My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 94

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Father hides his strength
94
‘Why on earth is he carrying that around?’
I was bewildered.
A seal. He was carrying a seal.
And keeping it carefully in the front pocket of his sweat-soaked training clothes, no less.
He looked like a man perpetually braced for something that was about to happen today.
“Ha ha ha ha!”
Father burst into laughter so loud the whole room seemed to shake.
Then he draped his arm across Axion’s shoulders and gave the duke beside him a teasing look as he spoke.
“That’s our vice-commander for you! Thorough as they come, wouldn’t you say?”
“I know. Now get out of the way.”
Axion shook Father off and walked to the counter, where he began stamping the seal—bang, bang—onto the documents that bore only a signature.
There was no turning back now.
The duke, watching with a pale face, lunged at Father.
“Rubinstein! What exactly is the meaning of this outrage?”
“Outrage? That’s an odd way to put it.”
“I am Cheshire’s biological father! I am the one who gave him his rank!”
The duke looked as though he might burst into tears any moment.
“Even demons wouldn’t stoop to this! I’m standing right here, alive and well—his own father—and you’re taking the child from me like this?”
Grasping at straws, he turned to the staff, who stood in silence watching, and appealed to them.
“Do you think this is right? Is it truly just to separate a father and son before our eyes like this?”
“Sorry to interrupt the performance.”
Father stepped in.
“I’ve been the one taking care of the child all this time. And I’ve found a good adoptive father for him and am conducting the adoption registration through entirely proper and lawful procedures.”
Unlike the duke, who was blubbering and throwing a fit, Father spoke in a voice cold and rational.
“The child himself signed his name on the documents without a moment’s hesitation—doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know? Even with his biological father right in front of him.”
Father smiled faintly as he continued.
“And yet you, greedy as always, casually admitted to abusing him with your own mouth.”
……
“What’s the point of this pathetic display? Acting your age with tears, trying to fish for sympathy? Do you really think that will work?”
The staff members, listening to Father’s words flow like a torrent, nodded quietly in agreement.
“Let’s not get any uglier than this. If you really want to play the biological father role so badly—”
Father stepped closer to the duke.
“—never show that disgusting face in front of the child again.”
His voice turned savage.
Silence fell over the room.
The duke glared at Father, his eyes glistening with tears and bloodshot with rage.
“The… the adoption registration has been approved.”
The silence broke with our counter clerk’s voice.
She clapped softly—clap, clap, clap—, sweat beading on her forehead from the oppressive atmosphere.
“C-congratulations on the birth of your new family~!”
At those words, Father’s fearsome expression melted away in an instant, and he laughed brightly, spreading his arms wide toward Cheshire and Axion.
“Well then, let’s head home!”
* * *
The moment we stepped outside, Lilis grabbed Cheshire and asked.
“Cheshire! Are you really okay with this? You kept telling me you didn’t want a family, and now you’re fine with Axion?”
Lilis looked incredulous.
Cheshire was just as bewildered.
An explanation was needed.
Though the adoption had already been finalized, the sequence of events was, at best, putting things in the wrong order.
“Listen, I know this is confusing. It’s all Father’s fault. He’s been training Cheshire far too harshly all this time. It went way too far, really.”
“Is… is that really the reason?”
Lilis’s expression showed she couldn’t comprehend it.
Cheshire looked at Enoch. He wore a peculiar smile.
‘He probably understands everything.’
Enoch seemed to have seen through it.
The discomfort Cheshire felt at becoming blood siblings with Lilis.
In the end, Cheshire sent Enoch an apologetic glance and nodded.
“Yeah, sorry.”
Lilis’s eyes widened in shock.
The guilt of lying gnawed at her, but there was no help for it.
‘Just don’t blink. Keep your eyes open.’
As long as she didn’t make the mistake of squeezing her eyes shut, she wouldn’t be caught.
She’d been so startled when she first learned that her face gave away her lies every time.
“Pufufufu. You were just lying, weren’t you?”
“W-what?”
“Your tell is obvious. You’re terrible at lying. Whenever you lie, you squeeze your eyes shut — didn’t know that?”
She’d learned that back at the Training Institute, when Lilis had pointed it out to her.
So as long as she didn’t close her eyes, he would believe every word she said.
Right now, for instance.
“Goodness! What on earth! Papa, you’re awful! What in the world was that all about!”
Lilis pummeled Enoch’s knee with her soft little fists.
“Ahahaha! No, but it worked out well anyway, didn’t it? Uncle Axion is a good man. He’s one of the few people Papa can trust, and he won’t treat Cheshire like a servant the way Papa does.”
“But then… where will Cheshire stay now?”
Lilis’s question hung in silence.
“Ah, well.”
Axion, who had been listening quietly until now, spoke to Cheshire.
“Don’t mind what I think. Do as you please. Nothing changes. The old place will feel familiar enough.”
“Is there… a room at the Manor, sir?”
“Hmm?”
“Anywhere is fine. I only need somewhere to sleep.”
