My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 213

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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
213
“What’s that got to do with me?”
At Cheshire’s cold reply, Leon’s arm fell limp, his gaze drifting aimlessly through empty air.
“You….”
Cheshire regarded him with vacant eyes, then turned and left.
Bang.
The door closed without a sound.
“Ha, seriously….”
Left alone, Leon laughed weakly.
* * *
I pressed my cheek against Oscar’s office window, peering out at the grounds below.
‘When is Father getting here, anyway….’
Father, who’d promised to pick me up, remained conspicuously silent.
I glanced nervously over my shoulder.
Oscar had been sitting in silence for thirty minutes now. Terrifying.
‘Right, I’m the fool for thinking I could hide anything from this sharp-eyed genius.’
I’d hoped to keep quiet about saving the baby, worried he’d lose his mind if he found out.
But somehow Oscar already knew Mother was pregnant.
“Master, are you very angry?”
“Mm.”
“I understand. It’s just that everything happened so fast, you see.”
I offered excuses without being asked.
“I watched from behind as Father carried the Duchess to the infirmary, and something about the whole thing felt… off.”
“…….”
“Father and I had just been quarreling, and I thought if something went wrong with the baby in that moment, the situation would spiral completely. So the moment I saw the bracelet….”
The Magical Device bracelet that resonates with my Core—the heart of Primera—can reveal much.
The instant I wondered about the baby’s condition, its lifespan appeared in my sight. That meant without my intervention, the child would be lost.
“Since the baby was still in the womb, using my ability quietly meant no one would know. And besides, it didn’t require all that much Life Force….”
“…….”
Oscar said nothing.
His silence frightened me more, so I squeezed my eyes shut.
“I—I did consider it carefully. I really did think it through….”
In truth, I hadn’t deliberated long; if I’d hesitated too much, the baby’s condition would worsen and cost me more lifespan.
But I couldn’t ignore Oscar’s expression.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
“Why should you apologize? Your panicked face right now is what annoys me. Don’t apologize. Do you know why I’m actually angry?”
“…….”
“What am I supposed to do about your father sending his son to war? It’s ridiculous enough that he went to your father in a rage, but on top of that, my blood—!”
Oscar shot up from his seat, pointing an accusing finger at me before slumping back down again.
“Please don’t get upset, Master.”
“Right. Getting upset just hurts me. I hope she delivers soon. Next time we meet, I’ll grab her by the hair and shake her~~”
I flinched.
“That’s—that’s far too violent….”
Oscar glared at me.
“Please don’t misunderstand! I’m worried about your image! If you did something like that, your reputation would take a hit…!”
“Right, as if my image can get any worse~~”
“No, really!”
“Actually, now that I think about it, I’m angry with you about something else too.”
“…What?”
“Why hide it from me?”
“Oh! That’s because you’d naturally be upset if you knew, Master.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what?”
“You and your lover.”
“…….”
Oh no.
One crisis after another.
I quickly turned my head back toward the window, pretending I hadn’t heard.
“So, is Father building a carriage by hand and riding it here…?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Oscar sighed and rose to his feet.
Then he shifted to the sofa, stretched out at full length, and muttered like an old man.
“Sigh, all grown up now, and already keeping secrets….”
“No!”
At the disappointment in Oscar’s voice, my resolve wavered.
“That’s not it, Master.”
I found myself padding toward him.
Oscar lay with his arm as a pillow, looking up at me with visible displeasure.
“You won’t kill him, will you?”
“No.”
Though he’d offered no subject, Oscar understood at once and, mercifully, promised Cheshire’s survival.
The sofa was spacious enough for two to lie on comfortably.
As I climbed up, Oscar extended his arm. I settled against it and cleared my throat slightly. “Well, so we’ve been dating for about a month now.”
“Heh, so it’s been a month since we started dating.”
“…You—”
“…….”
Mercifully, Oscar’s mouth stopped before completing whatever oath he’d begun.
“…Go on, then. Tell me everything, Lilis.”
It seemed Oscar was just as curious about my romantic life as I was.
I recalled events from a month ago.
That day I’d gone to the Imperial Training Grounds to check on Leon’s condition, and a knight named Ride Felton had given me a love letter.
* * *
Inside the carriage heading home with Cheshire, I opened Ride Felton’s letter.
It ran to five pages.
‘Goodness. His arm must be exhausted from writing all this.’
Unlike my twin brothers, who tossed ladies’ love letters straight into the fireplace unread, or Cheshire, who dumped them directly into the waste bin…
I found it difficult to ignore a letter someone had written so carefully, thinking of me.
Even if I couldn’t reply, wasn’t it only courteous to at least read it?
So, after I was caught staying up all night reading through mountains of love letters, Father stepped in to prevent them from reaching my hands in the first place.
‘It was easier after that.’
This was the first letter I’d read in a long while.
[…Like a sliver of moon reflected in a pond, like a single forget-me-not glowing white. To the ever-radiant Lady Lilis of House Rubinstein.
With burning passion and an aching heart, Ride Felton.]
I glanced over in embarrassment.
Cheshire’s eyes, arms casually folded, were fixed on the letter.
“His penmanship is… quite extraordinary. He could’ve made a name for himself as a poet.”
I hastily folded the letter back into the envelope and changed the subject.
“Anyway, when do we train next? You must be incredibly busy, aren’t you?”
I was the one going directly to the battlefield for <The Absolutely Flawless Leon Rescue Plan>.
Only three people knew this fact.
Oscar, Gem, and Cheshire.
Cheshire, the Supreme Commander of this battle, had arranged a safe position for me, yet he was worried enough to suggest we train.
Intimately familiar with every Demon Beast haunt across the empire, he secretly took me around using Teleportation Magic—courtesy of the genius Magic Tower Master—and taught me one by one what the beasts looked like and how to deal with them.
