My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 58

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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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Dad hides his strength
Chapter 58
* * *
The long-awaited entrance day.
“Lilis, Cheshire—I’ll write to you both. Make sure you eat well.”
“You little rascal! If anyone bothers you, you write to me right away. Absolutely—!”
“Eat well, sleep well, and take care of yourself.”
“Work hard and come back to us.”
Cheshire and I departed for the Training Facility after receiving our family’s farewells.
The Training Facility was located in the Valkyrie Territory in the north-central region, which belonged to the Imperial Crown, and could only be accessed via a warp gate within the Imperial Palace.
When we arrived, the Valkyrie Territory proved to be a wilderness remarkably at peace with nature.
I’d thought it would be like a kindergarten, but no.
It was unmistakably… a military base!
Cradle of National Defense
Would the author really copy every detail of a training camp down to this?
I read the four characters “Cradle of National Defense” hanging at the entrance to the Training Facility and stood agape in disbelief.
The author must have faithfully reflected everything from the K-military into the Ability User Training Facility without exception!
“My daughter….”
“Huh? Yes, Dad.”
Hearing a wistful voice, I turned around and jumped in shock.
Dad, who had knelt beside me, was trembling with his hands covering his eyes.
“Wh-what’s wrong? Are you crying?”
“Hah.”
He’d been melancholy all morning….
I hurried to pat his shoulder.
“Don’t cry. I’m not going to my death. I’ll work hard and be back in a month, okay?”
“How am I supposed to be apart from you for a whole month….”
Well, he had a point.
This was the first time. The first time I would be separated from Dad for so long.
“My dear daughter. Even if the food isn’t good, make sure you eat every meal properly, yes?”
“I will.”
The twin older students at the Training Facility had given me the same reminders before leaving home.
‘The food at the Training Facility must be absolutely terrible.’
They’d warned me not to skip meals no matter how bad it tasted.
“You’ll be friendly with the other students, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Even if you miss your dad, you won’t cry, will you?”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t get hurt. And if anything aches, tell the instructors right away, yes?”
“I understand.”
After leaving me with more words of caution, Dad finally composed himself and held both Cheshire and me in a tight embrace.
“Right. Cheshire, you haven’t forgotten what I told you, have you? You must remember it well.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Take care of yourself.”
Cheshire, after exchanging those meaningful words with Dad, stole a glance at me.
He seemed anxious that I might pry and ask what he meant….
‘Don’t worry. I won’t ask. I already know everything.’
Dad must have long since recognized Cheshire’s uniqueness while training him.
Cheshire’s uniqueness was this:
he was an Ability User with one hundred percent Mana.
Unlike ordinary Ability Users, whose Holy Power and Mana mixed in a certain ratio, Cheshire was different.
That meant he alone was the one existence who could not be controlled by the final villain—the Emperor, Primel.
Primel’s power was based on Holy Power….
Any Ability User with even a trace of Holy Power could be brainwashed by Primel.
‘But not Cheshire!’
And so, in the original story’s ending.
Cheshire was able to slit the necks of both the Emperor and me.
‘If he were discovered, it would be a disaster—that must be why Dad told him to hide it well.’
I nodded to myself, inferring what Dad’s caution had meant.
After waiting for some time.
“All special entrance candidates for the 1026th cohort, please report for enrollment.”
At last, the Training Facility administrator called us forward.
“Your Highness, Father will be waiting for you. Come back proud and strong, yes?”
“Yes, Dad. I’ll be back soon!”
I gave Father one last goodbye kiss, his eyes reddened, then took Cheshire’s hand.
Enrollment day had finally arrived!
* * *
Training Facility Grand Hall.
Cheshire and I changed into our Entrance Uniforms and made our way to the Grand Hall for the enrollment ceremony.
The Entrance Uniform was a practical white athletic wear design.
“Wow! There are so many people here.”
Children my age who filled the chairs of the Grand Hall stared at us like we were monkeys in a zoo.
They were children who had already enrolled on Regular Entrance Day, held every March.
“Special entrance candidates for the 1026th cohort, prepare yourselves. The esteemed Primel will arrive shortly.”
A stern-looking researcher in a white coat lined us up in a single file.
Special Entrance was for Ability Users who had missed the regular enrollment day and needed to enroll separately.
Usually commoners who hadn’t known they were Ability Users at all….
In other words, illegitimate children of nobles or third and fourth generation descendants whose ancestors carried Ability User blood, discovered through examination.
I glanced at my classmates standing beside me.
Including me and Cheshire, there were eleven special entrance candidates this time.
Apart from me, they were all commoners.
‘Hmm.’
I looked down at the golden Name Badge pinned to my Entrance Uniform chest.
