Anything But Study - Chapter 26

Hailon hated his father.

Anyone who heard about his family history would understand why he was so rebellious.

What would a son feel when he saw his father, who failed to protect his mother, bringing a new woman into the house and living with her?

About fourteen years ago, when Hailon was still eight years old, a massive coup broke out in the empire.

“Rebellion!”

“The imperial palace is under attack!”

It was a rebellion carried out by the noble faction.

Not only the imperial palace, but nobles aligned with the emperor were targeted as well.

Caught completely off guard by the signs of rebellion, the emperor and his faction panicked.

The Alfred ducal residence was, without question, a primary target, since it stood at the center of the emperor’s faction.

On top of that, the emperor’s sister was the Duchess.

“Hailon, wake up! Hurry!”

In the middle of the night, eight-year-old Hailon was shaken awake and dragged along by his mother’s hand, rushing out of the mansion in a daze.

“There’s the Duchess over there!”

“Capture her! The Duke should be with her too!”

Threatening voices rang out from all directions. Hailon knew instinctively. Even at his young age, he could tell this was no ordinary situation, serious enough to threaten his life.

He could feel it through the tight grip of his mother’s hand.

Tap- tatak-

Only the sound of hurried footsteps and ragged breathing filled the air.

“Haa, ha.”

As they fled from the pursuing voices, the two of them eventually ran into a dead end.

There was no way to climb over the high wall.

“That way!”

The voices behind them were drawing closer.

There was only one option.

The Duchess made her decision.

“Hailon, get in. Quickly.”

Pushing Hailon toward a small hole in the corner, barely large enough for a child to pass through, his mother urged him.

“Run away. Far away. You have to go far!”

Hailon shook his head. How could he leave his mother behind and go somewhere alone?

“N-no! I want to stay with you.”

“No! Go!! You have to live. No matter what!”

Faced with her desperate gaze, young Hailon was ultimately forced to leave the ducal residence alone.

“We’ve caught the Duchess!”

His mother’s screaming voice reached him from behind as she was seized by the rebels.

“Where is the Duke!”

He was terrified. Hailon kept running forward.

Hhk, hhk, hhk.

Until his breath reached its limit.

Until it felt like his lungs would tear apart.

Hailon ran without knowing where he was headed, walking and walking.

Clinging only to his mother’s words telling him to run far away and survive.

Even the village he finally reached was far from normal.

With the country in upheaval, that was only natural.

He was hungry. He was cold. With no idea where to go, he wandered aimlessly for days.

“Kid, where are your parents?”

“…I don’t have any.”

“What’s your name?”

“…Calix.”

When asked his name, Hailon used a different one.

No one would ever imagine that the filthy, ragged boy in front of them was the young master of the Alfred family.

“Oh dear. Then come this way.”

Fortunately, Hailon was taken in by a village elder and placed in an orphanage run by a relief organization.

And two years passed.

After continuous fighting throughout that period, the emperor’s faction emerged victorious, and the emperor regained his authority.

Those who had led the rebellion were all executed.

The country began rebuilding, and another year went by.

The Duke of Alfred searched for his lost son.

As a result, Hailon left the orphanage and returned to the ducal residence.

That happened when he was eleven years old.

Though it was his childhood, every memory remained vivid.

Hailon also never forgot how he felt when he returned home.

He wasn’t happy.

Because his mother was no longer in this world.

“…Mother passed away?”

“Yes. Sadly, that’s what happened.”

His father informed him of his mother’s death in a flat, detached tone, as if he were talking about someone else’s business.

And then, right in front of Hailon, who was so shocked he couldn’t even continue speaking properly, he went as far as introducing another woman.

“Say hello. This is your new mother.”

“So you’re Hailon. I look forward to getting along with you.”

What was this situation supposed to be?

Everyone had to be insane.

Hailon was stunned. It felt as if the back of his head had been struck with a brick.

He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t find even a trace of grief for his mother on his father’s face.

When he himself felt this sad.

