My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 238

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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 238
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The final day. D-15.
Here in the east, in Farman.
This scenic domain, where a tributary originating in the Northern Territory flows with dazzling brilliance, was the land grandfather gave me as a seventh birthday gift.
And now,
atop a mountain where fragrant spring breezes drift.
“Woo-hoo!”
Father let out an exuberant cheer.
“The view is fantastic!”
Axion was no less enthusiastic beside him.
“Couldn’t be better!”
And Joseph, just as animated.
‘What are they doing right now…?’
I pressed my head in my hands, watching the three men revel in their cheers.
‘Is this really right…?’
A colorful picnic blanket.
Scattered across it were various foods they’d carefully brought along, now half-consumed and in disarray.
Yes, we had come hiking.
With only two weeks left before the Rebellion, we were here peacefully enjoying ourselves.
“Come on, you cheer too!”
“I’ll pass…”
I was bewildered.
How nervous I’d been when Father suggested we go hiking together with Axion and Joseph!
It seemed certain we’d be discussing secret strategies ahead of the Rebellion, and that my abilities would be needed for something.
But that wasn’t it at all.
We literally came just to hike!
I’d become nothing more than a child out on a mountain with three middle-aged men!
“Your highness, these flowers are so beautiful.”
Father broke off a branch of pink spring blossoms and tucked it behind my ear.
“If they’re beautiful, just look at them. Why break them? Don’t you care about the environment?”
I chided him, but when Axion, who’d been following behind, saw me, he stopped short and chuckled.
“I can’t tell which is the flower.”
“Right? Our princess looks so radiant, the flower can’t compete, can it?”
Ugh…
These two men truly seemed to have no sense whatsoever. My only hope was Joseph, surely—
“Ahhhh!”
—never mind, never mind.
Watching Joseph down a beer in one go and give me a thumbs-up, I began biting my nails anxiously.
‘The revolution is doomed. The Emperor might actually win.’
Why were they being so relaxed about all this?
All three of them seemed utterly at ease, as if they’d already succeeded in some business venture and had nothing to worry about.
“Father!”
“Hm?”
“Is this really the time?”
“What?”
‘What’ is not an answer!
I turned away from my foolish father and asked Joseph instead.
“Sir, with the operation right around the corner, is there anything you need my help with?”
“Help? What are you talking about?”
Right—Joseph didn’t know I was Primera.
“Your highness, look at that white flowering tree over there. Isn’t it lovely? I’ll make you a flower crown.”
“Never mind! Stop destroying the environment—”
“But look how tall it is. I could climb up and break off some branches.”
“I can do it. Come on.”
Father and Axion took off running toward the tall flowering tree in the distance.
This is maddening!
I turned to Joseph, who was grinning widely at the two gleeful men.
“Sir, sir—is it true the Marquis Chambe is going to take command of the Jedo Defense Forces?”
“Huh?”
That’s what I’d heard from Cheshire.
The Duke of Chambe was a nobleman who had been posing as Joseph’s close associate through an undercover operation all this time.
A man so steeped in the class system that redemption was impossible.
So he was on the Emperor’s side, and….
‘He’s Bruce’s father!’
Bruce.
A name I hadn’t thought of in ages.
A street urchin who’d shared a room with Cheshire back at the Training Institute!
Bruce, spoiled rotten from birth with terrible home education, had bullied the commoner students constantly.
He’d assumed I was obviously a Dohs, fawning all over me, but the moment he learned I was an Octava, he’d picked a fight and gotten soundly thrashed by Cheshire.
‘And he still hasn’t learned his lesson!’
According to what Cheshire told me, Bruce would probably be assigned to the Jedo Defense Forces this time.
“How did you know that? Did the Duke tell you?”
“No, I heard it from Cheshire. They call it a defense force, but really they’re the ones who’ll fight Father, right?”
The “Defense Forces” that would remain in Jedo after Cheshire’s expedition were the Emperor’s troops—the enemies who would stand against Father.
