My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 57

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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
Episode 57
* * *
The next day.
Today was the day before my admission to the Imperial Ability Training Institute.
‘All right, here we go! The final boss—meeting the Emperor! If I mess up at the Institute, it’ll be a complete disaster, so I need to keep my wits about me!’
I steeled my resolve and began packing my bags with determination.
Jetti, who’d been helping me, suddenly pulled something from her pocket.
Princess Lala Stationery?
Jetti leaned in close to my ear and whispered.
“This is a gift from our boss. He asked me to give it to you, Miss. He said it’ll be quite useful at the Institute.”
“I see.”
I slipped Lico’s letter into the front pocket of my Bear-shaped Bag.
“Sob, sob. How will I live without our young lady? I can’t, I can’t!”
“Joon, are you really crying? I’m not going off to die or anything….”
Was this what it felt like to be a mother sending her son to military service?
Watching Joon cry her eyes out made my heart ache too. The moment I held her and patted her back, she only wailed louder.
“Wow, that’s enough noise.”
A glib voice cut through the room.
It was Oscar, slouched lazily in his chair.
“What are you doing during study time?”
“Ahem. My apologies, Master of the Magic Tower. I’ll take my leave at once.”
“Thank you for your—ahem—thank you for your hard work.”
Jetti and Joon left the room in tears.
I shot Oscar a dissatisfied look.
“Why’d you chase them out? I finished all today’s problems!”
Oscar stood up abruptly and walked over to where I was packing.
He looked down at me with his arms crossed, an arrogant smile playing at his lips.
“What’s the volume of a rectangular prism with length, width, and height of 3, 4, and 8 respectively?”
“96.”
“What’s the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle with two sides of length 2 and 4?”
“2 root 5.”
“What’s the area of a circle with radius 12?”
“144 pi.”
Only then did Oscar nod with satisfaction.
“At this rate, you really could graduate from the Institute in just a month?”
“You’re just picking fights….”
I grumbled and went back to packing my bag.
“Here, a gift.”
“Huh?”
Oscar suddenly held something out to me.
A bracelet.
Pearl-beaded chain with a large heart-shaped crystal hanging from the center.
“I designed it myself.”
Oscar looked proud of himself.
I watched it dangle in front of me, then burst out laughing.
“That’s completely childish!”
“Want to get hit?”
Bonk—Oscar flicked me on the head.
“Ow, why’d you hit me!”
“Give me your hand.”
Oscar fastened the bracelet around my wrist.
Hmm, now that I was actually wearing it, it wasn’t as bad as I thought….
“This is a Magical Artifact.”
“Really? What kind of Magical Artifact is it?”
“You’ll find out once you’re at the Institute. Wear it carefully. That’s all for today’s lesson.”
Oscar turned and waved his hand dismissively.
Ending forty minutes early—maybe Oscar was actually a decent person after all.
“Thank you so much, Teacher! Have a good day!”
I hitched my Bear-shaped Bag onto my shoulders and rushed past Oscar—
“……?”
Clink—my bag strap caught and lifted.
“What?”
“Where are you crawling off to like that, as if you’ve been waiting forever?”
“To play with a friend.”
“Which friend?”
“Cheshire.”
“…….”
Oscar studied me with an odd expression, then flopped back into his chair.
“Never mind what I just said. Sit down and study more.”
“How can you just take that back?”
“Like this~”
“A man shouldn’t go back on his word.”
“It’s my choice~”
There was no reasoning with him. It felt exactly like arguing with an annoying younger brother in elementary school.
I had no choice but to huff in frustration, set my bag down again, and sit at the desk.
“Hey.”
“What?”
I fixed Oscar with the most irritated glare I could muster.
“Do you like him?”
“Who? Cheshire?”
“Yeah.”
“…? Of course I like him. He’s my best friend.”
“Not as a friend.”
Oscar drew a heart shape on a blank piece of paper.
What is he even saying, seriously.
“Why would you ask something like that?”
“You’re eleven, right? You’re just a kid. And you still like him?”
“……?”
I couldn’t begin to understand what he meant.
“Cheshire is four years older than me.”
“…….”
Oscar stared at me hard.
I met his gaze without flinching, staring back just as intensely.
Finally, Oscar was the first to concede, leaning back against his chair with a mutter.
“This is ridiculous.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Yes, there is.”
“Open your book. Let’s study.”
Oscar opened his book. My fists clenched so hard they trembled.
“Oh my, how scary. What, you want to hit me with those cotton-fist things?”
Oscar chuckled.