When just hearing that his mother was no longer in the world made it feel as if his whole world were collapsing.

The splendid ducal mansion, the wealthy life. They were things he could never enjoy while staying at the orphanage, yet his heart felt hollow.

Time passed like that, and Hailon grew up amid his grief.

Once he was no longer just a small child, and the moment he became able to see how the political arena operated, it all began to seem laughable.

That was when Hailon started to see the truth.

What mattered most to the Duke of Alfred was his own safety.

A man obsessed above all else with protecting his own wealth, honor, and power.

That was his father, the Duke of Alfred.

That chaotic night when the rebellion broke out. Why Hailon never saw his father.

Why it had been only his mother and him fleeing together.

He eventually learned the reason for all of it.

One day, when the Duke of Alfred was drunk, he heard him boasting about the moment the rebels stormed in, as if it were a heroic tale.

“The reason you get to enjoy everything now is because I made the right choice.”

From the start, his father had already left the mansion.

He said he’d gathered the title certificates and asset documents right away.

That he’d taken the family seal and things like that and fled the mansion faster than anyone else.

Along with an elite unit that could protect him.

“W-what did you say?”

“I’m saying you’re living like this thanks to me.”

In the voice with which he claimed that it was precisely because he’d made that choice that he’d been able to reclaim his wealth, there was no guilt toward his mother.

Hailon felt cold fury filling his head.

“Because of that choice, Mother died.”

In a low, hoarse voice, words slipped out as if he were grinding his teeth.

That was why he and his mother hadn’t received proper protection.

That was why his mother died.

It was no different from his father abandoning her.

For the sake of his own power.

For the sake of protecting mere assets.

And yet his father….

“His Majesty understood. That’s all that matters.”

There was no hint of guilt in his voice.

As if his mother’s only reason for existence had been the fact that she was of royal blood.

The emperor, who was his mother’s younger brother and Hailon’s uncle.

Once his power had been threatened even once, the emperor became even more obsessed.

So even though he knew of the duke’s conduct in failing to protect his sister, he neither criticized him nor distanced himself.

He considered the fact that Hailon, his sister’s blood, had survived to be enough, praising the duke’s efforts.

Because in order to expand the emperor’s faction, the Duke of Alfred needed to remain on his side.

As a result, once their power had been threatened, both the emperor and the duke became even more tightly bound together, each desperate not to lose what was theirs.

“And now you have a new mother, don’t you?”

He spoke as if treating people like replaceable goods were the most natural thing in the world.

The new mother was also one of the nobles aligned with the emperor.

It hadn’t been long since his mother died, yet as soon as the rebellion was put down, his father married another noblewoman as if he’d been waiting for it.

In the end, his mother wasn’t protected by her younger brother, nor by her husband.

If his father had been even a little more of a man who cared about his family, his mother wouldn’t have died.

And if the new duchess hadn’t been infertile, would they even have tried to find Hailon?

No. There was no way.

From that conversation, Hailon became certain.

That it wouldn’t have been so.

They clearly searched for him out of pride, because they didn’t want the stigma of being a family unable to produce an heir.

The fact that they only found him a full year after the civil war ended was proof enough of that.

If they hadn’t found Hailon, the current stepmother might not have been able to keep the position of duchess.

At the time, Hailon was too young to think that far ahead, but now all the circumstances were plainly visible.

What family really is?

Hailon’s gaze sank as he walked down the corridors of the ducal residence.

Every corner of the hallway was filled with expensive paintings and decorations.

Selling just one of these countless items would be enough for a commoner family to live on for the rest of their lives.

Like this, the Alfred estate was splendid, and Hailon could enjoy all of it, but….

If someone asked whether his life was happy, well.

Hailon’s three years at the orphanage were happier days.

Aside from missing his mother, there was no one to resent, no need to measure and calculate between people. They relied on each other, and at least in their hearts, they were happy.

And the person who gave him that happiness was….

“Hi, I’m Melia.”

It was Melia.