My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 31

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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 hiding his strength
Chapter 31
You—I sold you.
For your brother.
I turned Oscar’s words over in my mind, forcing myself to appear calm.
‘So that’s how it was.’
Given Father’s nature, he wouldn’t have spirited away a child born to him without Mother knowing.
It seemed he’d informed Mother of his whereabouts. Though he probably hadn’t anticipated that Mother would reveal them to the Emperor.
‘Then the tragedy that started all of this—it wasn’t anyone else. It was Mother?’
In the original story, I was kidnapped.
After that, I would have been moved to the Breeding Facility.
Once my Rank was confirmed, I would have been imprisoned.
‘Mother works at the Breeding Facility now, doesn’t she? Then… then that means Mother knew everything.’
The entire process—being abducted without any warning, torn from Father, having my Rank revealed, locked away in the Imperial Palace….
Original Mother had known it all. She had witnessed it all. And yet she’d said nothing, keeping silent.
‘…This is rather shocking, actually.’
The fact that my own biological mother had contributed to the tragedy that was my life struck me as deeply unsettling.
“Huff, huff.”
“This time it’s shock, isn’t it?”
“Yes… a little.”
At my honest admission, Oscar studied me with an odd expression.
“Go through the Breeding Facility and then come straight to the Magic Tower. I’ll use my authority to fast-track your recruitment.”
“Huh? Why me? I don’t want to.”
“What? Why not?”
I sank into melancholy, staring blankly at the paper as my pen scratched across it.
“I want to stay home with Father. What’s the point of going there?”
“If you don’t enter the Magic Tower, you’ll be sent to the battlefield. Being young won’t spare you. Even child soldiers are sent out to slay Demonic Beasts with a hundred teeth.”
“I still won’t go. I don’t want to leave Father.”
“Confident in your backing, aren’t you?”
Oscar let out a derisive laugh.
“What, did Father tell you not to do anything? That he’d let you live like a princess without lifting a finger?”
…
“There’s no such thing as a free luxury. Just as your mother sold you to protect her son.”
Oscar pressed his index finger against my forehead, his tone hardening.
“Your father’s the same. While he’s keeping you safe to live like a princess, he’s the one who’ll be thrown into the war, don’t you think?”
…
“You know your father’s a terrifying person, don’t you? Even the Emperor couldn’t stop him from going to war whenever he pleased. Especially not invasive wars—your father opposed them at every turn. But.”
Oscar paused, then let out a quiet laugh.
“Now he has a daughter? I’d wager the Emperor would strip off his clothes and dance a jig right now. With you as leverage, it’s easy.”
…
“You want your father to be compromised, unable to even squeak before the Emperor? Watching innocent people die in his place, and you’re fine with that?”
That wouldn’t happen. As long as I wasn’t among the top three Ranks liable for Military Conscription Duty, I’d be fine—and I’d already prepared countermeasures.
Still, I found myself curious about Oscar’s true intentions, as if he were genuinely trying to help me.
‘Really the number-one character no one can read? From what he’s saying, he doesn’t seem to like the Emperor.’
Then why, in the original story….
Why had he refused so firmly when Father asked him to lend his strength to the revolution?
I opened my eyes wide, recalling the final scene of the original story.
Father and Cheshire’s ultimate destination after the successful rebellion was the Imperial Palace.
Because they had to behead the tyrannical Emperor who had ruled through dictatorship in that rotten empire.
When the Rebel Forces arrived at the palace.
Surprisingly, standing beside the Emperor was Oscar, the Tower Master.
‘I remember thinking Oscar must be on the Emperor’s side when I saw that.’
But strangely, Oscar merely watched as the Emperor’s head was severed.
The Emperor reached out his hand, crying out for help from his Tower Master, but Oscar didn’t even glance his way.
And when Oscar did step forward.
‘It was after I, the final villain, made my entrance, probably.’
I appeared, thought to be dead, in a brainwashed state.
The tyrant Emperor’s hidden trump card. In other words, though not of my own will, I had been on the Emperor’s side and against Father.
As Father fell into panic, Cheshire tried to kill me instead—and it was Oscar who stepped in to stop him.
Oscar, who had never been lavish with his power before, strangely enough fought Cheshire at the very end, even coughing up blood.
In any case, he’d sided with the villains in the original story’s clash between protagonist and antagonists, so I’d marked him as an enemy.
‘But I’m thoroughly confused now. So why did I protect him, yet only watch when the Emperor died?’
I furrowed my brow, lost in thought.
Oscar chuckled and rubbed my forehead.
“Smooth out that frown. You’ll get wrinkles.”
“This is hard, you know.”
“What is?”
“You, the Archmage. I can’t figure out what goes on in that head of yours.”
“Puhahahaha…!”
Oscar doubled over, clutching his stomach.
