My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 193

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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
193
Oscar tucked the Magical Formula Paper back into his robe with a teasing smile.
“Your Majesty truly dislikes losses, doesn’t he? It was strange how readily you promised retirement to such a valuable asset as Duke Libr.”
…….
“You never imagined the Duke would return as a Conqueror Hero, did you?”
“Tower Master.”
“Since the Rubinstein lady entered the Magic Tower, life has been worth living. My walk to work has never felt lighter.”
Unlike the anxious Nicholas, Oscar simply shrugged with an air of indifference.
“Without Your Majesty’s grace, I couldn’t have dreamed of this. My sincere gratitude.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Thank you for showing your sincerity. It will be of great use to me.”
Nicholas reached out his hand, scarcely bothering to listen, his eyes inverted with the Magical Formula plainly visible. Oscar laughed at the sight.
“You’re not planning to claim it was a secret promise made to a child, are you?”
…….
“My uncle was so delighted to retire. If he loses the candy he received and comes crying to me, there’s no helping it.”
It was blackmail.
Nicholas conjured the image of continental unification he was painting and swiftly weighed his options in his mind.
He would assemble a formidable invasion force.
‘Cheshire Libr.’
The Supreme Commander would be Cheshire Libr, the strong man of a new age.
‘And the magical combat unit.’
The Magic-type ability users under his command would need far greater power.
Thus Nicholas desperately needed the Magical Formulas, and he had no other choice.
‘Damn it.’
He regretted the promise he’d rashly made with Lilis that day, not knowing Axion would return alive.
“Very well, Tower Master….”
…….
“Surely you don’t think I’d go back on my word. I won’t issue any official deployment order to Lord Axion.”
At that, Oscar drew the Magical Formula from his robe again and handed it over.
Nicholas’s hand trembled as he took it.
“To complete the picture Your Majesty is drawing, that alone will not suffice.”
“What?”
“Come now, why be surprised? This is merely a verbal agreement—I too must have collateral.”
He would dispense the Formulas slowly, one by one, like feeding bait to a beast.
“Haven’t I promised to honor my word? I said I wouldn’t send Lord Axion into battle.”
Puh.
Oscar burst into laughter.
“Am I a fool? You take the Magical Formulas and change your tune—who would dare say a word to Your Majesty? Only I lose.”
…….
“The child needs to grow a bit wiser and choose to stay at the Magic Tower of her own will. Only then can I rest easy. For now, unless Your Majesty keeps the promise, I can’t control her.”
Nicholas closed his eyes tightly and swallowed his rage.
This arrogant man was actually daring to train an emperor—to condition himself, Nicholas, from this moment forward.
“If you wish to maintain this arrangement smoothly, I ask for your good conduct going forward.”
Oscar rose with a chuckle.
Nicholas felt fury surge to the crown of his head for the first time in ages, yet he could not bring himself to unleash the roiling anger.
“Then I shall return to my research. Thank you for your time.”
Click.
The door closed behind Oscar as he departed at leisure.
“Arrrrgh!!!”
Crash—!
Nicholas hurled the teacup toward the door, his eyes bloodshot and inflamed with rage.
“You… insolent… bastard….”
His clenched jaw trembled with fury.
* * *
“Arrrrgh!!!”
Crash—!
In the quiet corridor of the audience chamber, emptied by imperial decree, the commotion of an enraged Nicholas leaked through.
Oscar let out a soft chuckle.
“Why be so loud? He should hide it from my ears at least.”
His footsteps seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then the expression drained from Oscar’s face.
“I’ve already accepted the day of my death, so there’s nothing for me to fear.”
With that, he turned his sharp gaze toward the closed door.
“I’ll make certain you keep me company on the road to hell.”
* * *
That evening.
I sat on Father’s lap while he worked and reported everything that had happened at the Magic Tower that day.
“Good heavens, why did Grandfather go all the way there? Here I was, trying to keep him from troubling a busy man.”
“Grandfather did nothing wrong. He was only worried about me. Master did nothing wrong either. If anyone’s at fault, isn’t it me—my very existence?”
“……?”
Father’s brow furrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
I looked at the books and papers scattered haphazardly across Father’s desk.
Forbidden Magic. Regression. Missing persons.
For years now, Father had been clinging to the desperate search for a way to save Oscar.
“I’ve ruined Master’s life.”
“That’s not true.”
“Even though he has so little time left, he spends every moment of it on me.”
“Lilis.”
“What happens to me when Master dies?”
“He won’t.”
“How can you say that!”
The tears came without warning. I was angry at Father, though he’d done nothing to deserve it.
“Everyone who used Regression Magic vanished without a trace! They’re dead! Dead!”
“We can’t be certain of that. They disappeared without leaving a body. We haven’t confirmed they’re actually dead.”
Father drew me into his arms with a look of such sorrow, trying to calm me.
“Hush now, Lilis.”
