My Daddy Hides His Power – Chapter 269 – Side story Part 1 Chapter 9

Author: rolypoly

‘What did he see to be so shocked?’

His face, which had turned pale to the point of losing all color, was ghostly white. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously.

Seeing the nobleman in a state of extreme fear, Lilith felt puzzled.

“I, I’m s, s, sorry… I, I d, didn’t recognize you…”

The nobleman, who had barely managed to stammer, shook his swollen body as if he were about to bow.

“Don’t do anything unnecessary.”

He was immediately stopped by Cheshire.

“I don’t want to cause a commotion.”

Cheshire, who was whispering and looking around, added.

“I won’t hold this against you, so just quietly go on your way.”

“…Yes. I… I understand.”

Even in his dazed state, the nobleman was quick to catch on. With a pale face, he dragged his servant away, fleeing the scene.

The situation was resolved in an instant.

Lilith, who was still blinking in confusion, pointed to Cheshire’s bag.

“That… what is it?”

“My old DOS military cloak.”

“Ah!”

Lilith let out an exclamation and thought back.

The first day she entered the capital, holding Dad’s hand tightly when she was just a seven-year-old child.

“So you brought it on purpose.”

She recalled the sight of people trembling and bowing in reverence at the mere sight of the blue cloak symbolizing the Paladin of Dos that Enoch had been wearing.

“Wow. It’s such a relief that we got through quietly, but… is this really okay? What if it causes trouble later?”

“That won’t happen. I know this place well.”

Cheshire pulled Lilith along, starting to move. The movement of going through the alleys was familiar.

“Only fellow high-ranking nobles recognize the faces of those rare high-ranking figures like Dos. And people that important wouldn’t come to a place like this.”

“I see.”

“The nobles you’d run into here are mostly non-combatant fourth-rank Octavas. They want to be treated well, but they’re an ambiguous class, so they often come to places where commoners live and hang around. They want to harass commoners and be greeted.”

“Aha!”

At Cheshire’s well-informed explanation, Lilith’s eyes sparkled as she let out a gasp of admiration.

Indeed, he was like a seasoned expert who had grown up and lived in this place since his childhood.

“But where are we going now?”

“Just in case. It might be difficult to carry a sword, but I wanted to make sure I had something ordinary I could use as a weapon.”

Cheshire quickly found a nearby general store.

“Hehe. It reminds me of when we first met.”

Crossing her arms, Lilith couldn’t help but reminisce about the past.

“All of sudden?”

“Back then, you were getting beaten up by nobles for gritting your teeth and not greeting them.”

“Is that so?”

Cheshire chuckled softly. He didn’t remember those things. What he remembered was Lilith’s pale face, her tiny hand, and the handkerchief she had given him.

“It’s exactly the same as back then. You hated greeting them so much that you even brought your uniform with you. So thorough~?”

“No. I don’t really hate it.”

“Mhm?”

Lilith, who had been chuckling as she looked at Cheshire, who was looking at the items on the stand, tilted her head.

“It might be less noisy to bow once instead of showing off my military uniform. I came here because there’s something I need to do, so something like that doesn’t really bother me.”

“Oh, really? Then why go through all that trouble…”

“If I were alone.”

“Huh?”

“If I were alone, I would have done that.”

Cheshire, who had chosen the items, turned to Lilith and made eye contact.

“If I bow my knee and you don’t have to, I can kneel in your place as much as needed. But that’s not possible, is it?”

“….”

“I don’t want you bowing your head in front of others. It’s better to create a situation where you don’t need to do that at all.”

Lilith, who had been blinking blankly, covered her mouth that was about to open.

“Cheshire…”

The overwhelming emotion left her speechless, but Cheshire, as if paying no mind, casually took the coin from his pocket, seemingly focused on paying for the items.

‘…A coin?’

A coin with the profile of Emperor Nicholas engraved on it, which was in circulation before the revolution.

Although it is no longer in use and has been discarded, the thoroughly prepared Cheshire seemed to have anticipated even that and brought it along for time travel.

‘No way, what’s this!’

Lilith, seeing that, unexpectedly fell in love with him all over again.

As expected of the protagonist, his quick wit handled everything effortlessly. Not to mention his handsome face, and his ability to deliver lines that could melt any woman’s heart…

“And.”

After finishing the transaction, Cheshire turned around. Beneath the hooded robe, Lilith’s white face peeked out briefly.

Noblemen with dirty intentions don’t particularly like seeing commoners walking around with their faces covered like this.

