My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 81

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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
Chapter 81
* * *
The moment her eyes opened again.
“Ugh.”
Selena felt a sharp headache lance through her temples without warning.
For a brief instant, something had churned through her mind, leaving behind an unpleasant sensation.
‘What’s wrong with me?’
She shook her suddenly heavy head briskly.
…….
Lilis remained trapped behind the glass chamber, her eyes reddened as she stared at Selena.
White rank: Sixth-class Diez.
Black rank: Fifth-class Nubeno.
Unable to bear watching the ascending ranks displayed on the measurement gauge, Selena turned her gaze away.
Ding—
That was when it happened.
The completion tone sounded faster than expected.
Selena flinched and checked the measurement gauge.
Green rank: Fourth-class Octava.
! Measurement Complete !
Mana Capacity: 124455
Rank: Fourth-class, Octava
Selena froze in place.
“This… what is this?”
Even seeing it with her own eyes, she couldn’t believe it.
Fourth-class…
This child?
In Selena’s dazed vision, she saw Lilis peering at the measurement gauge.
Soon their eyes met.
“What… is this?”
“Oh, wait a moment. Young lady.”
Selena pressed her temples and approached to verify the Mana Meter.
The Mana Meter was a magical device created by Mana Tower, lauded as the most precise ever made.
To date, there had never been a single error.
And so Selena came to accept that Lilis’s rank—as impossible as it seemed—was real.
“This can’t be.”
Children of high-ranking ability users are not necessarily high-ranking themselves.
Yet the probability that a child’s actual rank matches the predicted rank based on parental ability is ninety-nine percent.
Lilis’s rank had broken through that one-percent margin.
And not even second-class—fourth-class.
How could a child with both parents at first-class come away as fourth-class?
It was unprecedented.
“There’s nothing wrong with the Mana Meter. It’s Octava. Fourth-class.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Even as shock rippled through her at this impossible reality, Selena felt a wave of relief wash over her.
There could be no greater satisfaction for the child, nor for her father.
“Hah.”
Still staring at the measurement gauge’s astonishing display, Selena murmured softly to herself.
“Thank goodness…”
* * *
[OCTAVA]
The green Rank Slit and Ability User Badge.
Leaving the Measurement Chamber bearing the mark of an ability user engraved clearly with the word Octava, I swallowed a sigh.
‘I didn’t know Mother would be here.’
I’d already known that rank measurement was conducted through magical devices.
As a Premiera-class, manipulating such a device had been simple enough.
So I’d entered without much worry.
But the moment I saw Mother.
‘Sigh… my personality really is strange.’
I felt an impulse to throw a childish tantrum.
I wondered if Mother would really turn away from me like in the original story, or if she’d show even a little concern.
The wavering light in her eyes made it clear she felt sorry for me, but….
“Your father will protect you. You can live without any worries at all.”
As if dumping the heavy burden on Father’s shoulders would make everything fine.
She said it so casually.
‘What did I expect? Idiot.’
Mother, oblivious that her memories had been manipulated, felt relief watching the Mana Meter register me as Rank 4.
Looking at that grateful expression on her face, I found myself smiling like a fool again.
“Sigh.”
Then.
Someone blocked my path as I shuffled down the corridor.
I lifted my head slightly to look.
“There you are. You again?”
It was Bruce.
On his chest hung a red badge.
[QUARTO]
Rank 2, Quarto.
In an instant, the tables had completely turned between us.
“Octava~?”
…….
Bruce stared at my badge with his mouth agape in surprise, then suddenly burst into laughter loud enough to shake the building.
“Hahaha! Puahahaha!”
“Sigh.”
When I tried to step around him, Bruce immediately blocked my way.
“I’m depressed right now, so don’t pick a fight and just go….”
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“What else could it be? Your Mana Pool’s small.”
…….
Bruce’s expression had an unchildlike wildness to it.
He was delighted at the thought of mocking me.
“You figured it out while testing Magic here, yeah? That you’re not Dos. So you just stuck around the commoners.”
…….
“Because you’re about the same level as insects!”
I looked quietly around the area.
Children who’d already received their ranks, children waiting to receive theirs….
All of them were giggling, pointing at my Rank 4 badge with expressions of schadenfreude.
“So how dare you pretend to be Dos and bother me?”
“When did I bother you? You’re the one who bothered our friends, you idiot… ahhh!”
Bruce shoved my shoulder hard.
I tumbled backward and landed flat on my backside.
“What are you doing!”
As I tried to get up, Bruce extended his foot and pressed down on my shoulder.
“Don’t get up. Stay right there.”
“What?”
“This is exactly what suits you and me right now.”
Me, sitting there helplessly.
And Bruce and the other children giggling as they looked down at me.
‘Right. This is the kind of world this is.’
Experiencing it firsthand, I could finally understand it clearly.
The meaning of “Rank” in this insane world.
“No wonder you hid in the back during the test without doing anything. You knew that once you used Magic carelessly, your Mana would run out fast. Didn’t you?”
…….
“So you were pretending to be Dos, exhausting yourself with Magic use while panting inside? Do you have the strength to get up now?”
“Stop. I’m leaving.”
“Who gave you permission? This is just the beginning. I’m going to pay you back for everything you’ve done to me until now, so look forward to it.”
Bruce looked around, then grabbed the back of an empty chair and lifted it high.
He was about to throw it at me.
“Don’t!”
“Don’t what? Don’t do what?”
“Violence is forbidden in the Institution except during sanctioned sparring!”
“Pfahahaha, what are you saying?”
Bruce laughed mockingly.
“Ranks are different here. You’re nothing but a bug now!”
“I may be Octava, but my father isn’t. Do you know who my father is?”
Even though it was pathetic, invoking Father’s name was all I had left.
Yet Bruce, who ought to have been intimidated, simply set down the chair and clutched his belly, laughing.
“Hey, are you stupid? How would I know who your father is? What does that matter in this country?”
A nation where rank stood above birthright.
I understood now why Bruce could run his mouth so fearlessly.
“Do you know what happens when you go home now? Your father will look at you like a bug. He might throw you away.”
“He won’t.”
“You’ve lived like a princess until now, but not anymore. You’re a shame to your family. Your whole house is Dos, but you’re Octava.”
“My father isn’t like that. He’ll love me even if I’m powerless.”
I scoffed at Bruce’s contempt and added, “You’re lucky you got a decent rank. From the way you talk, it sounds like your parents won’t even love you if your rank isn’t good—they’ll just treat you like a bug?”

