My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 143

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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 conceals his strength
143
* * *
The day of the formal Knighthood Ceremony for the Boy Soldiers arrived.
A man dressed in brilliant Silver Armor and a Blue Cloak gazed past the mirror with eyes that gleamed sharp and purposeful.
His gaze had grown deeper, keener than before.
“Ah.”
Yet those fierce eyes softened at once, as though remembering someone, growing misty and tender.
“My little princess was so looking forward to today. What a shame she can’t be there.”
For days before the Knighthood Ceremony and the Banquet that would follow, Lilis had been brimming with excitement, eager to go and offer her congratulations in person.
She had every reason to be.
Cheshire was Lilis’s twin—her closest companion—and today marked a once-in-a-lifetime milestone for him.
Though Cheshire was not yet sixteen, the age normally required for formal knighthood, the Dark Swordsmen Corps was severely understaffed, so he had been made an exception and inducted into the elite regiment a year ahead of schedule.
“But listen here.”
Enoch turned with a smile.
“Do you two have something to tell me?”
The two maids, Jetti and Jun, who had been glancing at Enoch repeatedly, flinched.
“Sir, I—ah!”
Jetti jabbed Jun sharply in the ribs just as she was about to speak.
“Not at all, sir. You look absolutely magnificent today. Please go and return safely!”
“Right, then. When do you think our little princess will finish at the Salon?”
“Ah, well… I suppose no one knows for sure? Since it’s the very first day the Salon is opening…”
“I suppose not.”
The Young Lady Salon.
An exclusive social gathering for young ladies of Ranks 4 Octava through 6 Diez, opening for the first time today.
The principle governing this gathering was anonymity—no mention of family, status, or rank.
Joseph, Enoch’s strategist, had devised the Salon as part of a larger effort to blur the distinctions of the Class System among the lower ranks.
“My little princess…”
Enoch sighed and laughed, thinking of Lilis.
What a remarkable daughter I have.
Knowing full well that the Salon’s purpose was part of a greater revolution, Lilis had foregone her long-anticipated celebration at the Banquet to attend the gathering instead.
“Ah, I’m running late. I’ll be back. Thank you for today.”
Enoch swept from the room.
The two maids were left behind.
Jun glared at Jetti.
“Why did you do that? You should have told him!”
“Told him what? Do you want him to see the Paladin Order commander abandoning the Knighthood Ceremony to go to a girls’ salon? Without even his wife—with her father, no less? Have you lost your mind?”
Both were members of the intelligence guild known as the Red Sparrow, and they were worried because of a rumor they’d picked up beforehand.
“But what about the young lady! Think how mortified she’ll be!”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why I’m losing my mind.”
In four years, the Empire had undergone changes both large and small, but the Class System, entrenched for centuries, had naturally not crumbled overnight.
The parents who had sent their daughters to the Salon did not necessarily accept the true purpose behind its anonymous structure.
And so, after the Salon concluded, all the noble ladies had apparently planned to surprise their daughters by picking them up themselves.
In other words—
‘No matter what, we must let them know which house our daughter belongs to!’
—a sentiment of that nature.
“Ugh, this is unbearable. Just thinking about it makes me sick.”
Jun grabbed her head.
Lilis would emerge from the Salon having spent a wonderful time playing with friends her own age.
But the moment she stepped outside, her friends would cry “Mother!” and run to embrace the noble ladies who had come to collect them.
And Lilis, who didn’t have a mother, would be left standing alone in the middle of it all, dazed and bewildered…
“Argh!”
Jun thrashed about to dispel the horrifying image, grabbing Jetti by the collar.
“What should we do? Should we go pick up the young lady ourselves?”
“Are you insane? What would a maid be doing there? You’d only make the young lady look foolish!”
“Really, though, sister. I just can’t understand these noble ladies. I feel so sorry for the young lady. Just imagine—all those mothers gathered in one place.”
A situation with no good solution.
Of course, if Enoch learned what was happening, he would naturally go to collect his daughter.
