My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 201

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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 201
“When exactly did it start…? When did you fall for Gem?”
I asked Cheshire.
I’d always assumed that if he developed feelings for someone, he’d tell me first, at the very least.
“Gem. Listen to me without interrupting.”
But Cheshire ignored me and tried to persuade Gem instead.
“Lilis!”
Gem let out a sharp cry, alarmed at seeing me brushed aside.
“No! We really, absolutely, completely don’t have anything like that! Hey, Cheshire, you jerk, just the other day you told me about Lilis… blrbbmph!”
Cheshire suddenly jumped to his feet and clamped his hand over Gem’s mouth.
“Gem, I don’t like you that way. I’m not asking you to date me because I’m attracted to you as a woman.”
“Mmmph?!”
What kind of absurd thing was he saying?
Cheshire kept his hand over Gem’s mouth as he continued.
“So… could you just pretend to be dating me for a while?”
“……?”
Pretend to be dating…?
* * *
On the way back.
As Gem saw us off, she mechanically looped her arm around Cheshire’s shoulder.
‘What is this.’
I followed along with Rom, watching Gem’s awkward performance.
“Heh, heh, heh.”
“Gem, thank you.”
Cheshire murmured.
“You don’t have to do this much. Everyone knows how close you and I are anyway. I just wanted to get our story straight.”
“Really?”
Gem quickly pulled her arm away, looking uncomfortable.
Then she whispered.
“Hey. In return for helping you, you know about Alfredo, right?”
“Don’t worry. If word gets out about us, I’ll make sure people understand it the right way. And.”
A covert transaction.
“Whenever your Mercenary Company goes on an expedition, I’ll make sure you’re deployed in the same sector as Alfredo.”
Cheshire used his authority to offer Gem a price in return.
“Really? You promise?”
“Yes.”
Having secured a promise of a blood-soaked battlefield date with her crush, Gem waved goodbye to us with a happy face.
The moment I climbed into the carriage, I asked.
“The Emperor told you to marry the Imperial Princess? Seriously?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
We couldn’t explain the full complicated situation to Gem.
So we’d simply asked her to keep up appearances as his girlfriend for a while to avoid the sudden marriage proposal.
“Do you think the Emperor will believe you have a girlfriend?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“Fair point. He knows how close you are to Gem. But why her specifically? If it’s someone everyone knows is close to you… hmm, I’m close to you too, aren’t I…?”
“You won’t do.”
…I was rejected.
Contract girlfriend or not, being turned down in a single second left me feeling oddly strange.
“Right, okay. I understand.”
I replied curtly and asked.
“But why do you keep holding my hand? You can let go now.”
Cheshire hadn’t released the hand he’d taken when helping me into the carriage.
“Don’t you like holding hands? You kept holding hands with the Tower Master the whole time.”
“……?”
“The Emperor doesn’t want me getting deeply entangled with the Rubinstein family. If I’m with you, he’ll go to any length to separate us instead.”
Cheshire didn’t let go of my hand, and shifted his gaze to the window.
“Ah!”
The reason I wasn’t suitable as a contract girlfriend.
‘I see.’
The Emperor had every intention of using Cheshire exactly as he pleased.
But if Enoch—who consistently opposed the Emperor’s every move—were to become Cheshire’s father-in-law….
“You’re right. Now that you mention it, that is a problem.”
“And I need to earn the Emperor’s trust. Even now, I’m already dangerously close to you and the Rubinstein family—if we were to become lovers on top of that, I wouldn’t gain his confidence at all. I’d only invite suspicion. He might even try to exploit you.”
“I see.”
The sting of rejection melted away in an instant.
“Besides, there’s another reason it has to be Gem. She’s a commoner.”
“What does it matter that Gem’s a commoner?”
“If everything goes according to my plan, the Emperor will try to use Gem to negotiate with me.”
Cheshire turned back to face me as he continued.
“At the negotiating table, the Emperor will place me in his debt. And in exchange, he’ll demand something of me—that I take command of the Invasion Army.”
“Ah! Wow, I see.”
I already knew the basics of our Rebel Forces’ plan.
Undercover Operation.
Cheshire was meant to become the Supreme Commander of the Invasion Army and rise to the Emperor’s innermost circle.
“So you’re going after two birds with one stone, huh?”
“Exactly.”
“Wow.”
My heart raced as I watched Cheshire, already grown so tall, earnestly plotting rebellion.
He truly was the protagonist—and yet….
The approaching Day of Revolution suddenly felt real.
“But can you actually pull off the act?”
“What act?”
“You have to go to the Emperor and lie about having someone you’re interested in. You’ve never met with him alone before, have you?”
“No.”
“He’s incredibly perceptive and cunning. If you can’t perform well, he’ll see through you immediately.”
“I won’t be acting. So it’s fine.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
Cheshire stared at me silently for a moment, then turned his gaze back out the window.
“There’s no need to act. I’ll tell him the truth.”
“What are you talking about?”
Cheshire refused to answer.
‘I have no idea what he’s thinking.’
I pouted slightly.
* * *
Several days later.
The Emperor summoned Cheshire.
“Is this the first time we’ve met alone like this?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Nicholas filled Cheshire’s teacup with his own hands as he spoke.
“You know why I’ve called you here, don’t you?”
“I’ve heard that you spoke with my father about a marriage proposal.”
Cheshire answered as if he’d been waiting for the question.
“News travels quickly, I see. My daughter will be an excellent choice. Even if she bears an heir who is Non-Combat Class and named Octava, the ability potential may not be particularly exceptional.”
Nicholas took a sip of tea before continuing casually.
“Children are a separate matter anyway—those of higher Rank can handle that elsewhere. My daughter won’t join any military campaigns, only focusing on family matters while supporting you. That’s rather advantageous, wouldn’t you say?”