“Besides the Duke of Chambe, who else is in the Defense Forces?”
“Let’s see… There’s the Duke Roger Onyx as well….”
Cheshire’s biological father!
‘Wow, he’s going full villain to the end.’
I clicked my tongue quietly to myself.
“And….”
“And?”
For some reason, Joseph stopped himself and looked at me with a crooked smile.
“But what good would it do you to know?”
“I’m just curious! And sir!”
I spoke with exasperation.
“His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t seem like the type to sit idle and take this. Why is everyone acting so calm? Is this really okay?”
“Lilis.”
Joseph called my name, then drew in a deep breath of the spring breeze drifting softly around us.
Then he spoke.
“It’s a bit embarrassing to say this from my own mouth, but your uncle here is rather sharp-witted.”
Suddenly bragging about himself?
Well, it’s not wrong….
“There’s no one in this world above this uncle’s intelligence. No matter what tantrums the Emperor throws.”
Joseph looked at me with serious eyes, then curved his lips into a sly smile.
“Everything is in the palm of this uncle’s hand.”
That expression, though somewhat sinister, was both frightening and reassuring.
I swallowed hard.
“So you needn’t worry about anything, Lilis.”
Joseph turned his face gentle again and gazed toward Father climbing through the distant trees, adding:
“The happy, beautiful world that your father wished to give you will arrive soon enough.”
* * *
On the way down.
“My legs hurt so much!”
“Want a ride?”
“Should I carry you?”
Joseph, who had been watching the affectionate exchange between Lilis, Enoch, and Axion with contentment, suddenly recalled with sharpened eyes.
Before the expedition order came down from the Emperor, he and Enoch had prepared for this moment.
“Joseph, wouldn’t it be better if I appeared to obey the Emperor’s order to march? Since Cheshire’s abilities are already exposed, victory in this war is assured. Yet defying the imperial command now would seem strange, wouldn’t it?”
“No, sir. Keep up your nerve until the very end. I intend to make the Emperor anxious. He will be worried about what you might do, backed into a corner and defying the imperial mandate.”
“So you want the Emperor to see me as a threat deliberately?”
“Exactly. That way, the Emperor will move first to crush you.”
A moment when most of the powerful had departed on the expedition and Jedo lay nearly empty.
The Emperor would feel vulnerable.
If so, then this turbulent wartime would be the perfect opportunity to eliminate Enoch as well—
‘The situation is flawless for the Emperor to strike first.’
—That was Joseph’s calculation.
‘Of course he’ll use the commoners.’
The Emperor would massacre them under the pretext of “disloyalty,” using those same commoners who had staged countless protests until now.
A perfect method to dispose of the thorns that had grown into nuisances over the years, while simultaneously capturing Enoch.
The Emperor knew Enoch well—knew he would not stand aside in the face of innocent bloodshed.
‘If he tries to stop me then, I’ll brand him as a traitor for refusing the Expedition order and make him a public enemy.’
Because the Emperor was so predictable, Joseph had already calculated every scheme he might devise.
‘Please attack first. We will gladly take that bait.’
“Your Excellency, we must also think of what comes after everything ends. You will let the Emperor himself provide the final justification for your rebellion.”
The beginning of innocent slaughter.
A hero standing alone with sword drawn to stop it, ultimately marching upon the Imperial Palace itself.
What a magnificent picture this was.
‘For the perfect heroic narrative of Enoch Rubinstein—struggle viciously until the very end, then disappear.’
Joseph Lütman, the mind behind the Rebel Forces, smiled wickedly.
* * *
Ludendorf Manor.
Three people had gathered.
Willow Chambe, appointed commander of the Jedo Defense Forces.
Roger Onyx, the biological father of Cheshire Libre, the Emperor’s confidant.
And.
Selena Ludendorf, the Marquis’s wife.
“Madam, you’ve scarcely had time to recover properly. Are you certain you’re well?”