But if the Duke of Rubinstein were to appear in person at that gathering, the true purpose of the Salon would be overshadowed…
And since all the noble ladies were planning to show up anyway, did the Salon’s purpose even matter anymore?
On the other hand, I worried about Lilis sitting alone holding her father’s hand in a place full of mothers.…
“Sister! Wait! I just had a good idea!”
“What is it?”
Joon’s eyes lit up.
* * *
“What are you two doing here?”
Theo Antrase looked puzzled at Lilis’s handmaidens, Jetti and Joon, whom he’d run into just as he was about to leave.
“Young Master, we came to see the Duchess. We had something we wanted to ask of her.…”
“Mother? What?”
Leon suddenly cut in.
“Boys! Receive your honors well, and I’ll see you at the Banquet later!”
At that moment, Duchess Antrase, Ordia, who had been descending the stairs from the second floor, paused.
“Wow, you look stunning today.”
Her husband, Aleksei, stood with his mouth agape in admiration.
His wife, dressed up splendidly for the Banquet, was radiant.
“Young lady, do you have anyone waiting for you? If not, how about a cup of tea with me today?”
“Move aside.”
Ordia approached in an instant, pushed away Aleksei who was teasing her smoothly, and went to Jetti and Joon.
“What brings you two here?”
“They said they have something to ask you, Mother.”
When Theo spoke, Jetti and Joon hesitated.
They’d come because they were worried about Lilis, but today was the twins’ once-in-a-lifetime Knighthood Ceremony.
No matter how dear their young lady was, weren’t the sons her priority?
“What is it? Tell me.”
“It’s our young lady’s first day at the Young Lady Salon today.…”
“Yes, I know. And?”
Instead of Jetti, who was hesitating after broaching the subject, Joon blurted it out.
“All the noblewomen are going to pick up their daughters who are attending the Salon today! That means our young lady will come home alone, and we’re worried!”
“What?”
Ordia was startled.
The Salon was deliberately run anonymously to blur the lines of lower Ranks.
But noblewomen were actually going to pick up their daughters in person?
‘Oh, I see. That makes sense. An anonymous social gathering probably still feels awkward and unpleasant to the aristocracy.’
When she thought about it, it made perfect sense.
“Oh, then that’s a problem. So everyone except Lilis will have their parents pick them up?”
“Wow, that’s not right. Isn’t my brother going to be busy with the Ceremony?”
Theo and Leon each offered a comment.
“If we had told the Master, he would have gone regardless, but since it sounds like only the mothers are going.…”
Jetti trailed off timidly.
Since only mothers were coming.…
“Yes, I understand what you mean.”
Ordia immediately grasped the situation and patted both their shoulders.
“Thank you for telling me. It would have been a real problem if you hadn’t said anything.”
Then she turned to the twins.
“Boys, today is such an important day, and I’m sorry I can’t be there to celebrate. I need to go get Lilis.”
“It’s fine, Mother. Of course you should go pick up Lilis.”
“Yes, I’m fine with it too. Don’t worry and go ahead.”
Ordia smiled at the twins’ ready agreement, then spoke to Aleksei standing behind her.
“Dear, I’m counting on you with the boys.”
“Don’t worry, my dear.”
She then hurried back up the stairs she had just come down.
Two hours of painstaking, elaborate preparation.
It was a shame, but given the nature of the Salon, she couldn’t go pick up Lilis dressed like this.
“Children, could you help me? I think I need to dress down a bit.”
Ordia said, removing her ornate earrings.
Jetti and Joon, who had been moved to tears watching their aunt choose her niece without hesitation, answered loudly and followed her.
“Of course!”
“Right away!”
* * *
At that same moment, the Imperial Mage Tower.
“What’s this trash doing here? What was it supposed to be used for?”
The Mage Tower Master propped both feet up on the desk with a thud, surveying the report with casual arrogance.
“I give you money, meals arrive on schedule, all you have to do is research Magic Formulas in comfort—and this is the best you’ve got?”
The Mage Tower Master: Oscar Manuel.
