My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 17

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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.
17
“Stop right there.”
‘Better yet, don’t move.’
But contrary to my wish, Oscar turned smoothly, as though he’d been waiting for this.
Father set me down and approached Oscar.
“What did you just say?”
“I said I wasted my time on a fool.”
“Ha.”
Father laughed hollowly, then clenched his teeth.
“Apologize. To my daughter.”
“Perhaps you should apologize for wasting my time—time as precious as gold. I’ve spent one hour and thirty-seven minutes so far.”
“Who asked for so much? The Master of the Magic Tower himself needn’t have come. You showed up uninvited.”
“I had hopes. I’d heard you were the daughter of Enoch Rubinstein—him.”
Oscar lifted his chin arrogantly as he continued.
“But you’re no different from every other disappointing parent. Do you know how many children apply to the Magic Tower for prodigy education?”
“…….”
“They obsess over some trivial arithmetic tricks, convinced their child must be a prodigy, swept up in baseless hopes. It’s laughable.”
“I didn’t manage what my daughter did when I was seven. Who could possibly solve that at that age?”
“I did. Exactly at seven years old.”
“…….”
Father seemed at a loss for words.
“…Apologize.”
“I refuse.”
“This matter of courtesy—!”
“Enoch.”
Grandfather stepped in to mediate the deteriorating atmosphere.
“Master of the Magic Tower, it was I who reached out about my granddaughter. If she has fallen short of your expectations, I regret it. Let us leave it at that and bid you farewell.”
“Ah, is that so? It seems old age has caught up with you as well, Nordic. I see not a trace of the foresight I once admired in you.”
…This lunatic.
Truly no sense of hierarchy.
“Master of the Magic Tower!”
Father’s voice rose as he lost his composure.
Grandfather, worried a fist might fly, gripped Father’s arm hard.
I was muttering an incantation to myself at that moment.
‘Hold it together. Hold it together. Don’t show off, Liliath. Nothing good comes from showing off. Please.’
‘I don’t want to. Why should I hold back? Should I just let him walk out after being so rude to Grandfather?’
The battle raged inside me between the rational voice urging restraint and the surge to flatten this ill-mannered fool’s arrogance.
“In any case, I welcome your return to society. Your daughter is merely another dullard in this field, so abandon such vain hopes and focus on rebuilding the estate you neglected for seven years before passing it down.”
…Did he really just…?
Something snapped inside my head.
The impulse won.
“Father, wait!”
I ran and caught Father’s trouser leg before he could explode.
Then I looked up at Oscar, who gazed down at me with that presumptuous expression.
“You solved that at seven years old?”
“Yes.”
“How impressive.”
“Correct. You’re a dullard.”
“I’m grateful for that. If you were a prodigy, you’d have gone to the Magic Tower, and you’d never learn manners there. Father would be heartbroken if you grew up as ill-behaved as the Master of the Magic Tower.”
“…What?”
Oscar’s expression went blank for a moment.
Father flinched, then laughed.
“Right, right. As long as she grows up healthy and well-mannered, that’s all that matters. Our daughter.”
“Give me five more minutes.”
I held Oscar’s persistent gaze and spoke.
“I’ll solve that problem again.”
“You will?”
“Yes. If I get it right, apologize to Father and Grandfather for speaking to them disrespectfully.”
“…….”
Silence fell over the room.
After a long moment, Oscar let out a quiet laugh and answered.
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“Thank you for trusting me.”
I turned back toward the blackboard.
My bewildered father spoke up.
“Liliath, sweetheart. You don’t have to push yourself.”
As I read through the problem on the blackboard again.
‘Have you lost your mind? You’re such a dullard.’
Reason had returned.
Unable to resist that momentary impulse, what I had just done was enormous.
If I solved this now, they would call me a prodigy.
And then I would be continually evaluated on increasingly difficult problems, my comprehension and cognitive abilities scrutinized at every turn.
The truth was, I wasn’t actually a prodigy—just someone with an adult’s mind solving problems she already knew from her previous life. How long could I maintain this charade?
‘No, no. But I did finish all my higher education coursework in my past life, didn’t I?’
I was liberal arts-focused, true.
But I’d been something of a well-rounded talent—not quite a genius across both disciplines, but certainly capable.
