My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 14

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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 Hiding His Strength
Chapter 14
I’d been scrambling for an excuse when I stopped myself short.
‘Wait. Actually… this might not be so bad?’
What’s wrong with having a clever little girl who had some talent for Mental Arithmetic?
On top of that, I was the daughter of Enoch Rubinstein—that paragon of wisdom, virtue, and talent.
‘The protagonist’s daughter can be smart, right?’
I had mountains of things to do; I couldn’t waste any more time reciting multiplication tables.
Better to rush through the basics and graduate, change course entirely.
Once I’d made up my mind, I let out a whoop of joy.
“Teacher! Did I get them all right?”
“Y-yes… H-how on earth did you—?”
“Hehe! You explained it so well, Teacher, it was easy!”
“But I didn’t explain—”
“Two apples appearing three times go pop and become six! Thank you so much for teaching me, Teacher.”
I bowed politely from my seat, bending at the waist.
“Y-yes, but nineteen apples appearing nine times becoming one hundred seventy-one apples—I never taught you that….”
“T-teacher!”
Let’s just move past this. Please.
I bounced my short legs under the desk, playing eager for more lessons.
“You said Division comes after Multiplication! It’s sooo much fun! Please teach me quickly!”
“…….”
Rena blinked blankly for a moment, then her expression grew flushed with excitement, and she wet her dry lips.
She spread out the Problem Sheets she’d been holding with a flourish and spoke.
“In my assessment, Young Lady, you are undoubtedly a Once-in-a-century talent, a Genius the likes of which appears perhaps once in a hundred years.”
Oh no, this is bad….
“What? Lirys?”
“What’s ‘once-in-a-century’?”
Theo and Leon each chiming in.
“Young Lady, from now on I shall dedicate myself entirely to your education.”
Rena, resolve hardening in her voice.
There I sat, having solved a handful of Multiplication problems and earned praise as a Genius, drowning in indescribable shame.
Never imagining the catastrophe my actions would later set in motion….
* * *
Late afternoon.
Enoch was in his Study Room, scribbling away at documents without pause.
“Sigh.”
His daughter’s guess had been entirely correct—he wouldn’t have time to spare.
Taking over all the Duke’s duties that Nordic had been managing meant there were never enough hours in the day.
‘No time to play with my princess….’
Readjusting to the title of Duke after seven years of absence was headache-inducing work, but he persisted.
If he was to live as Duke Enoch and not as Mr. James Brown, this return to duty was unavoidable.
“Right, that’s enough!”
Though mountains of documents still had another half-pile remaining, Enoch shot to his feet.
He had no intention of becoming a father too busy to play with his child.
“Time to play with my princess.”
Enoch threw down his pen and hurried from the Study Room.
Bang.
As he opened the door, a butler was standing there, apparently about to enter.
“Oh, Rem.”
“Where are you headed, sir?”
“To my little girl.”
“Young Lady has gone out, sir.”
“What? With whom?”
“Ordia took her out. She said they’d be fitting Young Lady’s clothes at the Clothing Room and stopping by the Dessert Shop. The young masters went along as well.”
“What, big sister? Leaving me out like this?”
“Hehe, is now the time for the young master to be gallivanting about on outings, with so much work waiting?”
At Rem’s pointed smile and sharper words, Enoch shuffled back to his desk with a grumble.
“…Fine, I’ll just finish this then. But why did you come?”
“I thought you’d be wondering, so I came to report on a few things. Young Lady had her first lesson today, after all.”
“That’s right, I did ask Father to assign her an etiquette instructor. How was our daughter? She must have struggled with all that tedious studying.”
“Oh, no sir. The instructors all left singing her praises. The Duke received their reports and he’s quite pleased with her.”
Rem raised both thumbs in approval.
“As expected of you, sir. You haven’t neglected the Young Lady’s education either.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything. What did our daughter do that’s so special? And wait—hold on. You said instructors? Plural?”
“Yes. Social studies, mathematics, economics, literature, history, etiquette. It was only the first lesson, but….”
Rem’s voice trailed off.
Enoch’s jaw clenched visibly, trembling with barely suppressed anger.
“What—what’s wrong, sir? Is something the matter?”
“Get out of my way.”
“Young Master? Sir?”
Enoch shoved Rem aside and stormed down the corridor, his footsteps thundering against the floor.
His furious path led straight to his father’s Study Room—Nordic Rubinstein’s domain.
“Father!”
Enoch burst through the door without knocking, and Nordic, who had been speaking with a bespectacled woman, frowned sharply.
“What is it?”
“Are you joking? I trusted you with her, and you’ve kept her chained to a desk all day?”
Bang!
“Good heavens!”
Enoch struck the desk with his fist so violently that the woman standing beside it jumped back in alarm.
