My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 141

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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 concealing his strength
Chapter 141
“…Your Eminence?”
Aleksei pressed him forward.
Timothy’s vision swam white, his trembling legs barely carrying him forward.
‘It’s fine. What does it matter? His Majesty’s grace is with me.’
He had to be able to hear it.
The Emperor must have lent his power so the Sacred Artifact would safely fall into his hands.
So then, so then….
“Ah.”
His weathered, wrinkled hand grasped the hilt of the sword.
“……!”
But nothing answered.
He poured strength into his grip, yet the blade didn’t budge an inch.
“Hmph.”
Aleksei, watching from beside him, exhaled slowly.
“Your Eminence.”
Cold sweat traced down Timothy’s spine.
“Your Eminence?”
“…….”
“It seems the Sacred Artifact has not chosen you as its master.”
Aleksei placed a hand on Timothy’s frozen shoulder, then smiled faintly and spoke.
“There’s no point continuing. We should return.”
* * *
The Emperor, Nicholas, sat reading the Divine Revelation brought by the deputy high priest in place of the absent high priest on his expedition.
<My pitiable little servant.
The hour for you to enter my sacred temple has not yet come.
I grant you this miracle: that you may live out the full span of life I have prepared for you, and come to me in your time.>
Nicholas laughed hollowly.
‘Our Mother is truly desperate.’
A Divine Revelation declaring she would awaken Enoch’s daughter whom he had cast into the Sacred Fire himself.
Three times now the voice of the god had thwarted him.
Now all his plans lay in ruins.
Before the divine power no human could touch, even his resolve had withered.
‘The god has returned…, then.’
The Absolute One who had long ago ceded power to the royal house and vanished from sight.
And the god who had reappeared in his own generation was unmistakably angry.
Why?
His own father, his grandfather….
They had wielded the formidable power of Primera and ruled through theocratic autocracy, expanding the Empire’s influence and territory.
Nicholas, who had grown watching all of this, harbored the same ambition.
A strong nation.
The sole great power.
In the end, to leave only the Empire’s name beneath this heaven.
He had to place the final period on his ancestors’ achievements in his own time.
He had lived for that his entire life.
And now the god asked him to abandon it?
“Mother.”
Nicholas spoke softly to the god and laughed.
What the god plainly desired was ‘peace’.
“I understand well what you desire….”
Because of all these recent events, the long-cherished ambition that had seemed within reach would now grow distant.
Until the god’s voice faded and the atmosphere of Jedo could be reestablished, years of waiting would be needed again.
“I will never, ever surrender.”
At that moment, a voice announced someone at the door.
“Your Majesty, the expedition has returned. Aleksei, the expedition commander, and the High Priest request an audience with you.”
“Yes, show them in.”
Nicholas received them as though he had been waiting.
* * *
“Hmm.”
Oscar’s eyelids lifted slowly as he stirred.
‘What? Did I fall asleep?’
Beyond the window, crimson dusk poured in.
He must have slept quite a while.
Oscar’s eyes snapped fully open in surprise.
A dreamless sleep.
For him, tormented by nightmares ever since his return, this was unprecedented.
‘The child….’
Lilis sprang suddenly to mind.
He turned his head in alarm.
‘Ah.’
There lay the child, plump cheeks pressed against the pillow, sleeping soundly with a slight smile.
…….
Twilight cast across her white face.
Her sleeping expression looked so peaceful that Oscar couldn’t help but smile.
‘She snores while sleeping. Kids are something else.’
In the quiet room, the sound of the child’s breathing carried clearly.
Her steady, soft exhalations—whoosh, whoosh—were so endearing that Oscar barely managed to stifle a laugh.
With his mouth corners naturally lifting, how long had he stood there unable to tear his gaze from the child’s face?
Only then did he feel a presence.
‘Damn.’
Enoch stood by the window.
The man was staring at Oscar with obvious amusement barely contained on his face.
“The princess’s face is going to wear out from all this gazing~”
“Be quiet.”
Oscar carefully climbed down from the bed, wary of waking the child, and approached Enoch.
Enoch’s gaze had already drifted back toward the window.
“What are you staring at so intently?”
Oscar peered outside.
From Lilis’s room, the imposing Great Temple building was visible, if small.
‘Ah, I see.’
Oscar let out a quiet chuckle.
The plaza before the temple was teeming with people for some reason.
* * *
The High Priest’s complexion was ashen.
One could tell from his expression alone that something had gone wrong.
“Your Majesty, I report on the results of the expedition.”
Aleksei, who had led the expedition, bowed his head before Nicholas.
“You labored well. But judging by the fact that you’ve brought nothing back, it seems matters went awry somehow.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Aleksei reported, finding the Emperor’s seemingly calm expression perplexing.
“Unlike the Divine Revelation, the Holy Beasts guarding the Sacred Artifact proved aggressive. We dealt with them directly and did discover the artifact, but….”
“What was it?”
“A sword, Your Majesty.”
“A sword? I see. And why could you not retrieve the Sacred Artifact?”
“According to the Divine Revelation, only the rightful owner of the Sacred Artifact can retrieve it. Every expedition member, and even the High Priest himself, found it impossible to take hold of the artifact.”
“Ah, so that happened again.”
Nicholas clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Naturally, I assumed the rightful owner would be our High Priest, the most faithful servant in this Empire, so I sent him along. But it appears the true owner is the priest from the Seraph Temple who received the Divine Revelation.”
Nicholas issued a command.
