My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 73

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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 73
The man wore a uniform with a command glove and held a chart like the other researchers.
Though his face was unfamiliar, one thing was certain.
‘At least he’d be a significant supporting character.’
He had a strikingly handsome face.
It was absurd to judge importance by appearance, but I’d never been wrong about it so far….
“Not content with disrupting class, you speak without hesitation about overturning the long-established order of this place.”
…….
“Blood doesn’t lie, it seems. You’re the spitting image of your father.”
The man let out a low chuckle and looked down at me with cold eyes.
“Who are you?”
I asked, wary.
The man only laughed again.
Just then, Jem came to my side and whispered in my ear.
“This guy’s the Gwonsulbu instructor. He just arrived today. That’s why our supervisor changed starting today.”
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t introduced himself yet.”
I exchanged a few more quiet words with Jem before looking back up at the man.
Whatever else, he carried himself with an arrogance and a noble grace that spoke of high aristocracy.
And judging by the way he clearly disapproved of my behavior….
‘A rigid, high-ranking ability user. So probably a villain?’
I couldn’t figure out which supporting-character villain would appear at the Academy at this point in the story.
Nothing came to mind. Frustrated, I asked once more.
“Who exactly are you….”
“Ah, that’s right. Let me introduce myself.”
The man turned away from me and addressed the children.
“From today on, I’ll be taking over the Gwonsulbu instruction. My name is Alexei Antrace. It’s only temporary—about a month.”
What? Upon hearing the man’s name, I blinked vacantly—
“G-G-Great-uncle?!”
And then I gasped.
The man—no, my great-uncle—grinned at me and smiled broadly.
‘Why is he suddenly showing up here?’
The children began to murmur among themselves.
My great-uncle stared down at me with my mouth agape in shock for a long moment, then raised his hand to cover his eyes.
His tightly pressed lips trembled slightly. He seemed to be holding back laughter.
“I’m going to lose it….”
He lowered the hand covering his eyes, and his expression, as he looked at me, had softened from before.
“Lilis Rubinstein.”
“Ah, hello….”
At the sight of me bowing deeply, my great-uncle pressed his lips firmly together.
Then he took a few deep breaths—huh, hah—looking flustered, before opening his arms toward me.
……?
“…Won’t you? Just once.”
Was he asking me to embrace him?
Well, great-uncle is on my side, so there’s nothing difficult about it.
‘Though his expression and words seemed so villainous….’
Noticing my wariness, my great-uncle lowered his arms.
“Won’t you….”
“Oh, no, yes!”
I quickly stepped into my great-uncle’s embrace.
Then he lifted me up easily. His arms were trembling.
Since I was light, it wasn’t from strain—so it had to be that….
‘He really does adore me.’
Setting aside my earlier worry that he might be a villain, I clung to his neck with my arms wrapped around it.
“It’s so good to see you, great-uncle!”
Phew.
My great-uncle couldn’t take his eyes off me. I, too, studied his handsome face carefully.
‘Strange—I’d never seen his face before, but it seemed somehow familiar. He looks like the twin brothers!’
Alexei Antrace
1. Rank, Dos.
2. Duke Antrace.
3. Commander of the Dos Maragwoners.
4. A revolutionary executive under Enoch Rubinstein.
5. Father of the twin brothers and
my uncle!
←(New!)
Normally he wouldn’t appear until much later in the story, but….
‘Since Theo recovered so well, we ended up returning to Jedo a bit sooner. At this rate, we could speed up the entire revolution, couldn’t we?’
I stifled a laugh.
“But what was all this commotion? This was supposed to be one-on-one sparring time.”
My uncle looked down at Bruce as he spoke.
Bruce had gone pale, watching as my uncle cradled me carefully in his arms.
I felt a little sorry for Bruce, so….
“Bruce hit Jem way too hard during their sparring match! I tried to stop him, but he attacked me too, and Jem blocked for me but got hit again and his nose started bleeding!”
I told him right away.
“What?”
My uncle examined Jem.
He was covered in dust with scrapes all over, blood trickling from his nose.
Practice sparring was supposed to prioritize keeping everyone uninjured. They were all important people, after all.
But when the opponent wore a White Nameplate, things were different.
‘They’d get excited and beat up the commoners.’
The instructors wouldn’t really stop them either.
But my uncle would be different, wouldn’t he? Please!
“Bruce Chamber….”
While holding me, my uncle unfolded the chart he was carrying with a snap.
“You’ve repeated a year and still only managed to accumulate 950 points for graduation? Your skills are pathetic even for a projected 2nd Grade rank.”
Bruce’s grades were laid bare for all to see.
“The fundamental rule of sparring is to prioritize your opponent’s safety above all else. And because there’s a difference in skill levels, I’m certain I said to pair Ability users with the same color Nameplate. You were told this clearly.”
“…….”
“This wasn’t practice to improve your skills—you were just using people as punching bags and wasting Mana meaninglessly.”