“I was very clear that I only wanted an etiquette instructor.”
“Lower your voice.”
“A seven-year-old child, locked in a study room except at mealtimes?”
He had only asked that Nordic ensure she learned the basic etiquette befitting a noble family—nothing more.
When Rem reported the rest—social studies, economics, and who knew what else—Enoch’s eyes had gone wild with fury.
Nordic answered calmly.
“She bears the Rubinstein name. How could we allow her education to suffer?”
“Your Grace, she’s only seven years old. She should be playing at her age. And you agreed—basic etiquette before the Academy, nothing more. Once she returns, I’ll handle her education myself, properly and—”
“Enough. I told the instructors only to introduce themselves today. It was Lirys who asked to take the lessons.”
“Father.”
Enoch raked a hand through his hair, breathing hard with rage.
“Lirys is a mature child. She’s already learned to read her grandfather’s moods. She couldn’t possibly dismiss the instructors you brought, so she forced herself through those lessons out of obligation.”
“That’s not what the reports suggest. The instructors said she appeared to have received education beyond her years.”
“I haven’t taught her anything special. The child is simply intelligent.”
Enoch ground out the words between clenched teeth.
“Dismiss all the instructors except the etiquette teacher. And don’t lay a hand on my daughter’s education again. The rest is mine to handle once she returns from the Academy.”
Enoch turned to leave, then finally noticed the woman standing beside Nordic and glared at her.
“And who are you?”
“I… I’m mathematics, sir….”
Enoch closed his eyes slowly and took a measured breath to contain his fury.
“Your Grace? Would you perhaps listen to what I have to say?”
“Stop sulking and hear what the teacher has to offer. This is Rena, the mathematics instructor.”
“There’s nothing to hear.”
Enoch dismissed Rena with a cold glance.
“You need not come tomorrow.”
“No, that won’t do, Your Grace.”
“What?”
“The Young Lady has a natural gift for mathematics. She possesses genuine passion for learning. She requires further instruction.”
“I’ll manage her education. I’m not saying I won’t teach her—only that I’ll do so at a pace suited to her age, slowly and—”
Whoosh.
Rena unrolled a sheet of paper before Enoch, spreading it out with a sharp gesture.
The childish, uneven handwriting was unmistakably Lirys’s.
Enoch stared at the page, his jaw clenching audibly.
“…You’ve had a seven-year-old doing Multiplication. Up to nineteen times nine, no less….”
“That’s not even half of it!”
“I’ve only taught her Addition and Subtraction so far….”
“Yes, yes! When I asked the Young Lady what she’d already learned, she said you’d taught her Subtraction. She asked me to teach her Multiplication, so I only explained the principle—that two times three equals six. But then—”
Rena laid out several more sheets across the desk.
Division, the four basic operations, and even Fractions and Decimals were densely covered in her writing.
Enoch’s mouth fell open as he stared at them.
“Are you joking right now? What on earth were you teaching a seven-year-old?”
“P-please, calm down. I only said I would teach her Division so as not to strain her, but the Young Lady found it so enjoyable that she asked me to teach her more.”
Rena set down the Problem Sheet with composure.
“Moreover, look at this. She didn’t miss a single problem. I knew from the moment she calculated nineteen times nine in her head using Mental Arithmetic alone.”
Rena’s voice took on a grave tone.
“The Young Lady is a genius. A mathematical genius—the kind that appears once in a century, if that.”
“…….”
“Teach her one thing, and she grasps ten. I showed her Division, and she immediately understood the concept of Fractions. She grew curious about the numbers between zero and one, and before I could say anything, she was experimenting with Decimals on her own.”
“That’s….”
“I truly did almost nothing. I was so uncertain whether this was really the level of a seven-year-old that I asked the other instructors as well.”
“Listen.”
Nordic, taking up where Rena left off, produced the day’s lesson materials from the drawer where he’d been keeping them.
“The other instructors were only expecting to meet with Lirys and conduct standard lessons. It was Lirys who pestered them to make it interesting. From what I can see, there’s no sign she was forced into anything against her will.”
Enoch quietly scanned his daughter’s crooked handwriting.
Social Studies. Economics. Literature. History.
Though these were clearly subjects she was encountering for the first time, her notes were remarkably organized and precise.
“Duke.”
Rena adjusted her glasses as she spoke.
“The Young Lady is undoubtedly a genius. You mentioned she’s perceptive, but no—a face alight with the joy of learning cannot be faked.”
“…….”
“A genius.”
Enoch’s eyes blinked slowly as he emerged from silence.
“A true genius.”
Rena’s voice whispered like a demon in his ear.
“A complete genius.”
The corners of Enoch’s mouth trembled as though about to curve upward.

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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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