“What?”
“Why? Am I wrong?”
Bruce stared at me quietly. I met his gaze without flinching.
His face, gradually darkening to the color of earth, twisted into an expression that was neither a smile nor a grimace—something grotesque altogether.
“Try to stop this.”
“What?”
Bruce picked up the chair again. Then he began to crumple it, pouring Mana into his hands.
The iron chair crumpled easily, as if it were a tin can.
‘Wow. What are the Martial Technique section kids made of…’
I stared blankly before my body instinctively shuffled backward.
“H-hey… don’t do this?”
“Running your mouth so carelessly. You’re just a bug.”
Sweat dripped from Bruce’s forehead.
He continued pouring Mana into the mangled chair.
I realized Bruce was dumping all his Mana into this weapon.
‘There’s no way I can block it…’
A Quarto of Rank 2 unleashing all his Mana—there was no way an Octava of Rank 4 could stop him.
Of course, I wasn’t truly Rank 4, but I had to pretend to be.
There were too many watching eyes here.
If he actually threw it, I had no choice but to take the hit.
“P-please don’t!”
“Let’s see if you can keep running that mouth after this!”
Without hesitation, Bruce hurled the chair—or what had been a chair.
‘That maniac!’
I squeezed my eyes shut, shielding my head with both arms.
‘This can’t happen!’
It would hurt terribly—that was all I could think in that single moment—
‘Huh?’
But no matter how long I waited, there was no pain.
I cautiously opened my eyes.
‘What… what is this?’
The weapon hung suspended in midair.
Whoooosh—
Then it was engulfed in black flames and crumbled to ash on the floor.
I swallowed hard.
Bruce came into view.
His face, which had moments before looked down at me with such confidence, was now drained of all color—deathly pale.
For some reason, he was trembling, his gaze fixed on something behind me.
I spun around.
‘Cheshire…’
That signature expressionless face.
But the eyes looking at Bruce burned with an intensity of fury that sent chills down my spine.
I lowered my gaze.
Cheshire’s left arm came into view.
‘Ah.’
A golden Rank Slit encircled his wrist.
His class was inscribed there, clear and unmistakable.
[DOS]

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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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