How to hide a specific category from the layered navigation filter in Magento 2?

I’m using Magento ver. 2.4.5-p12 and I want to hide one specific category from the “Category” filter in the layered navigation on category pages.

I still want this category to exist and be assigned to products (for navigation or organizational purposes), but I don’t want it to appear as a filter option in the layered navigation.

In the Display Settings of the category, I only see options like:

Hide Filter Attributes on Layered Navigation

Available Product Listing Sort By

Default Product Listing Sort By

Layered Navigation Price Step

There’s no Is Anchor option in my version of Magento.

Is there a built-in way to exclude a specific category from the category filter in layered navigation? If not, what would be the best way to achieve this (e.g., via plugin or observer)?

Thanks in advance!