[Lilis Rubinstein]
My family name was written there.
[Cheshire]
Cheshire’s was not.
His Name Badge was white too, a different color from mine.
‘That’s impressive.’
As I thought this, I studied the children gathered in the chairs of the Grand Hall.
The Name Badges pinned to each of their chests were different colors.
Red, blue, green, white….
I didn’t see anyone with the same color as mine.
‘Really quite something.’
I couldn’t even muster a laugh at the absurdity of it.
The Training Facility—where all Ability Users in the empire are mandatorily enrolled at age nine.
This place could be seen as a kindergarten or elementary school where children would develop their first social skills.
And remarkably, the Training Facility was a small society that faithfully reproduced this corrupt empire’s class system.
Why distinguish children by the color of their Name Badges?
To instill the differences in family power and social rank from the very beginning.
‘Right, when the revolution succeeds, I should tell Dad to blow up this insane Training Facility first.’
Having learned nothing else from childhood, everyone grows up indoctrinated into this hierarchical society.
“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!”
A knight’s stentorian voice announced the emperor’s entrance.
The noisy Grand Hall fell silent as a grave.
‘At last we meet.’
I swallowed hard, tension coiling through me.
The front doors opened and the emperor strode in, a Red Cloak billowing behind him.
A young and beautiful man with hair like pale gold and mysterious emerald eyes….
The emperor—this novel’s final antagonist.
Nicholas von Pavilion.
‘……?’
For some reason, the emperor did not ascend the prepared dais but walked directly toward us instead.
Or more precisely, toward me.
As he drew closer, the emperor’s face became clearer.
‘Primel, as expected.’
An average lifespan twice that of ordinary Ability Users. He must have seen considerable years, yet he looked as young as my father.
“Hah!”
“W-what’s happening?”
Gasps of surprise came from all corners of the hall.
I was shocked too.
The Emperor broke into a brilliant smile, and before I could react, he leaned down to meet my eyes with an intimacy that caught me off guard.
“Y-Your Majesty. I am honored to meet you.”
I managed to greet him as calmly as I could.
“At last I see you, my child.”
……
Pretending to be close felt impossible.
I kept my head down, deliberately avoiding his gaze, when suddenly his arm extended toward me.
And then, as easily as a father would seat his daughter, he lifted me onto one arm and rose to his feet.
“Oh.”
“Good heavens.”
The Emperor’s face, so close now I could count the details.
My heart began to pound.
In the original story, he was the monstrous tyrant who imprisoned me and drained my strength for a lifetime.
Now he was the final obstacle I had to destroy.
This was our first meeting.
“I have waited so long for you, my dear.”
His smile was endlessly tender, but to me it felt like the expression of a cunning serpent.
“It is my great honor, Your Majesty!”
I beamed at him without a trace of caution, clinging to his embrace.
Behind him, the other children’s faces showed every possible reaction.
Astonishment, confusion, envy.
The Emperor’s gesture was drawing a clear line between me and them.
The house favored by the Primel—the absolute ruler.
A subtle warning that no one should dare consider themselves equal to us.
“The bloodline of Rubinstein, whom I cherish and love most dearly. The only daughter of Enoch, the loyal commander of the Paladin Order.”
He was even revealing my personal details outright.
“May you receive the boundless love of the Primel and the glory of this empire.”
The Emperor smiled faintly, then slowly closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine.
In that instant, a cold and alien sensation seeped through where our heads touched.
‘…!’
An unfamiliar feeling spreading through every blood vessel, reaching into every corner of my body.
“Ah.”
My heart gave a sharp, ringing beat.
‘Done.’
I understood immediately.
My Core had awakened—the ability that could only be opened through the Primel’s power.
“Does it hurt?” the Emperor asked gently.
I shook my head with a bright smile.
“Not at all. Thank you.”
“Good.”
The Emperor half-turned his head and spoke to the researchers standing behind him.
“See that she receives special care during her training period.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“We shall obey your command.”
Still holding me, the Emperor opened his palm toward the other trainees beside us.
In that moment.
Now that my Core was open, the flow of Mana became strikingly clear to me.
“Ah!”
“Wow…”
A few children who felt the same strange sensation as I did gasped, clutching their chests.
Their Cores had opened too.
‘Wait—was that an Area-of-Effect Skill?’
He could have gathered everyone together and opened all their Cores at once.
But the Emperor deliberately held me apart and performed this display to show me special favor.
‘Sigh.’
I gazed at the children whose eyes now burned with envy, and I sighed inwardly.
They were all watching the Emperor and me, cradled tenderly in his arms.
‘Well, so much for making friends easily.’

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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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