Anything But Study - Chapter 74

Unlike when he was lying in the hospital bed, just a few days of eating well had already put some flesh back on her brother’s face.

These days, every morning moved Melia deeply.

The house they had just moved into was spacious and clean.

It wasn’t located on the outskirts, and it stood on a reasonably tidy street.

A comfortable life that lacked nothing.

Objectively speaking, couldn’t she really say she was happy now? Unlike before.

Melia knew how grateful she should be for days like these.

“Come on, let’s eat.”

Melia placed the food she prepared on the table.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Ervan began eating with a healthy face that showed no sign of illness. It was completely different from the past, when he couldn’t eat well and always had no appetite.

Melia looked at her brother with warm eyes.

After eating deliciously for a while, Ervan suddenly asked, “When are you going back to the academy?”

“Starting tomorrow. So you’ll have to stay home alone tomorrow.”

Starting tomorrow, Melia planned to return to the academy.

She also needed to steadily prepare for the upcoming exams.

However, perhaps because she felt uneasy about leaving Ervan alone, she unknowingly made a slightly apologetic expression. Her brother answered brightly.

“What’s the big deal? I’m not sick anymore.”

“Right. Then hurry and eat, and let’s fill out the Erpen application form. The deadline is this month.”

“Okay!”

After Melia’s exams were over, Ervan’s entrance exam would be waiting.

She had to teach him for that. Even after her own exams ended, Melia would remain busy.

“By the way, I think your cooking got even better.”

“Really? It’s nice seeing you eat well.”

Watching Ervan eat so happily, she couldn’t wipe the pleased smile from her face.

“What should I cook for you next time?”

“Anything you make is good.”

“Oh please, listen to you.”

Even so, a corner of her heart felt strangely unsettled.

It seemed inevitable that the empty space left by someone who had always been part of Melia’s daily life until recently would remain.

In fact, if she thought about it, the reason her cooking improved so much was because she’d started making various dishes for Hailon.

Because of that, Melia tried even harder to change the subject.

“Then next time I’ll buy some meat at the market and….”

“Sister.”

But Ervan called Melia in an unusually serious voice.

“Hm? Does it taste strange?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“Then?”

“…You’ve been worrying about something lately, haven’t you?”

Melia’s hand, which was lifting the spoon, paused. Perhaps because he had watched her his entire life.

Ervan was incredibly perceptive.

“I think it’s because of that friend from before. He doesn’t seem like just a friend. Tell me.”

Melia couldn’t hide her flustered expression.

“Uh, well… that is….”

But she couldn’t tell Ervan.

If she explained everything, Ervan would feel guilty toward her.

She didn’t want that.

It was enough for her alone to carry these feelings.

‘What should I say?’

Just as Melia was unable to begin answering.

Knock, knock.

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

Huh?

Both of their attention naturally turned toward the door, and her conversation with Ervan stopped.

‘That’s a relief.’

Melia used the opportunity to stand up from the table.

“I’ll go check.”

She wanted to escape the conversation for a moment. It was a subject she couldn’t bring herself to share with Ervan.

“Who is it?”

Melia, walking toward the door, raised her voice toward the visitor.

She was grateful someone had come at such a convenient time, but who could it be?

There was no one who would come to this newly moved house. Maybe just a peddler?

Click.

Amid her curiosity, the door slowly opened.

“Oh, Director?”

The person who had come to Melia’s house was none other than the director of the orphanage.

“Melia. It’s been several days.”

It was a completely unexpected visit.

She had given the director the address of the place she was moving to.

When Ervan was discharged from the hospital, they could no longer meet there, so she had asked her to visit if she ever came to the empire later.

“What brings you here!” Melia greeted her warmly.

“I came to say goodbye.”

“Are you leaving for the kingdom again?”

“That’s right. My father’s discharge has been decided.”

Fortunately, the director’s father had also recovered his health. She said she would be returning to the kingdom tomorrow.

“Please come inside first.”

Melia led the director into the house.

“And Ervan?”

“He’s completely recovered, thankfully. He’s healthy now, and we’re preparing together for his admission to Erpen next year. He’s in the kitchen right now. Would you like to join us for a meal?”

The director’s expression as she looked at Melia, who was chattering excitedly, seemed strangely uneasy.

As if she had made up her mind about something, her lips finally moved.

“Melia. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Yes?”

“But before that, I’d like to speak with you alone, without Ervan.”

The unusually serious atmosphere made tension appear on Melia’s face.

She didn’t know what the director was about to say, but for some reason, she had the feeling it might be related to what she learned through the director last time.

Something connected to Hailon that happened at the orphanage.

If that was the case, then Ervan definitely couldn’t hear it.

“Please wait a moment.”

Melia asked the director for her understanding, then went back to the kitchen and made an excuse to Ervan.

She told him the hospital where he had been admitted was asking for her again. It seemed the paperwork hadn’t been completed.

Since the director had brought the message, she said she would go with her.

***

The place where the director and Melia arrived was, of course, not the hospital.

A café some distance away from the house.

The two of them sat facing each other in silence for a moment.

“Please tell me. What is it?”

Melia was the one who spoke first. She was curious, but also afraid.

What kind of story would come out of the director’s mouth this time? Surely it was another hidden piece of the past that Melia didn’t know.

“I thought you should know the truth as well.”

As if her throat were dry, the director lifted the teacup in front of her and took a small sip before continuing.

“Do you know what caused the fire back then?”

The fire?

Melia’s pupils trembled for a moment.

If she meant the incident where Ervan was injured….

“I know. Calix… I mean, because of Hailon. Even if it wasn’t intentional, he made a mistake. The fire spread because of that….”

Melia’s expression tightened as if the pain rose up again just from recalling it.

Watching her, the director hesitated for a moment before a determined look appeared on her face.

“What would you do if that wasn’t the truth?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“…The truth is.”

The story that came from the director’s mouth was shocking.

“The fire started in the room you and Ervan were staying in.”

“In our… room?”

It was completely different from what Melia knew.

That couldn’t be right. That made no sense.

She stammered as she asked again.

“I clearly heard that the fire started in the room where Calix, no, where Hailon was staying….”

It was a memory from childhood, but she had never forgotten it even once. There was no way her memory had faded.

She had been told that young Hailon accidentally started the fire, and that it spread and burned down the orphanage.

But the director firmly shook her head.

“No.”

Even so, her expression looked complicated.

As if she was struggling with whether it was truly right to bring up this story even now.

“The current Duke of Alfred did not start the fire. The fire began in the room you and your brother used, and that is also why Ervan couldn’t escape immediately at the time.”

“Th, that can’t….”

Melia was left speechless.

If all of it was true, then why?

There had been nothing in the room that could start a fire.

They never used matches, and they didn’t light candles either.

There had been no dangerous games….

Reading the confusion on Melia’s face as she failed to find an explanation, the director briefly spoke the answer to that mystery.

“It was the music box.”

Melia’s pupils shook violently.