“…….”
A remark worthy of doubting one’s ears.
Cheshire was left speechless.
‘Is he telling me to father children with another woman besides my wife?’
It was hardly something a father would say when sending off his own daughter.
But to the Emperor, even his children were nothing more than pieces on a board.
“A union with the Imperial Household could give you wings, so to speak.”
“I’m sorry. I cannot comply.”
“Why not?”
Nicholas’s eyes sharpened.
“There is someone I have feelings for.”
“Is that so?”
Nicholas let out a snort of laughter.
He had already grasped every connection in Cheshire’s sphere of relationships.
So it’s a lie.
Just an excuse within the expected range.
“Well, I thought you had no one to meet, so I was pushing forward with a marriage proposal.”
“You likely didn’t know. I never told anyone because it would cause trouble for my father.”
Trouble for Axion?
What does he mean?
“Even if you do have someone in mind, is it really such a problem? Someone like you—taking a mistress or two after marriage is hardly a scandal.”
“…….”
“If you’re worried about my daughter or the Imperial Household’s image, there’s no need. Marriage is a transaction, and she’ll understand that much.”
“I don’t believe marriage is a transaction. It’s an extremely important matter in my life, and I wish to share my fate with only one person—someone I love.”
“Ah, I see.”
Nicholas’s expression turned dismissive at the tedious sentiment.
‘Stubborn in these matters, isn’t he. Still young—he doesn’t know any better.’
Observing Nicholas’s expression of disbelief, Cheshire drew a slow breath.
“Can you act that well?”
Lilis, worried.
But as he’d said before, there was no need to act.
Though the object had changed, he was speaking his true heart regardless.
“It’s not some childish infatuation. It’s a feeling that can’t be expressed in simple words like affection or love. This person extended their hand to me when I was at my weakest and most worthless, and from that moment on, they became my life—my salvation.”
“…….”
“For the first time, I felt the desire to live for someone else. Four years have passed without my heart wavering, so I believe it will remain the same in the years to come.”
“……?”
Nicholas’s eyes slowly widened.
‘What is this?’
Each word spilled out deliberately.
A confession that seemed calm on the surface, yet carried the turbulent swell of long-held emotion.
No one with sense could doubt Cheshire’s sincerity.
‘Does he really have a lover?’
This differed from what Nicholas had gleaned beforehand.
Moreover, at this level….
To force a marriage proposal would be poison.
All the more so, given his young age and the emotions that naturally came with it.
“Even though I cannot bind myself through the institution of marriage, I don’t wish to have anyone but this person at my side. It’s what keeps my heart free from shame, and it’s how I show respect for them.”
“Wait.”
Nicholas, eyes narrowing, cut off Cheshire’s words.
“Even though I cannot bind myself through the institution of marriage….”
Someone he cared for, yet couldn’t marry?
“…cause trouble for my father….”
A situation that would embarrass a high-ranking noble, his adoptive father Axion?
Nicholas understood at once.
“A commoner.”
Cheshire bowed his head.
“I apologize. I would like to withdraw from the marriage proposal.”
“No, no. What’s to apologize for? The heart is a thing you cannot control, after all.”
Nicholas,
‘Actually, this makes things easier.’
felt secretly pleased.
“You must have suffered greatly. Why didn’t you bring it up with your father?”
“Even if I felt reluctant, he is a man who respects my opinions. However, I know that acting on my own desires would bring shame not only to myself, but to my family’s name and my father’s reputation.”
Nicholas wanted to stand and applaud at those words.
The report he’d received from Cheshire’s biological father, the Marquess Onyx.
“Fortunately, it seems he has no deep attachment to his adoptive father. Still, he would never betray him. The gratitude for being taken in and the debt of obligation to repay that kindness runs deep.”
Yes, that aspect of Cheshire Rubinstein pleased him greatly as well.
The fact that you could bind him with debt, and easily secure his loyalty!
His nature was such that once he received a favor, he would never betray until he’d repaid it!
“It’s a pity. At such a young age, you must have carried such heavy thoughts.”
Nicholas stood and approached Cheshire from behind, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as he spoke.
“A non-Ability User?”
“…Diez. A friend working as a mercenary.”
“Ah!”
Nicholas let out an exclamation.
I understand now. Who it is.
The puzzle in my head has finally come together.
“It is truly a pity. There is a friend I care for, yet we live in a world where we cannot be intertwined.”
……
“But what good is surrender? The rank one is born with—I myself have no way to resolve such things. And yet….”
Nicholas, his head bowed, whispered like a serpent into Cheshire’s ear.
“…What if there were a title, at least? You might find some freedom from the scrutiny of the nobility.”
The Emperor, standing above the law, could accomplish anything.
Granting a lower-ranked man the life of a nobleman was nothing.
“Pardon?”
Cheshire spun around to face Nicholas with surprise he had never shown before.
‘As expected—he is still young.’
Hope. Excitement.
The boy could not hide his roiling emotions in the slightest.
“Your Majesty, you would….”
“Yes, yes. What could I not do for my loyal servant?”
……
Cheshire’s breathing grew visibly ragged.
“If you would do only that for me… I am truly, truly grateful.”
After a moment of thought, he asked carefully.
“…Might there be something, Your Majesty, that you desire of me?”
“Ha ha ha ha!”
Nicholas no longer held back, laughing openly and heartily.
Indeed, he understood perfectly the principle of any true bargain—that which is given must be returned.
‘Young and emotional, yes.’
But his instincts were sharp, his mind keen.
A blade that could not be more perfect to wield.
‘Cheshire Libre.’
With this man at his side.
This time, he was certain he would not fail.

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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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