My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 92

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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 Hides His Strength
Chapter 92
Enoch kept laughing.
“Ha ha ha ha.”
“…….”
“Ha ha ha….”
“…….”
Then he pressed his lips together, scratched his head, and asked.
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“You should at least say something that makes sense.”
“And what exactly doesn’t make sense?”
“You’ve really lost it. I’ve seen him three times today, or rather—”
Axion, his brow furrowed, pointed toward the door through which Cheshire had just left.
“Four times. I’ve seen him four times.”
“If I take him in as my adopted son, I’ll see him even more from now on.”
“Wow. You really can’t reason with this guy.”
Axion stared at the utterly unreasonable Enoch, his mouth falling open.
Enoch let out a long sigh.
“Don’t you feel sorry for the boy?”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Sigh. A father who beat him, starved him, and did every vile thing imaginable—and now he comes saying he’ll take the boy back….”
“…….”
“And it’s not even because he’s had a genuine change of heart. He just saw the boy’s rank and wants to exploit him.”
That much was true.
Seeing the Marquess Onyx, who’d sent his conscience to the next world, made Axion angry too.
But that was where it ended.
Axion couldn’t fathom why he was supposed to have this conversation with Enoch.
“You’re not going to marry anyway. So naturally you won’t have an heir.”
“So what?”
“When you die, doesn’t Libre just disappear?”
“Yeah. I don’t care? Am I supposed to worry about my family disappearing after I’m dead?”
Once you’re dead, it’s over anyway.
Enoch stared into Axion’s resolute eyes for a long moment, then sighed again.
“Our vice-commander. When you grow older, retire, grow old and fall ill—who will be at your side?”
“…….”
“You have no children. You’ll die alone and forlorn….”
“Hey.”
Axion closed his eyes tightly and ground his teeth.
But Enoch kept talking, regardless.
“Thinking of you living a lifetime in loneliness and finally going into the grave—tears blur my eyes, my friend.”
“Pfft.”
“Wait, actually. I’m not sure there will even be anyone to dig your grave.”
Axion shot to his feet.
Enoch looked up at him.
“Stop spouting nonsense.”
“Axion.”
Tap, tap.
Axion tapped the Boy Soldier Enlistment Papers he’d set on the table.
“Handling the work your delinquent commander left behind. I’ve brought everything, so review it and get back to me.”
“Really, think about it. Registration just needs paperwork and it goes through in a day.”
“Don’t call me unless it’s official business. That’s all.”
“Hey, hey!”
Axion walked out without even looking back.
Enoch started to rise and follow him, then dropped back down with a thud.
“Damn.”
Head tilted back, rubbing his weathered face, Enoch’s mind drifted to Cheshire.
As long as it wasn’t that man.
He had a rough sense of what that meant.
“This is something.”
Enoch laughed softly and rubbed his forehead.
“…I’m going to lose my mind.”
* * *
“Sigh.”
At this rate, won’t the earth cave in?
Sitting in one corner of the Training Ground, I’d been playing in the dirt with a stick, and I tapped my lips gently.
I need to stop sighing.
‘But still!’
I’m so frustrated I could scream, so what can I do?
Cheshire was unbending.
He said he’d rather go back to the marquis’s house than accept this position as my brother.
‘Why is this happening?’
If I’d just followed the original story, this wouldn’t have been a problem worth worrying about.…
‘The only thing that’s changed is me. Just me.’
And yet it’s not entirely my fault either.
I’d entertained an embarrassing fantasy about whether Cheshire might be interested in me that way, but he’d nailed that coffin shut pretty thoroughly.
While I was wrestling with how to solve this crisis, suddenly a large shadow fell across where I sat.
It was Axion.
He glanced around the Training Ground before asking me a question.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just… thinking.”
“About what? Cheshire?”
“Yes. Cheshire’s father is trying to take him away. And he’s a bad person….”
“…….”
Axion stared at me without answering.
I sighed again and gazed out at the Training Ground, where our house guards were in the middle of their drills.
“But Uncle, why are you here?”
“Where’s Cheshire?”
“I don’t know. He’s disappeared again.”
“Sigh.”
What’s with the sigh? Still crouched down, I looked up at Axion as he spoke.
“Lilis.”
“Yes?”
“…Could you possibly dig my grave for me later?”
“What?”
That came out of nowhere.
When I frowned, Axion hastily added to it.
“No, well. You could dig it at the same time as your father’s, couldn’t you?”
“What?”
I had no idea what he was asking.
Confused though I was, he looked genuinely worried about not having anyone to dig his grave, so good-natured as I am, I nodded.
“I understand.”
“You’ll do it?”
“Yes, of course. It’s not even difficult. I’ll dig yours while I’m doing Father’s….”
“Right. Thank you….”
Even after I’d promised, Axion still looked reluctant about something.
We both sighed facing forward in perfect unison.
“Sigh.”
“Sigh.”
* * *
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
When I received Lico’s letter, my heart sank.
[Marquis Onyx has obtained a Visitation Rights Document from the Imperial Citizen Protection Bureau.
Before the results of the Paternity Verification Affidavit inspection come back, it’ll be difficult for him to see the child freely, so he’s applied for temporary visitation rights.]
