My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 18

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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
Chapter 18
Oscar stared at my nervous face, then shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, maybe you’re small because you didn’t eat enough growing up.”
……
Oscar Manuel.
A character whose true nature I could never fathom, no matter how many times I reread the original work until I could recite it by heart.
So now, as he spoke these words, I found it nearly impossible to discern his real intentions.
Whether he was just making idle conversation, or whether he truly knew my ‘secret’….
“Well, I can just eat more from now on.”
“That’s right, eat plenty. Grow nice and big so you can work with me.”
“But I’m not going to the Magic Tower, am I?”
“Working at the Magic Tower would be easier for you too.”
3−5=−2
I wrote the answer to the problem Oscar had given me, speaking as if dispensing a favor.
“Well, I’ll think about it.”
Oscar chuckled.
* * *
“Are you really seven years old?”
“Miss, you’re incredibly small for your age, aren’t you?”
“She’s seven but so tiny. Such a fool.”
After Oscar left.
I thought about myself—the character named “me”—something I’d put aside for a while because it gave me a headache.
The knight uncles, the aunt, the grandfather, the twins, the servants, and even Oscar….
The moment I arrived at the Imperial Palace, there was already a truckload of people questioning my growth rate.
When I thought I was just an extra character, I’d simply assumed my development was slower than others’.
But.
‘It turns out there was a reason for everything—why I grew so slowly.’
Being the protagonist’s child, it was only natural that I wasn’t ordinary.
No, “ordinary” didn’t even begin to cover it.
Probably nothing could be more shocking than my true identity.
The daughter of the protagonist, Enoch Rubinstein.
A tragic supporting character who was kidnapped by the Imperial Court and later revealed to have died.
Or rather, everyone only ‘thought’ she was dead.
It wasn’t until the final chapters of the novel that the truth emerged—that she had been alive all along….
An absolutely massive plot twist element, you might say.
“Genius Princess, shouldn’t you be sleeping now?”
“Stop calling me a genius, Father.”
“Ahahaha! Why, though?”
Father climbed into bed and pulled me into a tight embrace.
“My daughter was the best today. Did you see Grandfather’s face light up? He’s always telling me to behave with more decorum, but today even he was more excited than I was.”
Father giggled and chattered away for a while before stretching into a long yawn.
“If you’re tired, go to sleep quickly.”
“What, the princess isn’t sleepy?”
“The princess has some things to think about.”
“Not feeling drowsy, I see. Shall I read you a story?”
Father took a fairy tale from the bookshelf behind the headboard.
“Now then, let’s see. Today’s story is… the princess locked in the tower!”
“Oh wow, that sounds interesting.”
I offered my appreciation in a flat tone.
Ever since I’d recovered all my memories from my past life, bedtime story hour had felt tedious….
“Oh, my Lilis trapped in a tower? What on earth happened? Let’s see where the story goes.”
Since Father loved reading to me so much, I usually endured it and held my tongue.
“Once upon a time, there was a kind king and a princess. The king cherished and loved his daughter, the princess, dearly.”
“Hehe. Just like Father and me.”
“Indeed.”
Father pulled me closer in his arms and turned another page.
“Then one day. On the year the princess turned seven, an evil king from a neighboring kingdom kidnapped her.”
……
“The kind king, robbed of his princess, wept his days away. He offered treasures to the evil king and became his servant, but… the evil king still would not return the princess.”
“…….”
“Wow, how could you separate a father and daughter like that? That’s really cruel, isn’t it?”
“Sure is.”
But something about this story feels familiar…
“A sorrowful but virtuous king met a boy one day. The boy was incredibly strong. So the virtuous king adopted him as his son, so that one day when he met the princess again, he could be a good older brother to her.”
“…? Wait.”
“What?”
“Oh, no, it’s fine. This is interesting. Keep reading.”
“Right? This is compelling, isn’t it? Then one day, the wicked king sent word that the princess had been ailing and passed away. …What? The princess suddenly died? Why is the story going like this?”
Father furrowed his brow and flipped the book back and forth.
I quickly struck his forearm.
“K-keep reading, please. The wicked king might have been lying. Maybe she didn’t actually die?”
“Of course. The book’s called ‘The Princess,’ so surely she doesn’t actually die?”
Father turned the page.
“Furious, the virtuous king decided to take revenge on the wicked king together with the prince.”
“…….”
“The virtuous king and the prince defeated all the wicked people in the wicked kingdom and finally cornered the wicked king with their swords drawn.”
