My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 253

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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 conceals his strength
253
Dragging legs that barely obeyed me, I trudged forward and hoped.
That the letter you left behind was not your final farewell.
…….
And my hope shattered, mercilessly.
As I took in Oscar’s familiar handwriting—each letter pressed down hard into the page—I wept without end.
“You promised. You promised me, and yet….”
Why did you have to leave so suddenly?
You abandoned everything because of me, shouldered a price more desperate than death itself, and yet not a single line of resentment marked that letter.
Failed time, erased. Success reclaimed.
Peace for all now. Happiness, too…….
But the terrible truth remained: the one who had erased that catastrophic failure, who set new time flowing, could never know happiness.
That truth tormented me.
“Ah, oh. Oh no….”
This couldn’t be happening.
Knowing it was too late, I pulled out the Magical Device he’d left as his final gift and shattered it, sobbing.
Come back to me…….
Appear before my eyes.
You promised me.
“No, it’s fine. It’s fine, Lilis. I can do this…. I can….”
I murmured helplessly, scrubbing my blurred vision roughly, and pushed myself up.
He—Oscar.
He always came to find me, locked away at the top of that tower.
Every single day.
Never letting me know his name, never once letting me call his—and yet…….
“Now… now it’s my turn….”
So now I have to find him.
I have to become the only time flowing through you, the one who will lose all moments.
282 Years
“Ah.”
My mind went blank, white as snow.
“Why…?”
No matter how many times I tried, the price never changed.
“Why, why….”
The unbearable weight carved so vividly before my eyes.
“Why!!!”
The pain stabbed through me like a blade.
“Oh, oh, no….”
I realized that Oscar had even foreseen this moment—my form as I prayed to find him.
This couldn’t happen.
Truly, it couldn’t….
That I survived unharmed, that I still drew breath,
That I stood upon the grave of the one who gave me life again—this reality.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!!!”
The anguish was maddening.
* * *
“Enoch!”
A voice like a scream tore through my ears, carrying a desperate relief.
Enoch struggled to lift his eyelids.
“Phew, thought my heart would stop…. Took you damned long enough to wake….”
As his vision sharpened, he saw Axion beside him, hand pressed to his chest, muttering.
“Enoch, are you with us?”
His father—Nordic—was there too.
In Enoch’s fragmented memory, the last scene that remained clear was Cheshire, weeping.
Their swords had crossed; Cheshire had tried to unleash a Sword Aura, brainwashed by the Emperor…….
“Cheshire!”
“He’s fine!”
The moment Enoch tried to rise, Axion pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him back.
“Stay down. Cheshire is safe. He’s not here because he’s handling things outside right now. Everything succeeded as planned. No problems at all.”
“Ha… ha….”
Only then did Enoch find relief—
“Lilis!”
He bolted upright once more.
Looking around slowly, he saw only Axion and Nordic at his side.
When he didn’t see Lilis, who should naturally have been there, his heart began to race wildly.
“Ah, Lilis… she was here the whole time you were recovering, they say….”
“Where did she go?”
“Wait. From what I heard, a moment ago….”
“Your Grace!”
Just then, Jetti, the maidservant who had been carrying a large basin into the room, cried out in surprise and rushed over.
“Are you feeling well? Is there anywhere that troubles you? Zadkiel is resting in the adjoining room right now. If you need anything once you’re awake, I’ll be happy to assist you further….”
“Where is Lilis?”
“Oh! Miss said there was somewhere urgent she needed to go, so she went to change clothes in her room just now….”
As Jetti paused, tilting her head thoughtfully, Juen entered behind her and gasped.
“Eek! Your Grace! You’re awake?!”
“Juen, bring Miss here at once!”
“Uh, sister! You’re right! But Miss isn’t in the room….”
“What do you mean? We didn’t see her leave.”
Everyone listening to their exchange turned pale with alarm.
Then Juen spoke, glancing nervously around.
“Miss said she had somewhere to go, so… could it be that she went somewhere with a sort of magic, like a ‘poof’ kind of spell…? I, is it okay to say that here….”
“…….”
At Juen’s words, Enoch fell silent in thought.
Then he quickly climbed out of bed and pulled back the carpet. Beneath it lay a Magic Circle already drawn.
“Enoch, what are you doing? Your body is still not ready to move.”
“Listen to your father. I’ll find Lilis and bring her back. You should rest more—an ordinary person would be a miracle just to be alive after injuries like yours….”
Enoch seemed not to hear the voices urging him to stay; in an instant, he vanished from the Magic Circle.
“Damn it. He never listens to a word anyone says.”
Axion dropped his shoulders and let out a weary sigh.
* * *
The pre-drawn Magic Circle’s coordinates pointed to Oscar’s Residence.
If Lilis had rushed to see someone, it would be Oscar, and as he suspected, the girl was there.
“Lilis! I—”
As Enoch searched the room, he found her collapsed beneath the bed, weeping.