This meant Marquis Onyx could now visit our house anytime and see Cheshire.
Once the affidavit inspection was complete, he could legally take Cheshire away as well.
[The fortunate part is that the affidavit inspection period seems likely to be quite lengthy.
Around two weeks?
The marquis wasn’t explicit in his affidavit about why he kept the child hidden.
If he simply admitted the truth—that he was ashamed to reveal the boy was illegitimate, and that physical abuse made it difficult to show his condition—the inspection would move faster.…
But if he made such an admission, his reputation would be ruined.]
Should I be grateful for that?
In any case, I have two weeks left.
‘Lilis, stay calm. Think of something—anything. There has to be a way to save Cheshire from that marquis.’
I gnawed at my fingernails.
Was there any other way besides making Cheshire Father’s adopted son?
‘No. There wasn’t.’
There really wasn’t.
And even if there were, could I think of it in two weeks?
So for the past week, I’d been trailing after Cheshire relentlessly, trying to convince him.
Though Cheshire remained an impenetrable wall.
“How’s that fingernail taste?”
“Oh, Uncle!”
I was watching Cheshire train while worrying my nails, when Axion approached.
“Is Cheshire done already?”
“Not yet.”
“Hmm.”
Axion dropped down beside me as my knee bounced anxiously.
“You’re quite the persistent one. He’s made it crystal clear he won’t become your father’s adopted son—why don’t you just give up?”
“No way. You always say a tree won’t fall from just one chop.”
Then stop chopping. This tree isn’t falling. He just doesn’t want your father—that’s all.”
“What?”
I was taken aback. What did he mean?
Axion shrugged and continued.
“Didn’t you know your father was harsh with him? The kid looks fed up.”
“Gasp!”
Was that it?
Axion grinned at my slack-jawed expression.
“You didn’t know. Your father’s character is truly rotten.”
“That’s not… it’s not like that…”
“Yes, it is. Really rotten. Look, do you know why I’m even here?”
“Hmm.”
Axion had been coming to our house every day for the past week.
The custom was that when boy soldiers enlisted, the Commander-in-Chief of each military branch would provide personal training for a set period…
‘Good grief, why does Father keep pawning off his work on Uncle?’
That was right. Father was supposed to teach Cheshire and Gerard directly, since they’d just enlisted.
For some reason, Axion was doing it instead, spending the whole week at the Training Ground in our house with Cheshire.
“I’m sorry…”
“Your father ruined his own character—why are you apologizing?”
“Well, still… you and Cheshire have gotten quite close. Our Cheshire’s a good boy, isn’t he?”
I rested my chin on my hand, watching Cheshire swing his sword without pause.
“I suppose.”
“Hehe.”
We laughed for a while, and then my mood drooped again.
“Uncle, you know…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to be separated from Cheshire… but more than that, I hate that he’s going to that marquis’s house…”
“……….”
“Because once he goes there, he’ll remember all the awful things. Cheshire was beaten there all the time, hearing nothing but curses. That place was hell for him…”
I pulled down the skin under my eyes with my fingers, afraid the tears would spill over.
“What, are you crying again?”
“Ugh.”
Axion wiped away my glistening tears with his finger.
It was a surprisingly tender touch. Then I felt him hesitate.
‘…?’
I glanced to the side and saw Axion staring at something with a rigid expression.
Or rather, not at something.
“Waaaah, I’m back again!”
What on earth? It was Onyx the Marquis, come seeking Cheshire yet again, unwilling to accept defeat.
I jumped to my feet.
But then I froze.
I couldn’t bring myself to approach them.
The Duke must have come with the Visitation Rights Document.
Which meant that now, even if I went over and tried to stop them, I couldn’t tear the two apart.
“How could this…”
The Duke and Cheshire stood there, talking for quite some time.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but a fair stretch of time had passed.
I could only shift my weight from foot to foot.
Then, suddenly, the Duke grabbed Cheshire’s arm forcefully.
“What is this!”
Cheshire tried to brush it away.
But the Duke pulled a sheet of paper from inside his garment and thrust it before Cheshire’s eyes.
‘That awful man!’
It had to be the Visitation Rights Document.
At the sight of it, Cheshire’s head turned toward me, all strength draining from it.
We locked eyes from across the distance.
Soon after, Cheshire dropped the sword he’d been holding as if discarding it and slowly followed behind the Duke.
“No, wait! Please!”
Even with the Visitation Rights Document, the time they could spend together in one meeting would only be a few hours at most.
But the very thought of even that was unbearable…
I ran toward Cheshire.
“Cheshire!”
That was when it happened.
Axion strode past me swiftly, cutting through with hurried steps.
…?
He turned toward the two of them and called out.
“Where are you two headed?”
The Duke and Cheshire turned around.
“Ah, Your Grace the Duke of Libre. My apologies for the interruption during training…”
The Duke started to thrust the Visitation Rights Document forward again, then hesitated.
Axion, who had casually draped an arm across Cheshire’s shoulder―
“Where are you going, hmm?”
added with a grin, speaking in an easy, familiar tone.
“Son.”
…?
I, Cheshire, and even the Duke―
we all stared with eyes wide as saucers.

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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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