My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 167

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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
Episode 167
* * *
Had silence ever been this terrifying?
Oscar swallowed a sigh as he watched the flustered expression on Enoch’s face—the old priest’s, or rather, the real Enoch’s.
“I was hoping to slip away quietly without being noticed. If she finds out, the Princess is going to be absolutely furious.”
…So there was a chance of not getting caught?
Of course, it wasn’t fair to blame him for acting without thinking—Enoch was clearly flustered.
He could never have imagined Lilis would be here.
She must have been passing by an alley when she spotted a man who looked to be in danger, and instinctively followed him.
“I, ah-ha-ha, well! I’ve been exercising so diligently, and look—it’s coming in handy here!”
Enoch offered his explanation with disarming cheer, while Oscar simply turned his head away—he couldn’t bear to watch.
Then, a glance.
He was checking Lilis’s reaction.
The child stared at him with an expressionless face, blinking slowly. Blink. Blink.
She gazed at Enoch for a moment in silence, then tilted her head to look up at Oscar beside her.
‘Damn it. She’s definitely figured this out.’
The silence was somehow more terrifying than any words.
Lilis quietly lifted her wrist and gazed at her bracelet.
The child was checking something!
Oscar shut his eyes tight.
If she’d guessed that it was Enoch, there were plenty of ways to confirm his identity using that bracelet.
How many years to puppet that old man?
—that question alone would spit out a number: 282 years!
That number could only point to Enoch. There was no way she wouldn’t catch him.
“Sigh.”
Lilis then washed her face with her small, thin hands.
“Father, why do you always do this….”
From between the fingers covering her face came a voice thick with tears.
* * *
“Lilis….”
Back at the lodging.
Father and Oscar had brought over chairs and were sitting side by side in front of me.
“Are you very angry?”
Father watching my expression.
…….
Oscar sat cross-legged with his arms folded, his head turned away as though he’d done nothing wrong.
“Lilis? Why won’t you answer…? It’s frightening….”
When I said nothing from where I sat on the bed, Father glanced backward as though sending out an SOS.
I could see Cheshire leaning against the wall.
‘Right. As if Cheshire would take my side.’
He’d be just as exasperated as I was.
He’d handled all the cleanup alone.
He’d tracked down every flustered guard one by one and made excuses for the misunderstanding….
He’d even found us a separate lodging so Father and Oscar could be seen in their true forms….
‘I could have just left my things in the next room!’
There was only one thing that bothered me.
Sleeping in the same room as Father, and having my things moved here!
I didn’t want to see Father’s face for at least the next three days!
“I wish you’d at least told me. Lilis was very frightened too….”
Cheshire added as he looked at Oscar’s blood-stained clothes.
“…Unexpected things happened. If you’d informed us in advance, there would have been no misunderstanding.”
Kind Cheshire was being very diplomatic about not taking Father’s side.
‘You could have just said, “What were you thinking?” and torn into him instead.’
“You’re right…. It’s all my fault….”
“Ugh, this is frustrating.”
Then Oscar suddenly leaped to his feet, running his hand through his hair.
“I’m not at fault. Once you finish scolding your father, come to my room.”
“No, Master Oscar? How is that no fault of yours? You came along in the first place! Wait! Hold on! Wait—!”
Bang!
Oscar left the room with cold indifference, and Father lowered the hand he’d been reaching toward him, then glanced at me again.
“Father.”
“Hmm?”
“Did you really not trust me that much?”
“That’s not it.”
Father shook his head.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t trust you that I came. This is my fault. Because I hate seeing you suffer…. I said it wouldn’t be dangerous, but you never know what might happen….”
“But I can’t live my whole life without hardship, or with you always by my side. Someday I’ll have to do things and suffer on my own without you….”
……
“If I get used to you doing everything for me, what if I become helpless—unable to do anything by myself?”
Father gazed at me intently.
Then, as if something had occurred to him, he pressed his lips together and nodded quietly.
“Yes, you’re right.”
I watched Father’s strange expression for a long moment, then sighed.
“But wait—why did you bring Master along? From what I hear, he can’t even maintain his transformation for two weeks!”
“The Tower Master probably never intended to follow you all the way to the end of the pilgrimage. He was worried about you even more than I was. Right now, all he can think about is taking you home.”
“Ugh.”
I dragged my palms down my cheeks.
Yes, Oscar.
Father was one thing, but I had something to say to Oscar right now.
I needed to explain the circumstances he’d missed because he was thinking of something else.
“Wait for me a moment.”
I stood up.
“I’m going to talk to Master for a bit.”
* * *
Lilis entered the room where Oscar had been waiting.
Oscar stood with his arms crossed, his eyes doing the talking without a word.
Speak.
“…A plague is going to break out in Molec soon. Everyone in the village will die, so I’m going to go deal with it.”
“Yeah, I figured that’s what you’d say.”
Oscar broke into a bright smile.
Then his expression hardened terrifyingly, and he strode forward to grab Lilis by the arm.
“Just wait a little longer until I have enough mana to use Teleportation Magic, then we’re going straight home.”
“That won’t work. I have to get to Molec.”