“…….”
She had grown.
No longer a child by any stretch—she bore now the unmistakable form of a young woman.
Only then did Enoch understand.
The final battle he had thought could not possibly succeed without some cost.
Why it had ended with both him and Cheshire unharmed.
“Lilis.”
“Father….”
As he approached, Lilis studied his unscathed form and smiled weakly.
“Why….”
“…….”
Her eyes were swollen and red, tears still gathering in them.
The body that melted into his arms had no strength left—a testament to how long she had wept.
“Why were you crying….”
Enoch held the limp Lilis and gazed numbly around the room.
Two sets of nightwear, handled so recently by small hands….
Oscar’s Magical Device, split cleanly in half, scattered across the floor….
And a letter, blurred here and there by tears.
“What do I do, Father…? My teacher has left….”
Enoch’s heart sank like a stone.
It was exactly as he had feared.
But why?
Even with everything ended, Enoch knew Oscar would not be free.
But three years remained before the Geis took hold—
Why, then, had he needed to leave so urgently?
“Master! Once all the business is finished, let’s take the princess out every day. We can eat delicious things together.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?!”
“Why? What do you mean why? Don’t you understand how cruel those words are to me?”
He knew there were barely three years left to create any memories worth keeping.
So, somehow….
Enoch wanted to give a precious gift of good memories to the man who had saved them all.
“Clinging to such memories will only bring you pain when you recall them. You’ll live on happily with her, thinking, ‘Somewhere out there, he’s still alive’—and that’ll be that. But I… I’ll spend the rest of my life chewing on those memories alone, longing for her. So I won’t do it.”
“…….”
“Because I want to suffer as little as possible. And for her sake, I’d rather she didn’t have any memories of me to haunt her.”
“…….”
“So please understand. I want her to be free of that burden too.”
Was that why, then?
Why he’d left in such haste?
“What do I do, Father…? Even I… I went to a place where I can’t find myself…. Master was always coming to see me, but… I’m so stupid… I can’t find Master…. I can’t do anything….”
The child began to sob uncontrollably again.
“I can’t find him….”
“I can’t do anything….”
Enoch echoed the broken words the weeping child had whispered, and then something struck him. His breath came out hollow.
“……The magical device that lets you evade Primera’s Ability.”
The Magical Device Oscar had created to protect Lilis on the Final Day.
“Come on, try it!”
Oscar possessed a bracelet enchanted with the same magic.
At the time, he’d only been grateful that Lilis’s safety was guaranteed.
Truly,
how foolish.
“Ha, ha….”
Still holding Lilis, Enoch mocked himself, cursing his own stupidity.
“You know, Father…? It hurts so much that I can’t do anything….”
“…….”
“Even if I find Master, I still… I have nothing to give him. I can’t make him live well. I can’t even make sure Father and the others remember him….”
“…….”
“So I know asking to be together is too selfish…. Forcing myself to stay by Master’s side isn’t for him—it’s only for me….”
Enoch’s face twisted in anguish at Lilis’s disjointed, tearful words.
“Father, can I not forget Master? Master doesn’t seem to believe that. But at least… only I can….”
Except for Lilis, no one could escape the Geis placed upon Oscar.
Oscar, destined to be forgotten by all.
A shackle that would strangle him the moment anyone recognized his existence.
Even if Oscar walked among countless passing strangers, Enoch could never acknowledge him, never know him.
‘Perhaps… that’s why.’
Oscar had left to survive.
Enoch pulled Lilis tighter in his arms and weakly picked up Oscar’s letter lying beside them.
[You are free, Lilis Rubinstein!
The fact that this letter has safely reached your hands means your father has finally earned his keep.
To be honest, I wished there were a few more months left, but thinking about it now, I realized I was being terribly selfish. Your father must want to set you free as soon as possible.
Hmm…….
Unlike you, I have no gift for speaking shameful words, so I’ve only listened all this time when you said you liked me, that you loved me. I’m sorry.
As you well know, this master’s heart is exactly the same as yours.
I love you more than anyone in this world.
In all my remaining life, there will never again be someone I treasure and cherish and love as much as you.
Your father told me this once.
That you are his world, his everything.
Watching you grow from birth to adulthood, his world became entirely filled with you.
I too have felt that through you.
Waiting for me always in the same place, smiling and turning around when I call, coming closer and embracing me, telling me you love me….
For the first time, I understood what it meant when they say that giving is not a waste, that losing is not a regret.
So don’t ever feel guilty.
I would have been happy even if I’d torn out my heart for you.
One last thing: don’t cry.
Live long and happily with your father.
I’ll carry the memory for you, so please don’t torment yourself with it. Just let it go.
But if you find yourself thinking of me…
Know that I’m living well somewhere.
Perhaps I was even among the people who brushed past you today—think of it that way.
……Goodbye. Take care of yourself. My love.]

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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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