He was so annoying I could scream.
* * *
The next day.
Lilis’s first day of enrollment at the Imperial Ability Training Institute.
The moment a shaft of sunlight streamed through the window, Enoch sprang up.
“Sigh.”
Dark circles shadowed his eyes from a sleepless night spent tossing and turning, consumed with worry for his daughter.
Beside him, his daughter still slumbered.
Her plump, dough-like cheeks were pressed into the pillow.
Enoch gazed at her adorable face, smiled silently, then rose to prepare himself.
He washed, changed his clothes….
Though it was an ordinary start to any day, his heart felt heavy.
“Princess, it’s time to wake up.”
His voice was barely a whisper.
The truth was, he didn’t want to wake her. Or rather, he didn’t want to let her go.
“Uhhhhh.”
After wiping his face a couple of times, Enoch lay down carefully beside Lilis.
Soft, shallow breaths—and from his sleeping daughter still came that baby scent.
‘How can I possibly let her go…’
Enoch bit his lip and gently laid his index finger across Lilis’s tiny palm.
Her short, plump baby fingers curled around his index finger in her sleep.
“Chuckle.”
He pressed a kiss to her cheek, and Lilis’s closed eyelids fluttered.
Watching his daughter slowly open her drowsy eyes, Enoch quickly reached for Tosuni, her beloved doll.
Then, clearing his throat with a soft hum, he began to speak as if telling a story.
“Lilis, look—the sun is saying good morning! Tosuni’s already up, but are you still in dreamland?”
“…Ehehe.”
Rubbing her eyes with her little fists, Lilis sat up and hugged Tosuni to herself.
Enoch chuckled.
“Sleep well, Princess?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Lilis, clutching her doll, smiled with her tousled hair and nestled into her father’s arms.
“There we go.”
His daughter was always adorable, but she was cutest right after waking in the morning.
Somewhere along the way, she’d grown precociously mature for her age.
“I saw a ghost…”
“A ghost? Really?”
Was it because she was still groggy in the morning?
She sounded exactly her age.
“What did the ghost do—try to eat Lilis?”
“Uh-huh…”
“So you ran away?”
Enoch settled Lilis on his lap and picked up her brush.
Still heavy-eyed, Lilis nodded sleepily.
“But it caught me… but then Daddy came and caught it all with a poker…”
“Aha! Is that so?”
As Enoch brushed her hair, he laughed warmly.
“Today I want…”
“Bunny ears?”
“Mm-hmm. A droopy bunny…”
“A droopy bunny! Perfect.”
Ears hanging down, droopy and sad.
Twin tails braided down low.
With practiced hands, Enoch finished her hair and turned her around to face him.
“My, how beautiful. My little angel—an angel indeed.”
“I’m going today!”
Lilis beamed and threw both her arms up into the air.
……
Enoch’s smile froze on his face.
Why was she so happy about leaving her father?
Ever since yesterday, she’d been packing eagerly in anticipation, and now on the day of enrollment, she was even more excited.
“Princess, are you truly all right without me? Can you really wash yourself, eat, and sleep alone?”
“Mm-hmm!”
……
“Ah, no—I don’t mean like that. Just go be brave, okay?”
“Siiigh.”
Only after his father heaved a sigh deep enough to crack the earth did his daughter begin to sense something was wrong.
‘I’m going crazy, I really am.’
His daughter was the brave one—and yet here he was, the father, falling apart.
From the moment he’d first held her as a newborn, Enoch had never spent a long time away from Lilis.
Minimum: one month. And if her performance was poor—well, it could be longer than that at the Imperial Ability Training Institute.
And no visits allowed.
More than a month apart from Lilis—would he really be all right…?
“Daddy.”
“Mm?”
Lilis burrowed into her father’s arms, sensing his melancholy.
“You know my very favorite bread in the whole world, right~?”
“Suddenly? Does our princess want bread?”
“No no, guess again! It’s the bread I love the most!”
“Bread, then.”
She loved chocolate and macarons best, but bread….
“Cake? Our princess likes strawberry cake, doesn’t she?”
“Wrong! You got it wrong!”
“No? Then what is it?”
Lilis grinned widely and wrapped her arms around Enoch’s neck.
“Papa~!♥”
“…Ah.”
So she’d done it after all.
“Ehehehe! I’ll go get some right away, okay? Wait a little for me, Papa.”
It was enough to bring tears.
This small angel.
“Yes, our princess….”
His eyes stinging, Enoch covered them with one hand and pulled his daughter close, holding her tight.
“Papa will be waiting….”

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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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