“That makes it worse! If they were definitely dead, I could resurrect them with my Life Force! What does vanishment even mean? What does disappearing mean? Tell me!”
I wept against Father’s chest.
“Waaah.”
The price of Regression Magic is vanishment.
Yet the precise meaning of that ‘vanishment’ was something even Oscar, who bore it, did not know.
Because all the individuals who were suspected of having attempted Regression Magic before Oscar had vanished without trace, they could only guess that the price was ‘to disappear.’
If someone died, I could restore them using my own Life Force, and that would be the end of it.
But because we couldn’t fathom what exact state Oscar would be in on his final day, I couldn’t even determine how to use my own power.
“You promised me, Father. You said you’d find a way to save Master.”
Father said nothing, only holding me as I cried and trying to soothe my tears.
“There’s nothing you can’t do, Father. Please, I’m begging you.”
At some point, Father had stopped reassuring me with certainty.
Don’t worry.
I’ll find a way, no matter what.
That was always what he used to say.
* * *
Enoch laid Lilis, who had cried herself to sleep, on the sofa and draped a blanket over her. Then he sat back down at his desk.
“Sigh.”
Four years of obsession, and still he had found no thread to pull.
All he’d grasped was the mechanics of Regression itself.
When the moment to which time has been rewound comes around again, the caster pays the price.
‘How does one disappear?’
The Manuel Family records—a house of magical scholarship—documented only three disappearances. By his estimation, all three had likely attempted Regression.
There was no trace of death, no witness to their subsequent whereabouts.
It was, quite literally, evaporation.
‘Alberto Manuel.’
Enoch spread out several portraits of a middle-aged man who bore considerable resemblance to Oscar, studying them carefully.
He was the previous Master of the Magic Tower and Oscar’s grandfather—one of the vanished.
Unlike the other two missing persons, who belonged to ancient history, he was an age at which he might still be alive, if he hadn’t simply vanished into thin air.
“Master.”
Just then, the butler Rem entered cautiously and made his report.
“The Red Sparrow has sent someone covertly again. It concerns the matter you’ve been investigating, sir.”
“Ah, I see.”
Enoch nodded, his expression betraying no particular interest.
The Red Sparrow, which had been helping investigate Regression Magic, had often sent people they found to Enoch, but nothing had come of it.
They were all con artists who had shown up boldly chasing money.
“Even so, we have to check.”
As Enoch rose wearily, Lilis, who had been sleeping, startled awake at the sound of movement.
“Oh dear. Did I wake you, little one?”
“Uh, yeah….”
The child’s eyes were still red.
Enoch sighed.
* * *
“Another con artist?”
“Who knows. Why don’t you go to bed? Dad can meet with them alone.”
“No, I want to see too.”
During the four years investigating Regression Magic, many people had come looking for Dad.
People who claimed to know something about Regression Magic, people who said they’d encountered missing persons….
They’d spouted all manner of tales, but in the end, every last one had been a fraud.
“Please, come in and speak.”
The butler, Uncle Rem, ushered in a single man whose robe was pulled down deep over his head.
‘The way he’s hiding his face—this one reeks of con artist.’
My hope evaporated from the start.
The moment the man sat down, he removed his robe.
He was an old man with hair white as snow.
But then….
‘What? That’s strange.’
I rubbed my eyes, trying to make out the old man’s face more clearly.
His features were blurred.
A featureless face.
Yet calling it simply “featureless” didn’t quite capture the uncanny sensation that stirred in me.
How would I even describe it?
‘What is this?’
He was definitely sitting before me, and I was looking straight at his face.
But it wouldn’t quite settle in my mind.
It was exactly like trying to focus on something in a dream—I couldn’t quite grasp it with certainty.
The way a dream’s details fade when you wake….
If this man turned and left right now, I felt I’d forget what he looked like within a single second.
That strange, eerie dissonance.
“Dad….”
Looking at Dad, I saw he must have felt something similar—his eyes narrowed as he studied the old man’s face again.
The old man smiled softly.
As if he’d known all along that we would react this way.
“Where have you come from?”
“I come from the Isolem Kingdom. Since my reach extends even to foreign lands, your search must be most urgent indeed—so I’ve come seeking you out.”
“Are you a subject of that kingdom?”
At Dad’s question, the old man opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it without a word.
‘Ah.’
I know that response well.
It’s what Oscar does when he’s worried about being caught by the Geis of Regression.
“Forgive me, but there is much I cannot say. However, since I am old and will soon depart this world… I thought I might leave a parting gift before I go.”
The old man lifted his head and looked directly at us both.
“Please, look upon my face carefully.”
Tears were gathered in his eyes.
That was all I could truly sense.
His face remained hazy, as though erased by an eraser—still difficult to comprehend.
“With my death, I hope you will come to understand what you seek.”
“What do you mean—”
“My name is Alberto Manuel.”
……?
In that instant, the old man clutched at his throat.
He convulsed, coughing up blood, his eyes wide with agony as he collapsed.

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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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