My uncle’s cutting rebuke left Bruce’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment.
“Violation of safety regulations and failure to follow my instruction as the supervising educator. Bruce Chamber, you receive 100 penalty points.”
“Y-yes?!”
Bruce, who had been listening silently, suddenly lifted his head.
In one moment, 100 of the 950 points he’d painstakingly accumulated over more than a year vanished.
Regardless of Bruce’s shock, my uncle continued speaking to the other children.
“All of you who were sparring arbitrarily with opponents of different skill levels likewise receive 50 penalty points each.”
Several children who had been bullying those with White Nameplates gasped in alarm.
“And.”
My uncle met my eyes while holding me close.
“Commoners are people too.”
“Ah….”
Then he turned back to address the children again.
“So see to it that nothing of this sort happens in my instruction time ever again.”
* * *
My uncle said he couldn’t even wait until discharge day—he missed me so much that he came to the Academy.
He even volunteered as a temporary instructor for the Gwonsulbu….
‘That explains it. Theo’s letter did say he was coming to see me.’
True to form for someone who’d traveled the world to cure Theo, disregarding family obligations entirely—the man certainly had follow-through.
“But Uncle….”
“Yes?”
“Would you mind putting me down? You must be tired….”
The moment class ended, my uncle carried me around the grounds in every direction.
Every child we passed looked startled and whispered about it—I felt rather self-conscious.
‘Is this really okay?’
The Emperor, the Tower Master, the Duke Antrace….
Somehow, my position in the Academy had become that of a princess, lavished with the affection of the powerful….
“Heavy? I can barely feel you. Why—do you hate it?”
“No, no! I don’t hate it at all! I was just worried you’d get tired….”
“Phew.”
My uncle stifled a laugh and pinched my cheek gently.
“No wonder everyone wants daughters.”
“Hehe, Uncle! You’re not going anywhere now, are you? My brothers said they missed you so much, all the time… so please don’t go!”
“All right. I was going to talk about that anyway. Thank you. Thanks to you, Theo recovered completely. Ordia and I both have peace of mind now.”
“Don’t say that. I’m so happy Theo got better.”
“Brat.”
My uncle couldn’t stop staring at my face as we walked.
“Why are you so beautiful?”
“Mm…”
This is embarrassing.
“I see why your father is so utterly besotted. I had trouble believing he could be like that with anyone.”
“Oh! And by the way, Uncle, you knew Father when he was younger, didn’t you?”
“Very well. We went to war together dozens of times. Your father was the quiet type—hard to get close to.”
I couldn’t even imagine it. Father being taciturn.
Of course, the original Enoch Rubinstein was exactly like that.
“We weren’t sure he’d ever marry. Ordia worried about it constantly.”
My uncle laughed and tapped the tip of my nose.
“And now he has an angel for a daughter.”
“Hehe.”
“Not just in words—a real angel. You didn’t just save Theo; you saved me too.”
“Me?”
“Yes. From the moment I learned about Theo’s illness, I’ve been searching for a way to cure him.”
My uncle raised his eyebrows and continued.
“Even on this expedition, if we’d found nothing of use, I was prepared to raid the Mage Tower itself and burn it down if necessary.”
“The Mage Tower? But why?”
“Because the Tower Master knows magic worth using. I was going to demand the spell formula if Theo’s condition worsened.”
I understood immediately.
The “magic” my uncle spoke of was Taboo Magic—something ordinary ability users should never use.
“D-do you mean… magic that raises the dead and things like that…?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“If you just know the spell formula, you can use it?”
“If it were that simple, everyone would come back to life.”
My uncle chuckled and shook his head.
“You’d need about a thousand unpublished spell formulas that only the Tower Master knows.”
“Gasp!”
“And the mana cost is astronomical. Among 1st Grade Dos, very few could actually perform that magic. Only the Tower Master and your father, perhaps….”
“What about you, Uncle?”
“Yes, I could too.”
“Wow! So if the Tower Master just taught you the formulas, you could bring the dead back to life?”
“If it were that easy, everyone would already be alive, like I said.”
My uncle smiled as if I were adorable and touched the tip of my nose, then hesitated before adding quietly.
“…There’s one final price.”
“What kind of price?”
…….
My uncle didn’t answer; he just stared at me intently.
He looked uncertain, as if wrestling with whether to tell me or not.
‘It must be some kind of terrible price.’
I pressed him nervously.
“Please tell me. I’m curious….”
“All right. Besides, thanks to you, I’ll never have to use that magic anyway.”
“Yes, yes!”
“But this is absolutely secret. Don’t tell the twins, don’t tell your aunt. No one can know I was studying this magic.”
“Yes! My lips are sealed!”
I covered my mouth with my hand and nodded emphatically.
My uncle smiled faintly and spoke.
“The caster’s life….”
“…What?”
“Resurrection requires Equivalent Exchange.”
…What did you just say?

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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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