I couldn’t focus, even as Father mimed sword work and threw himself into the story.
The virtuous king was Enoch Rubinstein.
The adopted prince was Cheshire.
The wicked king was the Emperor.
And the princess was me.
‘…Who wrote this fairy tale? Is the author not a writer, but some kind of oracle?’
It was shocking how closely it mirrored the original Dos’s Rebellion.
Enoch Rubinstein, forced to become the Emperor’s puppet to get his kidnapped daughter back.
The Emperor, who discovered the daughter’s true identity and then feigned her death, locking her away for life while exploiting her power.
Enoch Rubinstein, believing his daughter was dead, came to seek revenge, but….
“The virtuous king said, ‘I will avenge my daughter!’ And the wicked king replied, ‘Do you think things will go so easily for you?'”
“I have a feeling the princess is about to appear.”
“And so the princess, whom they thought was dead, descended from the tower. The virtuous king was astonished. …Oh, see? The princess was alive! My daughter’s a genius!”
Father chuckled softly as he added this.
“But while locked in the tower, the princess had been brainwashed by the wicked king. She didn’t even recognize her own father and began indiscriminately slaughtering innocent people…? Wait. Why is the story getting so weird? What kind of power does the princess have?”
“Father, Father, Father! Don’t stop—keep reading! The princess must have been hiding her power!”
“Right, yes. To the shocked virtuous king, the wicked king cried out, ‘The princess is actually a very powerful witch, which is why I’ve hidden her! Now she only obeys my commands!’ …Lilis? Have you read this?”
“I, I just… it’s a common story.”
“Common?”
Father’s eyes narrowed.
“Well… let’s keep reading anyway. The virtuous king wanted to save the princess, but there was no way.”
“I think the prince is about to try to kill the princess.”
“The prince said sadly to the virtuous king, ‘Father, if we don’t kill the princess now, many more people will die.’ And the prince drew his sword to her neck….”
Father didn’t read further. He flipped ahead to see the rest himself, then closed the book with a snap and muttered.
“Is this supposed to be a children’s fairy tale?”
“What happens? How does it end?”
“It doesn’t have a good ending. I don’t think I need to read any more.”
“So the princess dies?”
“Yeah… the prince kills her….”
Frowning, Father stuffed the book back into the shelf.
“From now on, I should read these first before reading to you. The content was too harmful. I’m sorry, princess.”
“But it’s still a happy ending….”
“What? How is it possibly happy?”
“If the princess hadn’t been kidnapped, the virtuous king wouldn’t have wanted revenge on the wicked king, right? Since the virtuous king ended up destroying the wicked kingdom entirely, everyone became happy.”
“You really think that? The princess is dead.”
“Well, what can you do? Even though the princess was controlled by the wicked king, she still killed a lot of people.”
“That’s exactly why it’s not a happy ending. The princess died.”
“It is a happy ending.”
“I’m telling you it isn’t. Listen to me.”
Father, growing agitated, sat up from his reclined position.
“The main character was the virtuous king, right?”
“Right.”
“And his beloved daughter died?”
“Fair point.”
“Then even if everyone else became happy, the protagonist wouldn’t be, would he?”
“…I suppose not.”
“If the protagonist isn’t happy, it’s not a happy ending, Lilis.”
…….
“How could a father who’s lost his beloved daughter first ever be happy? That’s why this isn’t a happy ending.”
At Father’s resolute expression, I suddenly remembered the original story’s ending.
The original was definitely a happy ending.
After Cheshire destroyed Enoch Rubinstein’s daughter.
It concluded with the narrative that a peaceful new empire was finally born.
‘Then what became of Father after the original story ended?’
Was the protagonist happy in the peaceful country built atop his daughter’s grave?
“Father.”
“Yes?”
“What if…. If you were a good king and I was a princess… how would you live after I died?”
“How would I live? I couldn’t.”
Father flopped backward onto the bed and pulled me into his embrace.
“I couldn’t go on living.”
“What?”
“I’d wager the good king felt the same way. The reason he didn’t follow her in death when he learned the princess was dead was only because he had to take revenge—he barely held on for that.”
…….
“Once his revenge was complete, perhaps he’d already decided to follow her then.”
“What are you saying? If you die too, what am I supposed to do!”
“Wait until you have children of your own. Then you’ll understand how I feel.”
Unaware of the chill that ran through my chest, Father kissed my forehead tenderly.
“I’ll miss the princess too much. I’ll follow right after. I could never live without her.”

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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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