My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 245

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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 245
* * *
Pavilion Imperial Palace, underground passage.
In the silence, the footsteps of fleeing royal family members echoed with urgency.
“Treason? Ibienne, is this truly happening?”
The 6th Prince asked, his voice wavering.
To perceive every suspicious movement beforehand and orchestrate the royal family’s escape was the work of….
The 8th Princess, Ibienne of Pavilion.
“Yes, brother. We can discuss the details once we’ve reached safety. The Imperial Household has no means to stop the Rebel Forces. If we remain here any longer, we’ll all be killed.”
Five members of the royal family were fleeing.
The 6th Prince, the 8th Princess Ibienne, and three young princesses.
“How can you be certain the Rebel Forces will win? Even if they do, is fleeing truly the answer? We are of royal blood. We must hold our ground with honor until the end….”
“Isn’t that why you chose to follow me—because life matters more than honor, brother?”
At Ibienne’s words, the 6th Prince fell silent, his trembling lips pressed shut.
Leading her siblings deeper into the passage, Ibienne’s thoughts turned to her father’s face.
‘His Majesty the Emperor.’
Being of royal blood did not guarantee a life without hardship.
Every member of the combat classes had taken up a blade, and six of the Emperor’s fourteen children had fallen in battle.
To instill the Class System into this land, the royal family itself had to first demonstrate obedience to rank.
“What is your name?”
“…Ibienne, Your Majesty.”
Three years ago.
When the Emperor—a man she saw so rarely despite living in the same palace, who seemed to regard her less than a stranger—came to ask her name.
Ibienne had been eighteen years old.
‘My own father.’
A father who could not even remember his daughter’s name by the time she came of age….
“I need a new sword. To obtain Cheshire Libre, I require a more certain thread.”
“Ibienne, you are of suitable age. Prepare yourself for marriage.”
Royal family members of low rank were not treated as children.
Born merely to produce the next generation’s Primera, and abandoned by the Emperor for lacking sufficient ability….
‘Failures’—that was all they were.
“Once married, obey your husband. Do not draw attention through improper conduct. With your rank, you could never hope to reach such heights—the very highest position will be yours.”
“Unlike your useless siblings, you shall be this father’s joy.”
The daughter who had spent her life treated as a failure remained, even at the end, merely a tool to the Emperor.
“We’ve arrived.”
Ibienne spoke as they emerged from the long underground passage.
When she pushed open the heavy iron door, a flood of light poured through.
The 6th Prince’s breath caught.
An armed military force awaited them.
As if they had known all along that the royal family would escape through this very passage.
“What…what is this?”
The 6th Prince stared in shock.
The face leading the troops—it belonged to the man who had once established countless military victories and raised his house to the very pinnacle of power….
Nordic Rubinstein, the former head of the Rubinstein House.
“I…Ibienne…who is he?”
Before the old general, whose expressionless face nonetheless radiated an ominous presence, the 6th Prince trembled.
“…Ibienne?”
In that moment, the 6th Prince’s face froze in shock.
Ibienne walked slowly toward Nordic and took her place at his side, as if for all to see.
“Ah.”
In that instant, he understood.
His sister’s betrayal.
* * *
Three years ago.
“What should be done about the treatment of the royal family members?”
Joseph understood perfectly the underlying discomfort in Enoch’s question—though he asked as if he did not already know.
“Naturally, they should all be executed.”
Silence.
“…But that would weigh heavily on your conscience, wouldn’t it?”
The ultimate goal of the rebellion is the complete abolition of the Class System.
To finally grant freedom to those who have suffered under it.
And so Enoch found himself forced to consider the final disposition of the non-combat-class members of the Imperial Family.
“The Emperor sought to secure Cheshire by arranging a marriage alliance with the 8th Princess, did he not.”
Ironically, they too could become victims of that very Class System the Rebel Forces sought to reform.
“What could have driven the 8th Princess to comply with the Emperor’s will.”
“Who knows. But I doubt she had any choice but to obey.”
“Quite so. I shall investigate their internal circumstances and positions thoroughly. And if possible, attempt to win them over as well.”
Joseph recalled the 8th Princess.
Through the Marquess Willow Chamber—whom Joseph was certain stood firmly at his side—it would be possible to make contact with her.
“For assured success, we needed allies within the Imperial Household anyway.”
* * *
Three years passed.
The 8th Princess, Ibienne, had been in contact with the Rebel Forces ever since she decided to betray her father.
She swiftly smuggled out blueprints recording the Imperial Palace’s internal secrets known only to royalty—secret passages, shelters, evacuation routes—along with military plans that reached her ears first.
At the same time, Ibienne began to observe her siblings.
She singled out only those of non-combat classes, the weakest and youngest among them—those who had grown up oppressed, never indoctrinated into the Class System.
In exchange for their faithful cooperation, she secured mercy from the Rebel Forces, so that at least their lives might be spared.
“Surrender. If you do not, I shall have no choice but to take the heads of the royal princes and princesses where they stand.”
As Nordic spoke,
“Come here.”
Ibienne gestured to her trembling siblings.
Three young princesses rushed forward without hesitation, grasping and clinging to the hem of her skirts.
The 6th Prince, watching this scene unfold, let out a hollow laugh.
“Ibienne… how could you do this to us….”
