Selene knows the truth

Beatrix was just as surprised as Orlando by Evelyn’s unannounced appearance.
However, instead of saying anything else to Evelyn, she just clicked her tongue quietly.
“Tell me! Is what I just heard true?”
Evelyn’s voice was trembling slightly.
Orlando ran his hand through his hair with a tired face.
“What are you talking about?”
“About you making that man, Theron Cox, approach Selene to take the title from her!”
Hmph.
Orlando answered with a sigh.
Evelyn, who had guessed the answer from his reaction, felt like crying.
‘I prayed so hard that he would say no.’
‘That the person who was so cruelly tormenting the child who had lost her parents in an instant in the war and was left alone, the child who was no different from a sister to me, after the Velora Competition, was not some stranger but her own father.’
“What you heard is not the truth, Evelyn. I never did such a thing.”
Although Orlando denied it a moment later, Evelyn could no longer believe him.
The serious face of her grandmother, whom she had met in person, and the atmosphere of this place told her that his words were a lie.
“Grandmother, you tell me. Did that man, Theron Cox, really approach Selene with an intention? To divorce her right after marriage?”
Beatrix looked at Evelyn.
The darkness in her eyes made Evelyn’s breath catch.
“Evelyn. Your father is not as great a person as the world makes him out to be.”
“…”
“I don’t want to say this to you, his daughter, but it’s a truth you must know someday.”
Beatrix did not explain at length.
However, that nonchalant attitude came across as even more profound.
Evelyn’s lips parted.
“Why on earth…”
“Evelyn.”
“This is too much! Selene likes that man! How hurt will she be when she finds out this fact!”
‘My own heart feels like it’s breaking.’
‘Imagining how devastated Selene, who has never liked a man in her life, will be at this truth.’
“I’ll tell Selene right away. That that man, Theron Cox, only approached you because my father ordered him to…!”
“Stop it, Evelyn. Today is an important day for Selene.”
“What difference does it make if she hears this after winning the competition? It will only be more miserable, won’t it?”
Evelyn had already made up her mind.
Theron Cox would surely come to see Selene’s performance today, and he would give her a bouquet of flowers when it was over.
If he were to propose to Selene while giving her that bouquet, the situation would worsen uncontrollably.

“I trust Theron.”

It was the first time Evelyn had heard Selene say that about someone.
Because of that, she felt like she was about to cry even more when she remembered Selene saying that.
So, the best thing she could do for her cousin right now was to tell her the truth before the impending sense of betrayal reached its peak.
“I’m not going home for a while.”
“Evelyn!”
Evelyn announced and ran out of the hotel’s drawing-room.
Although she heard her father’s voice calling her from behind, Evelyn didn’t care.
If there was anything that bothered her, it was her grandmother, who was sighing and rubbing her brow.
Evelyn, who had left the hotel, ran to the concert hall without a break.
Her toes ached because she was wearing high heels, but this pain was nothing compared to the shock Selene would receive.
“Where is Selene Ashcombe’s waiting room?”
Evelyn, who had arrived at the concert hall, asked a staff member and went to find where Selene was.
But just then, Theron Cox was also standing in front of the door, as if he were about to visit Selene’s waiting room.
Theron recognized the approaching Evelyn first.
“Good morning, Evel…”
Slap!
Evelyn immediately slapped the cheek of Theron, who was speaking nonchalantly.
“I really believed you liked Selene.”
“…”
Theron looked at Evelyn with his hand on his reddened cheek, but she just walked past him and entered the waiting room.
“Evelyn?”
Selene, who was sitting blankly in a chair, seemed a little surprised as Evelyn burst in without knocking.
“What’s wrong…”
“Theron Cox, that man. He’s a fraud.”
Evelyn said with her fists clenched.
Selene’s brow furrowed.
“Evelyn. Explain what you’re trying to say calmly and precisely.”
At the sight of Selene, who didn’t even know what was wrong and was instead looking at her suspiciously, tears that Evelyn had been holding back finally welled up in her eyes.
“That man…”
Evelyn pointed her finger at Theron, who was now standing at the doorway.
“He’s someone who approached you because my dad ordered him to!”

