My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 20

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Father Hides His Strength
20
“Miss, I’ve packed everything you’ll need.”
“Look, see how plump the rabbit’s face has gotten?”
“Wow!”
I scrambled down from the bed and rushed forward, and Jeti slung the Rabbit Bag over my shoulder.
“Hehe, it’s so cute! Can I carry you all the way to the Study Room?”
“Yes, I’d love that!”
I nestled into Jeti’s arms, studying her expression carefully.
For someone who’d reached such a perfect conclusion, Jeti seemed utterly unbothered by it.
Well, that made sense.
A Premier from any house other than the Imperial family was as absurd as a whale strolling across land.
I had no need to fret—I just had to follow my plan, step by step.
Today was the day…
The grand operation to rescue Cheshire that could not be delayed any longer.
Phase one had to be executed today.
“By the way, sister!”
“Yes, miss?”
“Where is the Pharmacy?”
“The Pharmacy, you say?”
* * *
Rubinstein Duchy Pharmacy.
Knock, knock.
Plin Schultz, the young physician, jolted awake from where he’d been dozing by a sun-drenched window.
“What—what’s that?”
Knock-knock-knock.
He wiped the drool from his chin and glanced around, but a small, innocent voice was calling out from beyond the door.
“Who might that be?”
When he opened it, a young child stood there beaming, her arms overflowing with flowers.
With adorable twin tails and blue eyes, she was unmistakably the Duke’s daughter.
Plin recognized her at once and was startled.
“My goodness, who do we have here? Could this be the young lady of the house? The mansion’s been abuzz for days now…”
“Yes, that’s right! It’s so nice to meet you, Plin! My name is Lilis!”
“Oh my, you know who I am? But we haven’t even been formally introduced!”
“Yes! The sisters told me that Plin is an incredibly clever doctor. They said if I get sick and go to you, you’ll make me all better!”
“Heh-heh, well, I suppose I am rather talented…”
Plin was grinning smugly and scratching his nose when he suddenly jumped.
“You don’t mean you’re unwell, do you?”
“Oh no! I just wanted to say hello to you. These are a gift—they smell so lovely and springlike that I picked them from the Garden.”
Lilis held out the bouquet with a radiant smile, and Plin’s eyes widened with genuine emotion.
How could such an angelic, precious child exist?
“Oh my, thank you so much, young lady. The Pharmacy’s been rather dreary—these will look lovely in a vase.”
Plin accepted the flowers and went searching for a vase, with Lilis following close behind like a chick.
“By the way, Plin?”
“Yes, miss?”
“Do you have Fairy’s Tears here?”
“Fairy’s Tears? Oh! Do you perhaps mean Salvacion?”
“Yes, that’s it!”
“Yes, it’s right here. Do you need some?”
When Plin asked, Lilis blinked her wide eyes and tilted her head.
“I heard it’s a very rare medicine. Can I have some too?”
“Well, that is to say…”
Salvacion was a type of mystical detoxifying herb—extremely precious and controlled exclusively by the Imperial Court to prevent its distribution.
It was dispensed only once a month to a select few houses with imperial sanction.
Those who truly needed it could never obtain it, yet the Imperial family and a handful of nobles simply brewed it as a tonic tea…
“As a direct member of the Rubinstein line, you have more than sufficient claim to it. Of course it’s available to you, young lady.”
“Ah, I see. I read about it in a book and it sounded like something really wonderful. Could you give me some? I’d like to brew tea for Father…”
“Oh, would you look at that. In all the world…an angel among mortals…”
This little child wanted to brew tea for her father!
Plin finally understood why the servants had been singing this young lady’s praises for the past few days.
“Of course. Just write your name here, and feel free to visit anytime.”
“Wow! Thank you so much!”
Lilis wrote her name carefully in the pharmacy’s ledger with her small hand.
“Li… lis, Ru… bin… stein.”
A soft gasp escaped him.
Even her crooked handwriting was endearing—Plin Schultz trembled at the sight of it.
* * *
‘All set!’
I patted my stuffed Rabbit Bag with satisfaction.
‘Now, how do I sneak out without anyone noticing….’
Leaving the house at seven years old required a guardian—that was non-negotiable.
If I tried to slip out alone, I’d be collared and locked in my room before I could blink.
So then….
Who among the people here was both ‘strong’ enough to serve as my escort and willing to take me out ‘secretly’?
Jeti and June?
‘Nope.’
My personal guard?
‘Nope.’
Louis, the ace of the Rubinstein Private Corps?
‘Nope.’
Poke.
Just then, someone’s finger jabbed my cheek.
“Class is over. Let’s play, squirt.”
It was Leon.
And Theo stood beside him.
Seeing the twins arrive the moment lessons finished, I grinned.
‘Ding dong ding.’
The brothers—of course!
“What should we play today? Want to catch spiders? The hairy kind.”
“Ugh, Leon. Did you forget what Mother said already? Girls hate spiders.”
“But squirt said she likes them?”
They bickered like the twelve-year-olds they were, but….
‘They’re the second-strongest people in this house right now. After Father, anyway.’
One shouldn’t judge by appearances alone.
The twins were Ability Users.
They’d already graduated from the Ability User Training Institute and unlocked their powers.
They were even ranked Dos.
