Anything But Study - Chapter 40

***

Last time, Melia and Hailon had agreed to change their tutoring location.

To Melia’s house, of all places.

It had been a week since they started tutoring at her home.

Melia had no idea how many times she’d ended up colliding with Hailon below in every corner of the house. She couldn’t even count anymore.

“Uh, aah!”

Puck- squelch-

Sometimes, she’d gone to the kitchen saying she’d get some tea, only for Hailon to follow her and make her take him again in that cramped space.

“Hah, ngh!”

Every time her body shook, the cupboards behind her rattled as if the teacups might fall, the sound striking her ears.

Even so, Hailon never stopped.

And then there were times like this.

Because of the relic’s effect, Melia’s body heated up, and she was the one who wanted Hailon first.

But in the end, the one who always claimed her to the very last moment was Hailon.

On top of that, the relic’s effect came to Hailon more frequently than it did to Melia, which made things especially difficult.

“Hh, w-wait, Hailon, I can’t anymore….”

Melia shook her head hard. The forced arousal had already settled down after several climaxes.

Today, it felt like the relic’s effect wouldn’t activate anymore.

Which meant her rationality had returned.

But why was it that the thing filling her body showed no sign of shrinking?

Melia looked into Hailon’s black eyes with fear mixed in her gaze.

“Why, you said you’d take responsibility.”

The desire-laced words that scraped out of his throat like a growl sent goosebumps rising across Melia’s skin.

He was saying he wasn’t done yet.

That made no sense. Why?

If they’d gone through the same phenomenon, he should’ve calmed down by now too.

After all, they’d already finished.

“I’m not done yet, Melia. So endure it.”

As if those words were a warning, Hailon’s thick shaft slid all the way out before plunging straight back into Melia’s inner walls.

“Ahh!”

The heavy glans scraped up along the ridged vaginal walls and charged straight for her sensitive spot.

“…Ah!”

Melia’s jaw fell open as she let out a short, broken cry.

The motions that started again wouldn’t stop for quite a while.

Squelch- puck-

The obscene sound of wet flesh colliding echoed. Held in his arms, Melia kept panting.

From the moment he came here, the relic’s effect didn’t matter to Hailon.

This was the bed Melia Anderson slept in every day.

That fact alone put Hailon into heat.

It was a truth only Melia didn’t know.

***

Melia was tormented for a long time. Only when it was deep into the night did Hailon finally let her go.

The sight of Melia sleeping in his arms was lovely. Lovely enough that he wanted to stay like this forever.

This face was beautiful even just to look at, unchanged even after more than ten years. Just like in his memories.

There was no way Hailon could ever forget it.

Hailon recalled a distant memory from his childhood.

Back when the country was in turmoil, Hailon had taken refuge in an orphanage. A facility that took in children with nowhere else to go.

Neither the imperial faction nor the noble faction ever imagined that the Alfred heir, the core of the imperial faction, would be staying in a remote orphanage.

It was a place known only as somewhere children who’d lost their parents due to the rebellion stayed.

And since it was a civil war rather than a foreign invasion, the orphanage was relatively safe.

Neither the imperial faction nor the noble faction had any reason to deliberately attack such a place.

Even so, clever as he was, Hailon knew that revealing his real name here would bring no good.

“Kid, what’s your name?”

“…Calix.”

So he answered the director who asked his name with an alias. A completely different name, one that couldn’t be used to guess his real one.

Commoners didn’t have family names.

People rarely asked a child without a surname what their family name was.

Calix was the name of the butler who managed the Alfred household, and it wasn’t particularly unique.

And Hailon had black hair and black eyes.

With this much, it would probably be difficult for the noble faction to find him.

And so Hailon began his life at the orphanage.

But his eyes were dried out.

Because he couldn’t forget the last image of his mother he’d seen.

“You have to live. No matter what!”

Clinging only to his mother’s voice telling him he must survive, Hailon lived each day.

No child approached him first.

He spoke little, and it always looked as though a shadow lay across his face.

To begin with, in an orphanage like this, it was hard enough just to secure one’s own food, so there was little room to take interest in the newly arrived Hailon.

Except for one.

“Hi, it’s my first time seeing you. I’m Melia.”

That was Melia.

“I heard your name is Calix. Nice to meet you.”

“….”

She was the only child who approached Hailon.

But Hailon never replied. He always remained silent.

He had no intention of going out of his way to talk to the other children.

He didn’t want to grow close to anyone, and he judged that there was nothing to gain from becoming close.

It would be troublesome if even a hint that he wasn’t Calix, but Hailon Alfred, were to leak out.

On top of that, he was bored.

The world was in chaos from civil war, and his mother’s whereabouts were unknown.

Each day was unremarkable.

Every day, he opened his eyes, ate the bare minimum to survive, and went to sleep. The same routine repeated.

He was living as his mother had begged him to, but beyond that, he didn’t know what else he should do.

“Calix. What are you doing?”

“….”

So at first, he ignored her outright.

“Calix, have you eaten?”

“….”

Even so, Melia never seemed to tire. Despite being ignored every time, she didn’t give up and kept talking to Hailon.

She would come over and chatter on about herself for a long while.

The girl who said she had a younger brother seemed to worry about the boy who was always alone, and she came to find him every time.

“Calix, see that boy over there? That’s Ervan. He’s my younger brother. He’s seven. I feel like you might be the same age. Am I right?”

It was impulsive.

Answering Melia like that.

In truth, what did one year matter? But with a child’s pride, it seemed he disliked being seen as seven by Melia.

It felt like being treated as a little brother, and that rubbed him the wrong way.

So without even realizing it himself, he denied it.

“Wow! You answered.”

Melia clapped her hands, chattering away as if she were delighted that he’d replied.

“What’s that?”

Pfft. A laugh slipped from between his lips.

Hailon was dumbfounded.

Why was she so happy just because he answered?

“It’s the first time I’ve heard your voice. It sounds nice. Why didn’t you talk before?” Melia asked, clearly happy just to be talking with him.

“Then how old are you? Tell me. Yeah?”

“…Eight.”

“What? We’re the same age!”

Melia’s eyes widened into round circles. A bright, beaming smile spread across her face, as if being his friend truly made her happy.

At that pure, untainted smile, Hailon’s gaze was completely stolen away. It was as if it had been branded into his eyes. He couldn’t look away from her.

“…Uh, so you’re not my little brother. Then let’s be friends.”

Hailon slowly nodded. “Do as you like.”

“Wow, really? That’s a promise.”

Melia looked genuinely happy.

Friend.

It was something Hailon had for the first time in his life. As the Alfred heir, he’d never had something called a friend.

It might not be so bad.

From when had it started?

At some point, the presence called Melia began to seep into Hailon’s everyday life.

Thinking back, maybe Melia had caught his eye from the very beginning.

A girl with honey-colored hair, like his mother’s.

“Hailon, today Ervan and I played by the stream over there, but I slipped without realizing it and got my clothes all wet.”

Unlike before, he didn’t stay completely silent anymore, but Hailon was still a man of few words.

“What are you doing, idiot.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I should be more careful next time.”

Still, there was no awkwardness between them.

Melia always talked excitedly about herself, and Hailon willingly listened to her.

She chattered cheerfully about trivial things.

In this orphanage, there was no child as bright as Melia.

Most of the others were listless or prickly with sensitivity, but somehow Melia alone was different.

It felt as if light shone only around Melia.

That sight was pleasant. So pleasant that just looking at Melia naturally brought a smile to Hailon’s lips.

He liked that she took an interest in him. Before he knew it, Melia had become Hailon’s daily life.