Seems like he hasn’t given up

“What’s wrong? You’re the one who asked to meet me first.”
Evelyn sat opposite Logan in a quiet tea room in the city, frequented by nobles.
Logan, despite being the one who had called her, sat with his legs crossed, silently staring out the window.
Just as Evelyn was about to lose her breath at Logan, who had been silent for a long time after calling her.
“Logan Pembroke, I’m…”
“I have something to ask you about Selene.”
Logan finally stated his business.
Evelyn, who had been opening her mouth to say something, let out a deflated voice.
“I knew it…”
“More precisely, it’s about a man named Theron Cox.”
“…Theron Cox?”
“I find that man suspicious.”
Logan recalled Theron, whom he had been introduced to a few days ago.
He certainly had a handsome appearance that would make even Selene, who had no interest in men, take a second look.
Upon investigation, it seemed he had also grown his company significantly in a short period of time.
Usually, such cases have a shady side, but his finances and legal matters were clean.
But that was the problem.
Logan disliked Theron even more because he was such a respectable person.
More precisely, it was probably because he felt like a person who was ‘pretending’ to be respectable.
If he were such a decent person, Selene would not have broken up with him and decided to go to study abroad.
Although Theron Cox had said that their breakup was a matter between a man and a woman, considering his demeanor of trying to imprint himself on Selene as a friend, it would have been no problem for that man to make up a suitable excuse.
Even though Selene seemed to like that man not a little, the fact that she was watching him cautiously without rashly forgiving him also proved it.
It was clear that something unusual had happened between the two.
“So, tell me, Evelyn. From how Selene and Theron Cox met to how they recently broke up.”
“Why should I? You sometimes seem to think that everyone is your secretary.”
“You’ve been staying at Shearsmith’s, not your home, lately, right? Ah, or is it a hotel now?”
Evelyn, pricked by Logan’s remark, was about to pick up her teacup but put her hand down.
“How did you know…?”
“I just returned to Cantora after a long time, so I should know what’s going on here.”
Of course, Logan had not made any particular effort to find out.
He had just naturally come to know it by meeting people for a while, with the invitations to parties and gatherings flying in every day.
Logan asked nonchalantly.
“Did you have a fight with the Colonel or something?”
“Logan, that’s none of your business.”
“I’m not that interested either. I’m just suggesting a deal. I think I can tell you something you’d be interested in.”
“…What is it?”
“Things like who your father has been meeting with lately.”
Evelyn’s eyes wavered.
“…Who has my dad been meeting with?”
“As I said, this is a deal. So, of course, I can’t just tell you.”
It was Logan’s bait.
A bait to open the mouth of Evelyn, who protected Selene like her own daughter.
Evelyn, who had been hesitating, let out a reluctant voice.
“You want information on Theron Cox?”
“Yes. It’s not a difficult thing for you.”
“But I don’t like to secretly talk about things related to Selene.”
“Even if it’s for Selene’s sake?”
Evelyn once again clammed up like a shellfish.
‘As I thought…’
Logan was half-convinced by Evelyn’s appearance.
That there was a fact between Selene and Theron Cox that he should never know.
“I don’t particularly like Mr. Cox either, but that man genuinely likes Selene.”
“It’s surprising that you don’t like Selene’s partner, Evelyn. Is there a reason?”
As Logan picked on her words, Evelyn was visibly flustered.
“He just seems like a player…! And his relationships with women seem complicated.”
“Is that actually true?”
“I told you it’s not! Did you not hear me say that he genuinely likes Selene?”
“Then why is Selene not taking Theron Cox back?”
Logan pressed Evelyn and took a sip of his tea.
“Evelyn, let’s stop this useless conversation. I’ll find out eventually anyway.”
“…What.”
“The reason why Selene and Theron Cox broke up. You know that I’m not asking to do anything to Selene. If anything, it’s closer to protecting her.”
“…”
“Aren’t you curious about who your father has been meeting with lately?”
Evelyn looked like she was about to cry.
A face that couldn’t do this or that.
Logan waited until Evelyn made her decision without feeling any impatience.
Because the Evelyn he knew was bound to open her mouth.
If she had fallen out with her father to the point of wandering between her fiancé’s house and a hotel, she would still be concerned about her father.
“…After you hear my words today, promise me you won’t show any sign of it to Selene.”
“Alright.”
Although he would judge after hearing it, Logan willingly gave Evelyn the answer she wanted.
“And the same goes for Mr. Cox.”
“Alright.”
However, he became even more curious about what great thing had happened that Evelyn, whose mouth was as light as a feather, was stalling so much.
It was a curiosity with a bad premonition.
“…Actually, Mr. Cox is a person who intentionally approached Selene as planned with my dad.”
Logan immediately raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Dad must have proposed it…. To marry Selene and then divorce her to take half of her fortune. Dad had planned to use Selene’s divorce as a pretext to snatch the ducal title.”
Hah.
Logan let out a cold breath.
He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even let out a hollow laugh.
‘He was so brazen in front of me, but he was that kind of a low-life…’
“Ah, of course, Mr. Cox also seems to have admitted his fault and is doing his best for Selene! That’s why Selene is giving him a chance!”
“Did that man reveal the truth to Selene first?”
At Logan’s sharp question, Evelyn lowered her head.
“…No. I found out first and told Selene.”
It meant that if he hadn’t been caught, Selene might have been played by that man without knowing anything.
Not only that, but even after being treated like that, Selene had defended Theron Cox so much in front of him.
For the first time in a long time, Logan’s forehead felt hot.
“…Logan, you look really scary right now.”
“It’s a situation that warrants it.”
“Still, don’t you dare interfere. Selene is not a person who will listen just because someone tells her to, and if you interfere halfway, you’ll only be hated.”
‘Hated.’
‘Yes, perhaps he had been afraid of that all along.’
‘That if Selene found out his feelings, she would not see him the same way as before, that he would become no different from the other men who had been coldly rejected, that she would hate him for having deceived her by pretending to be a friend for so long.’
‘That fear had become Logan’s shackle, preventing him from doing this or that.’
‘Nevertheless, what had given him a sense of security was the fact that he and Selene were engaged.’
‘Since Selene had no particular interest in men, he had firmly believed that she would marry him just like that.’