Axion raised his eyebrows, apparently caught off guard by the answer.
“There are plenty of rooms.”
“Then I…”
“Will you come?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Good. Let’s go collect your things.”
“Yes.”
At how swiftly the conversation was progressing, Lilis grabbed Cheshire in surprise.
“Wait, just a moment. Uncle said you could keep staying at our house — do you really have to go?”
Cheshire looked at Lilis steadily.
Then he nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why? Let’s just live together at our house like we do now…”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
If they lived under the same roof every day, like family…
If they kept growing up that way…
“…It’s just not possible. I don’t want to.”
“You… don’t want to?”
Cheshire thought himself an idiot for his poor choice of words.
But what else could he say?
If they saw each other’s faces every day and bumped along as siblings while growing up, you would eventually come to think of him as a true brother.
For some reason, he couldn’t bear that.
How could he explain that plainly?
“Princess.”
Enoch scooped up Lilis, who looked as though she might cry any moment.
“Cheshire seems to have had a difficult time. Papa was really hard on him.”
“But what on earth was that all about…”
“And we’ve finished all the paperwork now. Cheshire has been given the surname Libre.”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Don’t worry. It’s good for Cheshire. When Uncle Axion dies, all the money and property he’s accumulated over the years will go to Cheshire anyway. Better that he moves into Uncle’s house as the heir from now and establishes his claim firmly.”
“That’s exactly the kind of thing to say—”
Axion, who had been listening, bristled visibly.
Lilis’s face was confused over the unexpected parting, but cradled in her father’s arms, she eventually nodded her head.
“Yes… I understand.”
* * *
The four months or so that Cheshire spent at Rubinstein Manor had clearly been far from brief.
Everyone in the household expressed their reluctance as Cheshire departed.
As servants came up one by one to bid him farewell, tears glistening in the eyes of more than a few, Cheshire felt taken aback.
“Come often.”
The eldest of the household, Nordic, whom Cheshire greeted last, couldn’t quite hide his disappointment.
Something felt strange to Cheshire.
How to put it.
There were people who welcomed him, who regretted his leaving, who told him he could return anytime.
That was somehow more than he’d expected….
It made him happy.
Happy enough that his eyes stung.
“We should visit the twins’ place separately and say hello too. Understood?”
“Yes.”
Enoch loaded Cheshire’s meager belongings onto the carriage himself as he spoke.
After Alexei, the father of the twins, had returned to Jedo.
Ordia and the twins, who had been staying here, had gone back to the main house.
Though the main house was just a townhouse within Jedo, a mere five minutes’ carriage ride away, so they came and went rather frequently….
‘Now I’ll be alone.’
Cheshire suddenly felt concerned about Lilis.
Without the twins and without Cheshire, Lilis might feel lonely.
Until now, they’d always been together.
‘Why isn’t she coming?’
Cheshire lingered in front of the carriage that was ready to depart.
Lilis had rushed to her room the moment they returned, and she seemed likely to be crying there, heartbroken.
“Oh my.”
Just then Enoch spoke in surprise.
“Why is our daughter coming out dressed so anxiously?”
Cheshire turned to look, wondering what he meant, and there was Lilis, grunting as she crossed the garden toward them.
On her back, a bulging bear bag stuffed full.
At her side, a rabbit bag with its mouth puckered open.
And in her hands, one more bundle clutched tight….
To anyone’s eye, she was clearly packed and ready to run away from home.
“Princess, princess. Where are you going all packed up like that?”
Enoch quickly stepped in front of Lilis to block her path.
“Uncle!”
But Lilis dodged him and rushed to Axion instead.
“I want to go too!”
“What?”
“I—I want to go with you. I’m worried about Cheshire….”
“What are you saying.”
“I’m not leaving forever…. Couldn’t I just stay at your house for a little while?”
Axion looked up to meet Enoch’s eyes.
Standing behind Lilis, Enoch shook his head firmly and crossed his arms to form an X.
“…No.”
When Axion refused, Lilis grasped his hand tightly in supplication.
“Please, Uncle! Just one month! Or even just a week!”
Her large eyes glistened with tears.
“Cheshire might not adjust well…. I—I need to stay beside her a little while….”
“What do you mean she won’t adjust? She’s not a newborn.”
“Wahhhhh. Please. Are there no rooms in the house? Just give me where the servants sleep…. I can sleep there….”
“We have plenty of rooms. Our house is big.”
“Then take me with you…. I’m good at laundry too. I’ll wash your underwear….”
“What are you saying? What child washes underwear?”
Cheshire stared blankly at Lilis, who clung to a bewildered Axion and whimpered.
Then their eyes met.
The moment they did,
“Gasp. Wahhhhh!”
She cried.
And then she ran over in one bound, grabbed Cheshire around the waist, and threw her arms around her.
“…Lilis.”
“Sob—sob. I—I don’t w-want to s-say g-goodbye like this! Don’t—don’t leave me behind!”
“Oh.”
What am I going to do?
Cheshire looked as though he might cry too.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————