“What do you think I’m going to say?”
“Four years ago, when I fell into the Sacred Flame, you and Father came looking for that Heart-Shaped Sacred Object to wake me up—remember?”
……
“That Sacred Object seemed to be something special. According to the scripture, anyone who swallows that Sacred Object can apparently change another person’s fate.”
“So what? What are you saying? That you’re going to change the fate of someone destined to die?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do something like that?”
Oscar clenched his teeth and added menacingly.
“You’re saying you’re going to go find every single person you know who’s fated to die and save them one by one? While shaving off your own lifespan?”
Before Lilis could even answer, Oscar ground his teeth and spoke with bitter sarcasm.
“That’s why I kept interfering with everything you did.”
……
“Do you think you’ve become a god? Now that you have a little lifespan to spare, all those people who were dying are coming back to life—you must feel amazing? Like you have to do something about it?”
……
“You’re not a god. You’re going to die someday too. The more you do this, the sooner you’ll die.”
“I know.”
“Knowing is enough? If you know, then you think it’s okay to do it? What does it have to do with you if people whose faces you don’t even know die?”
……
“You don’t have to do anything. If you want to play, play. If you want to sleep, sleep. If you want to eat, eat. This pretense of burning up your Life Force, living in silence—it ends soon enough anyway. Just until your father kills that emperor.”
Why did I save you?
So you could be happy without worry, like everyone else.
So you could live long.
That’s what I wished for.
“If it’s their fate to die, then let them die. Don’t do anything. No one ever asked you to sacrifice yourself.”
“It’s not a sacrifice. The reason I’m going to Molec this time—it’s not some grand purpose or noble cause.”
Lilis shook her head and continued.
“I’m going to eat that Sacred Object and verify whether I can actually change people’s fates. And I need to figure out how to use its power—if there’s a way to do that at all.”
“Ha, are you playing word games with me right now? That’s the same thing! And if you become certain, you’ll just get more excited about saving people, won’t you?”
“No. It’s not the same.”
Lilis shook her head again.
And she started to speak, then stopped short.
“…I’m afraid of the Restriction, so don’t make me answer carelessly.”
Oscar’s eyes narrowed.
It seemed Lilis was about to say something concerning Regression.
“You used magic, Master. So there must be a price for it.”
……
“Resurrection Magic that brings the dead back to life requires the caster’s life. So the magic you used must have….”
Oscar understood why Lilis was broaching this subject.
The child knew he’d used Regression Magic. She was worried about its cost.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to know exactly what that cost was….
“I’m always worried about you, Master. I just want you to live, no matter what. So I’ll definitely find a way.”
“Hey.”
Oscar laughed.
And he lied.
“Me, die? I’m not going to die. Why are you being so serious all by yourself?”
……
“Think about it logically. Who did I bring back to life? Clearly, resurrecting the dead takes the most effort and would demand the highest price, wouldn’t it?”
……
“Being unable to speak about it—that’s the extent of it. So don’t worry needlessly.”
Lilis stared intently at Oscar’s face as he smiled reassuringly.
He was saying the price of Regression was merely a Restriction—nothing more than being unable to reveal the future.
Lilis felt her throat tighten.
Lying to me, thinking I don’t know….
“If this is because of me, you don’t have to go to Molec. Let’s go home.”
Oscar gathered both of Lilis’s hands in his and knelt before her, meeting her eyes.
“The food tastes bland, the beds are uncomfortable, and there’s nothing but hardship. Just bear with it ten more minutes. I’ll send you home.”
“Master.”
“What?”
“What am I to you?”
“What?”
“What do I… mean to you?”
Oscar was startled by the sudden question.
Mean?
What you mean to me?
At the child’s question, Oscar thought seriously for the first time.
‘What are you to me.’
In the time that vanished….
For Oscar before the Regression….
Life was nothing but a succession of tedious days.
Nothing truly held his interest.
Others would find joy in beautiful things, happiness in delicious food….
And they’d live with desperate fervor, trying to accomplish something.
Perhaps that was why.
In a way, the Emperor had fascinated him.
A man with a clear purpose in life.
A man with desire, capable of doing anything to achieve his goals.
“To me, you…?”
And then Oscar had met the child.
Lilis.
The Emperor’s puppet.
Even if she possessed desires like others, even if there were things she wanted to do….
She could do nothing.
A small pity had begun to swell, overwhelming his chest entirely.
A presence who waited for me every day in that same place.
A presence who would be lonely without me.
A presence that was mine alone.
Because of you, my life gained purpose.
Oscar wanted, above all, to see the child freed at last.
He wanted to see her living happily with her father, just as she wished.
You—who existed in nearly every moment of my living, breathing life.
The feeling he bore for her could rightly be called love.
“You are….”
Oscar gazed quietly at the child’s face, waiting for her answer.
Six years remained.
Time so cleanly brief that no other purpose in life could take root beside it.
Until then, he would—he would simply devote everything to protecting the child he had resurrected.
That was enough.
And if he could only watch her grow and flourish—
That would be enough.
“You are the reason I live.”
He spoke it carelessly, without artifice—but it was his truth.

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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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