A flick of their fingers could pin burly guards to the wall—formidable talents, both of them.
“I don’t have the energy to play. I’m hungry….”
I flopped back onto the bed.
“Hungry? Then let’s go to the Dining Hall.”
“The Dining Hall food doesn’t taste good….”
Theo asked gently, but I curled up and refused.
“Then what do we do? Is there something you’d like to eat?”
“There is, but… it’s not here.”
“What is it?”
“Food I used to eat when Father and I lived in our old home….”
“I see.”
The twins fell silent behind me.
After a moment of quiet, their hushed voices drifted over.
“It’s probably commoner food, right? Do you think the head chef would refuse to make it if we asked?”
“Are you an idiot? How would a noble household chef know what commoners eat?”
“Then what do we do? Oh, we could just go out and eat at a commoner’s restaurant, couldn’t we? Lilis, want to try a place where ordinary folk eat?”
That was easy.
I rolled over and added my voice.
“…Will the adults let us?”
“Hmm, good point. Mother would definitely hit us if we said we were going to a commoner’s restaurant.”
“Yeah, she really would….”
Unlike Leon, who was easy to persuade, Theo had a cautious streak and looked hesitant.
Watching him deliberate, I pouted.
“Brother, Lilis is hungry….”
“Right.”
In the end, Theo quietly came up with a solution.
“Then let’s slip out for a bit.”
* * *
My twin and I pretended to catch spiders in the Garden for a while, then gradually crept toward the rear wall.
Leaving the estate itself wasn’t a problem, but avoiding guards or attendants required this method—Theo’s brilliant plan.
Or at least, that was what he’d convinced me of.
“Ungh.”
“Lilis, are you all right?”
“Mmm.”
I groaned as I squeezed my small body through a gap in the wall.
“You could’ve made it bigger, you idiot.”
“No. If we make it any larger, someone will notice.”
Leon and Theo, already waiting on the other side of the wall, bickered back and forth.
Of course, the gap hadn’t been there originally—Theo had carefully carved it out with Magic.
Unlike the two of them, who could vault over the wall with ease, I was terribly fragile as a young child Lilis….
“There. Lilis made it through.”
“Oh dear, you’re covered in dirt.”
Theo emerged from the gap and meticulously brushed the soil from my dress while I stood there beaming, making a victorious V-sign with my fingers.
“All clean now.”
“Wheee! Thank you, brother.”
“Don’t mention it. Shall we go?”
That was when Theo, reaching for my hand to move forward, suddenly staggered.
“Ugh.”
He stopped in place and pressed his palm to his forehead, his expression darkening.
Something was clearly wrong.
“W-what’s the matter? Brother, does something hurt?”
“Oh, no. I’m fine.”
“Don’t lie. Is it happening again?”
“…Yes.”
“Then we shouldn’t have left. Just go back inside and rest.”
“No, really. I’m fine. The headaches come and go—usually five days or so pass before the next one hits.”
Watching Leon and Theo exchange words as if his condition were entirely familiar, I finally understood.
‘That’s right. Theo has a rare illness. So when he says five days, he means an attack.’
In the Original Story, both twins were destined to die, and their purpose was simple:
1. A catalyst for Cheshire’s growth.
2. A way to manipulate the reader’s tears.
Thus the “gentle and compassionate” Theo was written from the start with a “congenital rare disease.”
He was meant to heal the emotionally damaged Cheshire with his kindness, and then exit stage left once he’d served his purpose.
‘What a cruel author.’
The illness that Theo suffered from—the one always depicted as the cause of his sickly, beautiful-boy appearance in the Original Story—was called a Mana Collision.
Life force and magical power periodically collided within his body, triggering seizures each time. A rare and incurable disease.
Theo would die in the spring following his sixteenth year, when he received his knighthood.
In other words, he was living on borrowed time….
“Shall we go, Lilis? Why do you look like that? You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Oh, n-no. I’m fine.”
Even after I said I was fine, watching the gentle Theo scrutinize my condition made me feel miserable.
‘Oh no. Brother, please. Don’t waste that kindness of yours on me….’
He was a character destined to die, yet I couldn’t help but grow attached.
Sinking deeper into melancholy, I gripped his hand tightly and followed along, a memory from the Original Story surfacing in my mind.
「Cheshire Rubinstein knelt before Theo Antrace’s tomb and offered the Saint’s Heart, sobbing uncontrollably.
“I’m too late. I’m sorry, brother…. I never did anything for you. I was so foolish…. I….”
It was a tribute that came far too late.
If he had received such devotion while alive, Theo Antrace would still be standing beside him, smiling.」
Though the illness was known to be incurable, there actually existed a way to counteract the Mana Collision—hidden in a single Ancient Tome.
Something called the Saint’s Heart, or whatever it was.
Of course, that was merely a metaphorical description, so no one truly knew what it actually meant.
‘But Cheshire figured it out eventually.’
After Theo’s death, Cheshire obsessed over interpreting the Ancient Tome in desperation, knowing full well how futile the effort was….
In the end, she found the Saint’s Heart and offered it at Theo’s tomb.
“Sigh.”
I stopped mid-breath.
……?
Wait, hold on.
Am I an idiot?
“…I knew what that was all along!!!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————