“Because you’re too pretty.”

Especially for a commoner woman like Lilith, with an appearance that’s hard to look away from, being harassed would be a regular occurrence.

‘It’s better to do this before I have to witness anything disgusting.’

Cheshire swallowed the words he didn’t need to say and fastened the item he bought to his waist.

“….”

At that moment, Lilith was in a daze.

“Because you’re too pretty.”

A compliment like that, thrown with an indifferent expression on his handsome face—how embarrassing.

“You, you~ Why are you saying such things~”

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Lilith turned her head and slapped Cheshire’s shoulder a few times.

“Are you doing this while buying fireplace poker~?”

* * *

To put it simply, Cheshire Libre’s decision to bring the military uniform was very wise.

Although it was just the commoner’s district, they couldn’t avoid having to move around the Capital, and both Lilith and Cheshire had appearances that would easily catch people’s attention.

If they kept their faces covered all the time, it would naturally look suspicious, so encountering trouble with low-ranking nobles was inevitable.

So the best way was to show his military uniform once and avoid the future commotion.

It’s not like the troublemakers knew all the faces of the Dos living in the Capital.

However, there was one regrettable thing.

“Please!”

Was it that the timing wasn’t very good?

“I, I would like to apologize again… I hope you can forgive my rudeness…”

This place is the imperial palace, the entrance to the imperial army training center.

An hour ago, the nobleman who had fled upon seeing Cheshire’s military uniform was now lying flat on the ground, trembling.

“….”

Enoch Rubinstein, the commander of the Paladin who was training at the time, came out to see the commotion and sighed deeply.

“I, I was in a hurry and couldn’t properly apologize, nor did I show proper respect…”

After hearing the nobleman’s story, it seemed that he had been rude to a certain Dos because he didn’t recognize him.

The Dos sent him away at the time, but he was afraid when he thought about it later.

“H, he must be very a, angry…”

The cruelty and capriciousness of the higher-ups are commonplace. What if they change their minds later and punish him?

He was deeply troubled by the fact that he had left the place in embarrassment, and he had come to apologize again.

“It’s okay, go back.”

“Yes, yes?”

Enoch felt uncomfortable seeing the noble’s tears streaming down his face and his speech faltering.

‘Is it fun to suppress people by rank like this?’

Whoever that Dos might be, just how much fear had they instilled for this nobleman to come all the way here, crying and making such a scene?

“Didn’t he let you go at the time? If that person changes their mind later, use my name. Say you came back to apologize, but Enoch Rubinstein told you to just leave.”

The nobleman’s eyes widened at those words.

Rubinstein?

“Ugh! I made a mistake! I didn’t recognize you again, again!”

Even if he didn’t recognize the face, he couldn’t not recognize the family. The nobleman, who didn’t recognize Enoch in his training uniform, started banging his forehead on the floor.

“Hey!”

“Heukh, ugh…”

Enoch quickly stopped the nobleman. Blood was dripping from his broken forehead.

“Haa…”

He was just trying to reassure the nobleman and send him back.

Just by mentioning his name, an unintended situation arises where others are inevitably pressured.

“P, please forgive my rudeness…”

Enoch sighed as he saw the nobleman crawling on his knees and sobbing.

He couldn’t understand this crazy class system at all.

This country, where people are punished with violence or even have their lives taken for not bowing on the street, clearly had issues.

The reality that no one could say that was wrong.

“…Do you know that person’s name?”

Enoch asked helplessly.

“Ugh, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry. I was just so, so shocked at the time, I didn’t even ask for that person’s name… H, hic, I was so foolish…”

“Whoo.”

There was plenty to apologize for. Enoch covered his eyes, swallowed his anger, and asked again.

“Like what he looks like.”

“Ah, well… um, he was covering his face, so I couldn’t really… w, was his eyes red? Huh… I’m sorry…”

Anyway, there’s no intention of finding that Dos. There are many Dos who abuse their power, and no matter how much Enoch might want to, he can’t criticize them.

So there was no way to identify ‘that Dos’.

If it weren’t for the generous Enoch, no one would have bothered to deal with this nobleman who was crying.

So,

Let him say this again.

Cheshire’s decision to use his military uniform to prevent trouble was really wise.

If it hadn’t been for the imperial army’s deployment schedule that he hadn’t yet figured out.

“I just… saw the red cloak with the insignia of rank embroidered on it…”

“….?”

Enoch paused as he listened.

“A red cloak?”

“Yes, yes…”

Soon, his expression became strange.