Anything But Study - Chapter 58

There wasn’t much time left.

He’d already gathered most of the evidence about what Ribelline was doing after returning to the Empire.

His steady gaze looked warmly at Melia.

Melia nodded. “Okay. I’ll trust you.”

All she could give him was sincere encouragement and support.

Even so, she truly believed it. If it was Hailon, he would be able to resolve it.

The arms holding her felt dependable.

She didn’t want to leave them anymore.

The difference between their families would probably become an obstacle again in the future.

Duke Alfred might suddenly try to push another noblewoman forward as Hailon’s fiancée.

Even so, for now.

Rather than worrying about an uncertain future, she wanted to live in the present with him.

She rested her face against his firm chest, feeling the warmth coming from him, and slowly began to close her eyes.

“And one more thing.”

His low voice fell from above her head.

“…There’s actually something I hid from you.”

Melia’s eyes, which hadn’t fully closed yet, opened again.

She slowly lifted her head.

His expression was complicated, as if he was about to say something heavy.

“Something you hid?”

Judging from his serious tone, it didn’t seem like a trivial matter.

Melia straightened up and faced him directly.

Hailon pressed his lips together for a moment before slowly beginning to speak.

“It’s about your uncle. He’ll never appear in front of you again.”

“Huh?”

Her uncle? It was a topic Melia never expected.

At most, she thought he might talk about the academy or the Alfred family.

But what he said next was astonishing.

“You don’t have any debt attached to your name.”

“What? Don’t tell me you paid it off for me?”

Even as she asked, she hoped that wasn’t the case. She didn’t want to keep feeling indebted to Hailon.

It was true that the debt had made her suffer, but she didn’t want to keep relying on him because of it.

She wanted to continue her relationship with Hailon on a more equal footing, without being bound to him.

But judging from what he was saying, it seemed her guess was correct.

Hailon’s expression had darkened.

But then.

“No. It’s not that.”

Hailon didn’t confirm it.

Melia couldn’t understand.

If he hadn’t repaid the debt for her, then it made no sense for there to be no debt in her name.

“…What do you mean?”

“You never had any debt to begin with.”

“What…?”

Looking straight at Melia, who seemed stunned, Hailon continued explaining.

In truth, the debt involving her uncle was the opposite. There was money that Melia was supposed to receive.

And even knowing all of this, Hailon…

“I didn’t tell you. Even though I knew you were struggling because of that debt.”

He had kept it a secret.

Faced with the shocking truth, Melia couldn’t say anything.

The debt that had tormented her had all been a lie.

If that was the case, she’d almost been sold to an old nobleman like a fool.

She felt hollow realizing how unbelievably naïve she had been.

The strength drained from her shoulders.

“I’m sorry. Truly.”

Still, she didn’t feel angry at Hailon for apologizing.

She was simply curious. Why hadn’t he told her? There had to be a reason.

“Why did you do that?”

What had been lacking between them all this time was conversation. Just like her younger brother Ervan said, many of their problems could have been solved if they had only talked a little more.

So Melia asked.

As if he had been waiting, Hailon answered without hesitation.

“I liked you from the very beginning.”

If from the beginning, then from the very moment they started the tutoring?

Melia had never known any of this.

“That’s why I wanted to get closer to Melia Anderson as a person.”

His voice was calm, yet filled with sincerity.

“But if you knew you didn’t have any debt, I thought you wouldn’t continue the tutoring. I hated that. It would mean I’d lose the chance to get closer to you.”

So that’s what it was.

Inside Melia’s heart, an unfamiliar joy suddenly blossomed.

It didn’t take long to realize what that feeling was.

“If I truly liked you, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Hailon lowered his head, admitting that his selfish feelings had made things hard for her.

Melia found her own emotions strange.

Even though Hailon had hidden the truth about the debt that had caused her so much suffering, why didn’t she feel angry?

Is it because I’m foolish?

Or because I like Hailon so much that I’ve gone blind?

No. It was neither of those.

She already knew the answer.