Truly the finest instructor of the battlefield…!
“Are you planning to write back?”
“Hmm?”
The sudden question left me blank for a moment before I realized Cheshire was asking about Ride Felton’s letter.
“What? I just saw this knight’s face for the first time today.”
“…Yes.”
The atmosphere suddenly felt strange.
“You’ve received so many confessions. Is there really no one who’s caught your fancy?”
“…….”
At his casual question, I stared intently at Cheshire.
‘This guy…’
A small pang of hurt settled in my chest.
‘…Does he really not know how I feel?’
Perhaps Cheshire had no romantic sensibilities at all. Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly be this oblivious.
“Is there… someone you like?”
“There is. That’s why I haven’t replied to any other man’s letter all this time, isn’t it? I’ve liked him for quite a while now.”
I spoke right away, and Cheshire’s eyes narrowed.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
So, ask me who.
Actually, there’s no real need to ask.
I’ve been dropping hints all over the place.
If he isn’t an idiot, Cheshire should’ve figured out that I like him.
Every time we trained, I’d lean against him and whine, “Ugh, I’m so tired. Can you carry me?” — does he really not know that’s all an act?
He panics over a scratch no bigger than an ant’s eye on my hand!
I ask him to hold me, and he holds me. I ask him to carry me, and he carries me.
Someone who does whatever I say — doesn’t that mean he has feelings for me?
At least, I was convinced it wasn’t just wishful thinking on my part.
“I see.”
I’d steeled myself to answer that I like him, but Cheshire just turned his head without asking anything more.
‘That’s it? That’s all?’
I asked, bewildered.
“Aren’t you going to ask who?”
“I already know.”
…Well, of course. He has to know.
“But don’t confess to me.”
“What?”
“I could never accept it. Don’t confess just to get your heart broken for nothing.”
…….
Wow.
Rejected before I even confessed?
Is this what they call a zero-confession, one-rejection situation?
Embarrassed and flustered, I whipped my head around to face away.
“Why, why…? What’s wrong with me? What don’t you like about me…?”
My mouth, beyond the control of my brain, babbled the question.
“The age difference is too much.”
Four years? What’s wrong with four years?
I thought four years didn’t even count as a compatibility issue!
“There are plenty of couples with that much difference….”
“Your father won’t approve.”
Father?
Right — Father and Cheshire are in the middle of an important venture together.
Of course he’d hate it if I just waltzed in with a romance in the middle of something so critical.
“If that’s the reason… well, could we date once the business is finished…?”
“That has nothing to do with business. The age difference really is too much.”
“Hey!”
He keeps bringing up the age thing even though he’s just trying to refuse — it annoyed me so much I spun back to face him and shouted.
“I still remember my past life, okay? I’ve got way more memories than I look like I do. I’ve actually lived longer than Master Oscar!”
At my protest, Cheshire’s expression visibly hardened.
Of course, no matter how many years I’d lived in my past life, my mental age was synchronized with my current body, so it was meaningless either way.
‘But Cheshire doesn’t know that!’
Even as I said it, I knew it was pathetic….
“You like me that much?”
Cheshire shot back with an exasperated look, as if tired of my refusal to give up.
“Y-yeah… I like you….”
Seeing myself cling to him like this, so pitiful, tears suddenly welled up.
I yanked my head around again.
“Sigh.”
The sound of a weary sigh from behind me made me feel even more wretched.
‘No, Lilis! Don’t cry! You idiot! Why are you crying!’
But tears fell without resistance, drop after drop.
I never expected to be rejected, so the shock was immense.
I thought we were flirting with each other.
And during this training, spending so much time together only made it feel more certain.
‘If this is how it was going to be, why did he have to be so nice to me!’
And why won’t my stupid nose stop running.
I sniffled, my nose running, when Cheshire drove his point home like a wedge.
“Really… I can’t do this, Lilis. Don’t even say you like me. I don’t see you as a woman anyway.”
Wow.
Had he made it his mission to wound me?
“I understand… I get it, so please stop….”
“Don’t cry.”
His soothing voice was so tender it only made it worse. The tears came harder.
“Starting now, put your feelings in order. I’m saying this for your sake.”
“No, I… I don’t… I…”
“If there were any possibility, maybe, but there isn’t. Not at all. You’re just going to hurt yourself.”
“Ah, oh, I said I understand, so stop! Stop talking, I… I… sob….”
What a cruel man.
“You… from now on, don’t… don’t be nice to me. Don’t hold me when I ask you to, don’t… don’t hold my hand or anything like that….”
I gripped the hem of my skirt tightly, continuing to pour out my grievances.
Really, he shouldn’t confuse me like this.
“Don’t let me misunderstand, sob, don’t create false hope… you terrible man….”
“…? Lilis.”
Cheshire suddenly called my name in a startled voice and seized my shoulders.
“Wait. Wait, look at me for a second.”
“Ch-Cheshire… let go of this.”
I flailed my arm to shake him off, and he promptly dropped to one knee in front of me.
The carriage lurched.
“Please. Let me look at you for a moment.”
……
I swallowed hard, clamped my mouth shut, and glanced down at him sideways.
For some reason, he looked utterly flustered.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry. Don’t cry. It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
Cheshire wiped my tears away with his own hand and asked quietly,
“But… you were talking about me just now, right?”
“…Then who was I talking about?”
“No, I…”
Cheshire braced his hands against the carriage seat, his eyes bewildered as his lips moved silently for a moment, then he spoke.
“…I’ve been talking about the Magic Tower Master this whole time.”
……?
Silence fell between us.
I blinked blankly before asking,
“You….”
……
“…Are you an idiot?”

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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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