Twenty-one years old this year.
“Should I just have you pack your things now? Maybe getting fired will knock some sense into you?”
The boy had a shamelessness that you’d never find, even if you scrubbed your eyes clean and looked for it.
To the researchers of the Mage Tower—all of them older than Oscar—he was nothing short of a demon of a superior.
“Do it again!”
Whoosh!
Several pages of the report flew from Oscar’s hand and sliced uselessly through the air.
Late night work confirmed?
“Master! Please, just today!”
Karen, a researcher of thirty-five, clasped her hands in supplication before her boss, who was fourteen years her junior.
“Today’s really impossible! I genuinely need to leave early!”
“…? You leave garbage and have the nerve to beg? Overtime.”
“W-would working from home be an option? I’ll have the report redone and submitted by tomorrow, I promise.”
The demon waved his hand dismissively, as if reconsideration were beneath him.
Then he picked up his pen again and, almost absently, glanced down.
At the calendar on his desk.
3/14
Young Lady Salon.
Knighthood Ceremony.
Whether it was the Mage Tower Master’s calendar or some noblewoman’s schedule, it was hard to say.
Beside today’s date, scattered throughout the calendar were nothing but Lilis’s engagements.
‘She was whining about missing the Ceremony Banquet, so maybe she went to the Salon after all.’
He found himself thinking of Lilis, who had been disappointed when the Salon’s schedule clashed with the Knighthood Ceremony.
“Master, please. Just today. If you grant me leniency just today, I’ll work overtime for the entire next month.”
“Wow. You’re still here?”
Oscar glared at Karen, who continued to stand before him.
“Please. I have to go pick up my daughter today.”
“Your daughter? You have a daughter?”
“Yes. You didn’t know…?”
They’d been working together for years.
Karen grumbled inwardly at her boss’s oblivious question.
“Where did your daughter go that you need to pick her up?”
“The Young Lady Salon being held in Jedo today. It’s the first day.”
“…?”
Oscar’s head, which had been indifferently turned back toward his desk, suddenly snapped up.
“Why are you going there?”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t that an anonymous social gathering? The organizers send people to pick up the girls and drop them off, don’t they?”
“…You certainly know about it.”
Karen was surprised.
Oscar faltered and cleared his throat, then suddenly erupted.
“So why are you going there! Why do they keep it anonymous if people like you are just going to show up and announce ‘that’s my daughter from this family’? What kind of blockhead picks up their child and reveals the whole household?”
“Well, yes, that’s true…”
“What?”
“The ladies from prominent families tend to be a bit… forceful. Even though it’s supposed to be anonymous, they say the children’s pride needs to be maintained regardless.”
“Are you insane?”
Oscar’s jaw dropped.
“So every single girl who went to the Salon today—their parents are coming to pick them up?”
“The mothers, yes. I imagine nearly all the noblewomen I know will be going.”
Watching Oscar stand there, stunned and blank, Karen clasped her hands together in desperate appeal once more.
“Master, please. All her friends have their mothers coming to pick them up, and mine would be the only one walking out alone. How hurt would a child feel? A memory like that would stay with her for life.”
“Ah, dammit. Seriously!”
Oscar bolted to his feet and checked the calendar again.
3/14
Young Lady Salon.
Knighthood Ceremony.
Enoch, the children’s father, was booked solid with a schedule he couldn’t possibly clear.
“Don’t these people have anything better to do!”
Oscar, huffing indignantly, threw on his coat without a second thought.
And he was about to head out—
“Master of the Tower!”
—when Karen seized his arm in desperation, hanging on for dear life.
“Let go, let go! Release me! I’m in a hurry!”
“Please, let me come along….”
“Fine! Go!”
“…Really?”
“Yes, go already! Will you let go of me!”
“Oh, thank you so much!”
Karen released him, relieved, but tilted her head in puzzlement as she watched Oscar disappear into the distance.
“But where are you going, Master!”
Bang—!
Oscar vanished without answering, like a spark-tailed bird taking flight.

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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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