“Before that, I want to break the promise of the old-fashioned adults.”

‘Without knowing in the least that Selene would suddenly stab him in the back by deciding to study abroad.’
‘Logan considered that to be the most foolish moment of his life.’
‘If he had confessed his true feelings at least then, when Selene had asked for a breakup, it wouldn’t have come to this.’
‘The matter of him impulsively deciding to study abroad because he didn’t want to be left alone and lonely in this Cantora after Selene had announced her study abroad like that, the matter of him having a big fight with his father because of that, the matter of him studying all night and preparing for early graduation because he heard Selene had a man, all of it.’
‘No, maybe it’s for the better.’
The situation where Selene might get back together with such a pathetic person had brought out the courage that had been buried in musty dust.
‘After all, isn’t it a terrible future whether Selene gets back together with Theron Cox or remains friends with me for the rest of her life?’
‘Then it was better to just go for it.’
“Why are you so quiet and anxious, Logan…? You haven’t forgotten your promise not to show any sign to Selene and Mr. Cox, have you?”
Evelyn said with tension.
Logan stood up from his seat.
“I’m sorry, Evelyn. I have no personal feelings for you.”
“Hey…! That means…!”
“I heard the Colonel often appears at the Brooks Club these days. I’m sure you know what kind of place that is.”
The Brooks Club was, to put it nicely, a place where ambitious people gathered, and to put it badly, a place for clandestine meetings.
And the people the Colonel met were obvious.
“He mainly meets with nobles related to the Ashcombe ducal family.”
“Ah…”
“It seems the Colonel hasn’t given up on the ducal title yet.”