Willow Chambe spoke to Selena while twitching his mustache.
“I’m fine.”
At Selena’s indifferent expression, Willow inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘A cold one.’
He’d heard she’d sought out the Emperor without even properly resting after childbirth.
After that.
Her eldest son, Kyle Ludendorf, who had been assigned to the Invasion Force, was excluded from the Expedition forces, and in his stead the mother and child became part of the Jedo Defense Forces.
A clean negotiation to keep her son from the battlefield.
“Defense Forces in name, but really just people His Majesty gathered to crush Enoch Rubinstein.”
Roger Onyx shot Selena a disapproving glance.
“You won’t let sentiment interfere with the great work, will you?”
Those who knew of the relationship between Selena and Enoch might have misunderstood.
But truly, it was a foolish concern.
“Don’t worry. I won’t cause any trouble.”
“Ha! Of course not. Where would we find a more dependable ally than you? And since you’re a mother, Enoch Rubinstein won’t dare act recklessly either.”
Willow asked with a crooked grin.
“Will we get to see the skill you displayed back in those old days?”
“If our conversation is finished, we can meet again another time. Do take care on your way home.”
At Selena’s cool dismissal, Willow’s lips pouted. The two men soon left the reception room.
“I intend to capture Enoch with this opportunity.”
Alone now, Selena recalled the Emperor’s words.
“If you help me, I will spare your son from the Expedition. It’s no great difficulty.”
A war certain in its victory.
When the Emperor achieved Continental Unification, he would wield absolute power.
While every power broker bowed meekly to the Emperor, Enoch—they said—could not abandon his principles even now.
A foolish decision.
“What of the child?”
“The Rubinstein princess? Don’t worry. There are quite a few people who would go mad if her safety weren’t guaranteed. I only need to crush Enoch.”
And so Selena had no further reason to hesitate.
“If we burn the Vermin, Enoch will crawl out. From that moment, Enoch becomes part of the ‘Rebel Forces.'”
Simultaneously with the invasion war against the Isolem Kingdom, the slaughter of civilians would begin in Jedo.
It was the Emperor’s plan to capture one man: Enoch.
‘There’s no need to hesitate.’
Staining her own hands with innocent blood was bearable.
Far better than throwing her son into the hellscape of war.
And once the war ended, it would be wise to hold the thread of the Emperor, who would soon wield absolute authority.
Having finished her thoughts, Selena rose to her feet.
……
The moment she turned to leave the reception room.
Her husband, the Marquis Felix Ludendorf, stood vacant-eyed and dazed.
A chasm had begun to form between them ever since their son became a Child Soldier.
And when Selena went to find the Emperor this time and came back with a new arrangement.
The rift between them reached its breaking point.
“Your mind hasn’t changed?”
“No.”
“You….”
Selena, who had been walking past her husband with indifference, came to a halt.
“…Just how far do you intend to degrade yourself?”
Her voice cut like a blade. In her husband’s reddened eyes burned something like revulsion.
“A child who’s never even properly used his own abilities… you really want him to massacre innocent people? Is that truly what you think is best for our son?”
“Whether he becomes part of the Invasion Force or not, the slaughter of the innocent will be the same. At least this way, I’m giving him the safer choice.”
“Killing the powerless is the safer choice?”
“Yes.”
Felix laughed hollowly.
“Then let’s just… run away.”
…….
At her husband’s plea, Selena recalled Enoch’s voice from long ago and sneered.
“…Come with me, then.”
Even that great Enoch was drawing toward his end.
Such is the fate of an Ability User who defied the absolute, Primera.
“I’m sorry. For you, for Kyle, and for all of us.”
“No. It’s not for any of us.”
…….
“You’re simply giving up your humanity.”
Selena shut her eyes firmly and turned away.
“Please stop. If you go through with this, I will never look at you again.”
Even at his pitiful final plea, the woman did not slow her pace.
Once everything is over….
You’ll understand me too.
—Thinking thus.

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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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