Relief

‘A burn…?’
“Half of her face was burned, so she’ll be more emotionally distressed than physically hurt. That’s usually the case.”
For a moment, Theron was at a loss for words.
Even though he had imagined all sorts of things when he heard Selene was badly hurt, he had never imagined she would have burns on her face.
“That’s why I said she needed to rest. Because burn patients usually don’t want to see anyone for a while.”
“…”
“And since you’re not just any acquaintance, wouldn’t it be even more so? It’s not uncommon for lovers to break up in such cases.”
Theron, who had been listening to the nurse with bated breath, found himself wondering.
If his feelings would change if he saw Selene’s altered face from the burns.
If this feeling would cool down just because her face was covered in burns, even though he had rushed here without looking back in shock.
While thinking it would of course not, Theron remembered how he couldn’t answer with certainty to Selene’s question of whether he liked her because she was pretty, or to Colonel Orlando’s sneer of whether it was just a fleeting, light emotion.
Theron knew the reason he couldn’t answer clearly was because it was the first time he had fallen so deeply for someone.
And he was curious about the depth of this emotion.
He felt as if he were being tested on the depth of this emotion unexpectedly today.
Punishing himself in a very cruel way for having only avoided it until now.
“This is Miss Ashcombe’s room.”
Finally, when he reached that test, Theron’s palms were sweaty.
What if, as the colonel had said, he was an idiot who only liked a woman because she was pretty?
What if his heart changed in disappointment and shock at the sight of Selene with her face wrapped in bandages?
In fact, besides that, there were already many barriers between Selene and him.
Not only had he approached Selene for her money from the beginning, but Selene didn’t like him either.
To her, he was just a decent experimental subject for piano inspiration.
It was clear from the way Selene, who was absorbed in the thought of winning the international competition and going to study abroad after throwing him away, was acting.
Besides, hadn’t he himself been unable to recover from the shock of hearing the truth that Selene had bribed the judges of the competition just a moment ago?
So, even if his feelings for Selene were to fade, there were countless excuses he could make.
Without having to become trash by admitting that his feelings had changed because her face was no longer pretty.
“If you’re not ready, you can go back now.”
The nurse offered Theron, who was standing there blankly, a last chance.
Theron lifted his gaze from the floor.
He saw the name ‘Selene Ashcombe’ written in front of the hospital room.
It was strange.
His chest felt as if it were sizzling, and then his vision blurred.
Thump.
And without a moment for his eyes to get hot, a single tear fell down his cheek.
It was only then that Theron knew.
That he could not escape Selene Ashcombe, whether she was a hypocrite who had bribed the judges of a competition or had lost her pretty face due to burns.
Otherwise, this tear, which he couldn’t even remember when he had last shed, would not have fallen just at the sight of Selene’s name.
As soon as he saw that name, he felt an unbearable urge to comfort Selene, who would be in pain alone in this hospital room.
He wanted to embrace her.
Creak.
Theron finally opened the door with force.
Selene, whom he had expected to be asleep or lying down, was sitting on the bed, looking at him.
“…Theron?”
Selene’s voice, which he thought would be filled with grief, was surprisingly calm.
Nevertheless, the bandages wrapped around Selene’s face, as the nurse had warned, made her look sick.
Theron immediately strode to the bed and hugged Selene tightly.
“Selene, I still like you.”
“…”
“It doesn’t matter what kind of person you are. Whether you’re a criminal who has stabbed someone to death, or a monster with a hairy face.”
His confession was sincere.
The nurse, seeing Theron hugging Selene, quietly closed the door and left, and Theron wanted to convey this boiling, soaring feeling to Selene right away.
“If you’re a criminal who has stabbed someone to death, you have to go to jail.”
This romantic-less woman, Selene, was trying to ruin the mood, but still.
Theron was still holding Selene in his arms.
“I’ll go in your place. Just hand over the evidence to me.”
This was also sincere.
No, in fact, it was only natural.
How could he let Selene go to that harsh prison?
After all, he had been born and raised in a dark back alley, so if one of them had to go through such a thing, it was right that he did.
Besides, if Selene, who rarely cared about others, was angry enough to stab someone to death, there must have been a reason.
It was probably a bastard who deserved to be stabbed to death.
‘Yes, of course.’
Selene, who had been silently held in Theron’s arms, opened her mouth again.
“If I were a monster with a hairy face, I might have become a spectacle at a circus.”
“That’s absolutely not happening either. Who dares to make you a spectacle? I’ll gouge out their eyes. And I’ll set that circus on fire, so don’t you worry a bit…”
Theron stopped, realizing his mistake.
It wasn’t good to make the sad Selene, who had been burned, think of fire.
“But why are you making such absurd assumptions since earlier?”
Selene suddenly pushed Theron away and asked.
Theron’s lips parted, and he looked at Selene, whose face was half-visible with bandages.
“Because… you were badly hurt in the face.”
Selene blinked slowly.
It was as if she were asking if he were talking about her…
“Why does everyone think I was hurt in the face?”
Theron hesitated for a moment.
“You’re not…?”
“No.”
‘Hmm…?’
It took Theron a moment to grasp the situation.
“Then what did I hear? The nurse clearly warned me to prepare myself because you were badly hurt in the face…”
Selene’s brow furrowed at Theron’s disbelieving attitude.
Then, with a short sigh, she unwrapped the bandage herself.
Theron felt as if an eternity had passed as the bandage was slowly unwrapped from the outside and the hidden half of Selene’s face was revealed.
Finally, the bandage was completely removed, and Selene’s full face was visible.
The hidden cheek was so black that it was impossible to imagine its white skin.
At a glance, it looked as if her skin were burned.
Theron frowned and asked, “Your face is black…”
“It’s soot.”
“…”
“It’s soot.”
As if to prove it, Selene wiped her cheek hard with her white sleeve.
“Don’t! It might get infected…”
Before he could stop her, a black smudge appeared on Selene’s sleeve.
“Look at this.”
Not only her sleeve, but the part of her face Selene was pointing at had also become white, albeit messily.
‘Huh…’
“Right?”
‘Huh…?’
At the fact that Selene was not hurt, Theron’s heart, which had been in his throat, was instantly calmed, but he still couldn’t believe the sight before him.

Going back to that morning before the incident, that is, when Selene had started her day, it was so.
Selene, who had washed up and changed into the clothes Gwendolyn had prepared, entered the piano room and looked up at the sky for a moment.
‘How long has it been since it last rained?’
Although Selene had little interest in the ways of the world, she remembered her grandmother clucking her tongue and saying that the farmers would suffer when it was this dry.
It wasn’t just a light remark; in fact, her grandmother, as well as her late grandfather, had been very interested in the lives of people.
More precisely, in the classes that could be marginalized.
Immigrants, tenant farmers, and laborers who were consumed like parts in a factory.
Following in their footsteps, the Ashcombe family was still supporting the lives of those in need through donations and education.
Love and devotion.
Selene once again thought that those two words that Gwendolyn would say like a habit were the most appropriate origin to represent the Ashcombes.
Even though she, the only heir to the family, was only concerned about the change in the piano’s resonance due to the increasingly dry air.
The temperature and humidity, though subtle, affected the sound of the piano.
Selene, whether it was because of the dry weather or because she was thinking of her grandmother, couldn’t practice the piano for even two hours and stood up from her seat.
But in fact, she knew.
That the reason she was bothered by the sound because the weather was too dry was just an excuse.
Because what she was really concerned about was Theron Cox.
Lately, every time Selene realized that the end of this desperate practice was a farewell to Theron Cox, her fingers would stiffen, which was a nuisance.