It was the day of the finals of the International Piano Competition.
Selene had woken up after a deep sleep for the first time in a while.
During the preliminaries and the main competition, she had been so on edge that she couldn’t sleep properly, but now that there were only two candidates left for the winner, her frayed nerves had calmed down.
Unlike at the Velora Competition, it might also have been thanks to Evelyn and Theron taking turns guarding the concert hall.
So, Selene had only recently admitted that the piano couldn’t fill everything.
Just as Evelyn had once told her out of the blue that the piano couldn’t smile, she couldn’t share her emotions and thoughts with an inanimate object.
Selene felt that even more keenly through Theron, who would smile at her.
Because the sound of the piano could not imitate Theron’s smile in any way.
Perhaps because she had realized that fact, Selene was no longer afraid of the result of the finals.
To play a lyrical piece perfectly is to understand and realize the emotions contained in that piece accurately.
Through Theron, she had come to feel what a person in love was like, and in that process, she had experienced conflict, reconciliation, and communion, and had even come to realize the joy of the feeling of liking someone, so she was no longer afraid of expressing the piece.
Just one thing.
She had not yet experienced the sadness of love, but it would not be a big problem.
Because the main emotion of the main piece of the competition, ‘The Age of Love and Romance’, was not just sadness.
Selene believed that the joy and pleasure she had experienced while meeting Theron Cox were enough.
Knock, knock.
Just as Selene, who had gotten out of bed, drank a glass of lukewarm water that was on the side table and was tidying her hair, a neat knock was heard.
It was Gwendolyn.
“You’re already awake.”
“My eyes opened early. By the way, how’s grandmother?”
A few days ago, Selene, after much thought, had sent a letter to Beatrix.
That she would like her to come and see her performance at the competition.
In the past, playing the piano in front of her grandmother would have been just an uncomfortable thing.
But lately, Selene had been thinking a lot about her grandmother, Evelyn, and her uncle.
She didn’t know if it was because her sensitivity had become richer while being close to Theron Cox, or if she had become fond of her family at the thought of studying abroad.
‘No, maybe studying abroad is not the reason.’
In fact, Selene had been seriously thinking about studying abroad for the past few days.
Whether she would be okay leaving Theron here and going far away for five years.
At first, it was just an assumption, but her heart had gradually become uncomfortable, and as Theron’s face flickered before her eyes, Selene had to admit that she would not be okay either.
Even if Theron were to wait for her, being separated for five years would be quite a difficult thing for her too.
In the end, after deep thought, Selene had made a radical decision.
That even if she won this competition, she would not choose the special privilege of studying abroad.
Come to think of it, there were many ways to broaden her horizons as a pianist without necessarily going to study abroad, so there was no need to insist on it.
The thought that one had to travel the world to gain fame as a pianist might be a frog-in-the-well kind of thought.
‘It’s a good thing I didn’t tell Evelyn in advance.’
Since she didn’t have to retract her plan to several people, postponing the announcement of her study abroad was a good choice.
“The grand madam said she would not be stopping by the mansion and would go directly to the concert hall.”
‘I see.’
At that time, Selene had thought Gwendolyn’s answer was insignificant.
Because she had not even imagined that the reason her grandmother had gone there early was to talk about her uncle’s instigation of Theron Cox, or that Evelyn would hear that story and burst into the waiting room right away.
As she was waiting for her turn, which was approaching, and spending her time blankly in the waiting room, Evelyn appeared and caused a ripple in the calm lake.
“Theron Cox, that man. He’s a fraud.”
“…”
“He’s someone who approached you because my dad ordered him to!”
Along with words that were simply unbelievable.