“Then Aleksei, bring that priest with you and return to Alpen to retrieve the Sacred Artifact.”
“…Yes?”
Aleksei was taken aback.
Why did the Emperor show not the slightest trace of alarm?
Surely he must have wanted the artifact to rest in the High Priest’s hands….
“…I accept the command.”
Aleksei left in bewilderment, and the office fell silent with only the two of them remaining.
In that quiet atmosphere, Timothy began to tremble pathologically.
“Your Majesty… Your Majesty…. I have devoted my loyalty solely to you. I….”
A false Divine Revelation, created at the Emperor’s behest.
It was exposed.
Now the Emperor would naturally withdraw, and Timothy would have to die alone.
Timothy saw his fate written plainly before him, and fear seized him.
“B-but, people are already gathering outside the temple… Once my false revelation is confirmed, they’ll all throw stones at me, curse me….”
“Ah, High Priest. Don’t tremble.”
Yet Nicholas regarded Timothy with a sorrowful expression, his voice gentle.
“You merely helped me, didn’t you? Surely you don’t think I would be so shameless as to abandon my loyal servant when matters go awry?”
“Your… Your Majesty…?”
“Fear not. I have a plan. I shall go to the temple myself and explain this situation before all the people.”
“What? Your Majesty will… will go yourself?”
Nicholas laughed generously at Timothy’s shocked expression.
“So our High Priest needn’t worry about anything. Simply wait for me.”
* * *
“Those people are waiting to throw stones at that old priest, aren’t they?”
“Likely.”
Oscar, gazing out the window, posed the question; Enoch answered curtly.
“Poor old man. This will be quite a blow for him. A pity.”
Despite his sympathetic words, Oscar chuckled darkly.
In this affair, where the High Priest had sold God’s name with lies, there seemed no way for him to escape.
“He’ll be boiled, won’t he?”
“Boiled?”
Enoch’s blue eyes, fixed on the distant temple, gleamed coldly.
“The High Priest.”
When the hunt ends, the hunting dog is boiled in a pot.
Much more so a useless old hunting dog that has bungled the hunt.
The Emperor would never let him live.
Rather, he would share out the well-boiled dog meat while concealing his own failure in the hunt.
* * *
Four days later.
The reclusive High Priest Timothy prepared to go out, trembling.
Had the High Priest really lied?
On the first day, people had come merely curious before the temple; now they called out Timothy’s name with shouts and curses.
The expedition that had departed with Zadkiel, the young priest of Seraph Temple, had returned safely with the Sacred Artifact.
Thus Zadkiel’s Divine Revelation was proven true, and Timothy was branded a deceiver who had trafficked in God’s name.
‘Your Majesty will come….’
The Emperor had said he would not abandon Timothy. He had promised to come himself, bringing his precious person to this very place.
But Timothy remained anxious.
He could not fathom what the Emperor meant to explain or how he intended to save him.
“There’s the High Priest!”
“Why did he lie!”
“He deceived God!”
Timothy’s breathing grew ragged as he emerged from the temple.
They waited to see if his lips would open and what excuse might fall from them.
* * *
Then, among the crowd gathered before the temple, Axion stood shrouded in a hooded robe.
“Your personality is strange indeed. Why did you suggest we come to watch? Are you eager to throw stones with them?”
Beside him stood Cheshire.
“…No. I wanted to see the Emperor’s face.”
“The Emperor? Would such a precious person come here? He’d want nothing to do with that squeezed-out High Priest.”
The High Priest had fallen into an abyss beyond redemption.
His ruin was regrettable, but the Emperor was not the sort to sever his tail and flee—nor to shelter the High Priest. He would simply run.
Yet contrary to Axion’s expectation.
“Your… Your Majesty!”
“The Emperor approaches!”
The Emperor himself was advancing before the temple.
‘What? He really came? Did he think it would be wasteful to let the High Priest go? But there’s nothing in it for him if he defends the priest here?’
Axion was taken aback.
Just moments before, the High Priest had been trembling, but now the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
“Your Majesty the Emperor!”
“Behold the great Primera!”
Everyone trembled and hurried to prostrate themselves before the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty….”
The Emperor approached the High Priest, who stood frozen and vacant-eyed.
The High Priest’s face had gone pale.
“Hear me.”
The Emperor addressed the gathered crowd.
“The High Priest has dared to fabricate Divine Revelation and mock both myself and the people of the Empire, deceiving even God.”
Cheshire watched from a distance.
He had not come here to hear the High Priest’s excuses, nor to witness his final moments.
He had come only to burn the Emperor’s face into the very depths of his own eyes.
“Not only has he failed to hear the voice of God, but he has abused the authority of his station to create this fraudulent atmosphere in Jedo — a crime I cannot overlook.”
“Your Majesty? I….”
Each word fell like a thorn, sharp and cutting, and the High Priest suddenly found himself gripped by dread.
“As master of the Empire, I cannot stand idle before such treachery, and thus I have come in person to punish this deceiver and make an example that all may see.”
What did he mean?
The bewildered High Priest reached out with withered hands to grasp the hem of the Emperor’s crimson cloak.
“Your Majesty―!”
“Behold!”
The Emperor’s face burned with fury as he raised his right arm in solemn majesty.
In that moment.
The light of life drained instantly from the old High Priest’s eyes.
Silence.
Then, from every corner, the sound of breath being held.
All stood frozen in shock.
Yet Cheshire alone remained unmoved, watching the Emperor with eyes void of feeling.
Thud.
Soon after, the still-warm body of the High Priest collapsed forward.

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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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