Was it funny? I glared at him with my eyes narrowed, watching him laugh until tears hung from the corners of his eyes.
“Why are you being so kind to me?”
The way he’d desperately protected me in the original story.
And now, scouting me into the Magic Tower so I wouldn’t be conscripted.
He was an enigma in every other way, yet toward me alone he showed nothing but goodwill—it didn’t add up.
‘Don’t tell me we had something going on?’
Something romantic, maybe?
Since it never appeared in the original story, there was no way I could know.
I wanted to grab Oscar by the collar, shake him, and demand to know why he’d protect me in the future.
“Because I love you?”
“…P-pardon?!”
A real romantic confession? Oscar burst out laughing at the sight of my gaping mouth and added:
“I love geniuses. I do.”
“Oh my god, you scared me!”
Seeing me clutch my chest, Oscar slapped the desk repeatedly, laughing with abandon.
“Ahahaha! Man, you’re killing me, seriously. Scared you, did I?”
“Yes, you did! I almost misunderstood! There’s way too much of an age gap between us for that kind of thing!”
“Puhahahaha!!”
Always teasing people. I puffed out my cheeks and glared at Oscar.
“Ah, hey….”
“What?”
Oscar wiped away the tears hanging from the corners of his eyes and gestured toward the window with his chin.
“They’re fighting.”
“Huh?”
I turned to look and saw two boys tangled up on the first floor’s garden.
Cheshire and….
‘Leon?’
Pinned beneath him, Cheshire was being hammered mercilessly by Leon’s fists.
“What—what is he doing?!”
I gasped in shock and rushed out.
* * *
Lilith scurried out on her short legs, visible through the window.
Oscar rested his chin on his hand and watched her go, smirking faintly.
“Quite fond of age gaps, aren’t we.”
His eyes, fixed on Lilith, flickered with a tender fondness.
For some reason, it seemed to stretch back through an eternity.
“Acting skills to match an ancient soul. Impressive.”
* * *
“Stop!!”
As I shouted and rushed forward, Leon—his fist raised over Cheshire’s face—jerked his head up.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
“…….”
“Get off! Let Cheshire go!”
Leon ground his teeth, stared at the pinned boy beneath him, then slowly got up.
“Are you… okay?”
I rushed over to Cheshire. As he sat up, his lips were already split open.
A wound we’d barely healed, reopened again.
“Why?!”
His trauma from being beaten must still run deep, and here he was, struck down again just a day after we’d brought him here.
I’d promised no one would ever hurt him again.
“Why did you hit me! Why!”
I spun around to face Leon, my voice trembling with tears.
He said nothing, only glared at Cheshire as though he wanted him dead.
“Tell me! Why did you hit him!”
“Don’t be friends with him.”
“…What?”
“I’m telling you not to. He’s a bad person.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“He’s going to…!”
Leon started to say something, then clamped his mouth shut.
“Anyway, listen to me. Don’t play with this bastard. I don’t like how he carries himself around despite being a commoner.”
“What did you just say?”
Did I hear that right? Did Leon really just say something about Cheshire being a commoner?
Everyone else in the world could look down on Cheshire, but Leon should never have been one of them.
On the surface he’d always been prickly, but behind the scenes, wasn’t he the admirable one who made sure to scold each and every person who dared disrespect Cheshire?
‘What’s happening? How did things turn out like this?’
I realized that something had gone wrong between them—something that didn’t match the original story.
What had gone wrong? Where had the path twisted?
Was it my mistake to have rescued Cheshire a little sooner?
No, putting that aside entirely…
I was disappointed in Leon.
“Am I not a commoner?”
“What?”
“I’ve lived my whole life thinking I was a commoner. If I weren’t Father’s daughter, you wouldn’t have even spoken to me.”
“No, that’s not…”
“When I lived in Zenon, I had commoner friends. Susan and Joe—they were both commoners. They were all kind, and I still miss them.”
“…….”
“Just because I became a noble doesn’t mean I’m going to pick and choose my friends. Cheshire is my friend. So don’t hit him or disrespect him.”
With tears hanging from my eyes, I looked Leon straight in the face and spoke.
Watching me, Leon let out a hollow laugh. His own eyes had turned slightly red.
“You…”
“…….”
“Do you like him more than me? Is he better than me?”
The childish question—so fitting for a twelve-year-old—drained all my fighting spirit away.
That’s right. Leon was still young.
I should have understood, but it wasn’t easy.
“I liked you more before, but now I don’t know. I hate people who use violence more than anyone else in the world.”
I spoke coldly to Leon, who looked frustrated. I wasn’t sure whether words like these would fix his habits, but I had to try.
“…….”
Leon’s eyes widened in shock, and he blinked rapidly.
Then he clenched his teeth and trembled for a long moment before spinning around and running away.

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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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