“Please forgive me for being such a coward.”

“What are you saying, Hailon? I’m able to be here like this because of you.”

If it hadn’t been for Hailon, Melia would have been fooled by her uncle like a complete idiot.

If he hadn’t taken an interest in her, he would never have discovered the truth about that debt.

She’d already received far too much help from him.

Feeling betrayed over something like that had never even crossed her mind.

“Thank you.”

It made her incredibly happy to know she hadn’t been the only one secretly in love with him all this time.

It felt like she would never forget today for the rest of her life.

***

“Hailon, what is this about?”

The Emperor had been in an exceptionally good mood lately. The Marquis of Ribelline’s return to the Empire had strengthened his power even further.

The profits from the pharmaceutical company Ribelline had voluntarily offered to the Empire were also quite substantial.

Once Hailon and the daughter of the Marquis of Ribelline were married, no one would even dare dream of rebellion.

With that pleasant thought in mind, he’d granted the audience.

“There is something I must tell you.”

“Oh? Is it about the engagement?”

“If we must put it that way… yes.”

There was no way the Duke of Alfred would have told the Emperor that his son refused the engagement.

“So eager to hold the wedding, are you? You should at least graduate from the academy first.”

Naturally, the Emperor interpreted it however he pleased.

“It’s actually the opposite. I cannot go through with this engagement.”

“What?”

The Emperor’s expression immediately hardened.

Hailon placed the evidence he had gathered in front of him.

“Would you like to know why the Marquis of Cheskan died?”

The Emperor’s eyes flickered for a moment. It was clear he hadn’t expected that name to come from Hailon.

But the Emperor quickly understood what Hailon was implying.

Following the declaration that he couldn’t proceed with the engagement, mentioning the death of the Marquis of Cheskan meant there was someone behind it.

And that someone was Ribelline.

“Can you take responsibility for those words?”

Hailon nodded briefly.

The documents he’d prepared were extremely detailed.

“Th-this is really true?”

Shock appeared on the Emperor’s face.

According to the documents, during the civil war, Ribelline had not been part of the Emperor’s faction.

Instead, he’d pretended to support the Emperor while secretly communicating with the leader of the noble faction that had started the rebellion.

But the rebellion ultimately failed, and Ribelline tried to secure his own survival by pretending he’d supported the Emperor all along and seeking recognition as a meritorious subject.

However, there had been a problem.

“Yes. The Marquis of Cheskan knew everything.”

There was one loyal marquis who knew that secret.

He warned Ribelline.

Not to even think about returning to the Empire.

If he stayed away, he wouldn’t expose the matter.

But the problem was that Ribelline was not satisfied with that arrangement and did not back down.

It was the marquis’s mistake that he didn’t foresee it would put his life in danger.

“So the Marquis of Ribelline killed the Marquis of Cheskan.”

The Emperor’s hands trembled with rage.

Ribelline prepared meticulously.

As a result, he succeeded in assassinating the only noble who knew the secret, the Marquis of Cheskan.

“And without knowing any of this, I praised such a traitor as a meritorious subject… is that what happened?”

“Do you know who Ribelline’s next target was?”

Hailon spoke as if there was still more.

“…Don’t tell me.”

“It was Alfred.”

“What?”

The Emperor jumped up when he heard that Alfred, practically his right arm, had been the target.

“The engagement was the beginning of it, Your Majesty.”

“Huh, huh….”

The Emperor couldn’t continue speaking. It was not enough that he targeted the Marquis of Cheskan in order to return to the Empire. He had even intended to swallow Alfred as well.

“So this engagement cannot proceed.”

Asking him to reconsider, Hailon bowed his head to the Emperor.

“Think about what Ribelline might target next once Alfred is swallowed.”

He turned around, saying he’d take his leave for now.

At this point, the engagement was no longer the issue.

There was no way the Emperor would fail to realize what Ribelline’s next objective would be.

Now all that remained was to wait for Ribelline to be eradicated by the Emperor’s hand.