Hadn’t I even tutored mathematics to pay back my student loans?
The high school student I taught, for the record, went on to Seoul University’s mathematics education program.
‘Right, forget it. I’ve already crossed the river I can’t turn back from.’
I picked up the chalk.
Everyone held their breath.
Tap, tap, tap.
Only the sound of chalk moving across the blackboard came through clearly.
Countless movie scenes flooded my mind—geniuses scrawling across blackboards without hesitation, solving problems effortlessly….
Of course, they were the real geniuses, and I was merely pretending.
‘Since I’ve already committed to this prodigy cosplay, I might as well do it with style!’
What was life, after all?
I steeled myself with a thick skin and proceeded without hesitation.
Without pausing once, I wielded the chalk until I placed the final punctuation mark.
Then I set down the chalk with a tap and turned around.
Robel, Father, Grandfather….
Their eyes looked ready to burst from their sockets.
“I, I saw… No, that… Grand Duke? What, what was that?”
Robel, dazed, rubbed his eyes and asked the man beside him—my father.
“…I… I don’t know either.”
Father shook his head, his mouth hanging open.
In the middle of all this, Oscar’s expression was peculiar.
“The Tower Master,”
I said, dusting the chalk powder from my hands.
“is seventeen years old.”
* * *
Oscar was simply a man without manners.
But he clearly understood what courtesy meant.
True to his word, he admitted his rudeness to Father and Grandfather and bowed ninety degrees at the waist.
The victory came so easily that there was no thrill, no satisfaction in it.
All that remained was regret—bitter regret at how recklessly I had inflated everything with that single act.
“Sigh, what a life….”
Sitting alone in the study, I stared blankly into empty space.
“What have I done?”
I had only wanted to see Oscar’s exasperated expression….
Instead, his eyes glowed with what looked like mad satisfaction at having found a prodigy.
‘He’s definitely unhinged.’
He had even stayed for dinner at our house and offered to teach me privately.
Of course, since I had now established a connection with the Tower Master himself, I had accepted in hopes of eventually winning him over to our side.
Screech.
“You startled me.”
Suddenly, the sound of a chair being pulled back made me jump, and when I turned, it was Oscar finishing his meal.
“Hic―ugh.”
“…?”
“Well, that hit the spot.”
Oscar let out a hearty belch and patted his belly with satisfaction.
‘What on earth?’
If his face weren’t so handsome, the gesture would have been utterly repulsive.
Oscar caught my look of disbelief and chuckled.
‘…What is this? He’s nothing like before.’
His entire demeanor had shifted—completely different from moments ago.
“Why don’t we study a bit more?”
Oscar tilted his chin lightly, and paper and a pen flew through the air, settling in front of me.
“Wow.”
“Pretty amazing, right?”
“Yes.”
“Every space has something called coordinates. To create a Magical Formula, you need to understand how to formulate the concept of space itself.”
I see. Spatial Formulation…
So you’d need to understand Vector concepts—roughly the equivalent of advanced natural sciences education—before you could actually construct a Magical Formula.
‘Magic is quite systematic, isn’t it?’
I found myself growing curious.
Vectors were something I could handle with the knowledge I already possessed.
“Do you know what numbers smaller than zero are?”
“There are numbers smaller than zero?”
I feigned ignorance, and Oscar laughed, propping his chin on his hand as he scribbled on the paper with his pen.
3 − 5 =
“Solve it.”
“Hmm.”
Oscar was trying to teach me the concept of Negative Numbers.
I’d just pretend to think for a moment, then give him the answer.
I chewed the end of my pen, studying the problem in silence, when Oscar muttered something.
“…Small.”
“Pardon? What’s small? The number?”
“No.”
When I turned to look at him, Oscar was gazing at me with a strange smile in his eyes.
“You.”
“…What?”
“You’re small. Unusually small.”
For a moment, my mind went blank.
Oscar rested his chin on his hand, studying me carefully from head to toe before continuing.
“For someone supposedly seven years old, you’re… strangely underdeveloped.”
“…….”
Thump.
I could almost hear my heart drop.
Yes, I was small for my age.
And there was a reason for that.
‘Does this bastard… suspect something?’

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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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