—the being most precious to Enoch….
To demonstrate that he could grasp her in his hand and shake her whenever he pleased.
So the Emperor would not have wished for the child’s death.
To throw Enoch into confusion, to make him feel as though his heart were being torn from his chest, to have him rescue his daughter by the narrowest margin.
That was likely what the Emperor had orchestrated.
And it had unfolded exactly as intended.
“Truly.”
Enoch spoke in a hollow voice, almost to himself.
No more Divine Beasts emerged in Wurgen.
And when he returned to Jedo leading the boy soldiers and the Octava….
Upon seeing his father, Nordic, being detained, he was certain once more.
The Emperor’s guard invoked the absurd pretext of courtesy toward a retired soldier, holding back Nordic who had tried to follow Lilis.
‘They couldn’t allow Father to be the one to save Lilis.’
Nordic, aching as deeply as Enoch himself, wept the moment he held Lilis in his arms at Pavil Temple.
“I’ll stay with Grandfather. Papa, go back to where you are with Aunt and Uncle and the others…. If you think Papa ran away like before, what will I do….”
When he returned to the south, to Olden, after entrusting Lilis to Nordic….
Olden was exactly as he’d anticipated.
After Enoch’s departure, the Divine Beasts ceased their appearances, or so they said.
“Why do you have that look on your face?”
Even with the situation resolved without further incident, Enoch could not bring himself to smile.
“…You know how it is. In battle, casualties are inevitable. It’s not your fault—don’t blame yourself.”
Axion tried to comfort Enoch.
Yet Enoch could not steady himself as he gazed upon the bodies of his comrades.
Fifteen soldiers had fallen in this Divine Beast suppression at Olden.
When counting even the entire Demon Sword Knights who perished, the toll numbered in the hundreds.
‘They didn’t have to die.’
His comrades had not sacrificed themselves honorably to protect their nation’s safety.
Sadly, they had been sacrificed for the Emperor’s greed—for one man’s hunger for power.
Unable to voice this truth aloud, Enoch trembled alone in his anguish.
“…I’m sorry.”
All he could offer his fallen comrades now was a meager apology.
Guilt tightened around his throat.
The Emperor coveted his ability.
He understood that every tragedy stemmed from this hunger to wield him as a tool.
“Forgive me….”
The ruined earth.
From the eyes of the man kneeling on the shattered battlefield, hot tears spilled down.
* * *
The Divine Beast crisis was quelled in a single day.
That evening.
Father took out his Black Military Uniform and hung it on the wall, then stood before it in silence for a long time.
Tomorrow, the Imperial Household would complete the aftermath procedures and hold a joint funeral and memorial service for the fallen ability users, he’d said.
‘What must he be thinking right now?’
I couldn’t sleep, so I kept watching his back.
Feeling my gaze, Father smiled and lay down beside me.
“I’m sorry, little one. Our princess needs her sleep, but Father has been awake far too long, hasn’t he? Come now, let’s settle down.”
Father tucked me under the blanket and lay beside me, gently brushing my hair back.
In that gaze sweeping carefully across my face lay both tenderness and relief.
“Phew, little one. I thought my heart would burst out of my chest today.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The moment I finished reading Grandfather’s letter, everything went black.”
……
“What if something happened to our princess? What if that terrible monster took you away?”
Father laughed and sighed.
Then, brushing my hair back tenderly once more, he spoke.
“I never knew I could be this weak.”
“That’s not true! How could Father be weak? You’re the strongest in the whole world!”
“No. When I imagine my princess being hurt, my heart just drops and I can’t think straight at all.”
……
“Little one.”
Father brushed my cheek and continued.
“I don’t think I could live without my little princess. So you must never be injured, never fall ill, and grow up strong and healthy.”
“I will.”
“Never go to dangerous places, and if something like today happens again. Then.”
……
“Don’t do anything—just wait for Father.”
“Okay….”
“No matter what happens, Father will come rescue our princess, so you must always wait for me. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“Good, my little one….”
Father chuckled softly and pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Now sleep. Our princess has had such a hard day today—sleep as much as you need. Even when the sun says good morning, Father won’t wake you.”
“Okay, I understand.”
I smiled and nestled deeper into Father’s arms.
That was when.
“Excuse me, over there!”
Outside grew noisy.
“Wait a moment! What is this? Hold on! Stop, please!”
It was Rem’s voice—the butler.
Father jerked upright.
“What’s wrong?”
Thump-thump-thump—two sets of hurried footsteps drew closer to our room.
“Over here!”
With Rem’s cry, the door burst open.
And there stood—
‘What—what is this? Master?’
Oscar? Out of nowhere?
I rubbed my eyes in case I was seeing a mirage, then looked again.
It was really Oscar.
Disheveled beyond measure.
Ragged, labored breathing.
His eyes unfocused, wild with something I couldn’t place—
‘What’s Oscar doing here…?’
I quickly glanced at the grandfather clock standing in the corner of the room.
The hands had already passed eleven.
It was everyone’s bedtime—
Father, equally bewildered, exchanged rapid glances with me before rising swiftly to block my path, his voice sharp with suspicion.
“Now, what are you doing here? Looking for a fight?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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