The 6th Prince was kind and gentle. Perhaps because of this, Ibienne had wavered until the very end over whether to bring him along.
Never treated as royalty, persecuted by brothers who resembled the Emperor….
He was a man who had been indoctrinated by the Class System, accepting it as natural and inevitable.
“Elder brother. Look at the history of countless rebellions that have occurred in other lands, and you will see that the fate of royalty like us is always the same.”
When a rebellion succeeds, the king and his children must ascend the scaffold as a symbol of the new era to come.
A terrible price to be paid simply for being the bloodline of a dynasty that must perish.
“Of course we should die. But if they are offering us even the chance to preserve our lives like this….”
……
“Let us live together.”
The 6th Prince clenched his eyes shut. Tears that had welled up spilled down his cheeks.
“I… cannot. I will simply die. With honor, as royalty should….”
“Have we ever once been treated as their equal, as sharing the same blood?”
Ibienne stepped closer.
“We were given only the hollow title of royalty, yet treated worse than commoners. So then, why? Why must we cling to that honor in death and die alongside them?”
“I… I….”
“Elder brother.”
By now, Ibienne had drawn near enough to stand directly before the 6th Prince.
Both of them were weeping.
“Has the Emperor ever called you by your name?”
……
His sister was asking a question to which she already knew the answer.
Your name…….
Never once spoken.
“Does His Majesty the Emperor even know your name?”
And never would be called.
The 6th Prince, Vincent von Pavilion, closed his eyes. And then he finally wept aloud.
* * *
[Imperial Calendar 1786, Fifth Month, Eighteenth Day.
Five members of the Pavilion Imperial Family, having perceived the signs of treason, fled the capital.]
* * *
[While fierce battles raged throughout Jedo and the surrounding regions, the commander of the revolutionary forces, Duke Enoch Rubinstein, advanced alone, sword in hand…….]
* * *
“According to the 8th Princess, the Emperor is amassing the full strength of the Diez-Class forces on a massive scale.”
Upon reaching the palace where the Emperor dwelt, Enoch halted his steps, recalling Joseph’s words.
Over a hundred soldiers stood before him, guarding the palace and blocking his path.
“The Diez Army was created for a reason, as you well know—to stand against you, sir.”
The contemptible Emperor understood.
What could give Enoch pause was not high-ranking Ability Users who matched his power.
Rather, it was those with no strength to oppose him, no hope of victory, nothing but the certainty of death and sacrifice….
Those at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
“This is a matter of timing. You must not give the Emperor a chance to counterattack. We need you to coordinate with when Cheshire returns to Jedo and arrives at the Imperial Palace.”
“If you hesitate trying to suppress all those troops with mercy, we’ll be too late.”
“I know this will be difficult. I know it. But you cannot falter.”
Enoch knew it too.
That before he could reach the Emperor, innocent blood would inevitably stain his hands.
‘So many of them. When will I ever….’
Yet the anguish remained.
Enoch’s gaze swept across the soldiers, trembling with weapons clutched in their hands.
“A path….”
Then he lowered his eyes and made a request that carried no real weight.
“Could you… open a path for me?”
Silence.
Then Enoch slowly raised his head and drew his blade from its sheath.
In that moment.
Clang!
Clang—!
Enoch froze.
Nearly a hundred soldiers, as if by covenant, cast down their weapons as one and opened the path.
‘What is….’
Enoch saw their expressions.
Eyes unfocused, as though entranced by something.
* * *
Magic Tower.
Oscar was watching Lilis pray with her hands clasped and eyes shut when he suddenly grabbed the child’s arm in shock.
“You!”
Before his eyes, the child’s hair had grown longer.
The child’s face, which had been frightened as Oscar rushed toward her, had subtly changed.
“…What did you do.”
“I prayed….”
“Prayer makes you grow?! What?!”
“…….”
“What on earth did you do…. You promised you’d tell me, you promised you’d tell me….”
There was no way to succeed without some sacrifice, without some loss.
And the child, as always, would choose to burn her own life rather than bear the sacrifice of others.
“I really did pray….”
Lilis added quietly, watching Oscar’s expression carefully.
“…I prayed that no one would block Father’s way.”
“…….”
Oscar swallowed his anger, closed his eyes tight, and thought.
“……That no one would block his way.”
Then perhaps it was an Ability of the mind-control variety….
A prayer for those who would fall to Enoch’s blade before he reached the Emperor.
* * *
Watching those who had opened the path without resistance, as though controlled by something, Enoch’s face twisted with deeper anguish.
The path had been opened, surely,
by his daughter.
“……Your daughter. Did she do this out of mere pity for these people? That’s not why she’d shorten her own life and attempt such a thing.”
“She did it to protect Father’s principles.”
The words Oscar had spoken long ago came flooding back, and Enoch’s throat tightened as he clenched his teeth, trembling.
“Until the blade reaches the Emperor’s throat, she didn’t want there to be any unjust bloodshed on that path, blood spilled against Father’s convictions.”
The conviction his daughter had preserved by burning her own life.
The only way to repay it was to etch that precious meaning upon this land forever.
‘I’m sorry, Lilis. Father will, absolutely. I will see it through.’
Swallowing tears that had come too soon to fall, Enoch gripped his blade firmly.
‘For you.’
The man’s eyes blazed with fierce intensity as he advanced without hesitation toward the Demon Fortress.

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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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